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My church recently passed around a resolution for its members to sign. It thanked our local government for switching to single stream recycling—a simplified recycling system that’s much easier to use. My church puts a special emphasis on creation care, and welcomed the new recycling program as a very positive change. As an experiment in being good neighbors in our community, my pastor encouraged us to publicly thank the local leaders who decided to switch to the new recycling system.

It’s trivially easy to find reasons to complain about the government. I can’t count the number of times someone has asked me to sign something condemning a government decision. But few of us take the time to thank them for doing the right thing.

I signed my church’s resolution, but not without some hesitation. How far we should take the healthy separation of church and state. On one hand, this resolution is a clear example of the church involving itself with the government. On the other, it’s a one-time thing and largely amounts to simply saying “hey, thanks!”—a fairly trivial issue.

What do you think? Should the church ever thank the government for doing something right? When is the last time—if ever—you thanked your local leaders and politicians?

Over the last months, we’ve posted dozens of different devotionals from around the web; hopefully you’ve found them inspiring and maybe even bookmarked a few for your daily reading.

But today, we thought it would be useful to back up and ask a more basic question about Christian devotional practice: Is devotional time important for Christians?

Most Christians would probably answer an instinctive “yes” to that question; but exactly why is it important to spend time in personal devotions? DiscipleshipTools.org has put together an excellent series of short essays that explain the basics of Christian devotions. It begins with a look at how to do devotions and goes on to explain why devotions are important and what spiritual benefits result from doing devotions.

If you’ve never tried “doing devotions,” or if you’ve drifted out of the habit of spending time in prayer and reflection each day, take a look at these articles. And if you’ve got any tips or suggestions for making the most out of your devotional time, share them in the comments below!

Whose fault is it when we sin?

We’re all familiar with the old saying “the Devil made me do it!”, but I don’t think most of us would take that excuse very seriously if we heard it from somebody who’s done wrong. But it does raise interesting questions: what exactly is Satan’s relationship to sin? Are there situations in which the Devil actually could make us sin against our will?

Our Daily Bread tackles the question and lays out the Christian understanding of Satan and his role in tempting us to sin:

The devil tempts believers, but he doesn’t make us sin. James tells us that God isn’t to blame either: “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone” (James 1:13). He is good and holy.

So who is to blame for our sin? James says, “Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed” (v.14). Just as a fisherman uses bait to lure his prey, so our own evil, unchecked desires lead to giving in to temptation and sin.

When we disobey God by sinning, let’s not shift the blame or justify our actions with the faulty “the devil made me do it” theology.

Our sin is our own; the devil may tempt us toward sin, but we’re the ones who make the final decision to obey or disobey God. I’ve always found this Christian understanding to be simultaneously sobering and comforting: on the one hand, we can’t wiggle out of the responsibility for our sins by blaming the devil; but on the other, we can rest assured that the devil has no power to make us disobey God.

What do you think? Has anyone ever tried the “Satan made me do it!” line on you, and how did you react?

I’ve listened to hundreds, if not thousands, of sermons in my life. Sadly, I remember very very few of them. But the ones I do remember are etched in my mind as life-changing events.

The two that really stand out to me:

The first was at the church I grew up in. One of the pastors there gave a sermon about how different personality types approach faith and the Bible. He illustrated this with different hats. For me, as a young kid confused about nearly everything in life, hearing that not every Christian had to be the same was mind-blowing. It opened me up to the reality that the body of Christ is full of all kinds of people, and that I had a place in it.

The other sermon was about a year ago at my previous church. The main pastor and one of our regular guest preachers team-taught on the end of Acts 2 about the church and giving. The sermon was generally excellent; but what seared it in my memory was what happened afterward. They set out buckets at the front and asked those who weren’t in need to put some money in the bucket. Likewise, they asked those that were in need to come up and take some money out. There were a lot of tears of joy in that service. It taught me some important lessons about freely giving to those in need.

What about you? What sermon has impacted you the most?

There are many different approaches to studying the Bible. Some people follow rigid reading plans; others skip around. Some people find methodologies like inductive and topical Bible studies helpful.

In the past, I’ve used books that steadily and purposefully walked me through a passage; but when left to my own devices I tend to slowly read through one book at a time. I might not move on from a particular chapter for a few days or even weeks.

What about you? How do you do your personal Bible Study?

