The Process Path TPP

We spend so much of life worrying about what is uncertain. We worry about whether we will become rich, successful, famous, influential, or achieve the dreams we carry in our hearts. We compete, struggle, build, acquire and seek recognition, often forgetting that none of these things is guaranteed. Not every man will become wealthy, not every man will become great in the eyes of the world, and not every dream will be fulfilled. Yet, in the midst of all these uncertainties, there is one certainty that every human being shares: we will die. The rich and poor, celebrated and unknown, powerful and ordinary will all eventually arrive at the same earthly end. If death is certain, why do we spend so much energy preparing for what may happen and so little preparing for what will certainly happen? Perhaps the deeper tragedy is not that a man dies without becoming rich, but that he dies after spending his entire life pursuing temporary things while neglecting eternal ones. We prepare for examinat...

When Matthew began the genealogy of Jesus, he could have simply listed generation after generation of men and moved on. But he did something unusual. He stopped to mention women. And not just women whose stories were easy to celebrate. He deliberately placed five women around the story of the Messiah: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba and Mary. If you look closely at their stories, you will discover something profound. Their backgrounds were different. Their struggles were different. Their circumstances were different. Their stories contained pain, scandal, vulnerability, foreignness, complicated relationships and, in Mary's case, a pregnancy that would become the subject of misunderstanding. Yet all five somehow appear in the lineage of the most magnificent Person who ever walked the earth. Jesus Christ. This should make us pause. Perhaps God was teaching us something about grace. Tamar's story was complicated. She was Judah's daughter-in-law, widowed twice and left without th...

There are stories in Scripture that make us pause and wonder at the depth of God's compassion. The story of Rahab is one of them. She was introduced to us as Rahab the harlot, a woman with a past that Scripture did not hide or excuse. Yet, somehow, the same woman who entered the biblical narrative with a reputation became a woman whose faith would later be celebrated among the heroes of faith. This is what grace can do. Grace can meet a person at the point where life has reduced them and begin a process that takes them into what God intended them to become. Rahab lived in Jericho, a city marked for destruction. She was not an Israelite, she did not belong to the covenant people, and nothing about her background suggested that she would become part of God's redemptive story. Yet, in the midst of that city, she heard about the God of Israel. She heard what He had done, how He had brought His people through the Red Sea and how He had given them victory over powerful kings. While o...

There are two scenarios of virginity benchmarks in the Scripture that carry profound lessons about what you are becoming as a young man. They are loaded with pointers that emphasize the fact that virginity is never enough. It is important to be a virgin, and that connotes an undefiled testimony. It speaks of separation from corruption, pollution and the ways of the world. But separation alone is not enough. No, you have to do more. The other parameters revealed in these two occurrences are what you must imbibe to truly shape what you are becoming. The rise of Esther in place of Vashti is one laced with lessons. The queen fumbled and ignored the instructions of the king, and the verdict was given to replace her. The criteria for a suitable replacement included virginity, beauty and other qualities. However, you cannot meet the basic requirement if you are not a virgin, even if you have the most beautiful face on earth. What the king will choose must not be defiled. The royal crown canno...

One of the greatest dangers in the life of a believer is not the loss of reputation but the replacement of reality with reputation. Reputation is what people conclude about us from a distance, but reality is what God sees when no one else is watching. Heaven has never judged men by the applause they receive but by the condition of their hearts. A man may possess influence, occupy a respected position, command large audiences, and still be spiritually bankrupt before God. The tragedy is that while reputation can be carefully managed before men, reality can never be hidden from the eyes of Him who searches the heart. God is never impressed by the image we project if the life behind it has quietly departed. This was the indictment Christ gave to the church in Sardis. He did not begin by condemning their activities or questioning their achievements. Instead, He exposed the greatest deception that can ever overtake a church or an individual. "I know your works, that you have a name tha...

James gives one of the strongest warnings in the New Testament concerning the danger of doubt. He describes the doubtful man as unstable in all his ways. The issue is not merely that such a person has unanswered questions; it is that he has become internally divided. His confidence shifts constantly between God's Word and his circumstances, between divine promises and human reasoning. One moment he believes God can do it; the next moment he is persuaded that it is impossible. Such instability makes it difficult to receive from God because faith cannot flourish where the heart refuses to settle upon God's character. God's dealings with His children are always consistent with His own nature. He is faithful, unchanging, and incapable of lying. His promises do not fluctuate because circumstances fluctuate. Therefore, the believer's posture in receiving from God is not one of endless calculation but one of settled confidence in the One who has spoken. Faith is not confidence...