Gary L. Thomas's Blog, page 20

Hell Breaking Apart at His Feet

Last week’s post talked about my love for the Christian classics. My book, Thirsting for God, is basically a compilation of the many lessons I’ve learned from reading the classics, and so for the next couple of weeks, I want to excerpt from that book to give you a feel for some of these lessons.

As I sought to develop a goal, I wanted to particularly avoid falling into the exclusive “just God and me” mentality. We have seen that authentic spirituality leads us to seek the good of others. Unfortunately, we often ask, how can I become holy? How can I grow? How can I reach an advanced spiritual state? These questions may reveal that we are simply sugarcoating an unhealthy selfish preoccupation. Spiritual advancement is a good aim, but on its own it seems radically unlike the primary focus of Jesus, who told the story of the good Samaritan and said we should love our neighbors and make disciples of all nations.

This, of course, opens the door to a centuries-old argument about the way of action versus the way of contemplation. For hundreds of years, monks argued which was superior—to be devoted to prayer or to be involved in active work outside the monastery. Not surprisingly, most monks believed the superior life was a quiet life devoted to seclusion and contemplation. Thus grew the concept of forsaking the world to go into the desert or establish a monastery.

If we take Jesus as our model, we see that we don’t have to choose one or the other. Jesus was active, though not prematurely so. He waited until He was 30 to begin His public ministry. And when He became active, He never lost His spiritual center. He regularly retreated into solitude and prayer.

Jesus’s life, then, provided the first clue for my goal—contemplation (prayer, meditation, time alone with God) balanced with public ministry (teaching, healing, ministering to the poor). The two are not set against each other but joined together in a cooperative effort.

Continue reading this blog over on Substack HERE.

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Backup Singers for Your Marriage

Who is speaking into your marriage?

If you need advice over an impasse, is there someone you can call, or do you and your spouse try to figure out everything…alone?

This week’s post is an excerpt from an upcoming book by Ted Cunningham: a series of 52 marriage devotionals entitled “Greater Twogether.” I’m known for stressing the difficulties of marriage; Ted is known for emphasizing the fun, and the devotionals in this book reflect that. I believe reading both Ted and me offers a good balance. Ted has become a trusted friend of mine and I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

This particular devotional stresses the need to develop “backup singers” for your marriage—a community of support so that your marriage has sufficient input and help. If you enjoy this devotional, there are 51 others just like it, and you can preorder the book here .

Read this blog over on Substack HERE.

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The Will of God

One of the most common questions I get as a pastor is “How can I know the will of God?” Dr. Bruce Waltke helped me to see this pursuit through a different lens in his book, The Will of God: A Pagan Notion? I share some of his insights and try to apply them to common life decisions.

Watch this video HERE on Substack.

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Putting Porn in the Past

I’ve spent my life trying to help married couples create oases of intimacy, relationships that shelter us from an often cold and uncaring world. A husband and wife traveling through the challenges and disappointments of this life together, worshipping their God and serving their Savior together is a truly glorious experience. Marital intimacy foreshadows heavenly joy and blessing and is worth the work to get there. I especially wanted to help couples experience this with my books Cherish and A Lifelong Love.

But I’ve come to realize that if couples plant, water, and cultivate a nice little oasis, but one or both of them are turning to porn, that’s like pouring sewage into their pond. Their “oasis” is going to stink. The sewage will pollute their passion. It will undercut everything else they are doing. If you want to grow a satisfying marriage, the first step is to stop pouring sewage into your pond.

Continue reading this blog on Substack HERE.

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Fire Up Your Soul

Several engineers who met weekly for a barbecue entered into a frenzied rivalry over who could light the charcoal briquettes faster than anyone else. By “lighting the coals,” I don’t mean just getting them started; the black stones had to be white hot and ready for cooking.

After several creative attempts, one engineer blew away the competition by having the coals ready in three seconds.

How did he do it? I’ll tell you if you promise not to try this at home: a ten-foot pole, an ignition device, and carefully applied liquid oxygen.

For me, reading the great Christian classics—devotional books written over the past two thousand years—are “liquid oxygen” to my soul. I don’t want to sound cynical or critical, but when I look left and right, I’m not always inspired by what I see.  Many Christians take their faith for granted; others feel downright discouraged.  Relatively few seem to walk with a sense of joy, purpose, and passion.

