The Monday After

The Monday After – “Sometimes, giving thanks is an act of courage. It is a stake driven into the ground of our suffering. It is a declaration that darkness will not win the day; that it will not win in us.”

What We Pray in the Dark

What We Pray in the Dark – “What we pray in the dark, He often answers in the light. Maybe not in the way we want, but in the way we need.”

3 Reasons to Stand by Your Faith

3 Reasons to Stand by Your Faith – “There are any number of reasons why you might choose to compromise your faith. In the book of Revelation, Jesus writes a letter to the church in Smyrna that gives us three reasons to refuse to do so.”

Holiness Means More Than Killing Sin

Holiness Means More Than Killing Sin – “The grammar lesson? There is no growth in holiness unless both the negative and the positive elements are present.”

 

Did the Early Church Oppose Abortion?

Did the Early Church Oppose Abortion? – “Abortion was rampant, especially in ancient Rome, and the early Christians, like the Jews, consistently opposed it.”

 

Satan Will Be Crushed

Satan Will Be Crushed – “The end of the story is that God of peace will crush Satan under our feet. And if we are in Christ, we will live in victory and joy with Him, eternally.”

Crucial Questions with Kristin Kobes Du Mez

Crucial Questions with Kristin Kobes Du Mez – “Evangelicals who deconstruct the Bible’s teaching on homosexuality often adopt a new definition of marriage. I have noticed a pretty consistent progression among those who eventually embrace gay marriage. It goes like this…”

I Knew It!

I Knew It! – “I have a theory that we enter heaven with a cry of victory, that our first thought and first exclamation is one of joy, relief, vindication.”

 

Disassociating Paul From Jesus: Breaking Down the False Dichotomy

Disassociating Paul From Jesus: Breaking Down the False Dichotomy – A growing false teaching has been to minimize or discredit what the apostles wrote. It’s sometimes called “red-letter” Christianity.

Why We Desperately Need the Message of Revelation

Why We Desperately Need the Message of Revelation – “Revelation teaches us that a new world is coming, that a new creation is coming, and that all will be well.”

 

Take This First Simple Step before You Respond

Take This First Simple Step before You Respond – “If someone said to me, ‘Evolution is a well-proven fact,’ I wouldn’t necessarily disagree. Their statement could be true. It could also be false. Why? Because I don’t yet know what they mean by ‘evolution.'”

 

How to Avoid Being Sexually Immoral

How to Avoid Being Sexually Immoral – 7 Lessons We Must Learn

The Not-So-Insignificant Danger of Ingratitude

The Not-So-Insignificant Danger of Ingratitude –  “There is a deadly gas that contaminates the air we breathe. The toxic gas appears unthreatening because everyone appears to breathe it in and breathe it out as harmlessly as oxygen. The poison is ingratitude. And it is everywhere.”

The Supreme Court Case that Could Overturn Roe v. Wade

The Supreme Court Case that Could Overturn Roe v. Wade – “It’s much more than a political concern—the topic of abortion prompts deep moral and theological questions.” The article includes a helpful prayer guide as well.

Your Soul Needs Food Even When It Doesn’t Want It

Your Soul Needs Food Even When It Doesn’t Want It – “The very Word we don’t have an appetite for not only nourishes us, but helps us heal. It will strengthen us and help us fight spiritual infection.”

Healing a Pandemic of Disunity

Healing a Pandemic of Disunity – The Love of Christians Is the Gospel’s Greatest Defense

Giving Thanks for Prosperity and Adversity

Giving Thanks for Prosperity and Adversity – “There’s been a lot of suffering and fear in the world the past two years, but it hasn’t shaken the faith of most Christians in the United States.”

Tear Your Hearts

Tear Your Hearts - “Judgment approaches. The Day of the Lord is coming. And God extends the invitation to return to Him. Even now. In this season. Advent. As we wait and watch. Anticipating the coming of the Savior.”

