Posts by nlccaadmin

Does the motivation  behind your efforts to please God insult the cross? The writer of Hebrews in Chapter 10 has much to say to us. There are some beautiful and convincing truths here that we would do well to read and  remember as we consider our relationship with God. I think there are some parallels we can…

Are you ever suffering alone? You may think, how can I survive my suffering? Certainly survival is a goal for all of us because to some degree at some unwelcome time we will suffer again. You may be suffering now. As Pastor D.A. Carson points out, “All you have to do is live long enough and you’ll suffer.”  Have…

What is God like? To answer this question, we must first say that God is not like anyone or anything. Some theologians have described our God as “other.” That’s true, but a rather broad description, isn’t it? A.W. Tozer, one of the great spiritual minds of the 20th century, wrote this: “What comes to mind when we think about God…

How welcome is change in your life? Are you thinking “sometimes” like I do? Great! I’m glad to be in company with you. For a lot of us, our first thoughts and concern in evaluating change is how it will affect “ME.” Will it facilitate my plans and paths or will this change hinder me? That’s a pretty natural response, and it’s…

“Cat got your tongue?” Looking for the origins of idioms can be an interesting diversion. This one likely came from the practice the English Navy made of using a “cat-o-nine-tails” whip to punish certain offenders. It is said (and I believe it) that the pain was so severe the person being whipped was speechless trying to recover from…

Have you noticed this? The Christian life/experience is very much one of waiting. This seems to be a bitter pill for a lot of us North Americans who are used to instant gratification, or at the very least, life according to Amazon fulfillment. For many of us, the “now” life has been permanently ingrained in us and we may…

Let’s be real about this. Even for people of “faith,” it’s not always effortless to have “faith” or “believe” in something, is it? For most of us there is an effort that requires choosing to believe, to trust, to have faith. Would that this gift be a more automatic response in the matters that truly count! But a virgin giving birth? Today it’s not as much…

Where are the marks on the wall of your life? Maybe you’ve done this for your kids or your Mom did it for you while you were young. There was some specially designed wall in your home with some pencil marks on it where, as you grew from year to year, she marked where your head had reached.…

I was thinking about Paul’s letter to Titus and how it could appear this young Pastor really caught the “short straw” being given the church in Crete as his responsibility. The more I thought about it, I began to consider what his mission field was like in contrast to say, yours and mine. Cretan poet/philosopher Epimenedes labeled…

Here’s the $1,000,000 question: How can I please you, God? I’ll be very willing to admit that a lot of teachers and preachers have made the answer to this question more perplexing, complicated and sacrificial than it ought to be. I’ll also be quick to add (because I myself have struggled with this) that too often…