Tragically for too many Christians, summer is the season of spiritual drift. As the days get longer and hotter we are tempted towards spiritual laziness. Which is why we cannot take a season off from making every effort to grow in godliness.

We must always — at all times — stay plugged into our power source of the gospel. Not only do we stay plugged in, we are exhorted to press on, to move forward, to strive ahead, and to make every effort.

The Apostle Peter focuses our attention on Christ-like qualities in 2 Peter 1:3–7. If these qualities are not ours and if they are not increasing, if we are not moving forward, then we may be drifting. Or to use Peter’s metaphor, we may be growing bli…

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Jesus is bowed and bloody, 110 pounds of lumber is strapped across his shoulders. The weight of the rough wood proves too much as it grinds against the lacerations left by the Roman scourging. Pain explodes like light in Jesus' brain. And he crumples under the beam.

When he comes to, Jesus feels somehow weightless and he realizes that the wooden crossbeam has been cut from his back. Another man is carrying it now, a dark man whose face he cannot see. But he does see the face of another.

Mercifully, a Roman centurion bends and takes Jesus under the arm to lift him gently to his feet again. Jesus looks up and holds the soldier captive in his gaze. The victim’s eyes do not pierce the cent…

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