Month: October 2025

Digging in Deeper: Romans 3:10-12

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“As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away; all alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Family is hard. It’s hard in a lot of ways. It’s hard because you don’t get to pick your family. It’s hard because your family shapes who you are whether you want them to or not. It’s hard because you are stuck with your family. You can try to deny them, but those hooks are in deep. It’s hard because you love them and love makes you vulnerable. It opens you to wounds of the deepest sort. But family is good. Because of that love that can make it hard, family is where you can be received no matter what. Family gives you a home and a place of stability when the storms of the world blow. With family you know you can find support no matter how deep of a hole you’ve dug for yourself this time. The good of family outweighs the hard, and so you stick with family no matter what. A recent Disney live action remake of an animated classic offers a good reminder of this. Let’s talk about Lilo and Stitch.

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Morning Musing: Romans 12:18

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“If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

There are some people who thrive in situations of conflict. I am not one of those people. I tend to shut down in conflict. And God made me a pastor. Go figure. Actually it works out really well as I have an incredible church that is peace-loving and remarkably unified. Yet while there is undoubtedly a time for conflict, as followers of Jesus, peace should always be our aim. And, as it would happen, peace is the goal of the next command Paul gives to give us helpful guardrails around our pursuit of Christ. Let’s see what he has to say.

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Morning Musing: Romans 12:17

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“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Give careful thought to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the principles kids tend to operate by is that turnabout is fair play. If someone has wronged you in some way, it’s only right, it’s only fair, it’s only just that you get to do it back to them in return. This principle lies at the heart of one of the foundational ideas in the history of jurisprudence: an eye for an eye. The idea that we should respond to others in kind has been baked into the cake of humanity from nearly the start. And then came the Christian worldview to turn that idea on its head. Let’s talk about what Paul, borrowing from Jesus, had to say about it to the church in Rome.

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Morning Musing: Romans 12:16

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“Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

A friend of mine pastors a church that’s hard. The congregation has a reputation for being a church that chews up pastors and spits them out. There constantly seems to be discord among the members. Someone is always upset about something. My friend spends a fair bit of his time putting out fires. From the outside looking in, the people there do no live in harmony with one another. It makes accomplishing effective ministry a great deal more difficult than it might otherwise be. A church wracked by disharmony is going to have a much harder time proclaiming and advancing the Gospel than one that isn’t. This is why Paul gave us this next series of commands for living the Christian life well. Let’s continue our exploration of his practical list of how what it looks like to follow Jesus.

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Buildings Don’t Matter

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Last time we talked about the fact that buildings can play a significant role in our efforts to advance God’s kingdom. Not every church has a facility from which to launch their kingdom-advancing efforts, and God doesn’t need buildings to do that, but the ones that do and use them well have a powerful ministry tool at their disposal. It is a good thing that we are preparing to build a building at my church. But in the grand scheme of things, buildings don’t advance God’s kingdom. The church does. Let’s talk about it.

Buildings Don’t Matter

I am not a church planter. Unless God does something dramatic—which I am not anticipating in the least—that’s not going to change. I’m pretty comfortable in the knowledge that He has called me to pastor churches that already exist—like this one…where I plan to be for a very long time. Now, I support church planters. I think they do good and important work. But If I’m being totally honest, I struggle some with the knowledge of just how many churches are out there that already exist and which need good pastors to lead them back to health and relevancy in their communities. 

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