Continue reading this blog on Substack HERE.

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Every Man’s Battle? Yes, And Every Woman’s Battle Too

The purpose of this blog post isn’t to win an argument or even to engage in an argument; it’s pastoral. I want to help men understand themselves and women to understand men, even while admitting that no man and no woman is like all others. We’re all different, so we all struggle differently. And then, I want to point us all back to Jesus as our remedy and helper.

Continue reading this blog on Substack HERE.

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Have You Ever Wanted to Help Someone Write a Book?

When I started teaching at Cherry Hills Community Church last summer, we began something that was new for me: a sermon review team that listens to me give the sermon beforehand, and then offers suggestions. Maybe my applications are too limited to one demographic. Maybe a point wasn’t clear. Maybe an intended humorous point wasn’t so humorous… We strive to get as wide a demographic as we can, since different generations and backgrounds react differently to each sermon.

It’s been a huge success, in my opinion. And even those on the review team often tell me that small changes can make a big difference in clarity and impact.

Since this has worked for preaching, why not writing? The Bible says two are better than one, so I’m guessing twenty-five is even better. I’d like to try something I’ve never done before—enlist a community to help me write my next book, and I’d love for some of you to join in.

The first draft of my next book is already written (actually, it’s probably the tenth draft, but that’s the way I write), but now I’m about to complete the final rewrite before my acquisition editor gets it. I’d like to get feedback of all kinds—what you think sounds off, boring, particularly helpful, not helpful, unclear, you name it—to help me refine it. And I’d like a variety of voices to chime in.

Continue reading this blog on Substack HERE.

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Inside Our Weekend at The Cove

There are places on this globe that are particularly lovely to look at: Colorado’s mountains, New England’s forests in the Fall, cascading waterfalls in the Pacific Northwest, the coastline of Cinque Terre or the Amalfi coast in Italy. It’s a treat to see them.

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has pulled off something else entirely: creating a place on this planet that is particularly lovely to feel.  I can’t explain it, but it seems like the acres outside of Asheville, North Carolina have a sacred sense of God’s presence. As soon as Lisa and I drive through the gates it’s like we’re welcomed into the arms of God. The food is wonderful, the scenery spectacular, the wildlife abundant.

But the feel. There’s just something different about the feel. This place has been set aside for people to worship God and listen to God’s word. Every conference has to be focused on the Bible, or you’re not invited. Even for our marriage conferences, they want to know what Bible verses will be showcased and read.

Continue reading this blog over on Substack HERE.

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Breathing Under Water

Overcoming Anxiety with Peace

Anxiety has reached pandemic levels in the United States. Biblical peace, its’ counterpart, is one of my favorite and most treasured parts of being a Christian. The path to a settled soul, an overwhelming sense that all will be okay even if your life isn’t turning out just like you’d like it to, has been charted by one of my favorite classic writers: Henry Drummond. In this sermon I lean on his “recipe” for peace to help us learn how to live with joy, hope and above all, peace in an oftentimes chaotic world.

Watch this sermon on Substack HERE.

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How God Can Use a Miserable Marriage

Most of you know my passion for classic writings. I’ve said so many times that reading outside of my century and even tradition can open my eyes to perspectives I’d never hear otherwise. And this morning, something John Calvin wrote five hundred years ago just blew me away. He creates an entirely new understanding to help us think through the ramifications—and perhaps even blessings—of a difficult marriage.

If memory serves, John Calvin was married for only a decade. It was a happy marriage by all accounts, but his wife died too young, as wasn’t unusual in the sixteenth century. But far from making him bitter, his wife’s death reminded Calvin of an amazing spiritual truth.

Let me set this up.

In a long section from his Institutes (this is from Book III), Calvin details the need we have for adversities. He doesn’t say we simply need to accept adversities, trials and disappointments, but to realize how much we need them to mature and maintain our focus. One of the benefits of adversity is God’s aim to “wean us from excessive love of this present life.” We can and should enjoy this life, appreciate this life, and thank God for this life (Calvin makes this clear when you read the larger argument). But an excessive love for this life blinds us to the glory of the next life—and that’s a trap we must avoid, but wouldn’t avoid unless God all but forced it on us, which he does through tribulations.

Continue reading over on Substack HERE.

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