Today’s lesson text highlights the responsibility of the prophet Ezekiel: he must preach repentance to the people.
Crossroads: The Love of God
June 26, 2023 by
When I was a child, I loved singing the hymn, “I Love to Tell the Story.” I loved telling people about God and this hymn reflects that. As an adult, it is sometimes harder to tell others about God. I am more worried about what they will think of me or how they will react than I was when I was a child.
Flame: Sharing God’s Love
May 2, 2023 by
The rainbow is a great symbol for Christians of God’s love and promise to us. It’s also the symbol of new beginnings, a key message of Christianity. This activity helps children to think about their own ability to share God’s love with others and to pray for those who don’t yet know that love.
Crossroads: Love
December 19, 2022 by
In the book Love You Forever, both the mother and the son sing these words to each other at different times in their lives: “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living my baby you’ll be.”
Connections 12.18.2022: What is Love?
December 11, 2022 by
In this final week of Advent, our wait for Christmas Day is in single digits. The winter solstice, the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, is here.
All the Love We Can
July 26, 2022 by
As we near the end of July, some radio stations are getting their Christmas playlists ready to hit the airwaves. They seem to start playing these earlier every year.
Crossroads: Everyone
March 7, 2022 by
My granddad loved to fish. And I wasn’t a fan of fishing. In fact, I thought fishing was pretty boring. But one day he talked me into going fishing with him for a tournament. We have pictures to prove that I caught a fish that day (that I wouldn’t touch).
Crossroads: How Big Is God’s Love?
January 17, 2022 by
I can remember saying “I love you this much!” as a child, with my arms open wide. I’m sure you’ve seen children do this before: they open their arms as wide as they can and say “I love you this much!” Or they give you a bear hug and squeeze and say the same thing.
Connections 12.05.2021: Completed Love
November 28, 2021 by
Wouldn’t you have liked to be there on that long ago day when the Christians of Philippi gathered to hear the letter from Paul that they had just received?
Spiritual Growth: Polishing the Cup or Growing in Love?
October 5, 2021 by
People enter into the process of spiritual direction for many reasons, and sometimes it takes time and deep listening for me to discern the motivation. “Remember,” a mentor once cautioned, “the real director is the Holy Spirit. Our job is to discern the direction the Holy Spirit is wanting to guide the directee and cooperate with that.”
Formations 07.11.2021: A Fierce Love
July 4, 2021 by
Before my children’s births, people told me about the fierce love of a parent. “There’s nothing like the love you’ll have for your kids.” “It’s like watching your heart walk around outside your body.” “You’ll be like a Mama Bear when it comes to your children.”
Crossroads: Friends
May 10, 2021 by
I was at school when I got the call that she was gone, and a friend of mine found me crying in the hallway. He comforted me and then we went our separate ways.
Mortal Love
February 17, 2021 by
Valentine’s Day fell on February 14 again this year. It’s regular like that. Ash Wednesday, on the other hand, moves around.
Flame: Advent Wreath Craft
December 2, 2020 by
We’ve now entered Advent and I was thinking of how families could use the tradition of the Advent wreath at home in a craft and prayer activity. Of course it’s great to have the real candles to light, but here’s an alternative to make and do.
Proof of Their Love
August 18, 2020 by
John W. Hammes was a tinkerer and inventor. This Wisconsin architect and contractor enjoyed using his basement workshop to bring to life his ideas for making household chores more convenient.
Formations 07.26.2020: A Mother’s Love
July 19, 2020 by
Hosea 11 begins with God lamenting Israel’s rebelliousness. Like a wayward child, Israel has rejected seemingly everything that God has ever done for them.
Connections 06.14.2020: Hope for Tomorrow, Love for Today
June 7, 2020 by
The entire New Testament is about living in the in-between. It’s about more than that, but it’s definitely about that.
Formations 03.15.2020: God’s Law vs. God’s Love
March 8, 2020 by
Many memories of my life as a church member—at various churches over the years—are beautiful, positive, and sustaining. But some are difficult, burdensome, and troubling.
Formations 03.08.2020: Love Your Enemies
March 1, 2020 by
I’ve got to confess, it’s hard to find a good current-event angle on Jesus’ words about love and non-retaliation during an election season!
Why I Love the Church Most on Ash Wednesday
February 26, 2020 by
I was reared as far from the Church as one can imagine. No Easter, Christmas, or Mother’s Day services for me, so this business about ashes seemed strange and at first a bit silly to me upon surrendering to Jesus at age 20.
Formations 12.29.2019: I Love to Tell the Story
December 22, 2019 by
I love the music ministry at my church. Our music minister is an accomplished choral director with a PhD, our accompanist is a highly trained organist and music scholar in her own right, and the church’s musical offerings are always top-notch.
Connections 02.03.2019: The Greatest of These is Charity
January 27, 2019 by
Modern English versions of the Bible use “love” to translate the key word agape in 1 Corinthians 13. That is indeed what it means. The correct translation isn’t without problems, though. I might say, “I love the Atlanta Braves.”
Advent Devotions: Love
December 18, 2018 by
When I was in junior high school I began going on mission trips each summer to New Orleans. Our youth group would break up into teams and lead backyard Bible clubs in neighborhood parks. We always carried Evangecubes—an interactive tract—with us. One day I was sitting at the bottom of a slide with a little boy who was around 8 years old.
Connections 05.06.2018: Love One Another
April 29, 2018 by
“Love one another” (Jn 15:17b). Is there a greater calling in Scripture than this? Is there a harder one? It is often paired with what Jesus called the Greatest Commandment, “Love God with all your being.”
Connections 04.15.2018: The Source
April 8, 2018 by
The Flint River flows not far from where I live in Central Georgia. Its headwaters are in Hapeville, Georgia. The river begins as groundwater seepage that goes into a concrete culvert and then under the runways at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Fifty miles or so later the water from several creeks has joined with that seepage to form the beautiful Flint.
