Heard George, son of U.S. Senator Walter F. George, was a member of my church when I joined in 1976. Someone, I don’t remember who, told me that he regularly prayed, “God help me to help someone who can’t do anything for me.” That prayer captures the essence of what Jesus taught. He even said that when we help the least among us, it’s like we’re doing it for Him personally (Matt. 25:31–46). When we think in those terms, serving others is not a burden but a privilege.
Neil Joiner
Vienna, Ga.
“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind,” wrote C.S. Lewis, long before 2020. At a time of reflection, the world is desperately seeking hope for its crushed spirits, and longing for light to find new ways of living in 2021. Despite a disastrous year, it’s time to gather inspiration and go forward. We can remember the blessings — those incredible sunsets, sunrises and the mysteries of skies; the testimonies of so many health care angels; neighbors who stepped up to deliver home-cooked meals to their communities as they looked out for each other. Each of us can ask, what now is my purpose and my source of awe and inspiration?
Phawnda Moore
Author and artist
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Letter to the editor
I am near the end of my pilgrimage of serving as a gospel minister, and I want to finish well.
Studying the SBC for decades now, I see a multitude of concerns and plan to share many of those with you soon. For now, I have a question: Is the SBC immune from abandoning orthodoxy?
When I was a student at Cedarville in 1970, I took a course on missions. In that course, the professor stated: “It is not a matter of ‘if’ a denomination or educational institution abandons orthodoxy, it is merely a matter of when.”
Examples are Yale, Princeton and Harvard. Each of these institutions were established to train men for the gospel ministry.
Since then I’ve collected copious evidence of that fact. Christian history is littered with evidence of the same. The longer theological corruption exists unaddressed, the more difficult it is to correct.
History records, with penetrating accuracy, the reality of doctrinal precision … and the consequence of the failure to do so.
Tom Fillinger
Cullman, Ala.
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Eternity: Will you endure it in hell or enjoy it in heaven?
Franklin L. Kirksey
Pastor and author
When we choose to give more care to some of His children than to others because we value some more than others, we betray the heart of our glorious Father. To love and care for every person as one of our Father’s much loved children is to do our Father’s will.
Bob Adams
Retired pastor
The Christian church is under a mandate of responsibility.
It is not a mandate issued by the government and cannot be taken away by the government. It is a responsibility mandated by the God-Man Jesus Christ. We fulfill it by His power or we neglect at our own peril. It is not enough to say that we have a servant Messiah. As His body, we are to be a servant church. Talk without action is pointless.
The mandated ministry of responsibility to “obey” Him in various forms of service in His name (i.e., His authority, power and presence) cannot be separated from the ministry of worship.
Morris Murray Jr.
Jasper, Ala.
“Christianity is not a pick yourself up by the bootstraps religion. It is a get up out of the grave faith.”
J.T. English via Twitter
Pastors and churches in our nation today must rise up with a prophetic voice, calling people back to God and to the truth of the Bible — yet doing so with humility, brokenness and a deep sense of compassion. We must hold the truth of God in one hand and the love of God in the other.
Ronnie Floyd
President, Executive Committee
Southern Baptist Convention
Several years ago, our research found that church plants are getting larger and growing faster, and yet are simultaneously reaching fewer people for Christ.
As the economic community has come along and capitalism has entered into our church planting ventures, we’ve become better at gathering a crowd.
Excerpt from Dec. 18 blog post at edstetzer.com
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From the Twitterverse
@brocraigc
I’ve said for a long time, people are looking for genuineness and authenticity in the life of the believer and in the life of the church.
@SWBTS
If you know enough of the gospel to have been saved by it, you know enough to share it.
@drtonyevans
Living by faith means choosing God’s plan over the culture’s plan, then watching Him work it out for your good and others’ benefit.
@BethMooreLPM
Trust God to uphold our causes and restrain our enemies while we rest and worship and remember Christ’s coming. We’ve designated ourselves as junior potters somewhere along the way and perceived God to be clay. Christ “upholds the universe by the word of His power.” (Heb. 1:3)
@ricklance
Let us each strive to be a thermostatic Christian, one who changes the climate, rather than a thermometric Christian, one who reflects the temperature.
@kswhitfield
We were created for communion w/the Triune God. Proper human functioning, including knowing & rational judgments, is contingent on a *by grace through faith* relationship w/the living God. This is why Jesus said, “those who have ears to hear, let them hear.” (Matt. 13:9)
@LutherQuots
I would rather preach the truth with too great a severity, than to ever once act the hypocrite and conceal the truth.
@AugustineQuots
Who, after reflecting on his own weakness, would venture to attribute his purity and integrity to his own strength and not God’s grace?
@PaulTripp
The incarnation of Jesus humbles those who understand it, it confronts us with the depth of our spiritual need and our inability to do anything about it.
@blondeorthodoxy
Reading the women in Jesus’ ancestry is always breathtaking. No broken past or pain is beyond His redemption. No shame is out of reach of His forgiveness. No believing outsider is unwelcome in His family.
@MarkDever
“To love a small sin is a great sin.” Richard Baxter.
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