Tommy Mann

Author Elbert Hubbard once said, “A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.” That is something we appreciate about our true friends, but there is no one that knows all about us more than Jesus. We would not expect Jesus to want to be our friend considering all He knows about us, right?     That’s part of what makes this verse so amazing. In John 15:14 Jesus said these words to His disciples: “You are my friends if you do what I command you.”   You are my friends. The God of the universe spoke those words to mortal men. The Omniscient One saw every sinful act and deed of these men, and still called them friend. By extension, this promise of friendship applies to all of us today who are disciples of Christ.    This is the opposite of what we would expect, but God loves the world so much that He sent His only Son into the world to bring salvation, and also to offer friendship.    Sadly, many people reject this offer of friendship wi...

Well, I tried. I tried to be a techy guy, but it just isn’t me. When I first became a pastor of students I got a leather organizer to carry pens, business cards, a notepad, and most importantly, a 2008 calendar. That planner soon became my personal assistant and good friend. I found it was vital to write down all my appointments, and to check my schedule often. Over the years I perfected my system, getting it down to a science.    But as 2022 was drawing to a close, I finally caved. I listened to the voices telling it me it was time to enter the 21 st  Century. It’s all digital, you know. Use the calendar app on your phone, sync it with the calendar on your laptop, share it with office staff…it’s all so easy!   But I am an old dog, and that was a new trick. I gave it my best shot, but the first week of not carrying a planner and I received a phone call about a meeting I missed. And yes, I set up my phone calendar to remind me of meetings, but one of us failed to get ...

If you are like me, you are wired to be on the go. I often say that we only get one life, so I want to make mine count. I constantly feel pressure to do as much as I can with this one life I get to live. James told us life is a vapor (4:14), so I know it goes by quickly. I don’t want to be on my deathbed wishing I had accomplished more.    At the same time, being always on the go is not healthy. There have been times where I have been running full speed ahead, and run right into a brick wall (figuratively, of course). We need to learn the art of resting and rejuvenating. The Bible calls this idea Sabbath.     In his wonderfully encouraging book  Replenish,  Lance Witt wrote, “Following Jesus cannot be done at a sprint. You can't live life at warp speed without warping your soul.” Captain Kirk used to tell Mr. Sulu to put the  Enterprise  in warp speed, and I have a tendency to put my own life at warp factor ten. But that is not a sustainable ...

What are your future plans? Many of us plan out our lives into major chapters—I’m going to graduate, start my career, get married, have kids, buy a house, retire, and then I’ll travel and see the world. Or then I’ll do everything on my bucket list. Or then I’ll have time to spend with family and enjoying hobbies.  Having a plan is a good thing, but I want to encourage you to live while you’re alive. We are not supposed to spend the majority of our life getting ready to enjoy the minority of it. I want to share a parable I read recently.  An American investment banker took a vacation to Mexico and was enjoying some time fishing. He noticed a small boat docking, where a single local man unloaded his catch for the day—three good looking fish. The banker, who spoke decent Spanish, asked the fisherman how long it took him to catch those fish. “Only a little while,” the man answered. The banker was puzzled; it was early, and he caught a few fish in a short time, and yet he was calli...

  Do you find yourself constantly wishing you had more? You wish you had more or better clothes, more money in the bank, a newer car, or a larger house. When we look around at other people, especially pictures we see posted to social media, it is easy to fall into the trap of wishing we had what other people have.   In Christianity we try to walk a delicate balance as it relates to our material possessions. We must learn to avoid the two extremes. On the one hand some say that the best way to demonstrate humility is to give up everything and live in poverty. On the other extreme are those who say that if you are really living the Christian life then God would be showering you with every blessing imaginable. Some people in poverty think that is proof that they love God more, while some in prosperity think that is proof that God loves them more. The truth is there are godly people that are both haves and have nots.   The goal of the Christian should be to learn contentment....

  For several months in 1980 scientists warned that Mount Saint Helens was going to erupt. Residents around the Washington State volcano were strongly encouraged to evacuate for their very lives. Obviously most people did evacuate, but a few chose to stay home.    One such resident was Harry Truman (no, not the President). The 83 year old told one local reporter, “I don’t know whether the volcano will erupt. But I don’t believe it to the point that I am ready to pack up.” Those words stand as a monument to poor decision making. When the deadliest eruption in American history took place, Harry Truman’s house was buried under 150 feet of mud and debris, and his body was never discovered. It is foolish to disregard reality, and Truman learned that lesson the hard way.    Christians make the same mistake when they act as if temptations will never come, or that the devil is not able to get them to fall into sin. Yes, the Bible says that “He who is in you is greater t...

  The biblical account of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness is a favorite one for many people; it appears in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It is a great narrative because it gives us a manual for how to handle our own temptations—each time the devil tempted Jesus, the Lord responded by quoting Scripture. We too should rely on God’s Word, hidden in our hearts, to help us in our spiritual battles.    But today I want to focus on a different part of the temptation account. Often lost in the telling of this story is the fact that Satan also quoted Scripture. Its as if the devil tweaks his strategy and says, “If you’re going to quote Scripture, then I will as well.” In Matthew 4:5-6 we read, “Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you,” and “On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your ...

    “Which one should we choose?” “I don’t know; let’s flip a coin.” Have you ever decided something that way? Flipping a coin is a handy way of deciding on (unimportant) decisions because the coin has precisely two sides. There is heads, and there is tails. Before flipping the coin we can say, “Heads its yes, tails its no.” With each flip it is heads OR tails. When even the magic eight ball occasionally says, “Unsure at this time,” flipping a coin gives you a definite response.    A coin has two distinct sides, which helps when flipping it, but the coin has a shortfall. Because it is two sided, we are left only able to see one side at a time. Pick up a penny and admire Abraham Lincoln, but if you want to see his memorial, you must flip the coin and lose Lincoln’s face. It is one or the other, and never both sides at once. If you want to study a coin, you must look at one side at the expense of the other. Pick a side and go all in.    Sometimes we feel like...

The author of the epistle of James, who I believe to have been the half-brother of Jesus, was quite the wordsmith. There are at least a dozen words or phrases in his short letter that appear nowhere else in the New Testament (two of those words he used twice), and it is possible that one of those words is one he invented. Additionally, there are at least three other words used by James that only appear one other time in Scripture. 1.      Double-minded (1:8, 4:8) Literally “double-souled,” ( dipsuchos ) James uses this word first to apply to those who pray for wisdom, but lack faith when they pray. The double-minded man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. The second usage appears in the back half of a Hebraic parallel, an ancient form of Hebrew literature in which the same thing is said twice, but the second time is more specific than the first. In 4:8, James says, “Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded....