Grading each other's sins is a sport much older than World Cup soccer. I'm not talking about theological gradation of sin. For example, Catholics and some Protestants divide sins into mortal (inexcusable) and venial (forgivable), while other Protestants measure all sin equally as separation from God's will. I'm not arguing theology here. Instead, I'm talking about the practice of how I measure your sins against my sins. My sins only get a yellow card, to use soccer jargon, an

Where is God for you? Or a better way to put it, where do you experience God? Many of us have found a place or activity where we experience God. It might be during worship service at a church building. A lot of people might respond how they experience God in nature or creation, even during the creative process. Some feel God's presence in prayer or meditation. Some will say they have experienced God in their worst moments: in a hospital room, during a dark night of the soul,

I have a sign - actually, a painted wooden block - that sits on my desk. My wife Sara gave it to me, knowing how I try to cram something into each of my 24 hours every day. A Type A never has enough time on their hands. Since she gave it to me, when I lay my head on my pillow at night, I often think of the saying on this wood block. It's time to not only lay down my head but to lay down my expectations and my anxieties. The day is gone. Another one awaits, and I need to rest

When President Abraham Lincoln attended a church service in Washington, D.C., a reporter breathlessly ran up to him afterward. He asked Lincoln, "What was the sermon about?" Lincoln replied, "Sin." The reporter persisted. "What did the preacher say about sin?" Lincoln answered, "He was against it." I love Lincoln's straightforward answer. But the truth is, we humans have an interesting relationship with sin. If you asked us what would we say about sin, we would also answer th

The United States Secret Service supervises the inspection of counterfeit money. They train their agents and share with merchants how to determine if a piece of currency is authentic. For each bill, a set of characteristics makes it authentic. For example, all Federal Reserve notes, from the $5 bill on up, have a clear thread embedded vertically into the paper. The thread is inscribed with the denomination of the note and is visible only when held to the light. The Secret Ser

To wrap up this blog series on apologies, we need to turn the table and consider how to forgive others when we have been wronged. Specifically, how do we receive an apology? Experts and culture have plenty of ideas on how to forgive others. While good ideas abound, let's stick with the biblical view. First, it's clear we are supposed to have a forgiving nature. When Peter asked Jesus (Matthew 18:21-22) how many times we are supposed to forgive repeat offenders, as many as sev

When we do harm, even if unintentionally, our image of ourselves as a good person is threatened. As I mentioned earlier in this series on putting faith into practice by apologizing, we try to convince the other person - and ourselves - that our intent was not to harm or offend them. This is how we defend our precious view of ourselves. But once we do the work of apologizing for our impact - not our intent - hard work remains. We must be introspective about why impact happened

Who does the work during an apology? The offending person or the offended person? When we are in the wrong, we may think extracting a statement of forgiveness from the offended person is the goal. Then everything is right. I once had someone seek my forgiveness by saying, "If I have ever done anything to harm you, I apologize." That wasn't good enough for me. I felt this person had actually done several harmful things and weren't acknowledging them. Fortunately, when I challe

Why does it feel like people are bad at apologizing to us? Probably for the same reason we're bad at apologizing ourselves. Deep down, none of us want to be seen as a bad person. When we offend or injure someone in some way, we don't want to be thought of as a bad person or to feel like a bad person. So, we try to convince the other person - and ourselves - that our intent was not to harm or offend them. This brings about a terrible apology, frankly. And I've given it myself

I don't know about you, but I imagine you are as bad at apologizing as I am. Most of the time, I don't want to apologize. When I do, I apologize badly. Yet, there is a good reason to apologize. Jesus told us to. We'll get to that in a moment. But first, this is the initial installment of a four-part series on apologizing. I believe apologies are needed more than ever. As Christians, we need to be kind and considerate, healing and restoring, making good when we have been wrong

"Spare the rod and spoil the child" might be the most misunderstood verse in the Bible. A Christian author recently approached me about this verse, thinking it sounds harsh but probably wasn't meant that way. We went on to discuss Psalm 23, which says, "Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." If the rod were an instrument of pain, King David wouldn't have described it as a comfort in the 23rd Psalm. Actually, the rod was an instrument of guidance. As David well knew, the rod

I was walking along the Via Dolarosa in the Old City of Jerusalem when a man strode past me, trailed by a little boy, crying out to his father. "Ab-BA! Ab-BA!" This is not how you actually pronounce "Abba" as we see it in the Bible. Compare it to shouting, "Dad-DY! Dad-DY!" The father stooped to speak softly to his son, then sent him back to his mother. This modern-day scene compares to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. In agony as he awaited his arrest and crucifixion, Jesu

One of my favorite practical faith sayings is if we aren't living messy, inconvenient lives, we're not following Jesus closely enough. I want to explain this further, as I think the saying on its own could be misinterpreted. The heart of the comment is Jesus invites us out of comfort into trust. Comfort implies order, consistency, coziness, and little risk-taking. Jesus has bigger things in mind for us. For example, inconvenience. In the Good Samaritan parable, the priest and

We had a saying within the multi-national company in which I used to work: "It's hard to be a jerk to someone you've had dinner with." It was true. When encountering through email a difficult colleague that you had never met, it was pretty easy to criticize them harshly or address them with less respect. But once you had met that person face to face, you treated them differently. And especially if you had taken time to sit down to dinner with them. This post's picture shows a

How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. -- Habakkuk 1:2-3 (NIV) As I write another promised Lenten blog entry about lament, perhaps we people of today can relate to the lament of the prophet Habakkuk. He lamented to God about the condition of Judah. All seem

I got sloppy with the dish soap, and bubbles flew into the air. I watched one in particular as it traveled along. As soon as it touched the sink, it burst, never to be seen again. That bubble made me think all of us are bubbles, similar to what James 4:14 (NIV) says: What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. We really don't want to think we're as insignificant as a bubble. After all, we believe the ruler of the universe wants a perso

As I was applying to exhibit at a church marketing conference, I came across a question I had never had to directly answer before. "How will your display and materials contribute to the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world?" But I had an answer. Here is what I wrote: I firmly believe that when we put faith into practice, we will show Christ to the world and make disciples in the process: through our love; through our acts of service;

I promised in my January Ministry Connections newsletter (please subscribe on the Cecil Taylor Ministries home page) that I would post some blogs during Lent on lamenting. Lament is the practice of expressing deep sorrow, grief, or regret to God, not only as a complaint, but as a faithful way to process pain, sin, or loss, often leading back to trust and hope in God. I like what Ryan Higgenbottom wrote: When we meet hardship, our natural state is grumbling. But it takes faith

Why did Jesus have to heal the blind man of Bethsaida twice? Mark 8 tells the unusual story of a miracle that seems to have failed. Verses 23-25 (NIV) read: He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around." Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sig

Over the years since I first read " The Road Less Traveled " by M. Scott Peck, Peck's comment about evil has stuck with me. His words pop into my head from time to time, and they have done so again lately. Peck wrote: "Evil is strangely ineffective as a social force. . .Evil backfires in the big picture of human evolution. For every soul it destroys - and there are many - it is instrumental in the salvation of others. Unwittingly, evil serves as a beacon to warn others away f