Advent Meditation: A Hopeful Company

Advent Meditation: A Hopeful Company – “Week after week, our fellow believers testify that this world is not all there is, and they remind us that the people of God have always lived for another world entirely. In the company of the church, we focus on Christ.”

Indescribable: The Many and Marvelous Names of Jesus

Indescribable: The Many and Marvelous Names of Jesus – “The Spirit inspires so many names because the reality of Christ towers above each descriptor individually (and as I am hinting, collectively as well). Though Jesus is known truly through human language, he transcends human language.”

Hopes, Fears, and Jesus

Hopes, Fears, and Jesus – “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee…” Phillips Brooks

What Keeps Couples Apart?

What Keeps Couples Apart? – “Despite the beauty and blessedness of true intimacy, I’ve encountered numerous obstacles to it — both in my own marriage, and in years of counseling married couples. One of the most common is busyness.”

The fundamental mark of the Christian

The fundamental mark of the Christian – “There is a distinction between a Christian and a non-Christian.”

Teach Your Children at Christmas: 5 Lessons From the Season

Teach Your Children at Christmas: 5 Lessons From the Season – “Here are 5 important truths to teach your children at Christmas.”

Forgiven Altogether and Forever

Forgiven Altogether and Forever – Charles Spurgeon writing about forgiveness.

Arise, My love, My Beautiful One, and Come Away

Arise, My love, My Beautiful One, and Come Away – Here’s an interesting way to read and interpret a Bible passage.

Living By the Book

Living By the Book – “Psalm 119 celebrates the fact that the word of God is totally sufficient for every season of life.”

The Good, Chief, and Great Shepherd

The Good, Chief, and Great Shepherd – “After all the under-shepherds have come and gone we will see that the Shepherd, who became the Lamb that was slain for the sheep, will continue to shepherd His people by giving them everlasting joy and peace in His presence.”

The Closest Exit May Be Behind You

The Closest Exit May Be Behind You – “Is the route of rescue the obvious one, or is it the one we’ve forgotten about, the one much closer, the one that was designed with passengers like us in mind?”

Why Your Church Needs Advent This Year

Why Your Church Needs Advent This Year – “After the most unsettling of years, this is why I think the season of Advent is such a gift to us. And it’s why I’ve been grateful to find Advent hope in a surprising place.”

Thanksgiving, Gratitude, and Leanness of Soul

Thanksgiving, Gratitude, and Leanness of Soul – “When we forget God and ingratitude sets in, we have grown spiritually sick. At that point, it does not matter how much we have; it will never satisfy us, and the more we get, the more dissatisfied we become.”

A Glimpse Into the Future of God’s Children

A Glimpse Into the Future of God’s Children – “As we consider the certainly of God’s promises to us today, I doubt that that most Christians think enough about what God has told us about Heaven and the New Creation. Perhaps it all just seems a bit too far-fetched to get very excited about.”

Un-Hitching Our Joy/Peace Wagons from Anything But Jesus

Un-Hitching Our Joy/Peace Wagons from Anything But Jesus – “What we need more than romance and riches, breath and bread, an everybody-happy-family and no more relational-pain… you have freely given us in Jesus.”

We Were Made for Thanksgiving: A Father’s Gratitude for a National Holiday

We Were Made for Thanksgiving: A Father’s Gratitude for a National Holiday – “When we ourselves give thanks to God, out loud for our children to hear, we model for them something very basic and profound about being human: we are created by God, for God.”

How Much Does A Good Deed Weigh?

How Much Does A Good Deed Weigh? – “When I see the scales on the cathedral, I know I could never measure up on my own. But I’m not worried. I know who holds those scales, and I know he holds me, too.”

Handling Our Differences Redemptively, Not Destructively

Handling Our Differences Redemptively, Not Destructively – “The fact that the Bible records these broken stories actually makes it more trustworthy to me and encouraging to my weary heart. What can we learn from the situations? How are we who live with canceled sins to inhabit this cancel culture of ours?”

