Always Reforming

For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.  (Romans 6:14) Christian, you have been freed.  Through the Person and Work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, you have been set free from the guilt and corruption of sin.  The Fall has been reversed.   The guilt of sin no longer has dominion over you.  There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1).  No one, not even the accuser, can bring an accusation against God's elect (Rom 8:33).  Satan has no right to your body or your soul.  Resist him; he will flee (James 4:7).  The power of sin no longer has dominion over you.  "For one who has died has been set free from sin," Paul says (Rom 6:7).  "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Rom 6:11).  We have been given the gift of true freedom--not freedom from restraint, but freedom from slavery to sin.  W...

Thank you, Dr. Fauci.   Thank you for your transparent corruption. Thank you for destroying public confidence in the experts . Thank you for revealing how things really work . Thank you for normalizing vaccine injury awareness and education . Thank you for unveiling the religious fervor of medicalists . Thank you for showing us what the elites really think about the common man. Thank you for reminding us that no one is immune (pun fully intended) to the wiles of power, money, and fame. Thank you for stirring up the sleeping hearts of regular men and women in this country. So, thank you.  Despite yourself, thank you.  You set in motion things that cannot be undone. May God have mercy on you.

For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers, and deceivers... (Titus 1:10a) Speaking in the 1st Century, Paul was warning Titus about the challenges that the soon-to-be ordained overseers in Crete would face, but he could just as easily have been speaking to the modern pastor about navigating the Internet in the 21st Century. There is nothing new under the sun.  Technology changes, but human nature remains the same (unless changed by Almighty God).  The Internet is full of insubordination .  Submission has never been easy, and it never will be.  It should be said that this is as true of disgruntled parishioners in a local congregation as it is of keyboard warriors.  This vice lies in the heart of man, not merely in his fingers.  However, social media and other online spaces provide a voice for those who are probably better left voiceless.  Christians need to be on guard for this tendency.  Those of us who fancy ourselves writers shoul...

What is the name of your church?  Why was that name chosen?  Have you ever thought about it? Much has been made about the way people choose baby names these days.  We try to sound intellectual or original, modern or old-fashioned.  We want people to say, "Oh, what a [fill in the blank] name!"  As expressive individualists , we name our children so as to communicate something about ourselves.   This is unavoidable, to a certain extent.  Naming things is inherently expressive.  What we choose to call something (animate or inanimate) will communicate something about ourselves and how we experience that thing, the world, etc., whether we like it or not.  This is good and has always been true.  Nevertheless, children's names today certainly seem to reinforce the expressive individualism that dominates our modern society. Well, it turns out churches can be expressive individualists, too.  A quick Google search reveals an interesting ...

Forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Eph 4:32) To forgive as you have been forgiven is one of the foundational principles of the Gospel life.  If you do not forgive, you will not be forgiven (Matt 6:15).  How can we who have been forgiven much not forgive what little our brethren have done to us (Matt 18:21-35)? We are to forgive others as God forgave us.  How did God forgive us? He forgave us completely.   No debt is left unpaid.  No sin is left unsatisfied.  The saving work of Christ requires no supplementation, from ourselves or from any other mediator.  As far as the east is from the west, so far have our sins been removed from us (Psalm 103:12).   He forgave us freely.   Our salvation is a gift (Rom 3:24).  We have not earned it, deserved it, or warranted it in any way.  We are forgiven, in fact, despite ourselves.  While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:24).   He forgives us,...

For he himself is our peace... (Eph 2:14a) Jesus is our peace.   He is our peace with God (Rom 5:1).  Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, has reunited God and man.  We who were rebels--children of wrath (Eph 2:3)--have been restored to communion with our Creator through the Person and Work of the Incarnate One.   He is our peace with our fellow man.  Jesus Christ is the new Adam (1 Cor 15:45); those united to Him are a new humanity.  He has broken down the dividing wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles (Eph 2:14b).  He has made one Body from many members (1 Cor 12)--united to Him, we are united to one another.  He is our peace with and within ourselves.  In Christ we rest.  We find meaning and purpose--telos.  We find identity.  Dying to self and living to Christ, we find that His yoke is easy and His burden light (Matt 11:30). He is our peace.  He is peace. And the peace of God, which surpasses all underst...