Shows
A Stranger in the House of GodSimon the BoldSend us a textMost sermons that I have heard, including some that I have preached myself, that focus on Simon Peter tend to portray him as something of a buffoon. They present Simon Peter as a boaster and a blowhard. Peter, as the Gospels admit, said and did some foolish things. But that did not make him a fool. Nor was he a coward. The bravest thing that Simon Peter ever did is probably not what you think. Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John w...
2026-01-1113 minA Stranger in the House of GodBlue Christmas: The Cure for Christmas MelancholySend us a textThe cure for Christmas melancholia is not, as a popular song tells us, that we “need a little Christmas right now.” Nor is it necessarily Puritan austerity or renunciation of all observance of Christmas. The cure, strange as it may seem, is good theology. Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is Silen...
2025-12-1317 minA Stranger in the House of GodMary's LullabySend us a textI used to think that lullaby carols were odd. Why place so much emphasis on the baby Jesus? But this year, I began listening to Christmas carols in July in connection with a new book I was writing. I see them differently now. Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is Silent, i...
2025-11-2512 min
Karl and CrewWalking with Christ in Obedience with Colin Smith & Importance of Obedience with Dr. John KoesslerToday, on Karl and Crew, we talk about the beauty of obeying the voice of the Lord. We turned to the phone lines to ask our listeners to share with us an act of obedience the Lord had called them to do, and how, in the end, there was a blessing in it. We were also joined by Dr. John Koessler, who spoke about the importance of obedience to the Lord. Dr. Koessler is a retired Professor and Faculty Emeritus from the Moody Bible Institute in Pastoral Studies. He also has a podcast and blog called “A Stranger in th...
2025-11-1356 minA Stranger in the House of GodInsatiable Desire and World Weariness: Signs We Were Made for EternitySend us a textI have heard more than one Christian express reservations about what we can look forward to in the age to come. What is it about Heaven that makes some of us nervous? Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is Silent, is published by Lexham Press. You can learn more about John a...
2025-06-2711 minA Stranger in the House of GodSlow Faith: Lessons About Belief From the DisciplesSend us a textWhen Jesus called the two disciples on the Emmaus Road "slow to believe," he was describing many of us as well. The disciples' struggle to believe provides insight into our own slow faith. Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is Silent, is published by Lexham Press. You can learn more about J...
2025-04-2316 minA Stranger in the House of GodThe Rediscovered Country: Heaven is More Familiar Than We ThinkSend us a text Shakespeare called death “the undiscovered country.” But its environs may be more familiar than we think. The landscape of the undiscovered country is not as alien as we thought. Nor do we have to wait until we pass through the gates of death to catch a glimpse of its powers. In fact, if we take Scripture at its word, all those who are in Christ are already in residence there in some mysterious sense. Today's topic reflects the theme of John's latest book, On Things Above: The Earthly Importance of Heavenly Reality...
2025-03-2711 minA Stranger in the House of GodFull of Days: The Five Blessings of Old AgeSend us a textScripture says that Job died "old and full of days." Unlike our culture, which tends to view old age through the lens of loss and debilitation, the Bible's perspective on aging is generally positive. What are the five "blessings" that come with old age?Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is...
2025-01-3114 minA Stranger in the House of GodEternity Shut in a Span: The Nativity of Christ as the Ultimate EpiphanySend us a textChristmas is the day that holds pride of place for most Christians. Of all the holidays, it is the one that garners the lion's share of our attention and generates the most excitement. But this has not always been the case. In terms of church history, Christmas, at least as we now observe it, was a relative latecomer. The earliest Christians showed relatively little interest in fixing the precise date of Christ's birth. However, we would be wrong to conclude from this that they viewed it as either unhistorical or unimportant. The Nativity...
2024-12-0914 minA Stranger in the House of GodEntertaining the Strange: Conversation as an Act of HospitalitySend us a textDuring this past presidential election, Joe Rogan attempted to sit down with Kamala Harris for an interview. When they were unable to come to terms, he expressed disappointment. "I hope she does," Rogan said. "I will talk to her like a human being. I would try to have a conversation with her." Whatever you may think of Rogan, he was correct in describing conversation as the art of talking to someone like a human being. What is it about the nature of conversation that makes it "the most concrete, palpable, frequent and important...
2024-11-2517 minA Stranger in the House of GodJob and the Divine Game: Faith Amidst SufferingSend us a textIn a letter discussing the infant theory of quantum mechanics, Albert Einstein famously observed that God “does not play dice.” Perhaps, but sometimes, it feels as if God does play games with us. What is the nature of what Martin Luther called "the divine game?" Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book...
2024-11-1313 minA Stranger in the House of GodTechnological Servant or Tool of Technopoly? LOGOS Takes a LeapSend us a textJohn offers a review of Logos Bible Software's new subscription model, designed to enhance accessibility and maintain revenue. Mixed user feedback highlights concerns about costs versus value and the introduction of AI features into the software. Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is Silent, is published by Lexham Press. You can l...
2024-10-3113 minA Stranger in the House of GodPlaying God: The Unexpected AttributeSend us a textPlayfulness is not typically attributed to the divine. Common descriptors include holy, sovereign, just, and merciful. Attributes such as omniscience, omnipresence, and self-sufficiency are well-acknowledged. However, playfulness seldom makes it into theological discourse. throughout the Bible, the grace note reflected in God’s dealings with humanity is that of mirth.Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His...