 

The Glorious Duty of Thanksgiving

The Glorious Duty of Thanksgiving – “Gratitude is the kind of duty that, if you experience it as burden, you haven’t experienced it yet.”

4 Truths to Remember as We Feast

4 Truths to Remember as We Feast – “What does it look like to eat and drink and host a meal in a way that glorifies God and serves others? How can we feast in a way that honors God and shows true hospitality? Here are four key truths to remember as we feast this season.”

The Danger of Nostalgia

The Danger of Nostalgia – It can be a blessing to look back on the past but there are dangers as well.

Give Thanks. Find Joy.

Give Thanks. Find Joy. – “Gifts are great, and I love to receive them. But they’re not enough. The gifts we enjoy and give thanks for lead us to better know and enjoy the Giver.”

Men of Faith Are Men Who Fight

Men of Faith Are Men Who Fight – “Men professing faith in Christ have been walking away from him since the church began.”

Think About Such Things: Whatever Is Excellent

Think About Such Things: Whatever Is Excellent – “The excellence Paul has in mind, and wants us to have in our minds, is one of ‘moral excellence.’”

Let Me Be Single

Let Me Be Single – “Let the unmarried be single if they want, and the married glorify God in their marriage. God has ordained it, and his Word allows it.”

What to Say to A Friend Who has Doubt

What to Say to A Friend Who has Doubt – “Here are a few things you can say when talking to a friend who is doubting.”

 

How to Move from Grumbling to Gratitude

How to Move from Grumbling to Gratitude – “This might be the perfect year to celebrate a grumbly grateful Thanksgiving.”

 

Give Thanks and Give More: A Guide to Joyful Generosity

Give Thanks and Give More: A Guide to Joyful Generosity – “Recognizing that both our receiving and our giving can be corrupted helps us to see the wisdom and beauty of the biblical virtue of generosity.”

 

Why Did Jesus Come as a Baby – There Are At Least 2 Reasons

Why Did Jesus Come as a Baby – There Are At Least 2 Reasons – Here are several good reminders.

 

Practicing

Practicing – “Practicing thankfulness in the simple, everyday moments brings me into the spacious place. A wideness in the road.”

Giving Thanks: A Daily Privilege, and a Command

Giving Thanks: A Daily Privilege, and a Command – “The happiest people are the most thankful ones. Here are some verses to contemplate and perhaps share with family and friends this week.”

How to Stay Open-Handed and Generous as a Family

How to Stay Open-Handed and Generous as a Family – Here are three ways that your family can stay open-handed and generous during the upcoming seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas.”

Michael Flynn Is Wrong. Christians Shouldn’t Mandate One Religion for Everyone in America

Michael Flynn Is Wrong. Christians Shouldn’t Mandate One Religion for Everyone in America – “Critically, this is not a sort between patriotism versus Christianity. Often maligned, patriotism can be good and noble. Rather, this sort pits Christianity against Christian nationalism, a perversion of the faith that subverts its mission.”

When Angels Aren't Enough to Make You Believe

When Angels Aren't Enough to Make You Believe – “Even though Zacharias initially responded in doubt, his “time out” helped him see things clearly. When his tongue was finally loosened, his lips overflowed with praise.”

Think About Such Things: Whatever Is Commendable

Think About Such Things: Whatever Is Commendable – “Paul urges us to think about the commendable—those things that are admirable and deserving of praise. It’s not an encouragement toward shallow positive thinking. It’s an invitation to worship God, to find evidence of his nature and his redemptive work in a fallen world.”

 

7 Possible Bible Reading Plans for 2022

7 Possible Bible Reading Plans for 2022 – Begin prayerfully setting Bible reading goals for the new year.

We Long, Live, and Love Between Glorious Bookends

We Long, Live, and Love Between Glorious Bookends – “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

Think About Such Things: Whatever Is Pure

Think About Such Things: Whatever Is Pure – “He sees that the false sweetness of worldly thoughts and actions only feeds our gluttony for more.”

