No one is more influential in your life than you are, because no one talks to you more than you do. How well are you counseling yourself?  In this short post from his blog, Wednesday’s Word, Paul David Tripp reminds us of the power of the internal conversations we will have today. He challenges us to talk to ourselves in ways that are consistent with Gospel truth and grace. If we do, our circumstances may not change, but our unhappiness will:

You are in an unending conversation with yourself. You are talking to yourself all the time, interpreting, organizing, and analyzing what’s going on inside you and around you. You may be talking to yourself about why you feel so tired. Or maybe you woke up this morning with a sense of dread and you aren’t sure why. Maybe your mind has traveled back to your distant past and, for reasons you don’t understand, you’re recalling events from your early childhood.

Perhaps you were surprised by how angry you got at the remark of that coworker. Or maybe you’re rehearsing to yourself your schedule for the day. Perhaps you are reliving a conversation that didn’t go too well. The point is that you are constantly involved in an internal conversation that greatly influences the things you decide, say, and do.

What do you regularly tell yourself about yourself, God, and your circumstances? Do your words to yourself encourage faith, hope, and courage? Or do they stimulate doubt, discouragement, and fear? Do you remind yourself that God is near, or do you reason within yourself that, given your circumstances, he must be distant?

Here’s the question: how wholesome, faith-driven, and Christ-centered is the conversation that you have with yourself every day? Do you remind yourself of your need? Do you point yourself once again to the beauty and practicality of God’s grace? Do you tell yourself to run toward him in those moments when you feel like running from him?

No one is more influential in your life than you are, because no one talks to you more than you do. How well are you counseling yourself? Reach out for help one more time today. Confess that you don’t counsel yourself very well, and rest in the rescuing grace of the One who is called Wonderful Counselor.

Do you agree [Read more...]

So I was driving past a gas station and saw man in a wheelchair pumping gas into his handicap-accessible van. I’m sure this happens everyday but I guess I live under a rock because I had never seen this before.

It dawned on me that I would like to speak with him. So I wheeled around and headed back. But by the time I arrived at the pump he was gone. That’s when I had an imaginary conversation with him in my head. It went something like this:

Me:             Nice van.

Him:          Gets me around.

Me:             I noticed you pumping gas and wondered if I could ask you a question.

Him:          Shoot.

Me:             Do you feel dependent or independent?

Him:          What?

Me:             It seems like you are fairly independent. Considering.

Him:          Do you think I’m more independent than you? [Read more...]

My dad had a first cousin who lost his house in a poker game back in the 60’s. He moved his wife and six kids into the projects, got a new job, bought another house. And then lost that house in a poker game.

My dad was not a proponent of gambling.

That story takes the cake but this one from DeathandTaxes.com caught my attention:

Henry Gribbohm went to a carnival in Manchester, New Hampshire over the weekend and spent his entire life savings trying to win his kids a prize.

No, that is not the premise for an unearthed J.D. Salinger novel. It is an actual occurrence that occurred recently, according to multiple news sources. Mister Gribbohn was trying to win his kids an Xbox Kinect by winning at a $5 carnival game where you toss balls into a tub. He kept missing, and soon had spent $300. He then apparently went home and got $2,300 more. He then apparently lost all that money, too.

Seemingly blind with rage due to his poor luck and bad decision making skills, Gribbohm returned the next day to confront the owners of the stall, [Read more...]

It’s from Steve Dewitt’s blog called, It’s All About Him

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 John 3:2-3 ESV)

Theologians call this “the beatific vision.” We will call it the greatest moment of our lives—to see Christ as he is; not as he was. Not in the weakness of his earthly ministry. Not in the weakness of his sufferings and crucifixion. Certainly not in the weakness of his death. We will not see his glory cloaked as it was during his earthly ministry when God walked among us but looked like any average Joe. Thousands “saw” him with their own eyes and they were not changed by that vision. Jesus’ glory was cloaked. It was stealth glory. Off the radar. His true identity was hidden. The demons knew who he was and cried out, I know who you are—the Holy One of God! (Mark 1:24). Everyone else missed it. Certainly the Pharisees did. The crowds got glimpses through his miracles. His disciples came the closest to seeing it during what is called Jesus’ transfiguration:

And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. (Matthew 17:1-2)

For a few moments, Jesus uncloaked his true glory. It emanated from him like the sun shining in its full strength. No movie effect can come close because that light is not simply light, it is holiness and power and divine authority. The glorious Son of God. The effect on the disciples was terror at the sight of him.

His glory remained cloaked until he ascended to heaven. What is he like now? The Apostle John saw him and described him this way:

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. (Revelation 1:12-16)

This Jesus. This fully glorious Son of God. It is he who is returning and when he does, we shall see him as he is. With our eyes. He will be visible; physical. He will return. We will see him as he is. All he is. All his glory. Some will shrink in fear. But if we abide, if we remain true, we can and will have confidence in that moment for he is our Savior and Lord.

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Do you control your smart-phone or does it control you?

I have a friend who refuses to get one. He sees me fiddling with my iPhone and he waves his ancient fossil of a flip-phone at me and mouths the words, “I’m free!”

I think he’d like this poster, but I hope he doesn’t see it.

Anything can be an idol, even a cell phone. At first idols seem to satisfy, but eventually they point to their altar and demand sacrifices. The cell phone god demands our precious time and attention. Eventually it demands control–we hear the marimba ringtone and we obey.

This 2-minute clip is meant to be funny. I especially like the part where the guy whips out a banjo from behind his back and then the girl smashes the wine glass. But the second time I watched it, the deeper meaning sank in and I silenced the idol:

So if you call, text, email, tweet, or Facetime me today and I don’t respond immediately, it’s nothing personal. It’s [Read more...]

Sometimes I like to jump-start my morning fellowship with God with songs that help me “preach the Gospel to myself.” The next time you set out to seek Him in the early morning stillness, click on this song by Indelible Grace:

This free ebook should help. To the modern mind, the notion of someone rising from the dead is utterly implausible. While many believe in a historical Jesus, they find it incredibly difficult to believe in a resurrected Jesus.

RAISED? grapples with the believability of the resurrection.

Jonathan K. Dodson (MDiv; ThM) serves as a pastor of City Life Church in Austin, Texas. He is the author of Gospel-Centered Discipleship and Unbelievable Gospel.