Here’s to real independence: the freedom that comes from a savior who has kept the law in our place, and which allows us to live, delivered from bondage.
“The sins we do not forget, God does not remember.”
Reading the Bible Narcissistically
Unless we go to the Bible to see Jesus and his work for us, even our devout Bible reading can become fuel for our own narcissistic self-improvement plans.
Jesus + Nothing = Everything is Being Republished
I’m excited to announce that my book Jesus + Nothing = Everything is being republished and will be available this fall. Just over three years ago, the book was taken out of print by the original publisher because I violated the morality clause in my contract and the rights were returned to me. I never thought it would ever be…
A Sermon on Psalm 51
Nearly a year ago, my wife and I moved 1,200 miles from Willis, Texas to Fort Myers, Florida so that we could attend Living Faith Church. We longed to be in a church where we would hear the gospel every week and receive the care we needed and craved. The sweet, small community of Living Faith has become our family…
What Does Life After “Death” Look Like?
Almost everyone gets it, one way or the other. And I don’t mean “gets it” in the sense of understanding something. I mean “gets it” in the sense of getting-it-between-the-eyes. Almost everyone gets the big hurt; and, in the words of The Doors, “almost no one here gets out alive.” Whether you say of your experience…
How Can I Keep from Singing?
My friend Jacob Smith once suggested that all human beings are three bad days in a row from becoming a tabloid headline, and most of us are already on day two. At a time when our worst private moments, most shameful secrets, and deepest character flaws can be easily found out and publicly exposed for the whole world…
How is Grace Commonly Misunderstood?
During an interview a few years ago, the interviewer asked this question: “In what ways is grace most commonly misunderstood today?” This was my answer then. And it is still my answer now. I think the main way grace is misunderstood today is when people confuse it with cheapened law. Let me tell you what I mean…
What is Grace?
The definition I give for grace in my book One-Way Love comes from Paul Zahl: Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return. Grace is love coming at you that has nothing to do with you. Grace is being loved when you are unlovable…. The cliché definition of grace is “unconditional love.”…
When God Breaks You
In my devotional, It is Finished: 365 Days of Good News, we share this amazing testimony from my friend Mike Adams. Mike is a former pastor and co-host/producer of The Grace Cafe Podcast with his wife, Susan. I had made theology my pursuit, my goal, my aim, my identity. And I was pretty good at it too…
Reflections from the Subway
My wife and I see a lot of movies. But our favorite movie of the last year or so is—without question—The Darkest Hour, featuring the Academy Award-winning performance of Gary Oldman playing Winston Churchill. There are so many things about this film that my wife and I love, but there is one scene in particular…
Basin Theology
A Presbyterian pastor told of a conversation with a man in his congregation; “You preachers talk a lot about giving, but when you get right down to it, it all comes down to Basin Theology.” The pastor asked, “Basin Theology, what’s that?” The man replied, “Remember what Pilate did when he had the chance to acquit Jesus?”
It is Really Finished
Today is Good Friday—the day that Christians all over the world consider the cross of Jesus in an amplified way. Christians love the cross because it is there where our rescue was realized, where our salvation was secured. It is there where God’s one-way love was put on display for the whole world to see.
Christ is Deeper Still
Normally, the outdoorsy image of choice for spiritual growth is mountain climbing. You know how it is: new Christian at the bottom of the mountain, mature Christian near the top. I want to take you a different way…so let’s go spelunking! Spelunking is cave exploration, and it’s my suggestion for another way…
The Myth of Forgiving Yourself
For more years than I care to remember, a stalker has cast her shadow over my life. She trails me to work, spies on me at home, skulks nearby when I go out on the town. Never is she far away, and never does she slack in her pursuit. She’s a different breed of stalker, however, so reporting her to the police…
Daddy Bill (1918-2018)
It was May 2, 1996, and I was sitting in the U.S. Capitol rotunda with my family. We were eagerly anticipating the ceremony that was getting ready to begin. I had been to Washington DC once before, back in 1985, when I was just 13 years old. This trip was different though. We were there because my grandparents were being…
The Life of an Amputee
A couple of months back, I was driving my daughter Genna (16) to her mom’s. We both love music and we both like to listen to it loud. We always have fun in my car enjoying our favorite songs together. At one point during our two-hour drive, I looked over and Genna was crying. I turned the music down and asked…
I Want a New Drug
Preachers these days are expected to major in “moral renovation.” They are expected to provide a practical “to-do” list, rather than simply announce, “It is finished!” They are expected to do something other than—more than—lift up before their congregation Christ's finished work, preaching a full absolution solely on the basis…
Everything – Jesus = Nothing
This past Sunday I had the privilege of preaching at the New Mount Olive Baptist Church in my hometown of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Mount Olive is a large, historic African American church which has been faithfully serving the greater Fort Lauderdale area since its founding in 1918. It was the first time I had spoken in…
Grace and Drunk Driving
At a dinner one evening, my friend Dr. Rod Rosenbladt told me a true story of how he’d wrecked his car when he was sixteen years old. Rod had been drinking, and in fact, he and his friends were all drunk. After the accident, Rod called his dad, and the first thing his dad asked him was, “Are you all right?” Rod assured him that he…
No Strings Attached
My historical hero Martin Luther once said that “To be convinced in our hearts that we have forgiveness of sins and peace with God by grace alone is the hardest thing.” It’s the hardest thing because we are strings attached people living in a strings attached world with other strings attached people. Everything is conditional…