2024-09-1308 minA Stranger in the House of GodSpitting Away From the Angels: Faith, Imagination, & the Reality of the ChurchSend us a textThe church is a caravan. It travels in company. In one of his sermons on the nature of Christ, Saint Augustine pictures the church as being a community of faith that stretches across the globe but across time. Or as he put it, “from Abel the just to the end of the world.” This is not what I usually see when the congregation assembles. I can’t help but notice how drab my view of the same spiritual landscape is by comparison. I wonder why my church seems to be so different from theirs...
2024-05-0112 minA Stranger in the House of GodWhen God is Silent-Faith, Hope, & PrayerSend us a text Faith and hope are essential in prayer. But how much faith is enough before God will answer? Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is Silent, is published by Lexham Press. You can learn more about John at https://www.johnkoessler.com.
2024-04-0315 minA Stranger in the House of GodWhen God is Silent-Prayers Without WordsSend us a textSome years ago, a friend admitted to me that she couldn’t pray. She is not alone. Some of the godliest people have found themselves at a loss for words in the presence of God. How do we pray when we have no words?Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is Si...
2024-02-2712 minA Stranger in the House of GodWhen God is Silent-Jesus on PrayerSend us a textEveryone learns to talk by imitation. Most people learn to pray the same way. They hear the prayers of others and copy them. Jesus’s disciples learned how to pray from Jesus. His model prayer, usually referred to as the Lord’s Prayer, is a prayer that we can pray for ourselves, but it is also a kind of template. Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on praye...
2024-01-2513 minA Stranger in the House of GodThe Christmas StorySend us a textIt is not a hyperbole to describe the Christmas story as fantastic. That is to say, it has all the characteristics of a fantasy. C. S. Lewis observed, ""The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact." Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is Silent, is published by L...
2023-12-1010 minA Stranger in the House of GodWhen God is Silent-How to Stay Focused During PrayerSend us a textMany things can get in the way of praying. But one of the most common obstacles is boredom. Prayer can sometimes seem tedious. How do we stay focused when praying? Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is Silent, is published by Lexham Press. You can learn more about John at https://ww...
2023-10-3114 minA Stranger in the House of GodWhen God is Silent-Praying in the Words of AnotherSend us a textWhich kind of praying is better, memorized prayers, written prayers, or extemporaneous prayers that we make up in the moment? Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is Silent, is published by Lexham Press. You can learn more about John at https://www.johnkoessler.com.
2023-09-1711 minA Stranger in the House of GodWhen God is Silent-Managing Our Angry PrayersSend us a textSometimes when we pray, we are angry with other people. On other occasions, we pray because we are angry with God. How do we manage our angry prayers? Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is Silent, is published by Lexham Press. You can learn more about John at https://www.johnkoessler.c...
2023-07-2113 minA Stranger in the House of GodWhen God is Silent-The Art of Praying for OthersSend us a textDo a search on books about intercessory prayer on the Internet, and the overall impression you get is that our concerns in this area are primarily concerns of focus and method. Intercession isn't exactly rocket science but that doesn't mean that it is easy. Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is S...
2023-07-0513 minA Stranger in the House of GodWhen God is Silent-Praying and Getting What You Want . . . or NotSend us a textPrayer is an act of communion with God. But for most of us, it’s also about getting something from God. Most prayers include an “ask” of some kind. We aren’t praying just to hear ourselves talk. We do not struggle with prayer because it is hard. Our problem is that we are not sure it is worthwhile. We suspect that God is not interested in our case or fear that he will not decide matters in our favor. Delay and denial are the major reasons for this uncertainty. We pray, but the answ...
2023-06-2412 minA Stranger in the House of GodWhen God is Silent-Awkward ConversationSend us a textWhatever prayer may be, it is not an ordinary conversation. Believers in every generation have understood prayer as one of the means by which God communicates to his people. Yet it is a conversation where we do the majority of the talking. In prayer, we approach God but do not see either face or form and do not hear his voice. Therefore it is a conversation that lacks all the normal cues we rely upon for meaning. When we talk to God, we cannot rely upon inflection, body language, or facial expression to...
2023-06-0511 min
A Stranger in the House of GodDo We Really Need Another Book on Prayer?Send us a textMost books about prayer either assume that I don’t want to pray or that I don’t know how. Neither is really the case. My problem lies elsewhere. I don’t like the way God treats me when I pray.Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is Silent, is published by Lexham Press...
2023-04-1902 min
A Stranger in the House of GodOther Words: Four More Cries from the CrossSend us a textJesus' last words were those of a victor, not a victim. They are the words of one who knows he is death's master.Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is Silent, is published by Lexham Press. You can learn more about John at https://www.johnkoessler.com.
2023-04-0302 min
A Stranger in the House of GodThree Prayers from the CrossSend us a textSome have called Jesus' seven statements from the cross his last words. Among these seven sayings are three prayers. Jesus' three prayers from the cross help us to place the suffering of Christ in a larger context.Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is Silent, is published by Lexham Press. You can learn...
2023-03-1312 min
A Stranger in the House of GodPass Me NotSend us a textSeveral years ago, at the Bible college where I taught, news reached the campus that a revival had broken out among the students of another school. It was much like the recent event at Asbury University, though on a smaller scale. The stories we heard were similar. Students knelt and wept at the front of the chapel as they asked God to forgive their sins. There was singing and confessing.Some of the students on our campus were unsettled by these reports. But not for the reasons you might think. it seemed to me...
2023-02-2714 min
A Stranger in the House of GodA Season of Ghosts: Christmas, Nostalgia, & “The Weight of Glory”Send us a textIn Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, the first spirit to visit Ebenezer Scrooge is the ghost of Christmas past. Scrooge notes the spirit’s small stature and asks, “Long Past?” “No. Your past,” the ghost replies. Dickens is on to something here because this spirit often visits us at this time of year. The season of Advent, by its nature, implies a forward trajectory. It celebrates humanity’s long wait for the arrival of the promised seed of Abraham. In reality, we seem to spend most of it looking back. The conviction that drove old Marley, th...
2022-12-1612 min
A Stranger in the House of GodEternity Shut in a SpanSend us a textDecember is the season when tinsel-haloed angels draped in bedsheets announce the birth of Christ to bathrobe-clad shepherds on the church stage. There is a kind of charm in the way we tell the nativity story that might fool people into thinking it is merely a rustic folktale. But the Bible's account of the birth of Christ is not a children's story.Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on...
2022-12-0911 min
A Stranger in the House of GodHoly Days, Holidays, & ChristmasSend us a textChristmas was important to me even before I called myself a Christian, though admittedly, this was mainly for non-religious reasons. I’ve long suspected that I have always loved Christmas more than any other holiday, not because of its spirituality but because it purchased my affections.Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is Si...
2022-11-2309 min
A Stranger in the House of GodImagine There’s a HeavenSend us a textHeaven has fallen on hard times. In Christian thinking, looking forward to heaven is no longer fashionable. Jeffrey Burton Russell observes in his book Paradise Mislaid, "Heaven has been shut away in a closet by the dominant intellectual trends of the past few centuries."[1] There are a number of reasons for this. To some, the idea of looking forward to going to heaven seems frivolous. They feel that it is an exercise in self-absorbed indulgence. A quest for "pie in the sky by and by." For others, notions of heaven are too abstract. It...
2022-08-1014 min
A Stranger in the House of GodCold EasterSend us a textIt's getting to look a lot like Easter. Which, frankly, isn't saying that much. Between Christmas and Easter, it's plain to see which holiday is the favored child of the church calendar. If Christmas is warm, Easter is cold. As it approaches, we don't seem to know whether to be happy or sad.Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16...
2022-04-1510 min
A Stranger in the House of GodThe Trouble with Meme Activism: Sometimes to Speak is Not to SpeakSend us a textI have noticed that periods of social unrest are often accompanied by a corresponding outbreak of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I am referring, of course, to the accompanying blizzard of memes on Facebook and Twitter that display a quote famously (and probably incorrectly) attributed to Bonhoeffer: "Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act." In most cases where it appears, the quote stands as a comprehensive indictment of anyone who has not yet expressed public outrage over some event that has captured the attention of the current news cycle. The meme is...
2022-03-2911 min
A Stranger in the House of GodThe Holy One of GodSend us a textIn the Gospels, Jesus is called the Holy One of God on two occasions. The first time was by a demon (Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34). The second was by Peter when many of the disciples were grumbling about the difficulty of Jesus' teaching. It is a reflection of the seriousness of our problem with holiness that the demons recognized who Jesus was before His own disciples did. It would be wrong to conclude from this that Jesus' approach to holiness was reductionist. Jesus did not simplify the idea of holiness. He was not lowering the bar...
2022-03-1011 min
A Stranger in the House of GodThe Savior With 10,000 FacesSend us a textEvery age seems to have its preferred image of Jesus. The Scriptures do not portray Jesus as a symbol or even an archetype but as a living person. Yet there is some variation in the portrait they offer. We might think of the Gospels as a hall of portraits, with each episode intended to highlight some facet of the person and work of Jesus Christ. We are not interested in knowing Christ merely as a concept or an ideal. We want to know Him as a person. Furthermore, we want to know the true...
2022-02-1211 min
A Stranger in the House of GodJourney of the MagiSend us a textRedemption is a drama unfolding along two storylines. The story of the Magi is a reminder that the journey of redemption includes evil as well as good. God is not responsible for the evil, but He is not a hostage to it either.Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is Silent, is published...
2022-01-0310 min
A Stranger in the House of GodWhat Mary KnewSend us a textThese days Christmas music seems to like to portray Mary as fragile and uncertain. Mary was probably young, but I do not think she was fragile.Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is Silent, is published by Lexham Press. You can learn more about John at https://www.johnkoessler.com.
2021-12-1610 min
A Stranger in the House of GodThe Prickly Side of GraceSend us a textChrist's command to point out a brother's fault in Matthew 18:15 is a hard pill to swallow in an age that regards amiability to be the chief of all Christian virtues. It doesn’t fit the image many of us have of Jesus. The contemporary church favors an uncritical and accepting Jesus. This popular Jesus doesn’t point fingers but stands with arms wide, ready to welcome everyone as they are without expecting either remorse or change. Rather than urging us to point out our brother’s fault, we would expect Him to say that we sho...
2021-11-2008 min
A Stranger in the House of GodBright Lights in an Age of ComplaintSend us a textTertullian, the second-century church father from Carthage, wrote that observers of the early Christians marveled at what they saw. "See how they love one another," they said. Those early pagans made their observations from the outside. They saw the behavior of Christians after grace and the gospel had done their work. Beyond their vision was the underworking of the flesh that created the occasion for those remarkable acts of love. If they had looked at the same deeds from that perspective, they might just as truthfully have declared, “See how they irritate one another.”Dr...