 

There Is a Name: Our Exclusive and Precious Christ

There Is a Name: Our Exclusive and Precious Christ – “In a world of tolerance and pluralism, few truth claims taste as sour as this one: Jesus is the only way to God.”

The People Who Talk about Death

The People Who Talk about Death – “We are the people who talk about death. Though I doubt many of us think of Christianity that way. Our whole message centers on death: a single death and the defeat of Death through it.”

The Devil’s Favorite Question

The Devil’s Favorite Question – “How much will you lose if you follow Jesus?” 

The Surprising Gift of A Child’s Prayer

The Surprising Gift of A Child’s Prayer – God bless the little children.

When Darkness Veils His Lovely Face

When Darkness Veils His Lovely Face – “We can barely fathom such multilayered darkness and suffering: afflicted by God, decimated by man, alone, with no light, no peace, no happiness, no hope. And then.”

Think About Such Things: Whatever Is Just

Think About Such Things: Whatever Is Just – “God’s justice will bring about far more than fairness, or reward. It will bring about a new heavens and a new earth. My world is tiny, but the Scriptures give a cosmic perspective.”

Refreshed In Chains

Refreshed In Chains – “The Bible is far from barren prose on ancient parchment. Instead it ripples with life, it rises and falls with the breath of God, it ebbs and flows as the Spirit wields it with surgical precision.”

The Hidden Enemy of Family

The Hidden Enemy of Family – “Satan rejoices when homes are ruined. He fights to make families feeble. The weaker the family, the stronger his rule and the more his course advances.”

Intergenerational Church

Intergenerational Church – “There are life lessons and failures and successes to take notes on; years of knowledge and experience waiting to be mined; and generational emphases and blind spots which each party can speak to in a give and take manner.” 

 

Think About Such Things: Whatever Is Honorable

Think About Such Things: Whatever Is Honorable – “The biblical measure of what is honorable is that which is honorable to God.”

Battle Commence

Battle Commence – “The prayer meeting is the battle ground on which the church fights together for the advancement of the kingdom.”

Why Honesty is Key to Gospel-Centeredness

Why Honesty is Key to Gospel-Centeredness – “A proper understanding of sin is necessary for a proper understanding of the gospel. The gospel is good news, but it includes bad news. It tells us that without the Triune God’s intervention, we have no hope of heaven. We have no righteousness on our own.”

Why Did God Give Us the Book of Revelation?

Why Did God Give Us the Book of Revelation? – Here are some prevailing values of the book.

A Fascinating New Way to Read through the Bible

A Fascinating New Way to Read through the Bible – This might make for a good Christmas present for you or someone you love.

 

Satan’s Great Trick

Satan’s Great Trick – “Satan’s great joy is to convince you that the sin you are about to commit is very small and the sin you have just committed is very large.”

Assurance of Things Hoped For: Christians Will Meet Again in Heaven

Assurance of Things Hoped For: Christians Will Meet Again in Heaven – A good reminder and encouragement for us all.

Victory That Lasts: Where to Begin Against Lust

Victory That Lasts: Where to Begin Against Lust – “As lust dims beauty and hides God’s face in night; purity cleanses our vision and dawns day upon the face of Christ for us to behold him. Our eyes cannot serve to masters.”

Book Tribalism

Book Tribalism – This little parable carries some great lessons.

‘2021 Persecutor of the Year Awards’ Report Released by International Christian Concern

‘2021 Persecutor of the Year Awards’ Report Released by International Christian Concern – “Obviously, it’s a dubious award. Making the list or receiving the top distinction is nothing to be proud of as the (dis)honorees are accused of great atrocities against Christians.”

