When some professing Christians liken the Holy Spirit to a “funny and sneaky and silly blue genie” like the one in Aladdin, it becomes painfully obvious that many professing Christians don’t know the Holy Spirit, at least as they should. There are many things attributed to the Holy Spirit today, things like speaking gibberish, laughing uncontrollably, falling like a dead person on the ground or flailing around on the ground, and even so called “miracles” which never seem to be...
You look at your schedule for the month and think, “How am I going to make it through this?” You hear the unwelcome words from your doctor, “It’s cancer.” You feel deep grief and regret over your child who is rebelling against God and the Christian upbringing you tried to give them. You notice the empty seat at the table – they’re gone – and tears well up in your eyes. Hard times are indiscriminate. No one desires them to come, but they come to everyone. And when they come, hard...
Bondage is uncomfortable. Who enjoys gluing their fingers together with superglue? What wrestler enjoys not being able to move as his shoulder blades are pinned to the mat? Who wants to be in handcuffs or behind bars? Bondage is uncomfortable. Freedom, on the other hand, is a universal delight. Heidelberg Catechism 1 states that our only comfort in life and death is that Jesus Christ “has set [us] free from all the power [or tyranny] of the devil.” This presupposes that we were in...
Years ago, when I was the Director of Student Ministry at a church in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, I invited a family to go out to Rita’s Italian Ice with my wife and me. The invitation was accompanied with my offer to pay. When we got to Rita’s, I realized I was missing something important – my wallet. I couldn’t pay. I guess I could’ve scrounged up a few coins from the car, but I wouldn’t have been able to pay the full bill. Rather than dejectedly heading back to the car and...
What gives you comfort? Your hands enfolding a cup of tea? Savoring a piece of chocolate cake? Falling into the loving embrace of your spouse? Sitting beside a crackling fire in your favorite sweater with good book in hand? There are many pleasures in this life that do give wonderful comfort, but nothing comforts the soul accept the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Question one of the Heidelberg Catechism asks a good question about comfort. It asks, “What is your only comfort in life and...
