Dr Paul Allen

Image via Wikipedia No one puts it as bluntly as Blaise Pascal in his  Pensées : All men seek happiness . This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves. There you are. Warrior, pacifist, suicide, sluggard, workaholic; if you’re a human, you’re a hedonist. You can try to deny it, but you can’t change it. If you want to try your hand at stoicism, forget the Bible . It has little for you. Scripture does not support the idea that our motives are more pure the less we are pursuing our own joy. Nope. In fact, according to the Bible, unless we are pursuing our happiness we cannot even come to God : “for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he  rewards ...

Image via Wikipedia We should be slow to treat Jesus as if he doesn’t know what he is doing. He is not naïve in the way he deals with our anxiety .  In Matthew 6:25-34 he tells us three times not to be anxious (vv. 25, 31, 34) and gives us eight reasons not to be anxious. Evidently he thinks this will help. So don’t call it simplistic. Call it grace. Believe him. Take every reason and preach it to your soul as true.  Here’s a summary of what he said: Life is more than food and the body more than clothing (Matthew 6:25). God feeds the birds and you are more valuable than they are (Matthew 6:26). It's pointless. It adds not one hour to your life ( Matthew 6:27 ). If God clothes ephemeral grass, he will clothe eternal you (Matthew 6:28-30). Unbelievers are anxious about stuff. And you are not an unbelieve r(Matthew 6:32a). Your father (!) knows that you need all these things you're anxious about (Matthew 6:32b). When you seek first God's kingdom and righte...

Image via Wikipedia A verse in Matthew is somewhat difficult to understand. It seems to dangle in the Sermon on the Mount with little connection to what goes before and after: "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" (Matthew 6:22-23). Before it: the familiar saying about not laying up treasures on earth: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven , where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21). After it: the equally familiar saying about not serving God and money: "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and...