“Andrew. Oh! You’re Simon Peter’s brother, aren’t you?”

Andrew must have gotten used to that. Even the New Testament introduces him as “Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother” (John 1:40). Peter’s shadow is cast over Andrew from the beginning.

Andrew is mentioned by name 12 times in the New Testament. In ten of those he’s named along with Peter, and usually as Peter’s brother. Peter, on the other hand, has over 150 mentions, and actually contributed to the New Testament.

It’s interesting to note that Andrew had the more impressive résumé to begin with. He had been a disciple of John the Baptist. Not only that, but he was one of Jesus’ very first disciples (John 1:35-40). In fact, it was Andre…

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A lot is at stake in what we say today. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21).

In literate societies, tongues include hands that write, type, paint, or sign.

Words Cause Death

People die because of something said. Tongues can be weapons of mass destruction, launching holocausts and wars. Tongues can also be the death of marriages, families, friendships, churches, careers, hopes, understanding, reputations, missionary efforts, and governments.

Words Give Life

But people also live because of something said. The tongue can be “a tree of life” (Proverbs 15:4). Tongues reconcile peoples and make peace. “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9). Tongues ca…

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Most of the decisions you will make today aren’t explicitly addressed in the Bible. Questions like, should I eat out today? What should I wear? Should I respond to this instance of my child’s sin with correction or forbearance? Should I shop today or tomorrow? Should I check my email again?

The Bible doesn’t even give specific guidance on huge, life-shaping decisions like should I marry this person? Should I give more or save for retirement? Should we adopt a child? Should I pursue a different vocation? Should we homeschool? Should I pursue chemo or try an alternative cancer treatment? Should we buy this home or a less expensive one? Which college should I attend? Is it time to put my eld…

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Judas Iscariot “was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it” (John 12:6).

Has it ever struck you as odd that Jesus put a thief in charge of his moneybag?

Of all the disciples, Jesus chose Judas to be treasurer of his itinerant nonprofit. One is tempted to offer the Lord some consulting on good stewardship. Donors were financially supporting this ministry (Luke 8:3) and the one guy who Jesus knew was a “devil” (John 6:70) was made CFO.

Now, Jesus was not ignorant of Judas’s pilfering. So why did he let him manage the money?

I believe Jesus was putting his money where his mouth was.

He said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasu…

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Beneath intellectual objections to Jesus’ claims are often deep-seated fears. Imagine a conversation between Paul and “Jonathan,” a friend from Paul’s pre-Christian days who visits him in Felix’s Caesarean prison.

________

Jonathan was escorted into the dingy cell where his old friend looked up at him from a small table covered in parchments. The closed air smelled of mold. Jonathan tried not to look shocked.

Paul looked puzzled for a moment and then his eyes went wide with recognition. “Jonathan?” He hurried stiffly around the table to embrace his friend. Saul smelled worse than the mold, Jonathan thought.

“Here,” Paul said as he cleared more parchments from a chair…

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Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created (Revelation 4:11).

The story behind your existence is wilder than any story humans have imagined. Have you ever thought about it?

Statistically speaking, you should not exist. How unlikely was it that your parents ever met? And even when they came together you were just an argument or headache or television show or phone call away from never being conceived.

Multiply those by millions of converging conversations and glances and illnesses and books and storms and dreams and travels and schools and wars and ambitions and sorrows throughout h…

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As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:27-28)

Whatever this woman meant when she shouted this out, it’s clear that she thought Mary had a sweet deal. You can almost hear in her words, “I wish I had a child like you!”

What, do you suppose, was behind her cry?

Maybe she had agonized over infertility or maybe she grieved the death of a child.

Maybe she was the mother of a disabled child and her cry came out of deep anguish, thinking herself or her child cursed by God (John 9:1).

Or ma…

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On the ancient temple mount in Jerusalem there stands a mosque.

Observant Jews see a profaning of their most holy place and plead with YHWH to remove their disgrace. Observant Muslims see Allah’s favor, a sign that the true religion sits in ascendency.

The world sees a centuries-old religious/political drama being played out on the edge of a knife, with diplomats delicately working like a bomb squad to avoid an explosion.

But most miss the real significance of the mosque on the mount.

When the temple stood there it was the very heart of Judaism. It was the place where the presence of God dwelt among his people and sacrifices were offered to atone for sin.

But the Presence remained …

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Why is it so hard to just find some peace of mind?

Well, peace is hard to come by when you live in a warzone. And like it or not you are in a war—a very serious one. This war is cosmic in its proportions. It involves God, humans, angels, demons, principalities, powers, nations, and antichrists.

And do you know where the front of the battle is? It’s in your head.

Here is how Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5:

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take eve…

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Remember the story of Narcissus? He’s the proud, beautiful man in the Greek myth who saw his reflection in a pool, fell in love with it, couldn’t tear himself away, and it killed him.

Mirrors are very dangerous for proud people. Believe me. I speak from experience.

But mirrors present most of us with a different danger than Narcissus. When we look into a mirror we do not see enchanting beauty, nor do we see the glory of God imaging forth in the indescribably complex, ingenious, phenomenal, spectacular miracle that is a human being. What we see mainly are defects.

The captivating power mirrors wield over us is not what we see, but what we want to see. What we see is deficiency. What we …

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