'Until a man is nothing, God can make nothing out of him." Martin Luther, theologian I've gone through a fair amount of my life wishing to be size Small. It just seemed like such a pleasant thing not to be worried about weight, not to imagine I would be judged in a particular way - always obsessing about what others might think of me; my thoughts under their control. Don't we let outward appearance define so much of our inner self - our confidence, our ability to interact with others, our motivation to move forward, our self-assurance in success? Like carrying 10 or 20 extra pounds might impede our intellect, our ability to accomplish something, or our capacity to love others or show them Jesus' love. If we need to lose weight for our health, that's one thing; for our vanity, that's another. But there's another kind of small- I love reading the story of Samuel looking for Saul's successor in 1 Samuel 16. Saul had rejected following the Lord, s...
"It is the whole business of the whole church to preach the whole gospel to the whole world." Charles Spurgeon, preacher Ever stayed quiet when you could have seized an opportunity to tell someone else about your belief and hope in Jesus? Yep, me too- to my shame. I listened to a well known pastor of a large church in Texas express to another well known pastor in his podcast of his anxiety about preaching. The other pastor agreed that he, too, had the same. I am talking very passionate, biblically sound, well-educated in all apologetics and cultural happenings, in- person/online influential pastors! But they went out there every opportunity they could anyway to do it because they knew it was literally life or death for people. Why do we hesitate or get anxiety? Well, I'm convinced it's one of Satan's easiest tools to hinder us. It seems like we should be thrilled to tell someone about the God that has rescued us from the pits of darkness;...