Dr Paul Allen

Grief is a strange thing. Months, even years after a loss, it can show up unexpectedly. Sometimes, we grieve the loss of a loved one. Other times, we grieve a broken relationship, a shattered dream, or a ministry failure. Loss takes many shapes, affects us in different ways, and often lingers longer than it seems we can stand. The Israelites had a liturgy and structure they followed during times of grief. They wept and wailed. They tore at their clothes. They covered themselves in dust and ashes (Job 1:20; 2:12). They cried out sorrowfully to God. They sang out in lament. In our culture, we’ve forgotten how to grieve. We rush through painful experiences to put them behind us. When others around us grieve, we are uncomfortable with their tears and do whatever we can to distract them. We might even altogether avoid the grief-stricken around us.  But grief is not something to be distracted from, overlooked, or avoided. There’s no timetable and no way to rush through it. Grief is not s...

I think it’s fair to say that the year 2020-21 were stressful years for the global population. The COVID-19 pandemic was a large part of that, but people are also worried about the government, the economy, their health, their jobs, their loved ones, and their futures. In 2022. Omicron arrived. A survey of 3,013 adults conducted on behalf of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 2020 showed stress levels in American adults as the highest since these levels started being recorded, and “marks the first significant increase in average reported stress” since the survey began in 2007. According to the APA, parents are more anxious than adults without children, reporting stressors related to education, basic needs, access to health care services, and missing out on major milestones. The poll found that nearly 80% of adults say the coronavirus pandemic is a significant source of stress in their lives, while 60% say the number of issues America faces is overwhelming to them. Australia...

We live in a world in which we have so many technological advances—so many things at our disposal to make our lives easier—from microwaves and dishwashers to cell phones and Siri. Yet, in the midst of all these things that exist to make our lives easier and more simplified, it still seems that our lives are overwhelmingly complicated.  Many people are stressed out, confused, and full of anxiety. Counseling centers have become as prolific as coffee shops, and most pastors would acknowledge that there are more people in the church who need counseling than there are resources to adequately care for them. We live in a world that abounds with anxiety. But as Christians, we can turn to the Bible for God’s solution to anxiety: focusing on Christ and the hope we have in Him. And here, we read Romans 8:18–30 as the primary text for our encouragement. The trials and challenges we endure are in many ways not new. “There is nothing new under the sun”—including anxiety (Eccl. 1:9). The first-ce...

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary detective Sherlock Holmes is one of the most intriguing creations of literary fiction. He is, quite simply, extraordinary. His famous cohort, Dr John Watson, is ordinary. Watson is often erroneously portrayed as a bumbling fool, but that flies in the face of Doyle’s attempt to make the average intelligent reader relate to Watson. In this celebrated interchange between Holmes and Watson, see which character you more closely resemble: Holmes: “You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen the steps which lead up from the hall to this room.”       Watson:      “Frequently.”       Holmes:      “How often?”       Watson:      “Well, some hundreds of times.”       Holmes:      “Then how many are there?”       Watson:      “How many? I don’t know....

English: An anxious person (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 6:25 –34 “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (v. 33). Having told us not to store up earthly treasures ( Matt. 6:19–24), in this passage Jesus anticipates an objection to His teaching. Sure, some may think, it is easy to tell us not to pursue earthly treasures, but we need money and other goods to meet our needs. Will we not worry if we do not go after such treasures? After all, how will we afford to eat, buy clothes, and so on without money? Our Savior’s answer to this unstated problem is simple: “Do not be anxious  about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on” (v. 25a).  In the examples that follow, Jesus shows us why we need not fret about such things. But before we get into these reasons, note that Christ is not here commending a lackadaisical a...

Worried! (Photo credit: photoloni ) In his book Running Scared , Ed Welch makes 4 fascinating observations about worriers and their brand of vision-casting. Worriers Live in the Future Worriers live in the future. We are all people of the past, present and future, and worry has a way of spanning all three time zones . Fear is often triggered by past events, then reacts to crises in the present, and anticipates their consequences in the future. Fear’s preference, though, is to point you to the future, and to do this it relies upon the power of imagination. We tend to think that imagination is the realm of the child, but it is equally the realm of the worrier . We have imaginations so we can consider things that do not yet exist. We admire people with expansive imaginations as visionaries, people who are able to look ahead and anticipate the trajectory of the nation, of the church, of the business, or of the individual. The worrier is a visionary too, in that he sees, or thinks he ...

English: An anxious person (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “Stress” is not a biblical word. “ Worry ” and “ anxiety ” are. And they are sins. That’s the thought that started a conversation the other day. Can we actually say that something like anxiety is sin? What makes it a sin? Isn’t it just a weakness to be delivered from? Or, rather, shouldn’t we conceive of it as a mental illness ? There are a few different ways that we could go about answering. Let’s try beginning with the commands of Jesus himself. It’s a Command! The command “Do not be anxious” is repeated several times by Jesus in Matthew 6 ( Matt 6.25 , 27 , 31 , 34 ) and it is repeated again in Matt 10.19 . While those commands deal with specific situations, the underlying reality at play is that if Jesus commands people to “not be anxious” we know that (1) it’s not just a chemical imbalance or a mental disorder, and, (2) there are at least some ways in which anxiety is a sin, simply because Jesus commands against it. ...

English: Stained glass panel in the nave of St. John's Anglican Church, Ashfield, New South Wales (NSW). This window depicts Jesus Christ welcoming children and teaching "of such is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 19:14). The inscription on this memorial window reads "To the Glory of God and in Commemoration of all the Baptisms in this Church † Erected John the Baptist Day 1932". (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” ( Matthew 6:19–20 ). In Matthew 6:19–34, Jesus discusses the orientation toward life that is to characterize the family of God . We need to bear in mind that Jesus is providing us with aphorisms that address our attitudes. He is not contradicting other passages of His Word where we are told to be careful in our use of possessions. He says that treasures laid up on earth do not last. Prec...

Image via Wikipedia 'Take no thought for the morrow,' means 'Do not be guilty of anxious thoughts about the morrow'. It does not mean that you do not take any thought at all, otherwise the farmer would not plough and harrow and sow.  He is looking to the future , but he does not spend the whole of his time wondering and worrying about the end results of his work. No, he takes reasonable thought and then he leaves it. PRAY ABOUT EVERYTHING: WORRY ABOUT NOTHING Here again the whole question is where to draw the line. Thinking is right up to a point, but if you go beyond that point it becomes worry and anxiety and it paralyzes and cripples. In other words, although it is very right to think about the future, it is very wrong to be controlled by it. GOD AND YOUR FEARS The difficulty with people who are prey to these fears is that they are controlled by the future, they are dominated by thoughts of it, and there they are wringing their hands, doing nothing, depres...