C.S. Lewis | Craig T. Owens

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The Daily Transformation And Testimony

July 1, 2026 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

Recently, I read two wise authors who spoke the same message to my heart on the same day.

C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity wrote—

“And now we begin to see what it is that the New Testament is always talking about. It talks about Christians ‘being born again’; it talks about them ‘putting on Christ’; about Christ ‘being formed in us’; about our coming to ‘have the mind of Christ.’

“Put right out of your head the idea that these are only fancy ways of saying that Christians are to read what Christ said and try to carry it out—as a man may read what Plato or Marx said and try to carry it out. They mean something much more than that. They mean that a real Person, Christ, here and now, in that very room where you are saying your prayers, is doing things to you. It is not a question of a good man who died two thousand years ago. It is a living Man, still as much a man as you, and still as much God as He was when He created the world, really coming and interfering with your very self; killing the old natural self in you and replacing it with the kind of self He has. At first, only for moments. Then for longer periods. Finally, if all goes well, turning you permanently into a different sort of thing; into a new little Christ, a being which, in its own small way, has the same kind of life as God; which shares in His power, joy, knowledge and eternity.”

And Andrew Murray wrote in The Inner Life—

“It is not the interest or success of my Bible study. It is not the increased insight or understanding I am obtaining that brings health and growth to my spiritual life. Rather, this often leaves me very unspiritual with little of the holiness or humility of Christ Jesus. Something else is necessary in order for spiritual growth to take place.

“Jesus said: ‘…My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me…’ (John 4:34). We must take a small portion of God’s Word, some definite command or duty of the new life, and quietly receive it into our will and our heart. We must yield our whole being to its rule and vow in the power of the Lord Jesus to perform it. Then, we must go and do it—this is eating the Word. We take it into our inmost being until it becomes part of our very life.”

Praying a prayer in which I ask God to forgive me of my sins because I believe what Jesus did for me on the Cross is the first step into a new life.

But, tragically, many people stop there.

They believe praying this prayer was both the means and the end. They think that now they have secured their place in heaven and they can simply resume their daily routine—with the exception of adding in some church attendance during their weekend—until “the end.”

They expect that this end will be a very long way off, and it will come to them peacefully, only after they have lived a full and pain-free life. In short, they love the idea of Jesus as their Savior, but they very much want to remain the lord and master of their own life. So they will express their gratitude to God when things are going as they have planned, and they will sulk and angrily, tearfully implore His help in prayer when their plans have gotten off track.

Jesus cannot be merely our Savior—He must be our Lord and Master as well.

The Holy Spirit wants to transform our lives. The Bible calls this process sanctification, but I like to call it saint-ification. This is the daily and ongoing process to bring increasingly more Christ-likeness to us. This is not a replacing of our personality, but a revealing of our real selves as God intended.

Our lives are to grow, expand, and glow with the presence of Christ in us. We are to become more and more satisfied in God as the Holy Spirit conforms us into the image of Christ. Our eternal abiding in God’s presence is to begin the moment we invite Him into our heart—and then continue uninterrupted even after we take our last breath on earth.

As our lives are transformed, we become living, breathing testimonies to others of the life-changing power of God’s love in us and through us.

Our daily transformation becomes our daily testimony. What joy and fulfillment there is in allowing this to happen!

Knowing Jesus as your Savior is amazing, but don’t miss out on the best part of all: Knowing Jesus as your Lord, allowing the Holy Spirit to transform you, and becoming a living testimony of God’s love!

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Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Andrew Murray, C.S. Lewis, Christianity, Holy Spirit, Lord, Mere Christianity, salvation, sanctification, Savior, testimony, transformation. Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

June 27, 2026 — Craig T. Owens

It’s not possible for you to have experienced everything that those around you have experienced. But you can still empathize with them through an empathetic volley of statements and questions. This is what exemplary leaders do.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

“The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ says ‘Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked—the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: My own will shall become yours.’” —C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity

There are so many resources today to help Christians defend their faith. Check out this post from John Stonestreet and the numerous books you might want to add to your library.

“If we are to influence the Church and the world around us, we must be full of God and His presence. Everything else must be secondary to this one question: How can we have the power of Christ resting on us all day long?” —Andrew Murray

Clinton Manley wants to know why Christians don’t play more. “The Hebrew word most often translated as ‘play’ (śāḥaq) comes from a verb meaning ‘to laugh.’ Intensify that verb, and you get ‘to sport, play, or celebrate.’ So we can say play is to action as laughter is to sound. At its best, laughter is a sound that both expresses and intensifies joy; similarly, play is an action that expresses and intensifies joy. Thus, play can involve almost any activity…as long as it is done from joy and for joy.”

