Nick Vogel
Nick Vogel writes Whole Christianity, where he works out how faith lands differently depending on how a person is wired. He serves at a Vineyard church across worship, production, and finances, preaches and teaches there on occasion, writes original worship songs, and keeps a sustained study through books of the Bible that feeds most of what he publishes here. The personality material, Enneagram and Myers-Briggs, isn't a system he's selling. It's a way of naming why the same passage reaches two people by different roads, and why "just try harder" keeps failing sincere people who are wired for something else.
140 pieces published.
Not As Yourself
Leviticus already told Israel to love your neighbor as yourself, so this command isn't new because of love. It's new because the measure changed.
Waiting Makes Us Short
James tells us to stand firm until the Lord comes, and then names what the waiting usually does to us first.
The Fifth Command
Paul closes with four short orders that sound like a battle briefing. The next line tells you what they're supposed to look like.
Scripture Never Said to Hate Them
Jesus quotes a line about hating your enemy that is not anywhere in the law, and then he raises the bar anyway.
Light Isn't the Same as Clean
John says walking in the light brings us two gifts, and a record without sin is not either of them.
The Farmer Doesn't Pick the Date
Paul promises a harvest, and he promises it at the proper time, which is not a time we get to choose.
Kind to the Ungrateful
Jesus tells us to match the Father's mercy, and one verse earlier he says exactly who the Father is merciful to.
Watered While You Water
Proverbs promises the generous person will be refreshed, and the second line of the verse tells you what kind of refreshing he means.
The Next Sentence
This is the verse people quote when they want prayer to work like a guarantee. The sentence right after it changes the kind of asking Jesus means.
Jesus Calls It Very Little
We treat money as the great test. Jesus files it under "very little," and then explains what it is actually testing.