This person wrote a critical piece about “some Christians, most pastors, and Churches today.” The comment section was filled with two types of responses. The first were people who agreed and then piled on to the criticism. The second group went into defense mode, stating something like, “Not the people in my Church,” or “not my pastor,” or “not at my Church.”

Generic criticisms, by their very nature, do not take into account the individual nature of each situation. They draw conclusions based on appearances and not firsthand knowledge.

If you are a Christian, and someone begins to offer their generic statements, respond by asking, “Tell me exactly where you have seen that?” Whenever you begin to probe their conclusions, they usually start falling apart.

Many ideas that people possess are not rooted in any real situation. People are parroting what they heard from a favorite public speaker in some format. That doesn’t make them accurate; it only makes them easy to repeat, so they do not have to engage personally. The truth is usually far from the criticisms we paint with broad brush strokes.

There’s an old saying that we should leave every place better than we found it. That might mean picking up trash, washing the dishes after a meal, or putting things back in order before heading out. It means not leaving things the way they are but seeking ways to make them better.

We can also apply the same principle to our relationships, workplaces, and faith. Wherever we go, we can shine Jesus’ light to bring peace where there’s conflict, encouragement where there’s discouragement, and hope where there’s despair.

Leaving things better than we found them isn’t about perfection; it is about intentional kindness. It’s about seeing opportunities to reflect Christ wherever you go.

When we walk away from a conversation, a meeting, or even a room, may we leave it infused with our kindness, God’s grace, and more goodness than when we arrived. The Kingdom of God grows, and the world becomes a better place one small act at a time.

There are multiple types of Christian knowledge.

The base layer is knowledge of the Scriptures. This is the foundation of everything a follower of Jesus believes and does. It requires a working understanding of how the concepts of the Bible are shown and connected throughout its pages.

Another layer is the knowledge of “Spiritual Disciplines.” These are the righteous actions of a believer that connect them to God. It includes prayer, giving, fasting, serving, and time to reflect and meditate on God’s word. These actions require us to move into a closer relationship with God as we come to know him on a personal level.

The other type of knowledge is what I refer to as Church knowledge. This is built on an understanding of people and organizations. There are specific dynamics that leaders need to be aware of when making decisions. These aspects are frequently changing in response to cultural shifts, but others are grounded in human nature and remain unchanging. Some of these are explicitly stated in the Bible, while others are not.

One mistake you can make as a follower of Jesus is to think that maturity is possessing a thorough knowledge of everything. That is simply not true. Some great preachers and teachers have little knowledge of the workings of a Church. Some leaders have a vast understanding of the Church, but their scriptural framework is lacking. Still, someone may know both of those and lack a deep relationship with God, and they derail a rapidly growing Church with a substantial sin that makes headlines.

While I hope that all of us continue growing in our knowledge throughout our entire lives, I also believe that Christian maturity is found in appreciating the diversity of the group that God has brought together in the Church. True wisdom is a willingness to humbly acknowledge that we don’t know it all, and we need other people to help us. The scholar needs the prayer warrior. The pastor needs the theologian. The servant needs people with the gift of leadership.

No one person alone knows everything, but together we can know enough to bring God the glory he deserves through the local Church.

Sometimes when the nights are quiet and my wife is sound asleep, I lie there and start saying a silent prayer to God. And then the spiral begins. I start by confessing my sins from the day and asking God to forgive me. That sparks the thoughts of some of the other sins I have committed in my life. Finally, I land my mind squarely on the two or three most ungodly things I have ever done.

Feelings begin to well up inside me, and guilt wraps its evil little fingers around my soul. While I know in my mind that I am forgiven, deep in my soul, I am not so sure. Even though I’ve prayed, confessed, and believe God’s promise of forgiveness, that heavy weight lingers.

The truth is that guilt is not from God once we’ve repented. Scripture says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). If God declares us clean, then the voice that keeps accusing us is not His. That’s the enemy trying to chain us to a past that Jesus has already freed us from.

Letting go of guilt doesn’t mean forgetting what happened, but it means trusting that Christ’s sacrifice is greater than our sin. It means believing that the cross is enough, even when our feelings say otherwise.

When guilt rises, I need to remind myself, just like you do: I am forgiven and I am free in Christ. That’s not wishful thinking; it’s the truth of the Gospel.

Many people have become slaves to activity. It has been called the tyranny of the urgent.

We spend each day running errands, putting out fires, and handling whatever is required of us at the moment. We move through our day-to-day without prioritizing a firm schedule.

Whenever we focus on serving our immediate needs, we often neglect what is truly important in life. The things that matter most, such as showing love and building strong relationships, are frequently left with little time to accomplish. Spiritual growth can become nonexistent because we usually feel no immediate need for it.

One significant question for us to ask ourselves weekly is this: Do I have a plan to do the things that matter most to me this week?

If we do not make time for what is truly significant, those things will never happen.  