“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” —Goethe

J. Warner Wallace shares writings from ancient historians—in fact, those hostile to the claims of Christianity—that point to the historicity of Jesus.

Links & Quotes

June 20, 2026 — Craig T. Owens

When Queen Esther went into the king’s throne room, she was unsure if the king’s favor would be extended toward her. But because of what Jesus did for us on the Cross, we can be assured that God’s favor is extended toward us before we even approach His throne.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

“Christian, there is a terrible danger to which you stand exposed in your inner chamber of prayer. You are in danger of substituting prayer and Bible study for living fellowship with God. … Your Bible study may so interest you that the very Word of God may become a substitute for God Himself. The greatest hindrance to fellowship is anything that keeps the soul occupied instead of leading it to God Himself. … Separation from others, in solitude with God—this is the sure, the only way to live in harmony with people in the power of God’s blessing.” —Andrew Murray

John Stonestreet writes, “In light of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, much ink is being spilled over the document’s significance…[and] one way to understand the Declaration is through the lens of science.”

“If we are slandered and evil spoken of, let us not be quick to reply, or to grow angry. Let us be slow—very slow—to wrath; it will be our wisdom, for no good comes of human wrath.” —Charles Spurgeon

“A Christian society is not going to arrive until most of us really want it: and we are not going to want it until we become fully Christian. I may repeat ‘Do as you would be done by’ till I am black in the face, but I cannot really carry it out till I love my neighbor as myself: and I cannot learn to love my neighbor as myself till I learn to love God: and I cannot learn to love God except by learning to obey Him.” —C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity

In looking at 1 Corinthians 7:2–5, Tilly Dillehay writes, “Paul does not deal here with sex as procreation—though we know from the whole testimony of Scripture that sex and procreation are blessedly intertwined. Instead, this passage highlights other purposes of sex.” Here are three biblical ways to view marital sexual activity.

J. Warner Wallace notes, “Yes, Matthew emphasizes things Luke doesn’t. John includes moments Mark skips. But that’s exactly what you’d expect if independent witnesses were describing the most significant events in human history. If the Gospel writers had colluded to fabricate a story, the accounts would have matched perfectly—and then I’d be suspicious. But they didn’t.”

T.M. Moore writes, “The power of God’s Kingdom is His Holy Spirit. The Spirit Who brooded over the entire creation. The Spirit Who roams and pervades the world. The Spirit Who inspired the prophets, raised Jesus from the dead, birthed the Church on the first Christian Pentecost, gave words to the apostles, and has given us a new heart and resides within our soul, that Spirit, that Light and Power, is at work within us, that we should be willing and able to do that which leads to the pleasure of God (Philippians 2:12-13).” Check out his post Plug Into the Power.

Links & Quotes

June 13, 2026 — Craig T. Owens

Quality leaders empathize with their teammates, but struggling leaders use their teammates’ stories as a lead-in to tell their own stories. Don’t be a one-upper! Check out our full conversation about the power of a leader’s empathy.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

“Personal devotion to a friend or a pursuit means that they will always hold a place in our heart, even when other people and things occupy our attention. Personal devotion to Jesus means that we allow nothing to separate us from Him for a moment. To abide in Him and His love, to be kept by Him and His grace, to be doing His will and pleasing Him—this cannot possibly be an irregular practice if we are truly devoted to Him.” —Andrew Murray

“Let us all seek out the good points of our brethren, and consider them, that we may afterwards be the means of guiding them to those peculiar good works for which they are best adapted.” —Charles Spurgeon, commenting on Hebrews 10:24

AI deepfakes are a very real and present concern. This is a long article from Fight The New Drug about how innocent photos and videos are being manipulated into sexualized content. Parents: “A practical rule: before posting, ask, ‘Could this image embarrass my child later, reveal personal information, identify their location, or be misused if copied?’ If the answer is yes, do not post it publicly.” This post also lists several resources to remove AI-generated photos and videos that have been shared online.

“Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.” —Charles Dickens

“Not all who wander are lost forever. By the mercy of God, even now, may your wanderer return home.” Jill Noble has encouraging words for parents who are praying for their prodigal child.

