Do humans have free will to choose God? Does a starving vulture have the freedom to prefer a fresh salad over rotting flesh? Picture this: a gaunt vulture released into a room where two heaps of food await. One is a pile of fresh vegetables like kale, carrots, and spinach. The other, a mound of decaying carcasses, the stench thick in the air. Which will the vulture choose? Without hesitation, it will lunge toward the rot and feast as though the greens beside it did not exist....
This past summer, I memorized Romans 8 with some brothers from my church. One verse in particular grabbed my attention: Romans 8:37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. The phrase more than conquerors was peculiar to me. So I dug into the ancient koine Greek: hypernikōmen. It’s a mash-up of the words hyper and nikōmen. Hyper is the same prefix we use in English (think hyperactive versus hypo) so it means super or over or excessive....
What does true strength look like? Maybe you picture veins bulging, a thousand-pound deadlift, a stadium roaring like you see here with Thor Björnsson While it’s a breathtaking sight to see someone push the limits of their God-given body, what if there’s something more to strength? What if the culture’s measuring tape (size, aggression, dominance) is an inadequate yardstick? The bible paints a picture of strength that is quieter, harder, and far more subversive:...
The All-In God You know the verse. You probably memorized it. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. God forbid that this becomes trite. It is a staggering truth that God’s love for His people and His commitment to fulfill His word and accomplish His purposes prompts Him to go all-in. He’s so all-in that he gave up His Son, His one and only Son....