When Zacchaeus said he would give half his money to the poor and pay back fourfold those he had cheated, Jesus did not merely say, “Good idea.” He said, “Today salvation has come to this house” (Luke 19:9). This is amazing. Jesus judged the reality of this man’s salvation based on his willingness—no, his cheerful eagerness—to part with his money for the glory of God and the good of others. Then there’s Zacchaeus’s counterpart—the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16-30; Luke... Read more
What will it be like on our resurrection day, when we return with Christ to this old Earth, when we are given new bodies in the knowledge that we will together colonize a New Earth (whether that is immediately, or after a thousand years)? At the end of my novel Safely Home, I tried to catch a flavor of what it may be like: The battle cry of a hundred million warriors erupted from one end of the heavens to the... Read more
We can think of our lives in terms of a dot and a line, signifying two phases. Our present life on Earth is the dot. It begins. It ends. It’s brief. However, from the dot, a line extends that goes on forever. That line is eternity, which Christians will spend in Heaven. Right now we’re living in the dot. But what are we living for? The shortsighted person lives for the dot. The person with perspective lives for the line. This Earth as it is... Read more
I’ve heard it said, “Ethnicity and background should never even cross our minds when we meet another believer. Unfortunately, we’re being told that the first thing we need to notice about someone in a local church is their skin color.” I disagree. First of all, it obviously does and will cross our mind, and it’s silly to think we can or should close our eyes to differences. Paul says, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is... Read more
I ran across these thoughts that Nanci wrote, and we shared on her Caring Bridge page several years ago: “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for Yahweh; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for Yahweh!” (Psalm 27:13-14). To “look upon the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living” does not mean all of us will live as long as we want or... Read more
In the years since Nanci’s cancer diagnosis, and her subsequent homecoming in March 2022, grief has become my companion—a friend, and a necessary part of my growth. It is not an enemy; rather, it’s an instrument in the hand of the Master Artist, or the anvil on which the blacksmith crafts and hones his metalwork. Indeed, as painful as they are, these “light and momentary troubles are achieving in us an eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17). The only... Read more
A teenage boy came to me with questions about his faith. He’d attended church all his life but now had some doubts. I assured him that even the writers of the Bible sometimes struggled. He wasn’t questioning any basic Christian beliefs, and he didn’t need six evidences for Christ’s resurrection, so I talked to him about holiness and happiness. “What does God’s holiness mean?” I asked. His clear, biblical answer: “He’s perfect, without sin.” “Absolutely true. Does thinking about God’s... Read more
The physical resurrection of Jesus is the cornerstone of redemption. Without it and what it means—an eternal future for fully restored humans dwelling on a fully restored Earth—there’s no Christianity. If this event is historically true, it makes all other religions false, because Jesus claimed to be the only way to God. To prove this, He predicted He would rise three days after His death. And He did. John Boys (1571–1625), the Dean of Canterbury, put it beautifully: “The resurrection of Christ... Read more
On Good Friday, Jesus experienced the terrible burden of atonement, the trauma of dying on the cross, and the anguish of being temporarily alienated from His Father when He became sin for us (see Matthew 27:46; 2 Corinthians 5:21). But this suffering was ultimately overshadowed by His joy in our salvation: “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame” (Hebrews 12:2). The unhappy suffering and death of Jesus ultimately guaranteed the death of death (see Revelation 21:4)... Read more
Tomorrow, March 28, marks two years since Nanci entered the presence of Jesus, after a four-year battle with cancer. I’ve been reflecting on what God has been teaching me since her death and its first-year anniversary. Google “Grief recovery,” and there are over one million hits. It’s an interesting term. You recover from a cold, a virus, or a broken arm. I don’t think you really recover from the huge loss—the amputation, so to speak—of someone central to your life. There is... Read more
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