You might not realize it because of its brevity, but the Lord’s Prayer has a lot to teach us about the Christian faith. One of the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray” and in response to this question Jesus taught them this prayer: Our Father in...
Category: Bible
In order to read the Bible, it helps to see the big picture. When my toddler is building a cabin out of Lincoln Logs, it helps to look at the blueprints provided inside the box. Without a diagram, building these cabins can be frustrating, and to...
The year 2017 is the year of Martin Luther—or at least it should be. Nearly 500 years ago on October 31, 1517, Luther nailed (or “mailed,” for some historians debate this point) his 95 theses to the door of Wittenberg Castle Church. Even so, Luther...
The Bible is strange. The events in the Bible are so far removed from us that they might as well have happened in outer space. Reading the Bible can feel like reading about an alien race and culture. We need to interpret what the authors were communicating in...
Right before Jesus’ death, he instituted a special meal for his church to observe. Historically, this meal was called the Eucharist, which means “thanksgiving.” Often today we call it communion or the Lord’s Supper. Although churches differ on how frequently we should take communion, the...
Justification by faith alone is hard to summarize, but Thomas Schreiner does a good job when he describes Martin’s Luther’s view in his book, Faith Alone: The Doctrine of Justification (Zondervan, 2015): God’s radical grace was necessary for human beings to be right before God because human...
When modern people hear talk of science and faith, they don’t know whether to stay silent or prepare for a heated debate. The story we often hear goes something like this: with the rise of science and technology, belief in God is foolish. We assume...
Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you (Ex. 20:12). For a brief time after college, I worked in a nursing home. That job was probably one of the hardest jobs I’ve...
So what is a sacrament? Many people think the sacraments are a pledge or dedication of our lives to God. However, the sacraments are actually much greater and bigger than that. They are not so many things we do for God but are actually the means God...