Roger

During a recent phone call I was again reminded of the necessity of affirming others. Affirmation is powerful.  The caller in a bragging manner, talked about how wonderful she was, how beautifully she sang and how special she was to her nieces and nephews.  She spent 20 minutes telling me how much she was loved by everyone who knew her.  Sadly, her life has been characterized by relationship failures and abuses of all kinds – mental, emotional, physical and sexual.   In truth, she self-loathes but the pain she feels drives her to express what she longs for and what she was robbed of – affirmation.   Just as physical life is in the blood, regular affirmation sustains healthy life in the soul (mind, will and emotions).   I hung up deeply touched.   It seems my path crosses regularly with others who are affirmation-starved or at least mal-nutritioned! Self-bragging is often symptomatic of those who were never or seldom affirmed, usually going ...

The Scriptures speak of the fear of the Lord, but perhaps not in the way you may be thinking.  To begin, let me give three dictionary definitions of  fear: 1.    Feeling of anxiety --an unpleasant feeling of apprehension caused by the presence or anticipation of danger. 2.    Frightening thought --an idea, thought or other entity that causes feelings of fear. 3.    Reverence --respect or awe for somebody or something. Sadly, many unbelievers and even many Christians fear God according to definitions 1 and 2.  These definitions, however, do not describe the fear of the Lord as mentioned in the Bible.  Simply put, a healthy fear of the Lord involves a respect or awe of His Person and presence.  He is an awesome God who is worthy of our highest admiration and praise.  We need not be afraid or scared of the Lord, but we should honor and reverence His Name. Several verses in the B...

I wonder.  Does God love “saved” people more than “unsaved” ones? I don't believe the Lord makes a distinction at all between the two.  Let me take you to two verses that most Christians are quickly introduced to after their conversion: 1.    "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).   God didn't just love the world (lost people everywhere); He SO LOVED the world!  Do you sense the divine passion in that phrase?  God is madly in love with everyone--saints or sinners.  I believe the Bible illustrates that God loves people the same--regardless of their spiritual condition.  Saved people, of course, delight His heart, but I don't think that the lost state of unbelievers lessens His love toward mankind.  God's very nature is to love people.  His passion is to see everyone (the world) come into a relationship of the s...

We’re told that if we have three good, loyal friends as we go through life, we are most fortunate.  Many say they have no friends.  This is most sad.  All of us have acquaintances we perhaps label as friends; however, life-long friends are the exception.  Not long ago when I was preaching I made a statement that surprised both my audience and me!   I said, “Your spouse is hopefully your best friend.   Marriage is wonderful and meaningful when you sleep with your best friend.” And I’m serious.   Lori Loomis is my best friend.   We met in January, 1976 while we were students at Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri.   At first we didn’t really like one another.   She thought I was stuffy.   I thought she was silly!   However, over time we began to appreciate the gifts inside each other and we recognized a mutual call to ministry.   We spent a lot of time together working on the college newspaper and yearboo...