Praise the LORD from the earth, you creatures of the ocean depths. Psalm 148:7 Psalm 148 summons all creation to praise the Lord: heavens, angels, sun, moon, clouds, weather, mountains, trees, animals, and all sorts of human beings. Verse 7 invites “creatures from the ocean depths” to praise God. Now, I realize that this is not meant in a literal way, as if whales and sharks and dolphins might all of a sudden start singing God’s praises. But, as I... Read more
“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.” This one of my all-time favorite lines from one of my all-time favorite novels, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. It is also one of my favorite lines from a movie I saw early this morning, The Dark Knight Rises. I will not say anything about how... Read more
In nothing has the Church so lost Her hold on reality as in Her failure to understand and respect the secular vocation. She has allowed work and religion to become separate departments, and is astonished to find that, as result, the secular work of the world is turned to purely selfish and destructive ends, and that the greater part of the world’s intelligent workers have become irreligious, or at least, uninterested in religion. – Dorothy L. Sayers Yesterday, I began... Read more
The first [proposition], stated quite briefly, is that work is not, primarily, a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do. It is, or it should be, the full expression of the worker’s faculties, the thing in which he finds spiritual, mental and bodily satisfaction, and the medium in which he offers himself to God. Read more
Gallup recently released its results of the annual “confidence in institutions” poll. “The church or organized religion” hit an all-time low, with 44% of respondents saying that they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in “the church or organized religion.” That organized religion has hit an historic low doesn’t surprise me. Actually, I’m a bit surprised that religion does as well as it does in this survey. It does better than “the medical system” (41%), the... Read more
Psalm 146:1-10 He gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry. The LORD frees the prisoners. The LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are weighed down. The LORD loves the godly. The LORD protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked. Psalm 146:7-9 There is a sense in which “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34, KJV). He... Read more
Today, the official report on the Penn State abuse case was released. The law firm of Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan prepared the report for the Penn State Board of Trustees. It is well over 200 pages long, including extensive appendices. The abuse case centers in the activity of Gerald A. Sandusky, a former assistant football coach at Penn State. But the crisis at the university extends far beyond the crimes of one man. Here’s on the section of FINDINGS in... Read more
In the last couple of months, in graduation speeches across this country, graduates were exhorted to follow their passions, to do that which flowed from the depths of their being. I expect that, as a preacher, I have sometimes urged people to follow their passions (the godly passion, that is). It's pretty much assumed in our day that we should all live according to our powerful feelings, desires, and visions. But is this right? Is this enough? Read more
Yes, joyful are those who live like this! Joyful indeed are those whose God is the LORD. Psalm 144:15 The bulk of Psalm 144 deals with David’s role as king. He praises God for the help God has given him and he asks for more of it. Then, in verse 12, David changes course. He prays not just for himself, but also for his nation. In the form of a “wish prayer,” he asks God to bless the people with... Read more
Mark D. Roberts
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In
Money and Happiness: Surprising Connections
Does money buy happiness? If you’re like me, you feel moral compulsion to say “No, money does not buy happiness.” Yet, if you’re like me, you secretly believe that there is some kind of connection between financial resources and emotional well-being. You can remember times when you spent money and the result was happiness. But you probably don’t want to admit this in public. A recent column in the New York Times explores surprising connections between money and happiness. In... Read more