“Servant leadership is all about the person you serve. To grow in effectiveness, you must value what is valuable to that person. It is not enough to just ‘get better.’ We must get better in the areas that are important to the ones we serve. As a leader, do you possess what your team members need, specifically in the areas that can benefit your people?” —John Maxwell

“How many preachers mimic Achan with his stolen plunder? Contraband discourses, borrowed knowledge, unlawful paragraphs copied and pasted because a quick AI prompt was easier than doing the work themselves. To me, these have the glimmer of cursed objects, gold and silver under the ban. … What is a studied and well-expressed sermon built largely on the foundations of artificial intelligence? Is it not stolen plunder? What value is that orthodox teaching, conjured with a few keystrokes, when bereft of orthodox affection? Is this the blessing that Jacob wrestled all night for, the blessing that marked him the rest of his days? Men’s sacred trains of thought ought never run on AI search engines. There may be gold in their orthodoxy or oratory, but too often these are nuggets taken by the hand of laziness, inexperience, and lack of prayer. A lifetime of AI-produced sermons, Bible studies, and Sunday school lessons will not honor God and will end in defeat. … What is the point? Ministers must never replace their reliance upon God and His Spirit with any tools. The warrior of God does not trust in his spear or his chariots or his ChatGPT.” Greg Morse has more to say to preachers about the reliance on AI.

“The work of a Beethoven and the work of a charwoman become spiritual on precisely the same condition, that of being offered to God, of being done humbly “as to the Lord.” This does not, of course, mean that it is for anyone a mere toss-up whether he should sweep rooms or compose symphonies. A mole must dig to the glory of God and a cock must crow. We are members of one body, but differentiated members, each with his own vocation.” —C.S. Lewis, in The Weight of Glory

Links & Quotes

June 6, 2026 — Craig T. Owens

Sometimes leaders will have to part ways with a staff member. The way this is done can either bring resolution or it can create lingering problems. Check out this clip from our conversation on combatting toxicity in the workplace.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

I thoroughly enjoyed this commentary from John Piper on the power of silence in the face of critics and revilers. Pastor John noted, “Both the teachings and the sufferings of Jesus are meant to teach us how to respond when we are treated badly, unjustly. We are to glorify God by finding in Him the reward that satisfies our heart deeply enough that we don’t need to return evil for evil.” I really leaned into this supernatural response to critics in my book When Sheep Bite.

“To preach Christianity meant primarily to preach the Resurrection. … The Resurrection is the central theme in every Christian sermon reported in the Acts. The Resurrection, and its consequences, were the ‘gospel’ or good news which the Christians brought: what we call the ‘gospels’, the narratives of Our Lord’s life and death, were composed later for the benefit of those who had already accepted the gospel. They were in no sense the basis of Christianity: they were written for those already converted. The miracle of the Resurrection, and the theology of that miracle, comes first: the biography comes later as a comment on it.” —C.S. Lewis, Miracles

David Mathis says, “The fight against sin and the fight for holiness and joy is a soul-and-body fight. We are soul-and-body creatures. God made us like that.” He then shares the importance in physical, bodily exercise as a strong ally in our fight against sin.

“We all know that exercise makes us feel better, but most of us have no idea why. We assume it’s because we’re burning off stress or reducing muscle tension or boosting endorphins, and we leave it at that. But the real reason we feel so good when we get our blood pumping is that it makes the brain function at its best, and in my view, this benefit of physical activity is far more important—and fascinating—than what it does for the body. Building muscles and conditioning the heart and lungs are essentially side effects. I often tell my patients that the point of exercise is to build and condition the brain.” —Dr. John Ratey

“When it comes to leadership, attitude becomes even more important. You need to see possibilities when others don’t, encourage people when they are feeling defeated, and demonstrate commitment when others want to quit.” —John Maxwell

J. Warner Wallace not only makes the case that original accounts in the Gospels haven’t been changed over time, but he also shows how the corroborating sources affirm the original account—

Links & Quotes

May 16, 2026 — Craig T. Owens

Preaching to ourselves is not only a good rescue from anxiety, but it’s also a good inoculation to keep us from sliding from contentment into crisis.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

“When you teach a child writing, you hold its hand while it forms the letters: that is, it forms the letters because you are forming them. We love and reason because God loves and reasons and holds our hand while we do it.” —C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

“I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took an excuse.” —Florence Nightingale

