A couple of weeks back, I posted a reflection on the coming season of Lent. I specifically shared some thoughts on fasting as I had re-read Richard Foster’s brief comments in his book Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. I quoted his quoting of John Wesley on fasting:

I have been browsing over some more thoughts in John Piper’s classic work on fasting, A Hunger for God. Many will be aware of his memorable words in Desiring God: ‘God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him.’ Not many words like them!

But here are a couple of other quotes just to ponder about the purpose of both food and fasting: Continue reading

Next Wednesday, 22 February, the season of Lent will begin.

What is Lent?

First off, I think evangelicals have learned a little bit to not overreact against the more ‘traditional’ or ‘liturgical’ church context (though I would argue we all have our traditions and liturgies). And so there is a healthy respect for the church traditions that have been handed down to us through the centuries. One of them is the season of Lent – a time to prayerfully and even sacrificially reflect upon the work of Christ, specifically his death moving into his resurrection. During this time as well, many appreciate fasting of all different types, if not also taking up other spiritual disciplines.

But that is another ‘bad’ word, right? Disciplines. Sounds harsh. Sounds legalistic. Sounds so religious. Continue reading

When many Christians read the Bible, it is possible that an underlying notion exists that the Old Testament presents a different picture of our God than that of the New Testament. Not wholly different altogether, but different nonetheless. God expresses His judgment and wrath in an overwhelming sense, whereas, in the New Testament, He is shown as a much more gracious and loving Father. Or so it goes.

And we might read passages like John 1:16-17 and believe it helps underline this thinking:

But I want to suggest to us that our God, as revealed in the old covenant, is full of grace, mercy and love. Of course, Jesus is the greatest expression of God’s love and grace, the exact representation. He is grace and love incarnate. But our God has always been a God full of ferocious chesed and agape from the beginning. And He has always been a just God as well, though I would argue His justice is about making things right, which becomes good news for believers, but bad news for non-believers.

And so, in Genesis 3, maybe the great black mark for humanity, where our first parents ruined it for us all, I still believe we can find great expressions of God’s grace even in the midst of pronouncements of judgment.

Let me suggest 6 points of grace: Continue reading

In just a week and a half from now, I am off to Lusaka, Zambia. My trip is centred around an opportunity that I have to teach at Hope College, a pastors ministry training college headed up by ministries (i.e. leaders) within our network of churches.

I am looking forward to this visit on several fronts. Continue reading

With Christmas messages being shared with frequency and fervour these days, the usual place to head is either in Matthew’s or Luke’s Gospel (or maybe a combination of the two). And if one heads into Matthew, where is the usual starting place?

Verse 18.

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about…

Not a bad place to start. But it’s not the beginning of the Christmas story, at least from Matthew’s perspective.

For Matthew, a Jew also writing to Jews, what we call the ‘Christmas story’ actually begins in vs1.

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah…

Well, it must begin there if he started off his account that way.

It’s just that we aren’t too sure what to do with all those names, much less pronounce some of them. Continue reading