Posts by Steve Burchett
Enduring Love, Enduring Pain, and Christmas
The endurance of love for a loved one who has died or one who is suffering, especially at Christmastime, can at once be a weight that pulls you down and a buoy that lifts you up. It pulls you down because love exercised where hope is lost leads to disappointment. It can lift you up because love exercised along with hope, even in difficulty, can keep your head above the waters of pain. So then, your flailing may in fact…
My Preferred Way to Read the Bible
In this book Jim Elliff shares the Bible reading plan that has helped him the most over the last several years. Many have joined him in this approach and have experienced the same joy and discovery that has enriched his life. Jim encourages the believer to read one or two books of the Bible repeatedly as a way to understand the Scriptures on a new level. Practical advice is given, as well as guidance through some subtle distractions from Bible…
Suffering and Seeking the Kingdom
Below are some thoughts on Matthew 6 that I wrote one year ago. I sent them to my wife, Rachel, who read them and saved them on the eve of an impossibly difficult year. Today, still in the midst of our darkest suffering, I want to tell you that I have often failed to believe and do what I am encouraging you toward. Rachel sent my words back to me last week, and there they were: staring into my heart,…
He Leads for His Sake
Part of our problem with God in the midst of difficulty is that we continue believing that our lives are all about us. And when we turn inwardly, becoming preoccupied with self, we quickly spiral into fear and anxiety. But, Psalm 23:3 says, “He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” Here, the Lord frees us from our deadly self-centered trajectory though the reminder that God’s work in our lives is for his name’s sake. Your present…
What About Untimely Death?
If God works all things according to the good of those who love Him (Rom 8:28), why do some believers suffer and die? It is helpful to remember when answering hard questions like this that it is always gain for a Christian to die (Phil 1:21). God will sometimes override the good thing of temporal provision to bring the better thing of going to be with him (Phil 1:23). This is not a surprise, even for the Christian, because no…
A Seven Minute Testimony by Philip Gittens from Cape Town, South Africa
Listen here as Philip recounts the effect of Wasted Faith in his life.
Giving Up Our Rights
Consider the formula: Giving up rights = Gospel advancement. Rights are those preferences and freedoms we enjoy as Christians related to what we eat, drink and enjoy and even some things that we are owed or deserve. To us in the West, willingly giving these up is an uncomfortable concept. However, in 1 Corinthians 9 we discover that Paul’s main method of evangelistic ministry was focused upon giving up his rights. Three are mentioned explicitly: the right to get married…
Reclaiming Your Eyes from Pornography
I used to watch my dad brand cattle. I still remember the awful smell. The bovines would wail at the momentary pain, and the smoke from singed hair and burnt cowhide would rise into the afternoon sun. One by one the cattle would file through to receive the mark of our farm. Once branded, the cattle bore our mark forever. We owned them, and they had the scar to prove it. Sin is a like a brand, etched in our…
Ready to Rejoice; Ready to Mourn
If you are having a great day today, someone else is living in new or continuing tragedy. If you can do nothing but cry, someone else cannot stop laughing. If you are experiencing freedom, someone else is enslaved. If your marriage is in shambles, someone else is enjoying the wife of their youth. If you are in a season of triumph, someone else is suffering another defeat. If you are beaten down, someone else is lifted up. And because this…
Making God a Liar
Mankind has exchanged the truth of God for a lie and seems happy about it. Singing foolish songs like, “Cheers all around and love and smiles too, because we all make it to Heaven no matter what we do!” Worse that this, if possible, is that he calls God a liar even though He tells us the truth about sin—that it exists from birth (Psalm 51:5), that it has separated you from God (Isaiah 52:9), that it brings the wrath…
God Can’t Save My Child
The bumbling toddler that used to cling to your leg constantly has become a teen who would rather text than speak to you. What happened? Where did your once over-talkative little girl go? What has this lanky boy who grunts with downturned eyes during conversation done with my son! Maybe your scenario is different, but what holds true is that parents carry heavy heart-burdens for their unconverted children to know the Lord. And, by God’s good design, many children born…
Take it Away
Christ came first to take away sin but when He comes next He will take away men—some to eternal darkness and some to life—some to healing and some to strife. What have you done with His sacrifice? Is it tucked neatly into your head like a child in her bed? A forgotten box in permanent storage labeled “someday” or “important” but nonetheless collecting dust. Have you spurned it and despised, buried the truth and set God aside—for earthy pleasure that…
An Empty Chair at Christmas
Sometimes the hope of Christmas is, “Next year all our troubles will be miles away.” That’s what the song says anyway, but many will not have a merry Christmas just because of that. They know it is not true. Many start with and cannot get past the empty chair—where their husband used to sit, where their daughter used to climb, where grandma used to stand to reach up high. Sure, the stores have been visited, and the goodies consumed, but…
Heaven to Earth
What did it mean for the eternal Son to descend and enter into the history of men? The human brain cannot completely conceive the nature of His humility. Glory to dust, eternal to earth, all the while retaining His worth. Infinitely valuable, beauty beyond words, bowed down to be cursed, leaving heaven for dirt. A Savior for all without capability, crying out of dark futility to the One with all ability to tread down their impossible with grace that is unstoppable.…
From Fear to Trust
When I first heard the account of George Muller’s life a few years ago, I was intrigued and frightened. By faith and through prayer Muller declared to a watching world and thousands of orphan children how God could provide for his own. Muller did not take a salary or ask for money to feed the orphans in his care, but trusted God to provide all their needs through prayer. My intrigue with Muller’s life of trust was compounded when I…