Jesus redefines what true siblinghood means. First, he calls HIMSELF our brother (Mark 3:31-35), then he builds a church filled with strangers who are made family in him. People who are only children are given brothers and sisters through the church, and biological siblings are enabled to love each other beyond their familial ties. There's no savior like Jesus!
FamilyLife is offering you a FREE DEVOTIONAL video series based on my 5-week interview with them. It’s called Unseen.
Life can feel lonely and overwhelming. Still, your life is both seen and cherished. God is working fiercely behind the scenes of your life. He worked to bring astonishing triumphs to the lives of four historical characters who faced devastating, alienating, and even life-threatening situations. Friend, God is working!
Get my FREE FamilyLife Today devotional video series and let’s look at the God who sees you! CLICK HERE
"A truly pro-life church understands that brokenness is not just someone else’s undesired pregnancy. It understands that brokenness pervades every facet of our lives and world; that everyone is equally broken but in different ways. It obliges broken image bearers move toward other broken image bearers for the sake of mutual flourishing through all of life, to walk humbly and lovingly alongside brokenness from conception to death." - Bora Jin
Do you ever feel that you’re just too busy for the Bible? There’s so much clamouring for your attention, regardless of whatever stage of life you’re at. Let’s not even speak of the constant drip of media and entertainment distractions; it’s almost unbelievable how addictive they are becoming!The reality of this frenzied busyness, which frankly, most of us are caught up in, is that The Bible is in danger of remaining a closed book, even to us Christians!
If I, being evil and having no righteousness of my own, know when and how to pray for my wife because I have stood in her place for 36 hours—how much more will the Perfect Man, Jesus of Nazareth intercede effectively on behalf of His Bride, the Church, knowing her struggle for 33 years (Matthew 7:9-11)! We would not have this confidence if it were not for Jesus’ coming to be born of a woman, born under the law “for us men and for our salvation” (Galatians 4:4-5).
I'm thankful to the Reformed African American Network for their re-post of my 2014 article, Parental Failures and the Gospel. The beginning paragraphs follow and the full post can be found here. Always grateful for your read!
I could begin this post with countless descriptions of my parental failures. Moments when anger got the best of me; times when a little patience would have made all the difference; or just plain insecurities in making the right decisions for my children at every moment and at every stage of their development.
You might agree that feelings of inadequacy are common to parents; whether relatively new like me or seasoned with experience, we feel the weight of the responsibility and the immensity of the task. But in some ways, feelings of inadequacy can be a blessing!
At Christmas time, I can’t help but think of the God Who came and walked in the shoes of another. Of course, God didn’t have to investigate our lives out of a lack of knowledge on His part. But rather, the incarnation of Christ was so that a Man could fulfill the requirements of God’s law by His perfect obedience and take upon Himself the punishment for our evil acts (Hebrews 2:17-18, Isaiah 53:4-5). Thusly, as a man He could usher in life and peace by way of His perfect obedience just as the earlier man (Adam) had ushered in death and enmity with God by way of his sin (Romans 5:18-19).