I firmly believe that one day I will stand before God, and He will ask why He should let me into His heaven. My response will be one word:  Jesus.

Then he will ask what I did to demonstrate my total dependence on Jesus during my lifetime, and I will say that I took up my cross daily and followed him.

That means that every year, I gave myself entirely to the work of the Lord. Each week, I worked forty hours as required, but then donated at least ten more hours. I chose to spend countless hours writing the best sermons I could and delivering them with all my ability. I met people and stretched myself to talk when I would rather be alone. I gave up my evenings to be a part of a small group when I would rather watch sports in my living room. I have poured out my energy, stretched my mind, and sacrificed a “normal” life because I believe that Jesus is my Savior AND Lord.

I do not write this to brag about my service. Many people do far more than I do. This is not even a call for people to become full-time ministers, like me. I am not trying to communicate that I am better than anyone. I am nothing special. In fact, I am a total mess. I am only a sinner saved by the grace of God, and I trust Jesus with my whole heart.

The reason I write this is because on the day of judgment, Jesus will not only ask those two questions of me, but of everyone. Honestly, the first question is relatively easy to answer. The second one requires everything. But if the first one is true, the second one is compulsory.

I don’t know where I first heard the expression, but I am sure it was on TV or in a movie.

Imagine cops walking into a bar to arrest a suspect, and they say, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” What they mean is that the suspect can get up and walk out quietly, or they can beat them into submission and drag them out against their will.

There are two ways to make decisions. We can choose the path of least resistance, or we can take the one with the most resistance.

Being a follower of Jesus means that we have chosen both the easy way and the hard way.

Sometimes, choices are clear-cut and require little thought, effort, or impact. If you are asked to lie, you simply respond with a “No.” Easy decision, limited resistance, and you don’t have to remember the lies you told.

Sometimes, the same choice is not so clear-cut and can make your life more difficult. If your boss asks you to lie about some numbers so that everyone gets their bonus, the decision gets more complicated. I know people who have lost business, friends, and respect because they chose the hard way.

I wish I could tell you that following Jesus is always the easy way and it leads to your best life now, but that is not true. Sometimes your choices as a believer will result in your life becoming more difficult.

Choosing to follow Jesus means that we do not make choices based on ease or comfort, but rather, they are based solely on His word and will. We can only control our actions, not how other people respond to them, and sometimes that makes life easy, and at other times, hard.   

Jesus is never concerned with providing us with details about his Second Coming, the end times, or any of the events surrounding them. He has little concern to teach us about when, where, or what it will be like. His primary emphasis in his teaching is on being prepared for the final judgment.

When he teaches about being prepared, it has nothing to do with looking to the skies, building a bunker, or establishing a timeline of events. Instead, he speaks about what we are doing with our lives today.

Matthew chapter 25 is one of the essential passages where he teaches us about his return. He uses three parables about ten bridesmaids, three servants, and dividing the people into two groups. Each picture highlights a singular idea.  

The first one is about five women who are prepared for the wedding party, and five who are not, as they run out of oil. In their quest to get some, they get left out of the reception banquet. The second story is about a man who leaves his servants with varying amounts of his wealth. One man receives five bags of gold, one person receives two, and the final person receives one. When he returns, he checks on their faithfulness based on what they did with what he had entrusted to them. Finally, he tells of the coming of the Son of Man and his division of people into sheep and goats based on their lives of service that were done prior to his arrival. The point is that we should be prepared every day for his return by utilizing what he gave us in a way that represents him well.

Whenever someone asks me about the end times, they are looking for some mystical knowledge that I might have discovered in the Bible that they are not aware of. My response to people who ask is quite simple: “Stop looking for some special information and start living out what you claim to believe right now.” Nothing else can prepare you for his return.

For any dance to truly work, the body has to move in step with the rhythm of the music.

The melody and the movement must flow together in harmony. The words and the body must be in perfect unison.

When everything is connected seamlessly, it is a thing of beauty.

And of course, I’m not really talking about dancing.

A common refrain in the Old Testament is the phrase, “His love endures forever.” It is found repeatedly in the Psalms, and Psalm 136 ends each line with that statement for a total of 26 times.  

Why the repetition? Because God knows we need the reminder. Life has its share of ups and downs, victories and defeats, moments of joy and seasons of sorrow. In all of it, we can lose sight of the unshakable truth that God’s love is not temporary, conditional, or fragile. It endures.

Psalm 136 walks us through Israel’s story from creation, deliverance from Egypt, guidance through the wilderness, victories over enemies, and after every act of God’s faithfulness comes the same declaration: “His love endures forever.” It is a rhythm that drives home the reality that no matter what changes, His love remains the constant.

That same refrain holds for us today. When you succeed, His love endures forever. When you fail, His love endures forever. When you feel close to Him or when you feel far away, His love endures forever.

So let those ancient words become your modern anthem. Whatever you’re walking through, whisper these words to your heart: “His love endures forever.” It did yesterday. It does today. And it will tomorrow.