This is a question many folks ask. And the main pushback comes from the fact that, at first glance, nowhere in the Gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) does Jesus make the exact statement "I am God." But there is more than one way to claim divinity, and Jesus makes many direct and indirect claims about being divine. One of the best summaries of these claims I … [Read more...] about Did Jesus Really Think He Was God?
Articles
Crouch on Solitude
Andy Crouch (2017) on solitude, silence, and fasting: The central disciplines of the spiritual life, as taught by generations of Christian saints, have stayed the same for twenty centuries now: solitude, silence, and fasting. Each of these pushes us beyond our natural limits, and all of them give us spiritual resources for everyday life that we can't gain any other way.Very … [Read more...] about Crouch on Solitude
Glacial Goals
Big hairy audacious goals. BHAGS. This is the language of leadership literature. You should have big hairy audacious goals. But I am not so sure. Something Small Maybe God wants you to do something small this year. Invest in your neighbor. Finish that book. Improve that one skill in ministry. Focus on that family member. Tend that little plot of earth God has given you. … [Read more...] about Glacial Goals
The Power of Expectations
How powerful are expectations? Very. We feed on the expectations of others. Consider this example: The tendency to see in others what we've been led to expect takes its name from Shaw's play [Pygmalion]. Called the Pygmalion effect, it's nicely suited to controlled experiments. In one of the best-known experimental investigations of the Pygmalion effect, Robert Rosenthal … [Read more...] about The Power of Expectations
Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament
I love these insights on Jesus as the true and better answer to every Old Testament precursor. I wonder if the talk on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:27) went something like this: Here is the text from the video:1 Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us.Jesus is the true and better Abel who, though … [Read more...] about Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament