Thomas VanderPloeg

Times of waiting are natural and—in fact—biblical. God uses our times of waiting to help us focus more on God’s certainty in the midst of our uncertainties.

Jesus chose to become a servant for a reason; our response to follow Jesus as servants in this world is connected with that exact same reason.

One of the things I want to note about John’s gospel this week is the unique perspective this gospel provides into the life of Jesus. The three other gospels in the Bible—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—are all known as the synoptic gospels. Synoptic is a greek term that simply means “same view.” In other words,…

Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem before the Passover shows us a collision of identities and expectations; Jesus is welcomed as a king but acts as a servant.

Sometimes God uses our individual acts of service to be much more when joined together with what God is already doing.

The servant nature of Jesus shows us not only a demonstration of God’s hospitality, it shows us the direction of God’s hospitality.

Jesus comes not only to serve his people and bring salvation, but also because his heart longs for a desired outcome to take place in the hearts and lives of his people.

Jesus shows us that he is willing to sacrifice everything in order to serve the world he loves; service takes commitment.

Jesus begins his ministry of service from a place of emptiness; the call to serve is not dependent on what we have, but on what we give up.

For most of the book of Job, God remains silent. When God does finally speak up towards the end of the book, Job is left with just one response to give.

As Job finds a path through his moment of struggle, we see his awakening recognition of exactly what he needs: a mediator to step in and advocate on his behalf.

The story of Job forces us to confront a God we cannot always understand; like Job, we search for ways to relate to God in moments when we do not understand.

Job’s friends think they have an explanation for Job’s suffering, but they are wrong about who God is.

Sabbath is a day set aside as holy to the Lord; that makes sabbath a time to reorient ourselves and our lives towards God. In other words, sabbath is a day for worship.

When Jesus prays for his disciples, he prays that “they may have the full measure of my joy within them.” The Sabbath is designed by God as a day to give yourself fully to delight in God’s world, in your life in it, and ultimately in God himself.

Jesus frames the sabbath as a time in which our God-centered focus brings renewal and restoration. Sabbath rest is part of what forms us to be more complete disciples of Jesus.

To follow after Jesus is to adopt his overall lifestyle as our own and arrange our daily life around his presence and peace. This does not begin with doing, it begins with stopping.

The gift of Jesus at Christmas is more than a gift of forgiveness and salvation; the gift we receive through Christ is the gift of an eternal covenant family to which we belong.

The peace of God which we celebrate at Christmas is about more than absence of conflict; it is about wholeness. Jesus comes into the world and gives himself for us so that we could be made whole again.

So much of what we experience as joy at Christmas centers on the people we get to be with at Christmas. So also, the joy we experience in God at Christmas is not just what Jesus does FOR his people, it is primarily what Jesus does to be WITH his people.

A perfect gift reflects both the giver and the one receiving the gift. In the birth of Jesus, God gives a gift of love that reflects both God’s generosity of grace, as well as our need to receive God’s grace.

Hope is a gift from God that orients the focuses and direction of our faith towards the promises of God.

On this day we set aside for giving thanks, let’s take a few moments and consider this story from the gospel of Luke which teaches us a little something about gratitude. It is a story full of surprises. Maybe we miss those surprises because our culture is so far removed from the day of Jesus. However,…

Today is the last in a series paying attention to all the times in which the Bible commands us to not be afraid. I have noted in the past weeks that scripture tells us over 100 times to not be afraid. In the past weeks we have examined that command in light of related features. We have noticed how worry…

Scripture reminds us that the perfect glory of God is revealed in Christ; yet at the same time, we carry that gospel message as imperfect people.