The book of Jonah is considered a literary masterpiece, and in the first several verses the words profoundly confront us with the ridiculousness of our disobedience to God. The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because their evil has come up before me.” Jonah got…
sin
Escape Rooms and Jesus Promising a Way Out
My daughter Evie loves escape rooms. She has designed escape rooms at our house for her friends. She has been to more than 20 of them. Whenever we are in a new place, she asks us to look one up and go to it. One time we went to an escape room in Sacramento and…
3 Reasons We Must Be Alarmed by Boredom
The renowned pastor Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “The life of sin is always in some sense a life of boredom.” This is a really strong statement about boredom—something we don’t typically associate as damaging or sinful. Augustine famously wrote that we are restless in this world until we rest in God. Thus seasons of boredom must…
Leaders, Pain and Beauty Seem to Go Together
I first started blogging because Thom Rainer, my former boss and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources, encouraged me to use a blog to encourage and help ministry leaders thus the vast majority of my writing was for them. But after a few years of blogging Chris Martin, who helps with my blog, surveyed all the…
The Deadly Sin I Was Least Aware Of
I recently finished a teaching series on the seven deadly sins, and I saved the best for last. Or so I thought. Compared to the other sins, I thought a message on sloth would be the most fun to prepare because surely the Lord would not need to deal with me on the topic. Sermon…
September 11, the Coronavirus, and Ministry
I was on the phone with my good friend Ed Stetzer a few nights ago, asking for his perspective on the impact of the Coronavirus on our culture and the Church. Ed is much smarter than I am on these sorts of things, and he articulated that there have been five culture-altering events in the…
Pressure and Shame from the Increasing Paradox Surrounding our Bodies
Joey Chestnut is the most dominant person in his field. People marvel at his ability and his dedication. He is consistently the national champion in the Nathan’s Annual Hotdog Eating Contest. He won again last year by downing 71 hotdogs (with buns) in ten minutes. 25 years ago, it took 20 hotdogs to win the…
The Gift of a Decline in the Stock Market
Money is not the root of all kinds of evil, but the longing and lusting for it is (I Timothy 6:10). Greed is the corruption of the good and God-given desire to manage resources well, to provide for your family, and to be fruitful in this life. Greed is the corruption of that desire to…
Diagnosed with Disconnection and the Beauty of Community
The phrase “diagnosed with disconnection” comes from a compelling story in Johann Hari’s book Lost Connections. He tells the story of a psychiatrist, Dr. Derek Summerfield, who traveled to Cambodia to learn about the mental health of the Cambodians. The Cambodians realized there were people who struggled with deep sadness and pointed to this one…
Popeyes, Our Fascination With “New,” and the Exhaustion of Climbing
Because I grew up in the New Orleans area I grew up eating and loving Popeye’s Chicken (Popeyes started in New Orleans). As a kid, my parents would drive us by Al Copeland’s house at Christmas, the founder of Popeyes, because of the incredible Christmas lights he put up each year. My childhood nostalgia had…