Nothing John Wesley preached created more controversy in his day than the doctrine of Christian perfection, also known as entire sanctification. And it would probably cause a big stir now too, except no one preaches it. Okay, maybe some people do somewhere, but I don’t hear it in the United M...

As we mature in the Christian faith, we begin to see that there’s more than one component to salvation. This is what I love about Wesleyan Christianity- with prevenient grace, justification and sanctification, we acknowledge that salvation is an event and a process. More and more, in Methodis...

Christian perfection was probably John Wesley’s most controversial teaching. I recently started reading more of what Wesley had to say about the topic, even to the point of ordering a print copy of A Plain Account of Christian Perfection so I can mark it up! ( I know it’s free on t...

Many of us don’t know how to deal with sin, our own or anyone else’s. Some of our pastors never mention the word. They choose to ignore sin, or they pretend it doesn’t exist. Bad idea. If the United Methodist Church is a place where we only affirm each other, and where we all ...

In Jeremiah 4, the prophet offers these words to Judah: Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, remove the foreskin of your hearts, O people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or else my wrath will go forth like fire, and burn with no one...

I think sometimes we use God’s will as a cop-out when the real problem is our own will or lack of faith. We tack “if it’s your will, God” onto our prayers almost as if it’s an escape clause- a way to save face if God doesn’t answer our prayers with an immediat...

Christians define sin differently (e.g. missing the mark, wandering from the path, violating God’s law) but we all generally agree that sin is bad for us and bad for our relationship with God. That’s the easy part. The question is, how do we get rid of sin? It’s not hard to figur...

I have a deep conviction that the answer to many of our struggles in the Christian faith lies in our understanding of the Holy Spirit. The walls we often hit (and who hasn’t hit a spiritual wall at some point?) would fall if we took full advantage of the very gift God gave to equip us for lif...

After leaving college, I made ends meet for a couple of years waiting tables at Olive Garden. I was often amused by people who ordered the 1000+ calorie lasagna with Diet Coke followed by cheesecake. “What’s the point of the diet soda?” I thought. Now, ten years later, I catch...