There is a great deal being said in recent days about Jesus being divisive. What is a stunning turn of events is that it is not being declared by people outside the Christian faith who you would expect to have a negative view of Jesus. Instead, it is being proclaimed by people within the church …
Tag: loving your neighbor
Loving Your Enemies
Several years ago, I wrote a book titled The Provocative God: Radical Things God Has Said and Done. The focus of the book was to address radical passages in the Bible that we have either become so familiar with that we fail to recognize their radical nature, or that, due to their radical nature, we …
Whatever Happened to Hope?
Do we live in troubled times? Of course we do. I don't need to give you a litany of the terrible things happening in our world. You see it 24/7 on your news feed, social media, and from the people around you who are sharing and passing along more of the same. It is a …
Can We Really Love Our Enemies in Times Like These?
I am reminded of a line from a song by Larry Norman, "The Beatles said all you need is love, and then they broke up". If four lads from Liverpool who were making serious bank together couldn't get along, how are we supposed to actually love one another in a time of such division and …
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We All Need Forgiveness: An excerpt from my upcoming book, The Provocative Christian: How Gospel Focused Living Changes Everything.
On June 6, 1944, allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France. One of the hardest hit units was the 116 infantry regiment of the American 29th Infantry Division. They landed on Omaha Beach in the first wave of landing craft. David Silva was a 19-year-old infantryman in the 29th Division. When the ramp dropped …
A Fresh Look at a Familiar Story
The Good Samaritan may be the most famous of all the parables that Jesus told. It certainly ranks in the top two or three. Sometimes familiarity like that breeds indifference. We have heard something so much that we think we have gotten all we can out of it. Yet, no matter how familiar I am …
Paul, Athens, and Navigating Culture
Ancient Athens Have you ever felt like you live in a culture that you don't recognize any longer? The values you are faced with every day are nothing like what you grew up with. The practices that people carry out in their lives each day are at times shocking to you. How do you respond …
Wanting Christianity Without Christ
When we live in our own cultural setting, with little real exposure to other cultures, it is easy to miss how we got to where we are. When we live in our own microcosm of time and ignore the centuries it took to get to this moment, it is inevitable that we will have blinders …
The Flip Side of Justice
Want to make people uncomfortable? Just bring up the topic of justice in American culture today. There will be immediate reactions of every conceivable type. Some will cry out about the level of injustice with claims that America has never been concerned about justice and that the entire enterprise is rotten to the core. Others …
When May a Christian Defy the Government?
In light of recent events at our nation's Capitol Building and the close association of Christian banners and symbols with that event, I began to think about the whole question of when Christians may or even should defy the governing authorities over them. The fact that yesterday was the day celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King …
Of Refugees, Politics, and Jesus
If there is something sad that characterises how we approach difficult or controversial issues in the age of internet memes. It is that the extremes move to center stage and gain all the attention. The pithy, mic-drop sound bite becomes the be all and end all in the debate. Emotion packed retorts push out any …
Chick-fil-a and Wondering “Where Have All the Liberals Gone”?
I had a seminary professor who was what I call a true liberal. By that I mean, she really believed in and lived according to the idea that we all have the liberty to hold our own opinion of things, live by them, and express them. Our differing opinions, when shared and engaged, make us …
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Blessed are Those Who Hunger and Thirst
What do you long for, yearn for, lay awake at night dreaming about? What do you hunger for? Much of what we yearn and hunger for never becomes reality. When I was a kid I desperately wanted to go to the moon. I could have told you everything about the space program, including every man …
The Gospel is NOT what you have been told
If your Christian experience has found you in a more conservative church that focuses on people asking Jesus into their hearts then you have probably been trained that the Gospel is all about loving God and making sure you will get to heaven. If your experience is more of a church that focuses on serving …
Don’t Even Think of Saying You Sacrifice for Jesus.
I came upon this quote recently. It was written by Dionysius the Bishop of Alexandria in 260AD. He wrote at the conclusion of a five year plague that at its height killed 5,000 people a day and by the end two out of every three inhabitants of the city. “Most of our brother Christians showed …
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The Provocative Christian 