Category: Kingdom Design

Trusting v. Testing the Lord in the Pandemic

I have some very close Christian friends who are still gathering with others and going about their business despite shelter-in-place orders.

They tell me they just do what they normally do, trusting God he won’t allow them to get COVID-19.

They think how much you can do in the pandemic depends on how much faith you have.

I’m a product of the so-called Faith Movement, so I’m not unsympathetic to their views, but I’m afraid my friends are misguided, as perhaps others are as well.

In fact, I read a story the other day about a church in New Orleans that is still meeting despite the shelter-in-place orders.

Are such people models of faith, or ignorance, or something else? I actually don’t think this one is too difficult to sort out. Continue reading “Trusting v. Testing the Lord in the Pandemic”

Why We Have to Wait for the Lord

Earlier this year a friend prayed for me.

In the midst of the prayer he stopped and told me he felt the Lord was giving him a verse for me: Isaiah 40:31.

He told me how I had been faithful in waiting on the Lord and then told me some of the things he felt the Lord was going to do for me in the near future consistent with Isaiah 40:31. It was so positive, I couldn’t help but wonder if he had confused his hopes for me as a friend with the voice of the Lord. I was ready to dismiss his encouraging words as just that.

Two days later my legal assistant gave me a thank you card for some flowers I had bought her the week before. On the thank you card she had written, “Isaiah 40:31.” I asked her why she had written that verse. She replied that she had prayed and specifically asked the Lord for a word for me and that is what He had given her. At that point there was no doubt my friend had heard from the Lord two days earlier when he gave me the same word. So, I began to study Isaiah 40:31.

Isaiah 40:31 reads:

Yet those who wait for the Lord

Will gain new strength;

They will mount up with wings like eagles,

They will run and not get tired,

They will walk and not become weary.

When I began studying this verse, I did what I often do when studying the Bible: I asked questions, specifically, “Why do we have to wait upon the Lord?” It’s  a fair question, and there is actually a very good answer. That answer is, time. Continue reading “Why We Have to Wait for the Lord”

For Mature Christians Only

I once had a pastor tell me the sign of a mature Christian was the ability to hold on to two seemingly contradictory concepts without becoming an extremist in either direction.

I think he was on to something.

Let me give you an example.

I know people who counsel others in sin that their chief problem is not their conduct but that they don’t fully understand the Gospel or the love Jesus.

They use phrases like “understanding who you are in Jesus” and that “the battle is already won.”  The counselors are well-meaning; they are trying to deal with what they perceive as the root of the problem rather than the symptom.

Of course sin is both the root and the symptom, and while loving Jesus more may make you less prone to sin, focusing on not sinning will definitely make you less likely to sin. Continue reading “For Mature Christians Only”

On Colin Kaepernick

I heard today Colin Kaepernick has still not been signed by any NFL team.

The rumor is that no one wants to sign Kaepernick because no one wants the baggage that comes with him.

The baggage is the need he feels to use television broadcasts on game day as a stage to make political statements.

Interestingly, if this is the reason NFL teams are refusing to sign him, I think they have stumbled into agreement with the kingdom view on the subject.

First, let me say I agree with Kaepernick’s views on racism in police departments. I am a civil rights lawyer, and I am convinced racism is still a major problem in America. It needs to be exposed and opposed wherever it is found. Continue reading “On Colin Kaepernick”

What Is Secular Work?

When I was a young Christian, I used the term “secular” when referring to non-ministry work.

After I learned about the philosophical error of dualism, I began putting the word secular in quotation marks when referring to work.

After the prior post, I decided it was time to address the concept head-on and make a conscious decision to stop promoting dualism by using words birthed out of dualistic thought. And that brings me to the question, “What is secular work?” Continue reading “What Is Secular Work?”