If you're anywhere near my age, you probably recall comedian Flip Wilson's infamous character, Geraldine. Geraldine would get herself into trouble of some kind, and then insist, wide-eyed,  "The devil made me do it!" That always got a laugh out of me. It's tempting to blame our bad behavior on someone else -- but it can also be a mistake to ignore or downplay the reality of our spiritual enemy. When it comes to the existence and work of Satan, Christians tend toward one extreme or the other. On the one hand, we can blame the devil for everything, giving him far too much credit. Continue Reading

You may recall my previous post, wherein I told the stories of a young mother who successfully built a business and a young father who spent his extra hours earning money for his boy’s college fund. Inspiring stories like these move us to do the same.  We’re motivated by the popular slogan printed on many a T shirt, Follow Your Dreams. Doesn’t this notion appeal to the spirit of American independence? Don’t we love the idea of leaving our day jobs to be our own bosses? Don’t we long for financial security (never mind that it’s an oxymoron)? Here’s the thing: followers of Jesus Continue Reading

The bride-to-be was clearly excited about her upcoming wedding day.  “Only two more weeks,” she announced on social media, “and the curtain comes down!” This young woman thought of herself as a Christian. Although she already shared a home with her fiancée, they had agreed to wait until their wedding night before they became sexually intimate. Thus the announcement of the curtain coming down. This was not the first time I’d seen such an announcement. As always, I had mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, at least this young couple appeared to be making an effort to obey Continue Reading

It was going to be an exciting conference, one the youth group had been looking forward to for weeks. Our church had been praying for their spiritual breakthrough. No one expected what happened. At about one p.m. the day of the trip, passengers in the second vehicle watched in horror as the van carrying ten students and their youth leader careened off the highway's shoulder, flipped, and rolled. In an instant, joyful anticipation was eclipsed by terror and trauma. The human heart frames a question whenever hard things happen: Why? Why did God allow this awful thing to Continue Reading