2021-10-2210 min
A Stranger in the House of GodChurch Hunting: What People Want from ChurchSend us a textWhen I was a pastor, it felt like the people who visited our church were looking for the congregational equivalent of a supermodel. We were a good little church but never quite good enough for them. The congregation was too small, and we didn’t have enough programs. It irritated me at the time. But when I became a civilian and started looking for a church myself, I saw things differently. In fact, according to a poll done by the Pew Research Center, what most people look for in a church is pretty basic....
2021-10-0210 min
A Stranger in the House of GodHeaven Can WaitSend us a textHave you ever wondered how fast God is? It sounds like the kind of question a child might ask. But for many of us, the honest answer would probably be, "Not as fast as we would like Him to be." Although 2 Peter 3:9 says that God is not slow, waiting is so much a feature of the redemption story that Revelation 6:11 tells us that even the souls in heaven must wait (Rev. 6:11). What is the speed of God?Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John w...
2021-09-0410 min
A Stranger in the House of GodIs God Hard of Hearing?Send us a textBooks about prayer never seem to fit my situation. They either assume that I don’t want to pray or that I don’t know how. Neither is really the case. My problem lies elsewhere. They are relational. I don’t like the way God seems to treat me when I pray.Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His la...
2021-08-0212 min
A Stranger in the House of GodGrowing into SalvationSend us a textSome aspects of our development are programmed by heredity and DNA. But not everything. There are things we can do to nurture growth, or we can hamper it. The same is true in the spiritual realm. What is the secret to spiritual growth?Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is Silent, is published b...
2021-07-0707 min
A Stranger in the House of GodJesus and the Cult of NiceSend us a textEvery generation seems to have its own idol. Each one represents the spirit of the age, a false god who shapes the ethic of the culture at large. All too often, these idols find their way into the church. These days the idol of the age is best represented by what I would call “the cult of nice.” The cult of nice is a code that shapes ethics and whose appeal springs from its disarming simplicity. The basic rule of the cult of nice can be summarized in this sentence: “Whatever does not spring from n...
2021-06-2509 min
A Stranger in the House of GodFaith & StupidSend us a textThe difference between faith, stubborn, and stupid is not as obvious as you might think. To the unbeliever, faith looks like stupid, and to the believer, stupid sometimes looks like faith.Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is Silent, is published by Lexham Press. You can learn more about John at https://www...
2021-06-0211 min
A Stranger in the House of GodAging as Letting GoSend us a textSince I retired, I find myself saying no to things that I once would have been eager to take on. I am not doing the things I thought I would do. Some of those things are no longer of interest to me. Others have grown more difficult, and I am either unwilling or unable to expend the energy. It is unnerving. I find that I am disappointed with myself for the things I no longer want to do and disappointed with God for the things He has not permitted me to do. Change is...
2021-05-0709 min
A Stranger in the House of GodWhy We Need the ChurchSend us a textIn the early days of my walk with Jesus, it didn’t dawn on me that church was also part of the package. Our family didn’t attend church and now that I thought of myself as a Christian, it seemed unnecessary to me. I had Jesus and the Bible. I had made friends with others who shared my faith. Why ruin it all by adding church into the mix? I had visited a few churches in the past. With its unfamiliar people and odd music, the experience was more uncomfortable than anything else. We s...
2021-04-2412 min
A Stranger in the House of GodKeeping the Cross in ViewSend us a textWhen Christmas comes around, we remind ourselves of the need to observe it all year. For some reason, we never talk this way about Easter. We celebrate the Christmas spirit, but we seem to know nothing about the Spirit of Easter. We approach Christmas with excitement that builds for months. Its approach is announced with colored lights, a mountain of gifts, and endless parties. We are sad to see it go. Contrast this with Easter, who arrives sheepishly, bearing only a ham and a few jellied candies. The Bible's view is radically different. The...
2021-03-3010 min
A Stranger in the House of GodA Piece of Work: Understanding the Human ConditionSend us a textThese days it is common to treat human beings as if they were only high functioning animals. Humans are indeed creatures. But the Bible teaches that we are much more. This is third in a series on foundational doctrines of the Christian faith.Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is Silent, is published...
2021-02-1010 min
A Stranger in the House of GodWhat is God Like?Send us a textWhat is God like? The Bible teaches that God has revealed Himself to us through creation and by His word. But what does that revelation tell us about the nature of God? Theologians have traditionally divided God's attributes into two main categories. Some are attributes that have no analogy in human experience. These attributes, often called God's incommunicable attributes, display the uniqueness of the divine nature. Others, called communicable attributes, are characteristics that have some analogy in human experience. God's incommunicable attributes show how the divine nature is unlike our own. They display God's...
2021-01-2410 min
A Stranger in the House of GodThe Recent History of GodSend us a textWhere does one begin when speaking of God? A biography usually starts at the beginning with its subject's birth and ancestry. But the God of Scripture, unlike the gods of myth, is uncreated and eternal. He has no beginning or point of origin. He has no ancestors. For this reason, God's account of Himself in Scripture begins not with His creation but with ours. If the Bible is the history of God, it is only a record of recent history.Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody...
2021-01-0209 min
A Stranger in the House of GodChristmas Traveler: Why the Nativity is About the CrossSend us a textIn this year of COVID-19, the governor of my state has asked everyone to stay home for Christmas. To be honest, it feels strange. For many, Christmas is a time for traveling. The same was true of the first Christmas. The Gospel narratives of Christ's birth are crowded with travelers. Zechariah, the priest, travels to Jerusalem to burn incense before the Lord and is struck with dumb surprise when the angel announces that he and his wife Elizabeth would have a son in their old age. Mary travels too, heading for the hills to...
