Faith & Life Articles
Faith & Life Articles: Thoughts on faith and life and faith seeking understanding.
Faith & Life Articles
How to cultivate foolishness
No one sets out to be a fool. Yet sometimes we all stumble into the trap. Here are 7 steps to cultivate stupidity.
Ken Elzinga welcomes UVA parents
It has become a tradition for Professor Ken Elzinga give a welcome address to new University of Virginia students and their parents during Move-In Day Lunches at the Center for Christian Study. Here is 2020 his message to parents of incoming students.
Ken Elzinga welcomes UVA students
It has become a tradition for Professor Ken Elzinga give a welcome address to new University of Virginia students and their parents during Move-In Day Lunches at the Center for Christian Study. Here is 2020 his message to incoming students.
Read the Psalms in 30 days
Reading through the psalms can change your life! Here’s a plan to read through the psalms in 30 days.
Read through the Bible
Have you decided to read through the Bible as one of your New Year’s Resolutions? Here’s a great selection of plans to help you keep that resolution.
Today is the fleeting moment
Have you ever seen those maps of the stars of the universe? The ones taken from space where there is no man-made light, so you can actually see the billions of stars? First, these photos impress you with the vastness of the universe and the number of stars is beyond...
Flying through impostor syndrome
Three "random" events this week converged into one life lesson. 1) I listened to my pastor's last sermon. We met when I was a college freshman and he was an intern at our church. Now he's retiring after 43 years as its pastor. I don't think I was present for his...
Elzinga’s 4 Keys to Success in College
Headed to college? Wondering how to survive the experience? Here is advice from an expert.
Breaking the Huddle Syndrome
In modern American culture growing older seems to mean becoming invisible; unfortunately this trend is also infecting the church. Relegating older women to the nostalgia-bin is a symptom of “The Huddle Syndrome.” Fortunately, the Huddle Syndrome is easy to break.
Dealing with Loss: Lessons from Haggai
Recently, my life has been marked by loss. Like the Beatles, how I long for yesterday! The last place I expected to find comfort was in the Old Testament Book of Haggai — yet I did.
Sin and academic perfection
All through my academic career I rubbed shoulders with people smarter than I. The standard was always higher than I could reach, no matter how I hard I tried. Holiness is like that.
Loving someone with cancer
In an 11 month period, my mother died of breast cancer and both my mother-in-law and her mother died of lung cancer. Here’s what I learned about how to love, help and support someone living with cancer and their caretaker.
What if I failed my Bible reading plan?
Approximately one-third of those who started a Bible reading plan in January abandon it by February. By May that number will drop to half. What if you are one of the statistics?
Love & Hate
How can the apostle John say love is a mark of believers and hate is a mark of non-believers? Even a cursory examination reveals that believers hate and non-believers love.
Judging other believers
If a local church developed a schism such that it divided into opposing camps, both camps might be tempted to judge the other side using 1 John 2:9-:11. But the Apostle John did not write these verses to be a club to condemn each other.
Resentment: a biblical lesson
How do you handle it when life isn’t fair? It’s easy to grow frustrated with our own lot in life and resent those who seem to have it better. Consider the story of Miriam.
Rethinking the 20s
My grandmother remarked that when she was 20 marriage was the adventure — for both men and women — and career was a icing on the cake. Now education and achievement are considered the adventure while marriage (indeed any long-term relationship) is an afterthought. But it’s not working.
Easter celebrations
In the midst of all these glorious Easter celebrations — however appropriate they are — it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that Easter calls for humility and repentance.
Are congregations a means to an end or a flock to shepherd? 3 examples
What happens when pastors start looking at their congregation as a means to an end instead of a flock to shepherd? Consider these real-life examples of the ways 3 different churches went about seeking volunteers.
NT Wright and Eleanor Bramwell
Are we to believe NT Wright, like Dr. Bramwell, is the first to get it right? Should we so easily brush away “centuries of theological tradition”? Chronological snobbery cuts both ways.
All hardship is not harmful
When did we learn that all hardship is harmful, that every unknown is dangerous, and that even the tiniest failure must be avoided? It is a logical conclusion if we alone are responsible for everything, but James would say otherwise.
As in a mirror
Obedience is not agreeing with truth and intending to do it. It’s doing what God asks us to do as soon as possible. Why, then, do I fail to act?
Top Banner Photo by Anders Wideskott on Unsplash