He Said, she said
"Train yourself up in godliness," You say, "for godliness with contentment is great gain, not only to yourself but the people around you. Plus, there's eternal reward involved."So I say, "Sure" and have at it for oh, two hours. I know the rote rules of godliness: Read the Bible. Pray for a little while. Read a devotional, maybe. Make sure you've tithed or faste

The Way Pirates Look for Gold
"But the hard truth is that most Christians don’t pray very much. They pray at meals—unless they’re still stuck in the adolescent stage of calling good habits legalism. They whisper prayers before tough meetings. They say something brief as they crawl into bed. But very few set aside set times to pray alone—and fewer still think it is worth it to meet with others to pray. And we wonder why our faith is weak. And our hope is feeble. And our passion for Christ is small.And meanwhile the devil is whispering all over this room: 'The pastor is getting legalistic now. He’s starting to use guilt now. He’s getting out the law now.' To which I say, 'To hell with

Last Words
He did not cry easily, but the sight of his friends—more like brothers—gathering around him in prayer for the last time was enough to bring Paul to tears. For three years they had fought side by side proclaiming the gospel to the stubborn city of Ephesus. Together the band of brothers had shouldered the threat of beatings, imprisonment and even death from those hostile to their messa

Make Like a Berean
(If you don't get the title check out Acts 17:11.)Should we fear God’s discipline, while we are under the New Covenant and thereby living under grace? And what is the meaning of “fearing God," when we are now told that perfect love casts out all fear? It’s not as if we’re in the Old Testament, where the relationship with God and His people was less intimate and based more on fear and faith rather than the person of Jesus Christ.To place these questions in a more real-life scenario, imagine that your friends invited you to a casino. You aren’t quite crossing the line when it comes to sin, but lately, you

Is Risk Really, Well, Risky?
The other day, I ran across four converging lanes in downtown Dallas. I looked both ways first, and mentally measured the risk. I glanced back at the intersection of cars, guesstimating how many seconds I’d have to get across while they sat at a red light. In the end, it was the little old man yelling, “What are you doing just standing there? Get out of here, girl!” that motivated me to cross all four lanes. (One meets su