2020-12-2110 min
A Stranger in the House of GodAwkward Conversations with GodSend us a textI have found that God is not much of a conversationalist. He is mostly silent when I talk to Him. Not that I am such a good conversationalist either. My prayers tend to be repetitive, made up of the same requests every time. My attention span is short. I suppose that if I were the one on the other side of the conversation, I would probably be too bored to respond too. But at least I say something. God, as far as I can tell, doesn’t say anything. I pray and all I ge...
2020-12-1010 min
A Stranger in the House of GodWhen God Says NoSend us a textIn the early days of my walk with Christ, I was taught to believe that miracles were an everyday occurrence. The Christians I knew were generous in their definition of what constituted a miracle, as likely to call a good parking spot an act of God as someone’s sudden recovery from cancer. Every situation was treated as an occasion for divine intervention. I confess that this was part of what attracted me to the Christian faith. I was not interested in a God who was merely an abstraction; I wanted to know that Go...
2020-11-2509 min
A Stranger in the House of GodUs Miserable OffendersSend us a textDespite the language of the prayer book, us miserable sinners aren’t always unhappy in our sin. We do not pine away about it the way the monastic fathers and the Puritans did. We have come to terms with our condition, which is just another way of saying that we tend to live our lives in a state of denial. But the fact that we do not always feel miserable does not make us any less miserable, at least not in the original sense of the word. The Latin root from which the word mi...
2020-11-0409 min
A Stranger in the House of GodA Few Serious Thoughts About God & LaughterSend us a textumor is not the first thing we think of when we think about God. His thundering holiness is more likely to come to mind. The handful of statements which make explicit reference to divine laughter reinforce this impression. When the nations conspire against the Lord's anointed, the One enthroned in heaven laughs at them in contempt (Ps. 2:4). The human face that Jesus puts on God in the Gospels is, for the most part, not a smiling face. As Isaiah predicted, He shows Himself to be "a man of sorrows" (Isaiah 53:3). Yet the God revealed...
2020-10-1609 min
A Stranger in the House of GodUncivil Discourse: Why Our Speech MattersSend us a textKen Myers has observed, “The Christian tradition has long placed great value on care about speech.” He notes that the sacred importance of language is signaled by the fact that two of the Ten Commandments are concerned with speech. One of them has to do with the way we speak about God. The other, not surprisingly, deals with the way we speak about others. It seems that the tongue is the primary instrument we use to fulfill the two Great Commandments, to love God with heart, soul, and mind, and to love your neighbor as y...
2020-10-0210 min
A Stranger in the House of GodDangerous Virtues: Justice-Life in an Age of OutrageSend us a textA saying attributed to St. Augustine goes, “Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.” No one seems to know where or even whether Augustine actually expressed such a thought. To be honest, it sounds more like something a modern would say. The view of the ancients was much less approving of anger than in our day. The ancient attitude was more like the one expressed by the fourth-century monk who warned: “If whe...
2020-09-2211 min
A Stranger in the House of GodDangerous Virtues: LeisureSend us a textOs Guinness has said, “Sloth is so much the climate of the modern age that it is hard to recognize as a deadly sin.” Guinness calls sloth “the underlying condition of a secular era.” In fact, in our leisure-oriented age, we kind of admire sloth. We smile at the person who has learned to game the system and can get others to do their work for them. It seems humorous, until we are being waited upon by a slothful person, or must depend upon that person for an important task. When we work with a slothf...
2020-09-1010 min
A Stranger in the House of GodDangerous Virtues: ProsperitySend us a textA while back, I noticed a menu option on my retirement account’s website labeled “net worth.” When I clicked on it, the site asked me to type in information about my assets and liabilities. The result was a brightly colored graph that represented the total of all my worldly goods. I have looked at it many times since then, and its effect is always the same. Instead of making me feel secure about my future, it leaves me anxious. No matter how much I have, it seems that I would like to have just a...
2020-08-1409 min
A Stranger in the House of GodMyth, Memory, & RealitySend us a textAtheists have long accused Christians of casting God in their own image. Their complaint has some warrant. Sin has left us with a penchant for seeing ourselves in God. We want to believe that God is like us. We can easily persuade ourselves that He thinks like us and mirrors our values.Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books...
2020-08-0409 min
A Stranger in the House of GodDangerous Virtues: Satisfaction-Coping With the Hunger that Cannot be SatisfiedSend us a textI have been bothered by my weight most of my life. As a child, I was heavy, a condition which my mother euphemistically described as being “big-boned.” I was so obsessed with the fear of being fat that even when I thinned out in my adolescence, I did not think of myself as thin. I am no longer thin, and I am still bothered. I am not alone. According to some estimates, forty-five million Americans go on a diet each year. In our weight-conscious culture, you would think that we would have a greater sens...
2020-07-1310 min
A Stranger in the House of GodDangerous Virtues: Love-The Seduction of DesireSend us a textI first learned about sex from my father. The lesson came in the form of a brief hallway conversation. I don’t think my age was even in double digits at the time. I don’t recall who initiated the conversation, though I suspect it was in response to a question I had asked. I didn’t understand much of what he said. The whole thing sounded pretty unappealing to me at the time. I was sure I would never want to have sex with anyone. I was wrong, of course. The sexual revolution change...
