Category: The Christian Spirit

Reflections on living as a disciple of Christ.

Finney: Communicating the Gospel Effectively

  

Charles Finney often went against the conventions of the day in his teaching and preaching. Some of his most vociferous critics were fellow ministers who had been formally trained in the colleges. Finney had been largely self-taught and was therefore thought to be ignorant of the proper manner of speaking. Yet he had results where others did not. In his autobiography, he provides some detail on this controversy: All through the earlier part of my ministry especially, I used to… Read more »

Lewis: The Dusty vs. the Clean Mirror

  

God does take the initiative to reach out to us, yet His impact on our lives depends on our willingness to reach back. C. S. Lewis touches on this in his Mere Christianity: When you come to knowing God, the initiative lies on His side. If He does not show Himself, nothing you can do will enable you to find Him. And, in fact, He shows much more of Himself to some people than to others—not because He has favourites,… Read more »

Finney: Truth & Prayer

  

Personal confession time: sometimes reading Charles Finney makes me extremely uncomfortable. He seems to have a knack for pointing out my weaknesses. Perhaps this is because some weaknesses are more widespread than others and focusing on them brings conviction to a large audience. Whatever the reason, when he writes about prayer vs. simply bringing truth into people’s lives, I see myself far too much. Here’s what Finney says in his Revival Lectures: Some have zealously used truth to convert men,… Read more »

The Real End of the World

  

So here we are: October 1, and the government is in limbo with its funding. The way it’s being portrayed, we’re in sight of the end of the world. Well, I’m not of that opinion. I have it on very good authority that the end will look something like this: And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. …. Read more »

Finney: Discerning the Intent of the Heart

  

Our outward actions are extremely important, but when the Lord looks at those actions, He goes deeper and sees the intent of the heart. Sometimes, the outward actions of two individuals may be exactly the same, but the intent of the heart completely different. One may be honoring God by his actions while someone else doing the very same thing may be sinning. Here’s how Charles Finney explains it further: A student labors to get wages, to purchase books, to… Read more »

Lewis: God’s Claims on Our Lives

  

Why do I take time to write this daily commentary? As I contemplate the reasons, two come to the forefront: to show that God and our relationship to Him and His truth is paramount; to reveal, as much as possible, how, even though we ultimately live for another and better existence after this life, we nevertheless need to put His principles into practice in this one. C. S. Lewis said much the same thing in a 1939 essay, “Learning in… Read more »

Snyderian Truism #8

  

There is no particular order to my truisms. As I think of one, I write it down and it takes its place numerically. We are now up to #8, which is one I’ve had to learn from experience and also one I’ve seen in history; that’s one reason I share it in class. It goes like this: Bitterness may make you feel good temporarily, but it leads to personal destruction. One of the prime examples I use in American history… Read more »