Out of My Control: What do I do?
What do you do when things that are utterly out of your control go wrong? It happens. Sometimes we feel like we’re having “one of those days” and sometimes too, we feel like “things” have been that way for years. What should we do? How should we act? Now of course,...
Where does worry get you?
My assistant recently organized some of my old files, and she brought me this excerpt of a pastor column I wrote nearly 30 years ago: “I’ll admit it. I’m a worrier. I worry about today. I worry about tomorrow. I worry about money. I worry about friends. I worry about...
College, Isolation, and the Christian Life
This past weekend Houston Baptist University hosted hundreds of people on campus for our annual Family Weekend. It’s always heartwarming to see students introducing their parents to new friends and showing parents around campus. As I watched this familiar scene, I...
Why do we fight and quarrel?
What is the source of your quarreling? Jealousy. Envy. Materialism. These are the kinds of things that make people angry and fight and internally want to kill one another. That’s what James says in the fourth chapter of his letter to the believers. Jealousy is the...
Are you slow to anger?
In previous blogs, I discussed the first two parts of the thematic proverb of the book of James, “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger” (James 1:19). From James 3:13 all the way to the end of the book,...
James 3: Are you slow to speak?
Reading time: 4 minutes The second part of the James 1:19-20 proverb is, "Slow to speak,” and James elaborates on our speech in chapter 3. In my previous blogs, I discussed the first two chapters of James, including the first part of the proverb, which is “be quick to...
Are you a real hearer of the word?
Reading Time: 5 minutes In my last blog, I discussed what it means to “be quick to hear” in James 1:19-20. This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not...
James 1: Are you quick to hear?
Reading Time: 4 minutes As I said in my previous blog, James is a book about how to walk faithfully through the Christian life. In James 1:19-20, we get what I think is the proverb, the thematic verses, which give the feeling of the whole book of James. “This you...
James 1: Christian Wisdom Starts with Christ
Reading Time: 4 minutes A book of wisdom and Christian practice, the book of James has frequently been characterized as "Christian wisdom literature” and has a very Jewish feel to it. If a Jewish Christian were looking at the book of James, I think he or she would say...