2020-07-0210 min
A Stranger in the House of GodDangerous Virtues: The Way of the LivingSend us a textSin and virtue sounds too abstract and detached for ordinary people like us. It’s one thing for theologians and philosophers to debate about sin and virtue. Why should we concern ourselves with such matters? We have jobs to go to and bills to pay. We mow the lawn and drive the kids to school. What does any of this have to do with the real world in which we live? The answer is that sin and virtue lie at the heart of everything we do. Our ideas of sin and virtue shape the wa...
2020-06-2507 min
A Stranger in the House of GodFathers & Sons: The Hero’s JourneySend us a textI think about my father every day. I can’t help it. Every morning when I stare into the mirror, there he is staring back. As long as I can recall, people who knew my father have said that we look alike. The comparison was a point of pride when I was a child and an aggravation when I became an adolescent. That irritation grew into something stronger in my teens and 20’s. Not hatred, exactly, but certainly anger mixed with aversion.Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired facu...
2020-06-1708 min
A Stranger in the House of GodThe Hand that Moves the WorldSend us a textNot long after I started following Christ, my mother became so sick that my father had to carry her to the car to drive her to the doctor. Unable to diagnose her condition, the doctor admitted her to the hospital, where she grew worse. All the Christians I knew at the time believed that miraculous healing was an everyday occurrence. I decided that it was God’s plan to heal her. Like the blind man in John 9:3, I thought God had allowed her sickness “so that the works of God might be displayed” in her. W...
2020-06-1209 min
A Stranger in the House of GodPreaching in a CrisisSend us a textA former student of mine recently asked me how I thought the coronavirus was affecting pastoral ministry and preaching in particular. How do you preach in an environment like this? The simple answer is that you do the best you can, given the circumstances. Preaching is challenging enough under ordinary conditions. The nature of the current crisis has completely upended our normal patterns of meeting and communicating. Preachers are speaking to empty seats and recording their messages for broadcast over social media. As one popular meme observes, we are televangelists now.Dr. John...
2020-04-1813 min
A Stranger in the House of GodHoly Week’s Trajectory of HopeSend us a textIn the Scriptures, the Saturday between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday is a day of silence. The Bible does not really say where the disciples were or what they were doing on that day. When Jesus appeared to them on Sunday evening, He found them behind locked doors and afraid (John 20:19). This description resonates, especially now that the spread of COVID-19 has disrupted the church’s normal rhythm of Holy Week observances. We too are huddled together in our homes. For many fear ear grows along with the body count.Dr. John Koessler is...
2020-04-0809 min
A Stranger in the House of GodLove and Fear in the Year of the PlagueSend us a textA popular meme I see on Facebook asserts that times of crisis reveal one's true character. Posts like this are supposed to appeal to the better angels of our nature. Unfortunately, they have the opposite effect on me. It is not my better self that answers but the irritated version. But the problem The problem really isn’t with the people who post such things. It is just that I am nervous and sad. A few reflections on our response to the COVID-19 pandemic and why it is not a cliche to say that th...
2020-03-2813 min
A Stranger in the House of GodPrayer and the Character of GodSend us a textThere are some people who are skilled at prayer. I am not one of them. R. C. Trench, the 19th-century Anglican bishop, once described prayer as “the simplest act in all religion.” I am inclined to agree with him. Until I start to pray. Then, a kind of uncertainty overtakes me. I do not feel confident. It’s not that I doubt whether God can grant my requests. I question whether He will. I often feel as if I must somehow win God over to my side of things. When I first learned to pray...
2020-02-2812 min
A Stranger in the House of GodIll at Ease in Zion: Why You Don’t Fit in at ChurchSend us a textThe first major challenge I faced after I became a serious follower of Jesus in the 1970s was that of telling my friends and family that I had “decided to become a Jesus freak.” The second was the decision to start attending church. That was almost 50 years ago. I am still going to church, but there are times when I am still ill at ease. I don’t always feel like I fit in. When I feel out of place in the church, I’ve noticed that it is usually the result of one of three...
2020-02-1115 min
A Stranger in the House of GodClay FeetSend us a textWhen I was a student in college, a Christian writer and speaker that I admired visited our campus on a lecture tour. A young believer at the time, I had been greatly influenced by one of her books. She was the kind of person I aspired to be. A writer, speaker, and a serious Christian. After she spoke to our student group, several of us took her to lunch, where I was thrilled to get a seat at her right hand. I didn’t elbow anybody out of the way for the privilege, at le...
2020-01-2509 min
A Stranger in the House of GodStop Shouting: A Few Quiet Thoughts About Writing & PublishingSend us a textPublishing has never been easier. Just pay a few dollars and press a few keys, and before you know it, you have a website. With a click of the mouse, you can push your most reluctant thoughts out onto the stage for all to see. Eventually, you realize how crowded that stage actually is. You thought it would be enough just to put your thoughts out there. Now you find that you also have to get someone’s attention. You must say or do something to stand out from the rest.Dr. John Ko...
2020-01-1409 min
A Stranger in the House of GodPracticing the Present in the New YearSend us a textOf all the holidays in the year, I must confess that New Year’s Day has always had the least appeal for me. It is not a bad holiday. New Year’s Day just suffers from comparison with its more glamorous sibling Christmas, which comes robed in red velvet and laden with gifts. When the New Year arrives, for a few moments, at least, we feel as if time has granted us a “do-over.” Like the new calendar, all the days seem to lie before us with nothing written on them. As the clock strikes...
