When people depend on you for guidance and justice you have a responsibility to put a guard around your sobriety and alertness. A leader cannot afford to be compromised. Part of the cost of leadership is constant vigilance and awareness.

Is the fear of the Lord a good or a bad thing? The Bible appears to commend it in numerous places:

In a few days, Christians all around the world will begin celebrating Holy Week in a way that we haven’t done at any point before in our history. Large group gatherings will be impossible for most and illegal for many. Baptisms will be postponed – or perhaps attempted online. Communion will almost certainly be deferred. Celebrations will be muted and expressions of joy will seem forced. The church of Jesus Christ is in exile.

These are uncharted waters and we are all sailing without a map. Now is not the time for an authoritative pronouncement from the keyboard warrior class. Now is not the time to judge and condemn our neighbours. Now is the time for study, reflection, dialogue, decision and mercy.

I think we’ve officially reached the end of the “easy part” of the coronavirus challenge. Difficult decisions will soon have to be made. Can we afford to continue with our current “total quarantine” approach? Can we afford not to?

On Wednesday, March 11th 2020 the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus or COVID-19 to be a pandemic. This is uncharted territory for all of us. It is important that we respond wisely, courageously, compassionately and with faith. Toward that end here are a few recommended “Best Practices” for churches, pastors and members.

The Parable Of The Dishonest Manager seems to show Jesus approving of dishonest and unethical business practices. But how can that possibly be?

You have to know God the way Job did in order to trust him like that. When you can’t find God in your pain – you better know him enough to know that he sees you, he’s got you and he will never let you go.

Reading through the Bible is a dangerous exercise. I remember doing it for the first time as a teenager and being quite struck and disoriented when I came to Exodus 4:21: And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. (Exodus 4:21 ESV) What does it mean that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart? How is that fair? Why would he do that? What does…

If you were to make a short list of the strangest paragraphs in the Bible, Exodus 4:24–26 would almost certainly be on it. Moses has just met God at the burning bush and been given an exalted commission: go and speak to Pharaoh, and serve as God’s agent for the redemption of his people. He’s been called and equipped with miraculous powers, and now he begins to move out in fulfillment of his mission. We’re not prepared for what comes next: At a lodging place on the way the LORD met him and…

Ilya Repin [Public domain] This is one of the most impressive statements preserved in Holy Scripture, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him” (Job 13:15 KJV). John Calvin wrote a whole sermon on this section of Job’s speech. In it he compares God to a wise and benevolent surgeon. The surgeon knows when and where to attack the disease – and when to wait and stay his hands. Calvin says: “Let us not think it strange if He does not heal them at…

This is one of those verses that should come with a warning label: “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4 ESV).  Does that mean that the law is bad? No, it can’t mean that. The Apostle Paul says, “the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good” (Romans 7:12 ESV). Does that mean that Christians can ignore the law and live however they please? No, it can’t mean that either. Romans 3:31 says, “On the contrary, we uphold…