Why Pain Matters

October 10, 2019 by Joel Burns in devotions

Because the God of love rules and because the sovereign God loves, your pain matters. Put negatively, if God is not real, then your pain doesn’t matter. At all.

Father of Lies

September 28, 2019 by Joel Burns in devotions

We are all well-acquainted with the notion that God is love. But if God is love (and He is), and it is impossible for God to lie (and it is), then we are left with the reality that love and truth are inextricably linked.

You cannot love someone and lie to them.

Be Formidable

September 26, 2019 by Joel Burns in devotions, manhood

So God calls us to be strong and then enables us to be so.

Men, it is time we lean into that calling. It is time we began to follow in the footsteps of our spiritual forefathers. It is time we become formidable.

Build the House

September 17, 2019 by Joel Burns in devotions

Deciding to build on the rock is the correct decision. No doubt about it. But that decision must be followed up with the day-in, day-out determination that building a house requires.

There is a world of difference between deciding to build a house and actually building the house.

Father & Sons

September 11, 2019 by Joel Burns in devotions

If, in my own sinful, imperfect and flawed attempts, I manage to love my son in any sort of microscopically fractional way that could somehow be relatable to how God loves me (and, of course, by extension, all of His children), then the words of Christ begin to open themselves to my understanding in all kinds of new ways.