He is my Song

Under the Fig Tree This past weekend, I began reading the Gospel of John, and among all the beauties of that first chapter, this is what really captured my heart: “Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him and said of him, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael said to Him, ‘How do You know me?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. ’ Nathanael answered Him, ‘Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’” (John 1:47–49) Now, we aren’t told what Nathanael was doing under the fig tree. Maybe he was praying. Maybe he was just thinking. Whatever it was, he had gotten away by himself, and he believed no one was around to see him. But Jesus saw him. “I saw you.” Nathanael’s reaction tells us everything. Jesus had never met him, yet He knew exactly where he’d been and exactly what kind of man he was. In that moment, Nathanael knew he was standing before Someone who saw what no one else could, and...

What We Sing, We Believe Most of us couldn't recite our own church's statement of faith. But I'd bet you could sing me the bridge of whatever song the worship team led last Sunday. Probably twice. That's the thing about music: it sticks. A sermon is heard once, but a song is sung over and over, hummed in the car, and stuck in your head while you're doing the dishes. Over time, the songs we sing teach us who God is, what He's like, and what we can expect from Him, whether we mean for them to or not. Paul understood this. He told the Colossians, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God" (Colossians 3:16). In Paul's mind, singing is teaching. So the question every church member ought to be asking is a simple one: what are our songs teaching us? That includes the songs built straight from Scripture. Singing God...

I recently read back through 1 and 2 Peter, and three words kept standing out to me: hardship, holiness, and heresy. My husband always calls 1 Peter the SOP (standard operating procedure) for the Christian, and the longer I thought about it, the more I agreed with him. It's practical, it's direct, and it tells you how the Christian life should operate. In Peter's first letter, the believers were being slandered and suffering for the name of Christ. In the second letter, the bigger danger was false teachers slipping into their churches, promising freedom and scoffing at the idea that Jesus was coming back to judge anyone. In other words: live however you want, because there’s no reckoning.  Suffering tempts you to give up . False freedom tempts you to give in. Peter answers both the same way: know the truth, live a holy life, and be willing to suffer for it. Hardship, holiness, and heresy aren’t three separate topics in these letters. Hardship presses from outside, heresy c...

Before the "ber" months even hit the calendar, "Starbies" starts selling their PSLs in 98-degree heat. We're all dying to pull out our sweaters, but all we can do is mop up our sweat. And right on schedule, out come the Halloween arguments in the comment sections. It's pagan! No, it's Christian! Samhain! All Hallows' Eve! Souling! Somebody always has a meme, and somebody always has a history lesson. Here's the thing: I don't care where it came from. I really don't. Whatever October 31st meant a thousand years ago doesn't matter. I don't live in 1026. I live in 2026. So the question I have to answer as a follower of Jesus isn't "Where did this come from?" It's "What is this today, and do I want any part of it?" When I look honestly at what Halloween is today, my answer is NO .  So for anybody who's ever wondered where I stand, here it is, once and for all. What Halloween Is Now Walk into any store o...