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Theology

In Blog, Jesus, Theology on
November 17, 2024

The Compassion of Christ

Showing compassion has never been my strong suit. Have you ever taken one of those online spiritual gifts tests? I have—multiple times—and I tend to score very low on the gift of mercy. I’m not quite sure why this is. I’ve never been much of an empathetic person, and I’ve never been one to feel or be in tune with others’ emotions. Compassion just doesn’t always come naturally for me, which can make biblical commands like “put on compassionate hearts” and “bear one another’s burdens” particularly difficult (Galatians 6:2, Colossians 3:12).

But showing compassion is something that I—and every other Christian, for that matter—ought to strive for. Why? It’s not just because Christians are expected to be very nice people, and it’s not just because a couple Bible verses say so (though, that is a good enough reason). We are called to be compassionate because Christ is compassionate. Multiple times in the Gospels, we see Jesus being moved by compassion for the people He ministered to (Matthew 9:36, 14:14; Mark 6:34). As Christians, we ought to imitate our Lord and Savior and show compassion as He did.

Let’s look at three Gospel accounts of Christ’s compassion and what they teach us about Jesus, as well as ourselves.

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In Blog, Fruit of the Spirit, Theology on
September 15, 2024

Doing Good

Nobody wants to be called a “do-gooder.” Like the name suggests, a do-gooder is a person who does good things. However, the good things a do-gooder does are often not as helpful as they’d like them to be. Their actions are often ineffective, pointless, or even just downright annoying. Even worse than being called a do-gooder is being called a “goody-goody” or a “goody two-shoes,” which implies that you do good things just to please those in authority and that you look down upon those who are not as good as you.

The Bible calls Christians to be good, to do good. In fact, goodness is one of nine attributes listed in the Fruit of the Spirit, the characteristics of the person who is filled with the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). But what does it look like to practice goodness according to Scripture, and how can we avoid earning these monikers as a result of our good deeds?

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In Biblical Theology, Blog, Theology on
June 16, 2024

Covenants Crash Course

Weddings are big, exciting events. My best friend just got engaged a couple months ago, and she’s been searching for the perfect venue and deciding on important details, like what colors her bridesmaids will wear and what food they’ll serve at the reception. Last month, I even got the chance to go wedding dress shopping with her (and she picked out a truly beautiful gown).

While weddings are fun to attend or be a part of, they are more than just lavish parties where people dress up, and dance, and drink, and celebrate two people who have fallen in love. The real purpose of the wedding ceremony is to establish a marriage covenant between one man and one woman who promise to love each other for the rest of their lives and build a family that honors the Lord.

Nowadays, we don’t see a lot of people making covenants (outside of marriage), but they were quite common in ancient history. In Scripture, we find covenants being discussed often (the Hebrew and Greek words that translate as “covenant” appear about 300 times throughout the Bible). In fact, covenants play a key theme in the grand biblical narrative, and it’s important that we’re all familiar with the major biblical covenants and what they mean for us today.

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In Blog, Easter, Theology on
March 17, 2024

The Evidence for Easter

Two thousand years ago, a man named Jesus walked on the earth.

This is a historical fact that even secular scholars will affirm. Jesus of Nazareth was a real person who lived in first century Israel. Even if they don’t believe that Jesus was divine in any way, even if they don’t believe that Jesus performed wonders and miracles during His earthly ministry, they do acknowledge and believe in Jesus’ existence. Even other world religions, like Islam and Baha’i, teach that Jesus was a great prophet and teacher in His day.

What keeps secularists and those who subscribe to other religions from believing in the true Jesus, from professing that Jesus was truly divine? Different people are likely to give different responses, but it really boils down to a disbelief in the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. We live in a post-Enlightenment world, after all, that thrives on science and reason, a society that balks at the ideas of miracles or spiritual afterlives. Coming back from the dead is impossible, something that would quite literally require a miracle. So, for a people who don’t believe in the miraculous, they can’t bring themselves to believe that Jesus could have actually resurrected from the dead, especially three days after the fact.

While Christianity is a religion that is rooted in faith, it’s also based on fact—the fact that Jesus died for our sins and resurrected to give us new life. This isn’t something that we just blindly believe in; there’s evidence that points to the veracity of these claims. And when we review this evidence, we can become more confident in our faith and be emboldened to spread the truth about what really happened in Jerusalem two millennia ago.

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In Blog, Fruit of the Spirit, Theology on
January 15, 2024

Pursuing Peace

With the rise of the internet and social media, our world is much more connected than ever before. While this kind of technology has brought numerous blessings, it’s also been the cause of many curses. With just a tap or a click, we have access to more information that we can imagine—perhaps more information than we truly need. We watch scenes of political unrest unfold in cities across the country. We read articles about the devastation of wars happening halfway around the globe. We see aggravating posts and comments from people who we would never meet in real life. While some might say that this unhindered access to the world’s information is good for us, many others would argue that it is only causing us to be riddled with anxiety.

Regardless of how much time we spend perusing news sites or scrolling on Facebook, we all likely carry some anxiety about what is happening in our communities, in our cities, and around the world. We are a people who are in desperate need of peace. And thankfully, we have a God who can give that to us.

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