Do Dogs Go to Heaven: How to Answer Kids’ Tough Questions

Do Dogs Go to Heaven: How to Answer Kids’ Tough Questions – Many adults ask this same question. Here’s a good answer.

Church is Back, But Where Are The People?

Church is Back, But Where Are The People? – “In a day when we can personalize and customize all our interactions…the church forces us into relationships that don’t fit social media algorithms. The church, the embodied gathering, doesn’t reconfigure to our likes and shares and news preferences. We need this kind of community or we may end up lost down some worm hole on the Internet.”

How to Give Thanks — And How Not To!

How to Give Thanks — And How Not To! – There are good ways and unhelpful ways. Here are some examples.

Only Jesus Knows the Full Force of Temptation

Only Jesus Knows the Full Force of Temptation – “Jesus was ‘tempted as we are, yet without sin,’ and therefore he knows the full force of what it is to be tempted.”

 

The Voices Behind Us

The Voices Behind Us – “We all have voices behind us – their hot breath of condemnation against our necks. Many times we hear our own words joining theirs, bearing down on us in the night.”

Knowing You’re In

Knowing You’re In – Doubts about salvation are common. How can we find assurance?

The Destroyer of All Darkness

The Destroyer of All Darkness – “Jesus came into this dark and fallen world as the new creation and to bring about a re-creation of all those for whom He died. He is ‘the Destroyer of the darkness.'” 

An Appetite for the Word of God

An Appetite for the Word of God – “How would you describe your appetite for the Word? Do you treasure Scripture more than food? Do you delight to meditate on it? Is it your daily bread?”

What Difference Did Pentecost Make? Cues from Christ About the Work of the Spirit

What Difference Did Pentecost Make? Cues from Christ About the Work of the Spirit – “Jesus is the quintessential Spirit-filled man, who does everything he does by the power of the Spirit.”

Scary Church (Or: How to Read the Book of Acts)

Scary Church (Or: How to Read the Book of Acts) – “There is a difference between history and revelation. It’s the difference between examining the scriptures or letting the scriptures examine us.”

Do You Insult Your Savior’s Bride? What Jesus Thinks of His Church

Do You Insult Your Savior’s Bride? What Jesus Thinks of His Church – “When tempted to dump on ‘the church,’ we who claim Christ will do well to remember his perspective, and his heart, and to speak with the grace and truth of our Savior toward his bride.”

The Author of Faith

The Author of Faith – “Archegos describes an inaugurator, a trail-blazer, a pioneer — someone whose achievements make it possible for others to experience the benefits of what he has done.”

Walking the Streets of Gold

Walking the Streets of Gold – This is a good story.

A Sure Hope for the Future

A Sure Hope for the Future – “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”

Healing a Pandemic of Disunity: The Love of Christians Is the Gospel’s Greatest Defense

Healing a Pandemic of Disunity: The Love of Christians Is the Gospel’s Greatest Defense – “If an individual Christian does not show love toward other true Christians, the world has a right to judge that he or she is not a Christian.”

You Are Not Nothing: Five Ways to Pursue Real Humility

You Are Not Nothing: Five Ways to Pursue Real Humility – “Humility is not thinking of yourself more highly than you ought but with sober judgment, according to what God says in his word.” 

Your Church Doesn’t Need More Fans

Your Church Doesn’t Need More Fans – “This fan mentality affects our interests in books, sports, merchandise, and more. But when applied to church, fan mentality undermines true Christian community.”

Parenting Young Children Through Life’s Pains

Parenting Young Children Through Life’s Pains – “The surprising thing in a world of rebels like us is not pain; the surprising thing is pleasure.”

The Beauty and Dangers of Familiarity with God

The Beauty and Dangers of Familiarity with God – “They thought they could satisfy and please God by doing what He required in one area of their lives and neglect Him in the rest. Their hearts lost their devotion and fear of the Lord as they forgot to seek God.”

The Hardest Word to Obey

The Hardest Word to Obey – “The most morally beautiful, winsomely attractive command Jesus ever uttered also happens to be the most difficult to obey.”

