How far have we come?

We’re all familiar with the Apostle’s charge in 1Cor 11.1, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” It’s a call to follow him in so far as he follows Christ. He actually says the same thing in several places. E.g. “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us,” (Phil 3.17). The Epistle to the Hebrews echoes this sentiment with, “[be] imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises,” (6.12); and with “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith,” (13.7). Today I’d like to introduce you to a Christian brother worthy of imitation… Continue reading “How far have we come?”

Sin is still here

Nothing grieves me more than to discover every day that sin is still here. I don’t mean still here in this world; for I expect it to be here until Christ comes to eradicate it. This is, after all, a fallen world, a world under the curse of Adam’s rebellion against God. The Lord said “In the day you eat of it you shall surely die,” and the world of men has been under the curse of that death ever since. Nor do I mean still here in my family and friends; for I know full well that my wife and children, my dearest friends and loved ones, and every member of my church is a sinner living every day as pensioners of God’s grace and mercy. So what, then, do I mean?  Continue reading “Sin is still here”

What’s so bad about pride?

“There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves…. There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others” (C. S. Lewis). That universal vice, that most unpopular fault, is pride.  Continue reading “What’s so bad about pride?”