Lukewarm is a curse

After Revelation 3:14-22 

Being lukewarm is a curse,

neither burning with purpose

and resolve nor iced with

indifference and smugness.

Lukewarm is useless. I spit

you out, you who believe

you are self-sufficient, that

you have prospered by

your own hand. The reality

is you are pitiful, poor, blind,

and naked. I spit you out,

again. Put salve on your eyes

so that you might see. Accept

the gold I offer that you might

be rich. Take the white robes

I have to clothe 

your nakedness.

Be zealous.

Repent.

 

Photograph by Maria Teneva via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

Free of Self-Pity – Brandon at Till We Are Home.

 

The Changing of the Evangelical Guard – O. Alan Noble at You Are Not Your Own.

A good rep

After Revelation 3:1-6 

A good rep isn’t

the same as a good

reality. You have 

a good rep, a great

rep, but it is the mirage

of what you used to be. 

It is time to awaken, grab

on to and strengthen

what good remains

and is about to die.

Go back to what

you first knew; 

start there. Otherwise,

I will come as a thief,

a thief in the night,

rescuing the few who

still walk as they should.

Those few will walk

clothed in white, 

engraving their names

in the book of life.

 

Photograph by Iqx Azmi via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

When People Are Late to Church – Barbara Lee Harper at Stray Thoughts. 

 

Layover at Stansted – poem by Seth Lewis.

 

Excerpt from “The Wanderer,” poem by William Wordsworth – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

What do you do?

After Revelation 2:18-29 

What do you do about

heresy? You believe,

and do what you

believe, and do what

you should, even as

heresy is practices

in the place you

believe, in the place

you live. You hold true,

even as the false and

untrue are tolerated 

and flourish all around

you.

 

Keep on keeping on.

Hold fast. Hold fast

to the true; keep

to the true always

and to the end. It

won’t be easy; it

never is. But it is

your path; hold 

fast and keep

walking your

straight line.

The authority will

come to rest on you.

The reward will

come to you.

 

Photograph by Patrick Fore via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

Redeeming the Time This New School Year – Kristen Hatton at CDM Women’s Ministry.

 

Ways to See and Support Foster Families – Melissa Edgington at Your Mom Has a Blog.

 

The Scandal of the Evangelical Heart – Doug Eaton at Fight of Faith.

 

‘And lead us not into distraction’ – Joel Miller at Miller’s Book Review.

 

Britain’s incredible Christian revival: Why young people are returning to church in their droves and putting faith in Christ– Ed Griffiths at GBN News.

 

 

So much right, yet...

After Revelation 2:18-29 

So much can be right,

and is, your works,

your love, and faith

that produce those

works, your patient

endurance, and your

ever-growing acts

and works of faith.

 

And yet.

 

You have a heresy

in your midst, not

hidden but openly

practiced, celebrating

self-indulgence and

all the sins of self.

You allow its leader

to practice her ways

and call herself

a prophetess, dishonoring

the word, dishonoring

the church. Heresy has

no place here, neither

does its toleration.

 

Photograph by Dan Cristian Paduret via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

“Ah, Christ, I love you rings to the wild sky,” poem by Allen Tate – D.S. Martin at Kingdom Poets.

 

In My Father’s School Are Many Classrooms – Tim Challies.

 

The Eyes of the Old and the Young – Seth Lewis.

Hidden manna

After Revelation 2:12-17 

To those who 

hold fast in 

the face of 

persecution

and destruction, 

in the face

of hostility 

and ridicule,

to them is 

given the hidden

manna, sustenance 

designed to provide 

and nourish

in the face 

of compromise

and surrender 

which seem

overwhelming 

but will be

dispelled and 

destroyed.

 

Photograph by Roger Vaughan via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

The Ways of a Father in Challenging Times – Kenneth Wingate at Ligonier.

 

Love Never Fails – Kwan Johns at Evangelical Magazine.

 

When the Monsters Came: There is Beauty – Seth Haines.

 

A white stone

After Revelation 2:12-17 

To the one who conquers,

to the one who prevails, 

I will give a white stone,

a smooth white stone,

one bearing a new name,

the stone of admittance,

the stone of acquittal, 

bearing a new name for

the one who receives it, 

a name known only 

to the one who receives

the stone. It is the stone

of new identity, a washed

and cleaned identity,

admittance to membership

in heaven.

 

Photograph by Dynamic Wang via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

Absalom, Absalom – poem by Brian Yapko at Society of Classical Poets.

 

“A Quintina of Crosses,” poem by Chad Walsh – D.S. Martin at Kingdom Poets.

 

Martha and Mary – poem by Tania Runyan at Poet Jesus.

 

“Lord, in the Morning,” hymn by Isaac Watts – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

A Sonnet on the Transfiguration – Malcolm Guite.

 

Means With No Ends – Seth Lewis.

 

The Picture on the Nightstand – Kara Dedert at Think Twice.

The culture's always with us

After Revelation 2:12-17 

The culture’s always with us,

No matter how much we

resist. It seeps through cracks

in the walls, spaces beneath 

doors. It assumes fine robes,

hiding false teaching. In

the name of love, it accepts

behaviors no matter how bad.

It blandly smiles words of

live and let live, or it rejects

discipline and calls it

compassion and understanding.

So press on; hold to what you

know is true. Resist the culture

in prayer and action. Discern

the right and the true, often so

obvious you can’t miss it. Listen

to the spirit teach yourself and

others. Keep your hearts safe.

 

Photograph by Brett Jordan via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

The Abolition of Man and the Invention of a New God – Benjamin Myers at Magnus Institute. 

 

6 Seasoned Pastors on Best Practices for Men’s Ministry – Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra at The Gospel Coalition.

 

Your first love

After Revelation 2: 1-7 

The stranger enters,

startling and disturbing,

standing at the entrance

and casting his glance

around them. As he walks

to the front, slowly, all eyes

follow. Your reject evil,

he says; you reject false

leaders. You endure in

patience. But, and you 

know there’s a but, you

have turned away from

your love, your first love,

retaining the form but not

the substance. In you

passion for truth, you’ve

forgotten how to love. 

Know where you came 

from; know how far 

you’ve fallen. Repent,

and return, or I will 

remove your light, remove

your lampstand. He stands

before them, waiting.

 

Photograph by Jametiene Reskp via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

“Churchgoing,” poem by Marilyn Nelson – D.S. Martin at Kingdom Poets.

 

“Give Me Jesus,” 19^th century African American spiritual – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

Siloam – poem by Joel Kurz at Mere Orthodoxy,

 

This is just to say – poem by Sarah Crowley Chestnut at The Rabbit Room.