Consider this

The first chapter of the New Testament letter of First Peter has a very simple outline. The first twelve verses are all about what God, in his mercy and grace, has done for us. Phrases in this section include words like, “mercy… new birth… living hope… inheritance… heaven… God’s power… rejoice… Jesus… salvation” (verses 1-12). The focus in this section of the letter is entirely on what God has done for us. The second section focuses on our response to God. It contains phrases like, “Prepare your minds for action… obedient children… be holy… purified… love one another deeply from the heart” (verses 13-25). It is absolutely essential to get those two sections in the proper order. First, God has given you the gift of salvation, forgiveness and hope through the death of his son Jesus. Then, in response to God’s love, you live a different life. We make a huge mistake when we turn this teaching around and do not honor the ...

They say, “Familiarity breeds contempt”. It is also true that, “Familiarity breeds misunderstanding”. That is especially true of the Bible where we often misinterpret and miss the point of the familiar stories. For example, what is the point of the story of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3)? The common answer is “Disobedience is punished”. They were told not to eat from that tree, they did eat from it and God was not happy. While those details are technically correct, that is not the point of the story! The bottom line of the story is actually “The seriousness of losing your relationship with God”. At one point, they walked and talked with God in the garden. After they disobeyed it says, “The man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden… and they hid from the Lord” (Genesis 3:8). Later it says that, “The Lord banished them from the Garden of Eden” (3:23) and placed a guard at the gate to ke...

It is not often that one arrives at the cemetery 35 years after the funeral, but this past Thanksgiving Sunday, that is exactly what my wife’s family did. Sara’s Grandma, Faye, died of Multiple Sclerosis in the early 1970s. In an effort to help other families avoid living through a similar tragedy, the family donated her body to the University of Saskatchewan so that they could do research regarding this disease. A funeral was held and a memorial stone was placed in a cemetery in Kansas . This past year, however, the family found out that the University had buried Faye in Woodlawn cemetery in Saskatoon and so plans were made to place a stone on her actual grave. To be honest, I did not want to go. I mean, it was 35 years ago! Sure, Saskatoon is the actual spot, but, in reality, what difference does that make? It is just a plot of ground. Why would we bother driving up there just to stand around another stone? Well, ...

Thanks to a friend of mine, I attended the recent “Athletes in Action” supper that was held in town. Saskatchewan Roughriders Kerry Joseph and Wes Cates as well as defensive line coach Ron Estay came to talk about their faith and about how God has blessed them. One of the things that impressed me was the fact that these guys did not have to be here. In fact, I asked Wes, “How many hours of community service do the Riders require you to do?” His answer, “None! We do not have to do anything if we do not want to. They encourage us to get involved in the community, but we are not required to”. These three men gave up their day off to drive down here, speak at the supper and drive home again. Why would they bother doing that? Kerry Joseph answered that question by saying (and I am paraphrasing here), “As football players, we have some influence on others. People look up to us and listen to us, so I have decided to use tha...

The title of this article may seem strange, but, in our most honest moments, I think that we would admit that it accurately describes us. The great majority of our thoughts are about us. Generally, we do what we want when we want to do it. We think in terms of “What will make me happy?” and see almost every situation through the lens that asks, “How will this affect me?” Most of us spend a lot of money, time and effort in order to keep ourselves feeling good about who we are and what we are doing. To a "self-obsessed” world (which includes many Christians), Jesus has some very odd sounding things to say. “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:34-35). “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers...

This past weekend, I asked the congregation to name someone who had helped them in their spiritual walk. I also asked them to tell what that person did that made them so memorable. One of the things that quickly became obvious is that you do not have to be a “Leader” to be a leader. In other words, you do not have to have a spotlight or an official position in the church to make a difference. In fact, of the approximately 20 people mentioned, only one of them was a preacher. Most of them were simply neighbours, friends or co-workers. The second thing I noticed was that “little things” were big things. When people recalled what really helped them, they remembered things like kind words, encouragement, friendship and time spent together. The answers that I received confirmed what I had already suspected. Too often, we make Christianity too hard. In our efforts to be useful servants of God, we impose rules and expectations that...

Over the years, I have been to literally hundreds of stock car races. At every one of them, I have been surrounded by “Expert Drivers”. You know, guys who sit there and say, “Why did he do that?” or “He should have…” (fill in the blank). In fact, I have given out my fair share of “driving advice” while sitting in the grandstands. However, after this past weekend, my attitude is completely different. Last Friday night, Estevan Motor Speedway held its first annual “Faster Pastor” race. It was a chance for church leaders to get into race cars and see what things are like from the other side of the fence and, let me tell you, it is very different. The cars are loud. The track is rough. It is hard to see anything beside you and, because you do not have a rearview mirror, you cannot see anything behind you. The track that seemed so wide before the race started suddenly seems very narrow. In other words, it is much more difficult than...