2020-01-0114 min
A Stranger in the House of GodThe Ghosts of Christmas PastSend us a textMany of us are haunted, especially at this time of year. Not by literal ghosts but by memories. Like Ebenezer Scrooge, who was visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, we are visited by the flickering memories of Christmases that are now gone.Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is Silent, is published...
2019-12-1810 min
A Stranger in the House of GodThe Things We Take for GrantedSend us a textWhat are we to make of the losses that suddenly and painfully make us aware of the things we take for granted? Are they a kind of punishment? This is how we often view them. We worry that God has taken these things from us out of spite. Maybe if we had been more aware, if we hadn’t taken them for granted, they would still be with us. We should know better, of course. God is not spiteful. But I do think that God sometimes uses loss to bring past goodness into sharp re...
2019-11-1708 min
A Stranger in the House of GodThe Christian Art of Incivil DiscourseSend us a textFor those who already agree with his views, MacArthur’s remark was simply a tersely stated biblical correction. For those who disagreed, it was a case of mean spirited bullying and prejudice. What was really at issue for them was not whether he should have used a different tone, but whether he had the right to hold his convictions at all.Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer fo...
2019-10-2909 min
A Stranger in the House of GodFaith, Anxiety, and SlothSend us a textA few years ago, I was diagnosed with a form of cancer andwas treated. The treatment was successful, but I found it hard to enjoy thatsuccess because I was afraid my cancer would return. Once a year I am requiredto take a blood test to make sure that my condition hasn’t changed. During theweeks that lead up to the test, I always find it hard to concentrate. I feelagitated and unfocused. I am busy but not productive. In Luke 21:34 Jesuswarned: “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing,drunkenness and the...
2019-09-2508 min
A Stranger in the House of GodHelp My UnbeliefSend us a textThe first believers I knew talked a lot about faith. As far as I could tell from what they said, faith was a variable commodity. Some had more and others less. The difference mattered since the results one might expect from God depended upon the amount of faith one was able to muster. Perhaps that’s why we spent so much of our time declaring our faith. When it came to prayer, it seemed that quantity was associated with volume. The more faith we wanted to prove that we had, the louder we prayed. I...
2019-09-0311 min
A Stranger in the House of GodWhen Faith FailsSend us a textDale and Nancy had just started dating when someone who claimed to be speaking on God’s behalf told them that their relationship would “flow like a river.” They took it as a sign and got married. It didn’t take long for things to unravel. Dale was controlling and abusive. He went back to some of the habits of his pre-Christian days. Drugs, pornography, and threats of violence turned the beautiful promise they had heard into a nightmare. If you had asked Dale and Nancy why they married so quickly, I’m pretty sure they...
2019-08-1912 min
A Stranger in the House of GodUsed Books, Annie Dillard, and the Vanity of LifeSend us a textEach year at this time, our town holds a used book sale at the local library. Like Jesus’ sojourn in the grave, it usually lasts for three days. Hardcover books sell for two dollars, softcover books are a dollar, and paperbacks are fifty-cents. On the third day, the books aren’t resurrected. They are left on the lawn for those who pass by to take home for free. I look forward to the sale everyyear. As a reader, I love it. Especially on the third day, when I can take asmany books as I like...
2019-07-1906 min
A Stranger in the House of GodGod, Be Merciful to MeSend us a textI am a sinner. I don’t deny it. But most of the time I don’t think much about it either. I don’t seem to obsess about sin the way the ancients used to, at least not about my own sins. I don’t punish myself or go to extreme measures to fight sin off. Most of the time, my sin feels more like a low-grade fever more than it does a raging fire. Its presence is an ongoing irritation that may hinder me from being my best, but it doesn’t keep me fr...
2019-07-1208 min
A Stranger in the House of GodFame is a Fickle FoodSend us a textThe other day I heard a guest on NPR describe blogging as old technology. Weblogs were what people used to do in the days before social media. He was a young, hip entrepreneur. His company sells T-shirts, or as he called it “gear,” so I suppose he would know. I was startled to find this out. But I guess I should have known. My age should have told me that what I thought was cutting edge was actually the internet’s equivalent of “dad jeans.” If I can do this, I suppose anyone can. Still, I f...
2019-06-3007 min
A Stranger in the House of GodGod’s Emotional LifeSend us a textThat God does have feelings is the inevitable conclusion for anyone who takes divine self-revelation seriously. The Bible often speaks of God’s emotions. It does so in such human terms that we are sometimes disturbed by the thought. This is especially true of the three primary emotions which the Bible seems to mention in connection with God: love, anger, and jealousy. The problem is not that we can’t relate to such references but the opposite. We are all too familiar with these kinds of feelings and believe that God should rise above them...
2019-06-1311 min
A Stranger in the House of GodMonotone WorshipSend us a textThe worship wars are over. In church after church that I visit, we all seem to be singing the same handful of songs. To me they seem more like chants and shouted slogans than than anything else. Melodically uninteresting and lyrically unimaginative, the music we are singing in the church these days isn’t composed, it is compiled. It feels more like the work of a committee than it does the creation of an artist. That’s because the songs we sing are often the result of a production process that might best be desc...