Share your thoughts!

Recently I started seeing ads for a company called Samaritan Ministries International (SMI) popping up on various other Christian sites. SMI is a Christian health care sharing service. Practically speaking, it works like health insurance; however, rather than paying a company to take on your medical risks, you’re entering into a community where people help each other pay for their medical expenses. I have to admit that it’s an interesting concept, but I have my doubts about how well it works.

Here’s an excerpt from an article about Samaritan’s Ministries from christianpost.com, which explains the system in a bit more detail:

Each month, members of Samaritan Ministries receive a newsletter directing them to send their monthly share dues to another participating family who has verified medical bills. The monthly dues range from $135 for singles to $320 for a two-parent family of any size, which is vastly cheaper than insurance. There is also an annual administrative fee of $170 for each membership.

Through this plan, the ministry meets $3.5 million in medical needs a month, according to Lansberry.

But more than having their medical needs met, people join the health care sharing plan because of the emotional and spiritual dimensions.

Samaritan Ministries requires all its members to agree to live in a biblical way that reduces health problems, such as not abusing alcohol, abstaining from use of tobacco and illegal drugs, and abstaining from sexual activity outside of marriage.

And when people send their monthly dues to a member family, they include a card or note of encouragement and prayer.

“So it is not just about getting the financial needs met. That is an important part of what we do,” Lansberry said. “But it is about those notes and cards, especially those prayers that are going up to God so that our members are receiving that prayer blanket at a time when they need it most. The larger the medical need you have the more members are praying for you.”

You can read more about SMI at their FAQ page. A few questions:

Is health insurance (or any insurance for that matter) a Biblical concept? What about SMI’s approach? Would you ever drop your health insurance and participate in a sharing program like SMI?

I’m not attending any church or ministry conferences this year, but I have in the past. In my experience, conferences can be fantastic times for reconnecting with old friends, worshiping God and planning for the future. There’s something about gathering together for a solid block of time with like-minded people that manages to be helpful and fun.

What about you? Are you attending any church or ministry conferences this year?

Share your thoughts!

It’s time for another entry in our series of posts about common objections to Christianity. In each post, we present an often-heard objection to the Christian faith and ask for your response, in your own words.

Imagine that a friend has challenged you with this objection, and that you don’t have access to any books, sermons, or other publications to which you can refer them. They want to hear your response, in your own words!

How would you respond to this statement:

The archaeological evidence for much of the history of the Old Testament is shaky—archaeologists are divided about whether the evidence supports the Exodus, the Israelite campaign against Canaan, and other key points of Biblical history. And anytime somebody claims to have find archaeological evidence for a miraculous item or event like Noah’s Ark or the Resurrection, the evidence turns out to be mistaken or fabricated. If the Bible’s account of history were really true, there would be definitive evidence for it.

Previous posts in this series:

The church is full of hypocrites!

Does prayer really work?

Why does God allow Hell to exist?

Did God endorse genocide?

A few weeks ago we asked the following question on the Bible Gateway Facebook fan page: apart from your Bible, what do you have with you when you read or study Scripture? It turned out to be a much more interesting question than I thought it would be.

Some people wrote that they had nothing but the Bible with them, while others listed a cavalcade of writing implements and reference materials. Also, coffee appeared in quite a few responses.

I like the question because it gives us a glimpse into how other people approach a task that’s near and dear to many of our hearts. I generally have just the Bible and perhaps my journal with me when I study Scripture. However, after reading what other things people bring with them, I’m interested to see what might change if I tried out highlighters or a few reference books as well.

What about you? Apart from the Bible, what do you bring into your personal Bible study? Have you found anything particularly effective?

I’ve been to churches where the order of service hadn’t changed in decades. There’s an unspoken rhythm to worship in such a church that’s calming in its predictability. Having a worship structure set in stone means worshipers don’t expend mental energy following a new order of worship; they can just focus on the service. But that same predictability can also make the service rote or boring.

I’ve also attended a church whose service never seemed to be the same from week to week. The service would start a few minutes late as people filtered in; the worship band would sing three songs or five and the pastor took as much or as little time as he wanted to deliver his sermon. Sometimes the service would make you miss lunch appointments; other times, you found yourself with an extra 20 minutes after the service.

What about your church? Does your church follow a strict order of worship or does it change things weekly?