toddcast

I'm not the person I want to be. I suppose all of us could say that. We have weaknesses. We have faults. We sin. In so many ways we have failed to be the person we committed to be when we said yes to Jesus. Acknowledging that can be deflating, if not depressing, but recently I have found some hope in my shortcomings. I am preaching through a short section in the apostle Paul's letter to a church he helped establish, the church in Philippi. In the middle of that letter he takes a break from teaching and gets personal, and oddly enough he reveals he has come to the same conclusion I have. He says it plainly — I have not arrived at my goal! If anyone could have said he had arrived, I would think it would be Paul. His resume is impressive, to say the least — church planter, apostle, author of more than half the New Testament books. Yet as accomplished as he was, he too can say, "I'm not who I want to be." I have come to the conclusion that it's okay not to...

Can you believe it? Another year is in the books. I don’t know about you, but as magical and wonderful this time of year is, it is exhausting. I’m tired! And the fact is that it’s not just this time of year. I find myself getting weary and tired often. Life is like that. It can wear you down. Life is hard work and hard work makes you tired.  And what’s strange is that you would think faith would exempt us from tiredness. Shouldn’t Christians be something like the energizer bunny always buzzing around doing good deeds with perpetual smiles on our faces? Sometimes I may feel that special energy but for the most part I find myself grinding through life. Add to the daily struggles of life, the Bible talks about an evil force that is working against us making life even more wearisome. The devil seems to delight in our exhaustion and leverages that tiredness against us tempting us just to give up. “Stop resisting the temptation and just give in,” he whispers to us. “You’ve done enough go...