Spiritual warfare

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The inconvenient truth about truth

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The inconvenient truth about truth

I want to declare an inconvenient truth. Very inconvenient, in fact.

No, I am not wading into the climate change debate.

But Al Gore posed an interesting question when he titled his movie this way. Why I find it interesting is that (in my educated guess) neither Al Gore nor many of the people who watched his movie actually believe that truth even exists, at least in an absolute sense.

What people really believe is summed up in Oprah Winfrey’s recent speech: “Speaking your truth is the most powerful weapon you have.” She borrowed a phrase heavily used in today’s culture.

In the school of ministry I am currently leading in the USA, and in my “big book of doctrine” titled Landmarks, which has just come off the press, I start not with the doctrine of God, but with the issue of truth. And in particular, the truth of the Bible.

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The power of conviction

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The power of conviction

There’s a big difference between an opinion and a conviction.

And the difference is this. A conviction is an opinion acted on, regardless of the cost.

Plenty of people have opinions. Opinions are cheap. They don’t cost you anything. But it’s another story with convictions. Having a conviction may cost you everything. Maybe that’s why it sometimes seems very few people actually have many. Some people appear to have none at all!

Martin Luther nailed his convictions to the church door five hundred years ago. It cost him dearly. He suffered untold attack and persecution and was fortunate to have escaped with his life. But Luther and his convictions changed the course of history.

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The runner

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The runner

There are a lot of things that intrigue me about running.

For one thing, why do so many people enjoy doing it? It lacks all the fun and fellowship of team sports and can be a lonely pursuit.

Though running is often done alone, it can be quite competitive. If you don’t believe me, just get around some runners talking about their personal bests or posting their latest times and running routes on social media.

I took up running as a young man partly because I was pretty uncoordinated and not great at other sports. It was something I could do to get into shape. At one point, I ran quite a lot and was reasonably good for my age. Less so lately, though I haven’t given up!

But what really interests me is that the Bible says some significant things about running.

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Preparing - but for what?

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Preparing - but for what?

Yesterday we walked past a recently closed diner. In the window was a sign with these words: “Prepare to meet thy God.” Hmmm. Was the food really that bad?

Then I talked with my friend Stuart, living in the eye of an epic hurricane in Houston. I asked him how he was preparing for the storm.

We did a lot of things to prepare for our move. The list seemed endless, and we just had to work our way through it. I’m glad we did, because now we are reaping the benefits of our preparation.

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The problem with fear

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The problem with fear

On a down day, I think my whole life has been one long battle against fear.

There are so many things to be afraid of. My grandson is apprehensive of spiders. At least one of my daughters has inherited my fear of heights. The funny thing is how each of us is terrified of different things. The first time I entered a public speaking contest, my twelve-year old knees were shaking. I won the contest in spite of it, and now it doesn’t bother me at all to stand up in front of a crowd of people. While I’m fine about public speaking, when it came to swimming, I was scared stiff. It took me months of lessons to make it into the deep end of the pool without panic setting in. A friend said to me, “What are you afraid of?  It’s only a swimming pool.” Yeah, that’s the problem!