Looking for the 2013 Advent Guide and Reading Schedule? Go here.

As a young boy, I eagerly anticipated Thanksgiving evening's desserts and Christmas morning's presents. But as I've grown older I've begun to more deeply appreciate the "reason for the season", as the coined Christian phrase goes. And as I have studied the life of Christ these past couple of years a different anticipation has arisen in my heart around the holidays - an excitement of the ...

The picture of someone living a holy life has been skewed and distorted by the devil so much that even those in the church today look at a holy lifestyle as one of boredom, drudgery, and continual frustration in the denial of our flesh. Some “holiness preachers” in their zeal for righteousness have also presented to us an angry God that sits in heaven full of bitterness and wishing that His people could finally “get it right”. Because of this perspective, we believe lies and end up running from God when we encounter our frailty instead of running to Him in the midst of it.

But...

A friend the other day asked me an interesting question – “Do you think you have the right eschatology to be saved?” It’s a genuine and very real question to ask because of Jesus’ own words about deception coming at the end of the age. But I responded:

“My eschatology is definitely wrong in areas, but the way to be saved is not by having the perfect understanding of all of the end-time events.”

In pondering and searching out my answer a bit more, I came across Luke 13:22-30 where Jesus answers a pretty loaded question from someone He meets in His journeys through the cities...