The Church: Don't Give Up on God's Plan

I tire of the incessant church-bashing and endless tales of people disillusioned with their churches. Yes, Christians can be jerks, and we’ve all had rough times in churches, largely because they consist of people too much like us: sinner-jerks in need of grace and truth and growth.

The problem is, Jesus calls the church his bride. He died for her, and says that ultimately the gates of hell won’t prevail against her. So if you give up on the church, you give up on God’s plan.

Longing for Joy

I spoke two weeks ago of the annual March for life. Barbara Curtis sent a link to some pictures. Go here and watch the slide show. You’ll see lots of young people standing up for life. Barbara’s blog “Mommy Life” is very popular among mothers, and you may want to check it out.

I wrote first about the longings of our heart, then last week about longing pictured in Scripture as hunger and thirst for God, righteousness and Heaven.

This week I want to talk about our Longing for Joy, something that isn’t selfish in the bad ...