Crossroads: Ash Wednesday
February 12, 2018 by
This year, Ash Wednesday falls on Valentine’s Day. It’s a time when we will put ashes on our foreheads in the shape of a cross, but it’s also a time when we will exchange Valentines at school, give cards to our families, and give and receive lots of candy. These two events, Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day, seem very different.
Crossroads: The Angel Candle/Candle of Love
December 25, 2017 by
Today we light the last purple candle. This candle is the angel candle, or the candle of love. This candle reminds us of the love God has shown us through Jesus.
God Only Makes What God Loves
July 4, 2017 by
Most of us struggle to believe that God fully loves us (and others) since we do not measure up to God’s law. We hear the constant refrain of “I am not good enough.” Or we wrestle with the “woulda’, coulda’, shoulda’s” of our lives. “God loves us, warts and all,” we say, but that theology falls short.
Surrender to Love
May 10, 2017 by
My will to live has been stuttering like a rusty old engine. Not because I’ve failed to be Christian enough, prayerful enough, or hopeful enough. Not because I haven’t done the prayer and praise and people and potluck dinners. Not because of anything. My motor just hiccups and stalls; reminding me that in the great spectrum of mental health, I am no Olympian.
Crossroads: Love Your Enemy
February 20, 2017 by
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for an eye, and tooth for tooth” (Matthew 5:38). Many of us live our lives in this way. All you have to do is watch the news to see people responding in this way. For example, someone is attacked and their country responds with war.
Love as a Way of Living
February 14, 2017 by
Without question the word “love” sums up and depicts the essence of our Christian faith. Nonetheless, most Christians struggle in a world often filled with problems, difficulties, suffering, pain.
An Advent Prayer
December 7, 2016 by
O God,
As you come to us, please come bearing faith, hope, and love.
We need to trust, hope, and love more.
Formations 10.16.2016: Eager Giving
October 9, 2016 by
McCoy Tyner was excited to go to work each night in December 1964. He and the rest of John Coltrane’s quartet were recording A Love Supreme, a musical prayer that became one of jazz’s greatest albums.
10.02.2016: Thank God for Jesus
September 25, 2016 by
I think I’d believe in God even if Jesus hadn’t come. I seem to assume that God exists. That assumption appears to be a vital part of who I am, but I can’t tell if it’s the product of nature or nurture.
Connections 08.28.2016: The Command to Love
August 21, 2016 by
My daughters are eleven and nine. From the time they were old enough to understand, my husband and I have established rules for them. These parameters help them learn everything from necessary safety precautions to appropriate social behaviors.
Connections 08.07.2016: Safe in God’s Love
July 31, 2016 by
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor recessions, nor politics, nor presidential elections, nor terrorism, nor racism, nor sexism, nor homophobia, nor the internet, nor arrogance, nor ignorance…
Connections 07.24.2016: Hope Called and Love Answered
July 17, 2016 by
I remember an old Gospel song: “Justice Called and Mercy Answered.” Were I to write a song based on Romans 5:1-11, I’d call it “Hope Called and Love Answered.”
Connections 01.17.2016: The Story of Forgiveness
January 10, 2016 by
I’ll be honest. I was kind of hoping this was Mike Ruffin’s week to write. A bride worth waiting for and the most beautiful bride were surely easier topics than this week’s unfaithful bride.
Connections 01.10.2016: The Most Beautiful Bride
January 3, 2016 by
I imagine you’ve heard of a hopeless romantic. I’m not one of those. I’m a hopeful romantic. I believe that hope leads to love and that love leads to hope. I believe that love changes the way we see those we love.
Crossroads: The Bethlehem Candle or Candle of Love
December 7, 2015 by
Mary and Joseph waited for a miracle to happen for nine months. They knew that Jesus, the Son of God, would change their whole lives. And so they waited with anticipation for Jesus’ birth.
Can’t Help Falling in Love
November 24, 2015 by
If you’re like me, you’ve been in church a long time. You’ve seen the good and bad, the highs and lows, and in many ways, your church experience might best compare to a long marriage.
Love Does
August 26, 2015 by
My book club recently read the book Love Does by Bob Goff. Recognizing that the focus on love is typically what it is, this book centers itself instead around what love does.
Formations 08.09.2015: Who Is My Neighbor?
August 2, 2015 by
Before joining the Smyth & Helwys Publishing team last month, I was an elementary teacher and Teach for America corps member in the Mississippi Delta for two years.
Uniform 07.19.2015: What God Requires
July 12, 2015 by
Over my years as an assistant editor for Smyth & Helwys, I have read countless Scripture verses, dozens of Bible commentaries, and thousands of words by people like you and me who are doing their best to follow God’s way.
Uniform 05.31.2015: The Greatest Gift Is Love
May 24, 2015 by
The church can and should be a community in which its members experience a taste of heaven right here on Earth. That is so because God is present in the church and where God is, God’s love is.
Uniform 05.17.2015: The Spirit Creates One Body
May 10, 2015 by
J. R. Ewing was shot in his office at Ewing Oil on March 21, 1980 by an unseen and thus unknown assailant. Millions of Americans would spend the next eight months pondering and debating the question “Who shot J. R.?”
Uniform 04.19.2015: Recognizing Our Lies
April 12, 2015 by
In 1 John 3, John encourages us to remember that we show our love through our actions. Our faith requires us to act in love, he says. In chapter 4, John raises the stakes.
Thrive: Is it Fair? – Cynthia Insko
November 10, 2014 by
I have three children. It’s very important to me to avoid favoritism and treat each fairly. For example, when the last brownie is left in the pan, I meticulously cut it in three equal parts.