All Things New

March 02, 2020 by Joel Burns in meditations

Many Christians in our modern day either fail to see or refuse to believe the statements the Bible makes about the eternal state of God’s chosen people, concluding instead that it is the children of God’s responsibility to win the world, issue in the kingdom and set the stage for the return of Christ.

If the Great Commission includes an implicit directive to fix the world, then political notions of utopia fit in rather nicely.

But the Bible points us in another direction: one of present allegiance to a heavenly kingdom and of future hope in God’s rebuilding of the world.

The @Preachersnsneakers Post

September 05, 2019 by Joel Burns in meditations, Issues & Commentary

Ostentation is not a Christian virtue, no matter how subtle or trendy it happens to be.

Man of War

July 16, 2019 by Joel Burns in meditations, manhood

In a society consumed with naïve notions of peace, unity, and tolerance, the idea of any Christian filling the role of a man of war seems to many to be backwards, archaic, or even sinful. Verses about peacemaking and loving one’s enemies are used as proof texts against such an attitude and militaristic metaphors are criticized within the ranks of safe, comfortable church goers and their academic leadership.

But the Bible knows better.

One Thing I Wish I Could Tell My Generation

January 14, 2019 by Joel Burns in meditations

God’s commands don’t always make sense to us. They may never make sense to us. The wrong conclusion to reach is that you will refuse to obey them until they do.

Everything Is More Than It Seems: The Bible, Metaphor, and How the World Teaches Us About God

November 26, 2018 by Joel Burns in meditations, God

Time and time again throughout Scripture, the elements of nature are used in order to describe God or how we are to relate to Him. God utilizes His own creation to give object lessons and to paint word pictures for us, His people, in order that we might begin to grasp who He is.

Don’t misunderstand: He intended all of this from the beginning. He began to create with all of these metaphorical lessons already in mind. He deliberately created real things with the intention of revealing deep spiritual truths about even realer things.