Author: Dwight Clough

Do not be overrighteous; neither be overwise — why destroy yourself? — Ecclesiastes 7:16We get some crazy ideas. I used to think if unchurched was bad, and churched was good, then more churched must be better, right? I figured if you knew how to sweat when you prayed, stomp when you preached, and "amen" when you sat in the pew, then that made you a mighty fine guy. I knew how to put on my church face, shake hands and act like I was in a continuous state of revival.Are you getting sick yet?When I was in college I worked…

Therefore stand in awe of God. — Ecclesiastes 5:7I sit at my desk wondering how to convey this. Do I tell you about a June morning in 1977 when I stood shivering at the top of a cliff and looked down at people picking apples a mile below me in ninety-degree heat while off in the distance a blizzard was raging in the high Cascades? Do I try to describe what it was like to lie back in my brother-in-law’s hot tub on a cold December night and look straight up with nothing between me and stars so far away…

“Now I know …” — 1 Kings 17:24What is the difference between the person who knows and the person who doesn’t? They say the same words. They confess the same creeds. They attend the same church. They may eat at the same table.But one knows and another does not.In this case, the woman who spoke these words watched her son gradually lose his life. When he finally stopped breathing, she blurted out what she thought she knew. "What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?"There in…

There is a time for everything … a time to be born and a time to die … — Ecclesiastes 3:1,2My dad passed away in 1999. My mom was recovering from surgery. She felt up to taking a little drive, so my dad drove her around in the country. It was a hot summer day, and when they got home, she went inside while he finished up a little project in the yard.When he walked in, he didn’t look right and he didn’t feel right. "Could I have a glass of water?" he asked. As my mom went to get…

Absalom would say to him, "Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you." — 2 Samuel 15:3The most dangerous lie you can tell is one that you believe yourself. This is one of the most instructive passages in the Bible if you want to know how the devil manages to be so successful. Years earlier, the enemy laid a trap for an entire nation by getting the crown prince to rape his half sister. Without going into all the dynamics, that violation took years to set up, but it happened.…

Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. — Galatians 6:16The work of God is deep inside our hearts. A new creation is what we are. Who does the creating? God does. What is the result? The result is you are uniquely you and I am uniquely me; and God, you and I can all celebrate that. While, yes, sin is sin, God does an amazing thing in this verse. He liberates us from cookie-cutter righteousness. Righteous you and righteous I look totally different, just like each of my four kids looks totally different. There’s a…

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. — Galatians 6:1I like chocolate. It has become a joke among those who know me well. I contend that chocolate is a great weight loss food because if you’re hungry for chocolate and you eat something else, you’ll eat and eat and eat and never get full.If I’m hungry for chocolate, I’ll sometimes dip pretty low. I’ll even eat generic kids snack chocolate that tastes more like plastic than the real thing. But give me…

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. — Galatians 6:1If you take away sin, what is left?Think about it. I think this is a very important question that most people haven’t considered, yet it is the reason so many people have so many problems.I think most Christians would say that if you take away sin you are left with righteousness or obedience or goodness. But I disagree. If you take away sin, you are left with a vacuum. You are left with…

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather serve one another in love. … live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. — Galatians 5:13, 16There are certain places you don’t want to be. You don’t want to be standing in the middle of highway in the path of a semi truck heading toward you at 70 mph. You don’t want to be outside in your swimming suit when it’s twenty below zero. The don’t want to climb into the polar bear’s cage…

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. — Galatians 5:1Prisons come in many forms. Many people do the responsible thing because they know they must. They are trapped. Caught between their own evil desires and their sense of duty.Jesus came to make desire and duty one. He came to make us whole. He came so that we too could delight in doing the will of God, so that we could consider it our highest joy.God doesn’t want us to pretend to enjoy Him. He wants to get His hands on the reasons we don’t. Jesus came into…