“Be like the brave Spartan who would never lose his shield, but would come home either with it or on it. ‘Cast not away your confidence.’ You trusted in God in those early days, and nothing seemed to daunt you then. ‘Cast not away your confidence.’ Rather, get more to add to it. Let there be no thought of going back, but may there rather be a distinct advance!” —Charles Spurgeon, commenting on Hebrews 10:34-35

“Nobody can imagine how nothing could turn into something. Nobody can get an inch nearer to it by explaining how something could turn into something else. It is really far more logical to start by saying ‘In the beginning God created heaven and earth’ even if you only mean ‘In the beginning some unthinkable power began some unthinkable process.’” —G.K. Chesterton

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: C.S. Lewis, Charles Spurgeon, contentment, Creator, G.K. Chesterton, Hebrews, metacognition, no excuses, perseverance, quotes, video. Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

May 2, 2026 — Craig T. Owens

Christians need to be very cautious about not quarreling in a way that pushes people away from the love of God.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

In discussing how Thomas Huxley coined the term agnostic, John Stonestreet and Dr. Glenn Sunshine note, “If God is rational and created an orderly universe and human beings in His image, we can study the universe. Without these assumptions, there is no reason to assume the world is knowable or that humans are able to know. It is the theistic assumption, not the agnostic assumption, that grounds science. By rejecting God, scientists undercut the foundations for their work.”

“There will come a time when every culture, every institution, every nation, the human race, all biological life is extinct and every one of us is still alive. Immortality is promised to us, not to these generalities. It was not for societies or states that Christ died, but for men.” —C.S. Lewis, in The Weight of Glory

“If Patrick Henry could arise from the dead and revisit the land of the living, and see the vast system and social organization and social science which now controls, he would probably simplify his observation and say, ‘Give me death.’” —G.K. Chesterton, speaking in New York City’s Time Square Theatre in 1921

T.M. Moore has an excellent series of posts about God and reason. In the post Since God is Reasonable, he writes, “If we are sluggish in reason, so that we do not like to have to think hard and long about matters; or if our skills in reasoning are inadequate, poorly honed, or rusty from disuse, then we should make it our business to overcome our laziness and improve our use of reason, since the great prize of reasoning with and knowing God lies open to us.”

We all experience conflicts with other people, but this post—8 signs you’re the problem in your arguments—is quite insightful.

Stanley Horton’s influence on the Assemblies of God—and wider Pentecostal circles too—cannot be understated. This is a great mini-biography of his life.

I’m always impressed by the historicity of the Bible. “Archaeology has demonstrated that numerous people, places, and events within the books [of Ezra and Nehemiah] are historically accurate,” says this post.

“The Jewish high priests went once a year into the Holy of Holies. Each year as it came round demanded that they should go again. Their work was never done; but ‘He entered in once,’ and only once, ‘into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.’ I love that expression, ‘eternal redemption’—a redemption which really does redeem, and redeems forever and ever. If you are redeemed by it, you cannot be lost; if this redemption be yours, it is not for a time, or for a season, but it is ‘eternal redemption.’ Oh, how you ought to rejoice in the one entrance within the veil by our great High Priest who has obtained eternal redemption for us!” —Charles Spurgeon

Links & Quotes

April 25, 2026 — Craig T. Owens

The so-called “overnight success” almost always is the result of a very long road. The difficult times are teaching you lessons that you can learn in no other way—hang in there and keep on learning. Success is coming!

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

“It is the highest and holiest of the paradoxes that the man who really knows he cannot pay his debt will be for ever paying it. He will be for ever giving back what he cannot give back, and cannot be expected to give back. He will be always throwing things away into a bottomless pit of unfathomable thanks.” —G.K. Chesterton

“No Christian and, indeed, no historian could accept the epigram which defines religion as ‘what a man does with his solitude.’ It was one of the Wesleys, I think, who said that the New Testament knows nothing of solitary religion. We are forbidden to neglect the assembling of ourselves together. Christianity is already institutional in the earliest of its documents. The Church is the Bride of Christ. We are members of one another. … We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and privacy, and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship.” —C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

“One will wickedly say, ‘If I am a child of God, I may live as I like.’ That is damnable doctrine. Another will say, ‘If I am a child of God, I shall not want to live as I like, but as God likes, and I shall be led by the grace of God into the path of holiness, and through divine grace I shall persevere in that way of holiness right to the end.’ That is quite another doctrine, and it is the true teaching of the Word of God.” —Charles Spurgeon

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: C.S. Lewis, Charles Spurgeon, Christianity, doctrine, G.K. Chesterton, gratitude, quotes, religion, success, thankfulness, video. Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

