Follow Jesus Christ

Many evangelicals place very strong emphasis on the word “divine inspiration.” Why? The apostle Paul writes, “All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching….” Around that single word a whole theology of the Bible’s absolute inerrancy is often built. But the question arises: what exactly does “God-breathed” mean? To what…

A tree grows in two directions at once. It is one of nature’s most astonishing images. When we look at a tree, it seems as if its life is directed upward: toward the sun, the sky, the light. The branches reach higher and higher, the leaves catch the light, the…

The Apostle Paul was right when he spoke of death and rebirth. For a long time it seemed as if he borrowed that idea from the mystery cults or Stoicism. More likely, though, he spoke from personal experience, and the language of the mysteries merely helped him explain it to…

Martha and Mary at first appear as figures of an all-too-familiar human life. They have a home, a brother, an established routine, a relationship with Jesus, and the natural assurance that when it really matters everything will be all right. They know exactly whom to turn to in trouble. They…

Imagine for a minute a person who has made a serious mistake at work. Because of his decision the company lost money. He knows he’s at fault, he’s afraid of being fired, he can’t sleep at night, and he replays what happened over and over. Two courts are working inside…

The crowd followed Jesus not merely out of curiosity. People had seen miracles, heard words that seemed alive, and felt that something real and significant was happening in His presence. When He fed thousands, it became a moment of collective uplift. It was the scene of the feeding of the…

Does the article’s title mean yet another dose of “Christian psychology”? Is the author overcomplicating the Gospel? Let’s sort it out. How do you personally understand the Gospel? Though everyone simply calls it “the Gospel,” in the mind of each believer it actually carries some adjective — even if people…

As they walked along the road, the disciples of Jesus were arguing among themselves. This was not a casual conversation or a light disagreement. They were talking about who among them was greater, who held a higher place, who was closest to Jesus. Their words betrayed not only a desire…

There are different levels of faith. As a rule, the turning point when someone moves to a higher level of faith usually looks like this: “what I believed in no longer holds.” That can be disappointment in people, a crisis of faith, a sense of emptiness, or an inner conflict…