Author: Andrew Morrell

After months of planning and praying, William Carey was finally ready to depart and take the gospel to India. But before he left, he met with a group of pastors who had been helping him prepare, including his close friend Andrew Fuller. Fuller would later reflect on the meeting, saying, “It was like Carey was preparing to go into a deep, dark, unexplored mine and was saying to us, ‘I will go down into the pit, if you will hold the rope.’ And we responded by taking an oath together, ‘While we live, we will never let go of the rope.’” This is one of the most powerful images of the relationship between the church and our missionaries. Our missionaries go down into the pit, taking the gospel where it is not known and planting churches where none exist. And our responsibility is to hold the rope...

Puddleglum is one of the most interesting characters in C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. He’s always jolly and always looking for the opportunity to cheer up anyone who might be sad. But there’s only one problem. The more he attempts to encourage his sorrowful friends, the more he ends up making them feel even worse! Puddleglum tries to use his words to spread glee, but instead, all he does is spread gloom. As Christians, we cannot be like Puddleglum. We must care well for those in the throes of sorrow. But how? It starts by learning what we need most amid our sorrow. Matthew 9:36 helps us with this: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” This crowd is a sorrowful bunch. They are “harassed and helpless.”...

The Masks We Wear  The year 2020 was an unprecedented time in history when it was socially acceptable (and even mandated!) to walk into a bank with your face (and thus your identity) completely covered with a black mask. Before 2020, such a choice of attire would have led everyone in the bank to suspect that you are a bank robber! But while this was the norm in our culture in the wake of COVID-19, we don’t want this to be the norm in our small groups. What I’m not talking about here is whether we should wear physical masks in our small group meetings. I’m talking about a different kind of mask. A kind of mask that is much easier to slip on without anyone noticing. A kind of mask that has been around and stuck around a lot longer than the cloth variety. A kind of mask that the Pharisees frequented....

Looking Through the Right Lens There’s nothing quite like getting a new pair of glasses. When you put them on for the first time, you suddenly realize how sharp and bursting with brilliance the world is. You go outside and look at a flower in all its intricate beauty, you look up and see the bright blue sky sharply contrasted with the fluffy white clouds, and you realize that it has been quite some time since you’ve seen clearly. To see clearly, all you need is the right lens. This is certainly true when it comes to eyeglasses. But it is also true when you are trying to see Jesus in the Old Testament. When it comes to seeing Jesus in the Old Testament, the lens you need is the New Testament because the New Testament teaches us how to see Jesus in the Old Testament. And it does so in at least...

The Disciples on the Road to Emmaus  Luke 24 records one of the greatest Bible studies in all of history. After his resurrection, Jesus appears to two of his disciples as they walk from Jerusalem to a town called Emmaus. When he first appears to them, they don’t even recognize him and aren’t even sure if he has truly risen from the dead. But as he walks and talks and eats with them, he opens their eyes to see who he is, and he teaches them one of the most important Bible lessons you’ll ever hear: “Then he said to them, ‘These are my words I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the...

A Dark Day “Oh, my! It looks like you are having twins.” These were the first words the doctor spoke to us at my wife Kate’s routine ten-week ultrasound. The news was surprising and wonderful. God had given us not one beautiful child created in his image but two. “Hang on,” the doctor said only a few seconds later. “One of them doesn’t have a heartbeat.” We walked out of our doctor’s office that day bearing the weight of a reality that was unthinkable when we walked in. One of the beautiful and precious twins that had lived in Kate’s womb for a few short weeks was now dead. We wouldn’t get to squeeze his cheeks, tickle his belly, or watch him grow up. He was gone. We named him Samuel. It was a Tuesday. And it was the darkest day of our life. As we got into our car to drive back home, the...

The Finitude of Feasts For many of us, the celebration of Easter last month would not have been complete without a feast. Savory slices of prime rib and sweet servings of honey-baked hams filled our plates and our stomachs. Gravy-laden mashed potatoes and glazed carrots, and Easter salad rounded off our rejoicing. Elbow to elbow with our closest friends and loved ones, we experienced the joy of pleasing our palates and celebrating the glorious resurrection of our Lord. But inevitably, the delight of a happy palate and a full stomach dwindles. The satisfaction is short-lived. In the end, we are left with a few good memories to relive and a few extra pounds to lose. An Infinite Feast Feasts are wonderful but finite. But what if there was a feast you could participate in every single day that...