April 11, 2026 — Craig T. Owens

How’s your EQ? We spend a lot of time (maybe too much time) on IQ, but how high is your emotional quotient? Leaders need this self-awareness, and it starts with humility.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

“Sin is the most expensive thing in the universe. If it is forgiven sin, it costs God His only Son. If it is unforgiven sin, it costs the sinner his soul an eternity in hell.” —Charles Finney

J. Warner Wallace writes, “What sets Christianity apart from every other theistic worldview is its foundation in history. Many belief systems offer beautiful wisdom and moral guidance—collections of proverbs that inspire and instruct—but they don’t rest on claims that can be examined or tested. … Christianity is different. It rises or falls on a historical event—the resurrection of Jesus.”

“The Love of God is kinder than the measure of man’s mind.” —A.W.Tozer

“If you are worried about the people outside [the Body of Christ], the most unreasonable thing you can do is to remain outside yourself. Christians are Christ’s body, the organism through which He works. Every addition to that body enables Him to do more. If you want to help those outside you must add your own little cell to the body of Christ who alone can help them. Cutting off a man’s fingers would be an odd way of getting him to do more work.” —C.S. Lewis

Fight The New Drug writes, “Research links porn use to changes in brain circuitry, lower relationship satisfaction, increased loneliness, and shifting sexual expectations.” Check out 17 reasons to not watch pornography.

“But if we are describing, for the moment, the atmosphere of what is generous and popular and even picturesque, any knowledge of human nature will tell us that no sufferings of the sons of men, or even of the servants of God, strike the same note as the notion of the Master suffering instead of his servants. … No mysterious monarch, hidden in his starry pavilion at the base of the cosmic campaign, is in the least like that celestial chivalry of the Captain who carries His five wounds in the front of battle.” —G.K. Chesterton

Proof Positive

April 4, 2026 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

A lot of people have offered a lot of opinions on Jesus of Nazareth—He was a good Man, a moral teacher, a great Example. All of those are true, and yet all of them have hidden in them an unspoken belief: Jesus was a good Man but He was not God.

In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis said this, “Let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. … A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great man or a moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the devil of hell.”

Let’s look at the words Jesus Himself spoke; specifically, what He said about the culmination of His purpose on earth. Quite simply stated, Jesus said He came to die.

Just to keep it simple, let’s confine our evidence to the dialogue of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew.

In Matthew 17, Matthew records a scene where three of Jesus’ disciples are eyewitnesses to a conversation Jesus has with Moses and Elijah. They see Jesus shining as brightly as the Sun, and they hear a Voice from Heaven affirming the deity of Jesus that causes these men to collapse to the ground in fear. Immediately following this, Jesus tells them that He is going to be killed (Matthew 17:22-23).

(All of the Scriptures in this post can be found here.)

Does Jesus have a martyr’s complex? Psychologists say this is when someone is so self-sacrificial that they hurt themselves to benefit others, but their motive is to seek out the praise or recognition from those they are helping. It’s true that Jesus helped others, but He deflected praise away from Himself. Jesus had a different motivation (Matthew 26:2, 52-56). He was crucified for our benefit (Matthew 27:46, 50; Isaiah 53:6; 2 Corinthians 5:21).

Remember that Jesus said He knew that the prophecies were going to be fulfilled. Like the prophecy describing crucifixion before crucifixion was even invented (Isaiah 53:5). He predicted His resurrection too in Matthew 20:17-19!

Not only did Jesus say He would be resurrected, but He said He would return with rewards and punishment (Matthew 25:34, 41).

Lots of people have been madmen. But Jesus doesn’t fit this description.

Lots of people have had a martyr’s complex. But Jesus wasn’t seeking glory for Himself, but glory for His Father and eternal life for us.

Lots of people have made outlandish predictions, and some of them have come true. Lots of people have had a messiah complex. But no one has ever claimed He was sent from God to die, lived a perfect life, died precisely as predicted in centuries-old prophecies, and was raised back to life again! The crucifixion of Jesus on an old rugged Cross is proof positive that He is the Messiah He says He is.

Let’s return to C.S. Lewis: “You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool…or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.”

We have a choice: Accept Him as Lord and then follow His words and example, or try to make our own way through life, which is the same thing as calling Jesus “a madman or something worse.”

We have been learning what Jesus said about His saints and His Church in our series “I will build My Church.” Check out all of the sermons in this series.

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