The Periodically

A Poetic Prayer on Beholding and Becoming Like Christ Jesus Father in heaven, Help me to still and slow before You as I meet You now in prayer, to unravel the knots between my head and heart from looking within and without. I meet You here asking You to use Your Word and Spirit to both inform me and form me more wholly to Your image. Your image is one of purity and beauty, of wholeness and holiness, and I’m in awe. I crave You, Your nature, and to image Your likeness. When I stand before the Word of God, it’s as if I stand captivated before a bust of fashioned marble and marvel at the intricacy, grandeur, splendor, and detail of Whom it points to. I am told that, behold, I am to bear this image. To image the reality and substance: Jesus Christ. To be an image of God, a representative resembling His likeness. Oh God! Looking within, I lament at the immense task for which I was created! Yet, innately I desire to assume it. Knowing my flesh and my sinful nature as a son of Adam, I fear th...

Think back to the last time you were introduced, or introduced yourself, to someone new at church. When you left the conversation did you know more about that person or did he or she know more about you? It’s very natural and easy to talk about ourselves. We are our favorite subject. Our own thoughts, opinions, and stories seem important and worth sharing. It takes self-discipline to not make a conversation all about us. This is human nature, and everyone can relate.  The good news is that once we become a Christian, God begins the work of sanctifying us. We have new hearts and new desires and a new purpose, which is to glorify Him. We are now slaves to righteousness instead of slaves to sin. Instead of looking to find approval from man, we now have our identity in Christ. Instead of seeing other people as need-meeters, we can sacrificially give of ourselves for the benefit of another person. Romans 15:5-7 reminds us that God will give us grant us the ability to encourage othe...

When the weight we allow to cling closely leaves us blind, endangered, and in desperate need of a trim, we can trust the Shepherd Who holds the shears. Photo by  Georgi Kalaydzhiev  on  Unsplash Introduction to “The Weight of Wool”   I’ve been reading a lot about sheep lately. Not on purpose, per se. I didn’t set out to learn more about sheep and shepherds, but in God’s providence, I ended up here. It began by desiring to read a quick leisure book. A welcomed break from the academic literature I’ve been reading for college. I perused through my stack of thrifted books that are more conversational in nature (not to mention, smaller in size). I eventually narrowed the choices down to three, finally settling on the smallest one, titled, “A Shepherd looks at Psalm 23” by Phillip Keller. I settled into a cozy spot and began reading. The following week themes of sheep and shepherds kept popping up as I went about my days. Feeling inspired to journal about what I was ponder...

Ecclesiastes asks the question that the rest of the Bible answers– “What is the meaning of life?” Whether people realize it or not, they wrestle with the same things that the author addresses. Do wisdom, work, pleasures, wealth, or honor bring deep and lasting satisfaction? Can we find our purpose in something here on this earth? Man-made religions seek to give meaning to life. Many do so through the teaching that a higher power will reward them if they do good while on earth. People who do not believe in a higher power will have to create their own meaning and purpose as a purely atheistic belief will result in a worldview that everything is meaningless. There are also many who live in the in-between– they don’t adhere to a certain religion and at the same time aren’t sure if there is a God or if that God is knowable.   I think that whether they like to admit it or not, unbelievers have to wrestle with some thoughts that make them feel uncomfortable. They might feel guilt or ...

I recently finished a novel about a near-future American dystopian society. Although the book itself was not my favorite, the author’s chapter titles were unique and the title above particularly stood out to me. It resonated with me as a somewhat tongue-in-cheek summary of our journeys as exiles here on planet Earth. In a lot of ways our man-made plans for the future are probably doomed and in light of that we, as believers, have the opportunity to be perplexingly merry. This past Christmas, our family of six, who was spread out over three states, was able to be all together for about 24 hours. It wasn’t near enough time but we were thankful to be together. As we make plans to take a family vacation this summer, we have to set realistic expectations. With car trouble, work schedules, illness, and other unknown variables, what is the likelihood that our desire to be all together will be met? It’s probably doomed. If so, will I still find myself being merry? That is the promise of Psalm ...

When we find ourselves in situations that tempt us to question the goodness of God (and I don’t mean when we can’t find our keys— although that is frustrating), we can respond in many ways. The situations we find ourselves in are common enough: a chronic illness, the death of a loved one, financial burden, broken relationships, a distant spouse, unsaved loved ones, and the evil and suffering we see around us everyday. If God is all-powerful, all-loving, and all-sovereign (which He is), then we must do battle with our own minds to believe and be thankful for this truth even when the circumstance right in front of us beckons us to believe otherwise.  Because we struggle with wanting our lives to turn out a certain way, we can respond to continued loss in a way that reveals what our hearts are worshipping. For some, the tragedy of their circumstances with what they believe about God cannot be reconciled. They begin to question God’s goodness and sometimes this leads to apostasy. This ...