Defining Liberty, Part One

Without becoming needlessly academic, I want to define a term that I’ve been tossing around. What do I mean when I declare that the Christian has liberty? Essentially, liberty is freedom . . . freedom from something and freedom to do something.

Practical Suggestions for Guarding Against Extremes

Three suggestions come to mind as I think about living with the risks of grace and putting all this into balanced living. First, guard against extremes if you want to enjoy the freedom grace provides. Try your best to keep balanced.

Grace for the Sinful

For the next few moments, graze slowly over this paragraph of truth recorded by Paul in the letter to the Ephesians. Take your time. Don’t hurry.

Intrusions

I watched a young mother in a waiting room just last week. She was pregnant and had a toddler, plus one in diapers in her arms. Was she busy! Yet with incredible patience, that mother hung in there.

A Puritan’s Prayer

Some years ago I was given a book of Puritan prayers called The Valley of Vision. I have worn out one copy and had to purchase another. I recommend this volume to you. Read the following prayer from the Puritan’s pen slowly.

Dealing with Rejection

If you enjoy watching and playing the game of football (I certainly do), you have observed a curious activity called a “spike.” It’s rather unusual. A team fights its way toward the goal line yard by yard.

Servanthood Starts in the Mind

Wouldn’t you love to live courageously in spite of the odds? Doesn’t it sound exciting to be divinely powerful in day-to-day living? Aren’t you eager to become independently authentic in a day of copycat styles?

What Serving Others Doesn’t Mean

Christians talk a lot about serving and giving and releasing rights and putting down self—and we should. It’s part of the whole Christian package. It’s expected, to an extent. But isn’t it possible to go overboard on stuff like this?

God’s Major Objective in Your Life

Our world has become a large, impersonal, busy institution. We are alienated from each other. Although crowded, we are lonely. Pushed together but uninvolved. No longer do most neighbors visit across the backyard fence.

Incarnation

EVERY YEAR, as Christmas draws nearer, I remember a story Paul Harvey told on one of his radio broadcasts. It’s a tale that never grows old. One raw winter night the man heard an irregular thumping sound against the kitchen storm door. He went to a window and watched as tiny, shivering sparrows, attracted to the evident warmth inside, beat in vain against the glass.

Tag Archives: Romans