2019-06-0407 min
A Stranger in the House of GodPracticing the Present: The Art of Being Self-ConsciousSend us a textPracticing the present doesn’t mean that we live our lives with a kind of animal immediacy, thinking only of what we need or desire in the moment. It is not reactive living that responds to whatever stimulus I happen to be experiencing in the moment without reflection. Christian living in the present tense demands a kind of self-consciousness that is guided by the Holy Spirit and filtered by the truth of God’s Word. It is a reflection of our capacity to act as a volitional being created in the image of God.Dr...
2019-05-2607 min
A Stranger in the House of GodLeaving HomeSend us a textWe put our house up for sale a few weeks ago. It sold quickly, but it unnerved me to have strangers peering into our closets and judging us for even a few days. As anyone who has purchased a home can tell you, the experience is just as awkward for the buyers. Perhaps even more awkward. Buying a house is like getting engaged after a round of speed dating. You spend a few minutes with the object of your desire frantically trying to gauge what its bones really look like under all that makeup...
2019-05-1110 min
A Stranger in the House of GodPracticing the Present: Race Among the RuinsSend us a textWhen I was a pastor, I found that the hardest part of visiting church members at the hospital was leaving them in the same condition I found them in when I entered the room. It seemed to me that my visits should make a difference. If they did not, what good were they? On each occasion I read Scripture, spoke words of comfort, and prayed. Yet when I was done people seemed no better off. t’s one thing to talk about practicing the present when life is ordinary. But sometimes the circumstances that vi...
2019-05-0906 min
A Stranger in the House of GodPracticing the Present: The Courage of the OrdinarySend us a textWhen my friend Ray was diagnosed with cancer, he startedreading obituaries. He found comfort in the newspaper’s daily litany of thedeparted. Somehow it made him feel less alone. Like a pilgrim who is travelingin company, instead of someone who stumbles along a difficult path by himself.It was the ordinariness of the thing that helped him the most.I feel something similar whenever I thumb through the oldyearbooks in the faculty lounge. Their faces framed in horn-rimmed and cat-eyeglasses, the images of former faculty gaze back at me with pursed lips or shysmiles. I...
2019-05-0206 min
A Stranger in the House of GodPracticing the PresentSend us a textI am a sucker for books and movies about time travel. The Time Machine by H. G. Wells, the DeLorean in Back to the Future, and any Star Trek episode in which the crew of the starship Enterprise travels back to the twentieth century—I love them all. But over the years, I’ve learned a few important things about time travel. For example, as far as I can tell from these books and movies, backward is better than forward. When you travel back in time, you know what you’re getting. The future, on the...
2019-04-2207 min
A Stranger in the House of GodOh, Hell.Send us a textIn the early days of my walk with Jesus, I did not believe in Hell. Or at least, I did not want to acknowledge the reality of Hell. I had heard about Hell and even prayed a prayer to Jesus to be saved from Hell as a child. But by the time I began to live seriously for Christ in my early 20’s, I had pushed that aspect of the gospel to the margins of my thinking. I was more interested in knowing whether God existed. I was attracted to Jesus because of the me...
2019-03-2805 min
A Stranger in the House of GodBread & CircusesSend us a textThe recent implosion of James MacDonald’s ministry is a sobering reminder of how easily beguiled the church is by a pretty voice. Not only is the unfolding debacle painful to watch, it also ought to send a chill of fear down the spine of pastors and church leaders. MacDonald was no heretic. He was and is a biblical conservative. His failure, if the reports are true, was one of leadership character. I am not saying this as a mitigating factor. The pastoral epistles are clear that character and leadership style are as important in...
2019-03-2107 min
A Stranger in the House of GodGet Out of Your Discomfort ZoneSend us a textThe other day a friend asked me, “What are you doing to challenge yourself?” “Nothing,” I replied. “I don’t believe in it.” He thought I was joking. If I was joking, it was only a little. I don’t believe in the theology which says that God’s chief aim for us is to move us out of our comfort zone. I think His purpose for us lies in the opposite direction.Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today i...
2019-03-1106 min
A Stranger in the House of GodLife After Death by MeetingSend us a textI have spent a significant portion of my thirty-four years in ministry attending meetings. Sometimes I was in charge of the meeting. At other times, I was a reluctant participant, required to attend by the nature of my work. These experiences prompted me to try and understand the way groups and organizations work. Over the years I have come to few conclusions.Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on...
2019-03-0307 min
A Stranger in the House of GodUgly Duckling TheologySend us a textI was looking at the results of a survey of pastors the other day and noticed a trend. Pastors of small churches are more likely to be less energized by their ministry than those who serve large churches. They are also more inclined to question their calling. The message seems to be twofold. First, large churches are more fun than small churches. Second, those who serve small congregations feel like they have missed the mark.Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the...
2019-02-2506 min
A Stranger in the House of GodDirectionSend us a textThe other day a woman stopped me on the street and asked for directions. Not wanting to be rude, I did my best to guide her and then went on my way. But after walking two blocks, I could tell I’d given her bad advice. I realized too late that she was trying to find the intersection of two streets that run parallel to each other. I’d pointed her in a direction that would never lead her to her desired destination. For some reason, it never occurred to me to check the map...
2019-02-2107 min
A Stranger in the House of GodPraying to a Silent GodSend us a textThe house I grew up in had one phone. It hung on the kitchen wall and had a long cord that stretched to the end of the hall. It was barely long enough to reach my bedroom. If I really wanted to talk in private, I had to walk to the nearest payphone. This was long ago, in the days before everyone had their own cell phone. In my teens, I mostly used the phone to talk to girls. But I wasn’t very good at it. I never knew quite what to say. I...
2019-02-1406 min