Tag Archives: GodsAuthority

Life’s a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A mixture of good and bad. Of treats and terrors; happiness and horror; pleasure and pain. We call the bad “evil.” Sometimes it’s particularly bad. Think, for example, of victims of terrorism, pedophilia, or a drunk driver. When particularly bad evil happens a question rises, demanding an answer […]

When evil goes public as it did in Las Vegas last week—brazenly, tragically, and fatally—many Christians feel they need to do for God something God doesn’t feel the need to do for Himself. They become His Perry Mason’s. They make Him their client and seek to defend Him in the court of human opinion. That court’s […]

It happens to just about every Christian. For some reason, prayer flies standby in most of our lives. Something happens and it gets bumped from the day’s flight. So, family stresses or business demands or spiritual laziness make you skip prayer one day. And before you know it you’re on a slippery slope. And five […]

How do you stay optimistic about God in a painful situation that isn’t going to change? For example: arthritis that laughs at Aleve; singleness making you bluer than George Jones’s He Stopped Loving Her Today; a job so boring it makes watching someone else’s home movies seem like skydiving; a Pharaoh oppressive boss. You get the point. […]

To paraphrase Paul, before God saved me, “for me to live was basketball.” I was so dedicated that after I became a Christian an older minister friend told me, “Charley, if you follow Jesus the way you followed basketball you’ll be someone God really uses.” God says something similar to us about our trials. As […]

Clout. Noun. Informal. “Influence or power”: “The President of the United States has a lot of clout.” The cross has clout. It has incomparable influence and peerless power. The Holy Spirit used its message to change Saul of Tarsus from Christianity’s greatest persecutor into Paul its greatest preacher. And it’s this green-thumbed message of the […]

She was one of those out-going, easy to be around people who never make you feel like a pair of brown shoes in a room full of tuxedoes. She’d have been a great ambassador for America. I’m sure she’s been one for her husband. He needed one. He became a pastor. She graced us with […]

I’m a Grace Focused Optimist. I live with The Christian Attitude toward life. That’s optimism . . . the optimism that through Jesus my life is a grace G.O.O.D. A God orchestrated opportunity for development (into Christlikeness) through disposition (optimism) for doxology (giving God glory). Today we conclude our series on the O in our […]

As a Grace Focused Optimist I face life with The Christian Attitude of optimism that my life is a grace G.O.O.D.—a God orchestrated opportunity for development, disposition, and doxology. In the last two posts we’ve examined the truth that O is for Orchestration by answering the questions “Why do bad things happen to Christians?” and […]

In last week’s post, we looked at the Bible’s answer to the question, “Why Do Bad Things Happen to Christians?”. The Bible says, “Because God orchestrates them.” His DNA’s on every one of them. This answer raises another tough question: “How can God love us yet subject us to pain?” A 19th century preacher advised […]