Tommy Mann

In school we learned about the process of metamorphosis, where a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. On average, a caterpillar will spend about two weeks in a cocoon before it emerges looking like an entirely different creature. The before and after picture are quite stark.  The word metamorphosis is not just in our textbooks, but in the Bible as well. In Mark 9:2 we read, "And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them." The word translated as transfigured is the Greek word metamorpho.   (Matthew also uses the word metamorpho , and together, these are the only two times that word appears in the Bible) On the mountain Jesus underwent a metamorphosis, completely changing His appearance. It did not happen gradually over two weeks; He did not enter a cocoon in order to change. The Greek text indic...

I have never been a night owl. I am not a lazy person, but I do enjoy my sleep. When evening comes, my body starts shutting down. New Year's Eve is the worst day on the calendar. There are times when I have to force myself to stay awake. Sometimes it is a work requirement, or maybe a road trip, and yes, New Year's Eve.  But in reality, I have to stay awake every day because that is what Jesus commanded us to do, just in a metaphorical sense. In Mark 13 Jesus spoke of His return to earth, and in verse 33 He said, "Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come." We do not know when Jesus will come back, so we must stay awake. I don't want to be found sleeping when He comes. The goal should be to live every day as if He is coming back in the next hour, because there is a lot of work to be done. When we lull ourselves to sleep thinking we have plenty of time, we are not carrying out the Great Commission. But if we truly live as if His return is ...

One of the most powerful things we can do as Christians is share our story (we sometimes call this our testimony). For many of us, we have unsaved friends and family that we have tried inviting to church, but we cannot get them inside on a Sunday. When they will not come attend one of our weekly services, they will listen to our testimony.  Chuck Swindoll said it like this: "The skeptic may deny your doctrine or attack your church, but he cannot honestly ignore the fact that your life has been cleaned up or revolutionized...Believe me, the steps that led to your conversion are far more appealing and appropriate to the lost than a pulpit exposition of John 3 or Romans 5."  That is not to suggest that the Word of God is lacking in power, or that our personal story trumps the Bible. It points to the unmistakable fact that those not yet converted are far more likely to be intrigued by the transformation of a friend than they are to listen to a breakdown of an epistle. Remember, t...

Matthew, Mark, and Luke each contain the account of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness by the devil. Satan told Jesus to turn stones into bread in order to feed Himself; he told Jesus to bow down to him; and he told Jesus to dive off of the temple and see if the angels would save Him. Jesus responded to each temptation by quoting Scripture, saying, "It is written...Again, it is written...for it is written..." (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10) The devil does not tempt us in those exact ways because we do not have the ability to turn stones to bread, and no guardian angels are waiting to catch us if we do a swan dive from a sky rise. He rarely tells people to bow down to him; there are very few devil worshippers.  And yet those are the basic temptations he uses because they follow the same framework. He tempts us to turn stones into bread when he tries to get us to doubt that God will provide for our needs. He tempts us to bow to him when he tries to get us to live life for ourselves rat...

Is Jesus really God? I often hear people say that Jesus never actually claimed to be God, and that Christians are mistaken to say that He is. But that is not true; Jesus often equated Himself with God, saying things like, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father (John 14:9)," and "I and the Father are one (John 10:30)."  But even beyond those claims He made are the things He did. Yes, Jesus performed miracles, healed the sick, and cast out demons, but He also did something quite noteworthy: He forgave sin. In Mark 2 Jesus healed a paralytic and then told him his sins were forgiven. Those words enraged the Pharisees, who angrily said, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone? (v.7)” That may seem like a poor litmus test, because how can any of us know whether or not the paralytic's sins were truly forgiven? Just because Jesus declared them to be doesn't prove that they were. How can we verify that statement? We...

In Jeremiah 13 God asked an interesting question through His prophet: “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots (v.23)?” This question is rhetorical because we know the answer to both halves of that question is no. The Ethiopian cannot change the color of his skin, nor can the leopard get rid of his trademark pattern.   But why did God ask such an obvious question? He was making a point, as the second half of the verse tells us: “Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.” The things about the Ethiopian and the leopard is not that they do not have the ability to change, but that they have no desire to change. Why would the Ethiopian want to change his dark skin? Why would the leopard want to remove his spots? They are proud of the way they look; that is part of their distinguishing characteristic.  The point was the stubborn people of Israel’s Southern Kingdom had even less desire to change their behavior. Their identifying mark was their idolat...

I have always felt the need to impress my superiors, be they managers, coaches, or bosses. Maybe it is part of my work ethic, or perhaps some deeper desire for approval. Either way, I always wanted to outperform my counterparts and establish myself as being useful—even irreplaceable—to the operation.    While I’m sure some employers appreciated that effort, that is an exhausting way to live. To see oneself in that light is like being reduced to a cog in the machinery (albeit an important one). If we are not careful, we can allow that mindset to infiltrate our approach to God.    When we rightfully think of God as our superior, we run the risk of thinking in human terms, to wit, that God only wants us around if we can perform at a high level. And then we can begin to feel that what we do is about impressing God or keeping Him happy.    But God doesn’t prefer the employee of the month over anyone else. In fact, God does not love us based on what we bring to t...

The Moravian Brethren have a rich history. Tracing their origins back to 1457, this Christian denomination still has about a million members worldwide. Their famous logo is a lamb carrying a flag, but they once had a lesser known emblem to represent their missionary arm. This image was that of an ox, standing in between a plow and an altar.   On the one hand, the ox can be strapped to the plow and put to work, and on the other hand, he could be led to the altar and be offered as a sacrifice. With these two very drastically different options before him, the caption reads: “Ready for Either!” That ox was prepared to be given as a sacrifice, or to spend his life as a living sacrifice (the concept has been adapted by various denominations over the years).   Church history gives us examples of both options. We study people like Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, where he spent fifty-one years ministering to the Chinese people. But we also study people like Jim Elli...

“Good grief, Charlie Brown!” Many of us remember Lucy, the snarky character created by Charles Schultz for his Peanuts comic strip. Whether reading the comic in the “funny pages,” or watching the classic holiday cartoons, we commonly see Lucy roll her eyes in exasperation as she repeats her famous catchphrase (she is also fond of calling him a blockhead). Have you ever wondered what the phrase good grief means? More than just an alliterated anecdote, I believe there is such a thing as good grief. Or as Paul put it, there is a godly grief. In II Corinthians 7:10 he said, “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” It is important to understand the context here. Earlier in this chapter the apostle mentioned a previous letter he sent to the Christians in Corinth, and after he sent the letter, he sat and worried about their reaction. Was he too harsh calling out their sin? Would they get angry and hate him? Or would ...