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Articles by Zack Eswine
He Remembers Our Frames
A reflection on Psalm 103:14 for Ash Wednesday. Psalm 103:14 In Eden, everything was a hallelujah. Good! Very good! God said (Gen. 1:1-31). Though brown and gray, even dust was a dappled speck of glittering life. Grand as the mountains. Majestic like whales. For even the tiniest fleck which clung to the hidden underside of Adam and Eve's broom was cherished and celebrated, a treasured gift from God (Prov. 8:26). Have you ever seen a snow-laden valley blanketed in soft white?
The Sorrowing Have a Savior
Spurgeon points to the sorrowing Savior to defend those of us who experience depression from people like Job’s friends, friends too hasty with their help. Is another’s sorrow and fear warranted and proportional to what he or she is experiencing? After all, to cry about crying things and to feel frightened by frightening things are not sins. We weep with those who weep. Charles Spurgeon spoke of depression as the soul relentlessly bleeding out — like one who dies again and again, hour upon hour.
Preaching Lament at Christmas
Chapter 8 Good news of great joy did not remove God’s people from the fallen world. Pauline Guernsey died on Christmas day. I am her oldest grandchild. Christmas lights and hospice, candy canes and catheters, new gifts and last words. Perhaps, no holiday other than Easter, tempts preachers to talk more naïvely than Christmas. Reflect intentionally on your approach Naïve Christmas preaching has in mind our motivation to keep the foot tapping and the mouth smiling.
Dear Pastor . . . You’re a Shepherd, Not an Entrepreneur
This article is part of the Dear Pastor series. Dear Pastor, Greetings to you in the precious name of our Lord, King, and friend, Jesus Christ. It is my earnest hope that you find yourself in places of refreshment at the mere mention of his name. Besides, is there anyone in whose presence is more joy? I trust not. And to consider that he prays for you by name–its all so wonderful. Our work is hard, but it lightens a bit when we remember such things.
Dear Pastor . . . When You Wonder How You’ll Make It, Remember This
This article is part of the Dear Pastor series. Dear Pastor, What you and I both need to make it over the long haul, I feel hesitant to share. In my experience, this unsaid thing for sustaining a long, fruitful life and ministry sounds too basic to some who quickly dismiss it. “Yes, yes, of course,” they say, “but do let us move on.
10 Key Bible Verses on Pastoral Ministry
This article is part of the Key Bible Verses series. All commentary notes adapted from the ESV Study Bible. 1. 1 Peter 5:1–3 The most common NT term for church leaders is elders. Apparently elders served as leaders in all the churches, including those in the northern part of Asia Minor, showing that this was the typical form of leadership in NT churches. Peter, who is an apostle (1 Pet. 1:1), also serves as a fellow elder and an authoritative witness of Christ’s ministry, especially his sufferings.
Failure Need Not Be Final
Crowing roosters never left the region. Each morning the rest of his life, Peter awoke from his sleep to a squawking alarm. Paul would experience his own devilish messenger sent to thorn-taunt him. But unlike Paul’s tormentor, Peter’s barn-stoop condemners had flesh and blood. The winged creatures didn’t know that their most instinctive way to help the world could ritually sabotage a once-guilty man. Like many of us, the apostle Peter was acquainted with failures and their relentless reminders.
Global Thing Locally
Introduction The gospel of Jesus’ grace leads us into mission. It leads us out into others’ lives and into the world. To begin there, we’re going to begin to see that the gospel of Jesus, the grace of Jesus in our lives, as it changes us, it leads us to begin to seek to do global things in local ways. We want to make global differences locally. Grace leads us to think our locality important. Let’s hear what Paul had to say to Titus about this very thing.
Soul Care Is Slow Care: Learning Patience as a Pastor
I know I’m supposed to do a big thing famously as fast as I can. I’m supposed to think that momentum is the key. Momentum fuels movements. Movements need influencers. Influencers need platforms. Platforms provide leverage. Leverage creates buzz. Buzz enables us to mobilize people for mission. The mission is our calling and the great need of our generation.
Resurrection on Trial
Introduction Have you heard of Snopes.com? If you want to check out a rumor or a legend that’s online—you get some email that says some guy in Africa has been unjustly imprisoned, he’s actually secretly a billionaire, and he’s trying to figure out what to do with his money; if you will wire him money to help him free he will give you money, and things like this. So you look on Snopes.com and you find out if these urban legends or these rumors are true.
Preaching Lament at Christmas
Good news of great joy did not remove God’s people from the fallen world. Pauline Guernsey died on Christmas day. I am her oldest grandchild. Christmas lights and hospice, candy canes and catheters, new gifts and last words. Perhaps, no holiday other than Easter, tempts preachers to talk more naïvely than Christmas. Reflect intentionally on your approach Naïve Christmas preaching has in mind our motivation to keep the foot tapping and the mouth smiling.
How To Avoid Accumulated Fatigue
“When accumulated fatigue takes hold of us, a night of rest, a weekend get-a-way, or a six-week sabbatical likely won’t help. We are like Elijah among the ravens, wrestling with our doubts in the caves with God (1 Kings 19). We are among David’s crew who must sit this one out.” Mentally, they’re tangled and cut by thorn-bush thoughts. Physically, they fought bravely. Emotionally, they cried until they had no strength.
Why You Should Go to Bed Early Tonight
You Need Sleep! Sleep is a gift from God. It’s one of his most wonderful gifts to us—when we receive it as he intended us to receive it. It does us so much good, but there are so many of us who don’t know what it’s like to live having had good sleep and to be well rested. It’s a different dimension of living and existing that many of us have forgotten. If we refuse God’s good gifts, we’re going to suffer. If we refuse God’s good gifts, we’re going to suffer. Part of that suffering is physical.
Why Most of Us Hate Silence
The Loud Conscience Isn’t conscience our agitator? It shouts at us, and we fever about to know, fix, and be as fast as possible to get the most affirmation necessary to assure our inner being or those we serve that we are enough and that our ministry is good. We bustle about trying to be like God because we don’t yet sensibly feel that it is okay and fitting not to be. Perhaps we now feel unnerved. In Ecclesiastes 9:17, the word “quiet” carries the idea of trust or contented rest.
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