A Pastoral Prayer for Unity Amid Pandemic

A Pastoral Prayer for Unity Amid Pandemic – This is a good prayer for churches in these times.

Jesus, Not Death, Is Sovereign

Jesus, Not Death, Is Sovereign – “We mourn today, but will dance in the morning—and forever.”

Grace Fuels What Striving Can’t

Grace Fuels What Striving Can’t – “Why do we live our days worn out, fearful, and anxiously striving, as if we are lacking and unable to measure up?”

Under Pressure

Under Pressure – “How can I remain calm under pressure?...What is the secret to pressing through the challenges and trials of life without fretting or being overwhelmed by constant anxiety?”

All Suffering Is for a “Little While”

All Suffering Is for a “Little While” – “May we steward our challenges as a calling, that our empathy and compassion for others might grow.”

How To Know Right from Wrong

How To Know Right from Wrong – “Students of Scripture are like foreign students learning God’s language.”

The Chronological Structure of the Book of Revelation

The Chronological Structure of the Book of Revelation – “The book of Revelation can be approached as a chronological story. Viewing it chronologically helps to make sense of the various parts of the book.”

 

In Defense of Something Close to Venting

In Defense of Something Close to Venting – “The Scriptures permit and provide space for expression and honest sharing, at the same time as it fences and limits this permissive space regarding the contents of our speech and the nature of our words.”

Thanksgiving in Everything, Not for Everything

Thanksgiving in Everything, Not for Everything – “Paul does not ask for gratitude that is in proportion to the pleasantness of one’s circumstances.”

The Middle Years

The Middle Years – “The middle years, where any guess about my age is likely to be wrong one way or the other, depending on ridiculous things like how much water I’ve been drinking or how much I spent on my current anti-aging moisturizer.”

Impatience Is a War for Control: How God Prepares Us to Wait

Impatience Is a War for Control: How God Prepares Us to Wait – “So where does impatience come from? At bottom, impatience grows out of our unwillingness to trust and submit to God’s timing for our lives.”

How Can I Have Assurance of Salvation?

How Can I Have Assurance of Salvation? – “Assurance may be reached through a biblical examination of one’s faith, one’s love, and one’s life.”

What Is the Book of Amos About?

What Is the Book of Amos About? – “The Book of Amos is about the sovereign God of creation and covenant who announces judgment upon disobedient Israel, and yet proclaims a future kingdom hope for the people of God.”

Whispers of God’s Greatness

Whispers of God’s Greatness – “We only get whispers. And yet how powerful these whispers are! Can you even imagine how loudly the fullness of God’s glory must shout?”

Don’t Toss Ballast with Baggage

Don’t Toss Ballast with Baggage – “Storms, whether physical or cultural, force us to distinguish between baggage (unnecessary supplies or stowage) and ballast (necessary weight for a ship to sail with integrity). Confusing the two can be the difference between life and death.”

An Outline for Understanding Issues of Conscience and Legalism

An Outline for Understanding Issues of Conscience and Legalism – “Most of us have seen the movie ‘Chariots of Fire’ and have been greatly encouraged by the example of Eric Liddell who refused to compete in races on Sunday. But if a Christian held a different position regarding what is allowed on Sunday, could that believer be just as dedicated to Christ with his differing opinion?”

Take the Hill: How Mission Brings Men Together

Take the Hill: How Mission Brings Men Together – “Where are Jonathan and his armor-bearer today?”

The Joy of Living in a World Gone Wrong

The Joy of Living in a World Gone Wrong – “The whole adventure of the Christian life is in not fitting in.”

What is Conscience and Why Does It Matter?

What is conscience and why does it matter? – “I think many of us have a particularly poor understanding of just what conscience is.” He moves conscience from the realm of feeling to the realm of knowledge.”

 

How to Start Your Thanksgiving Diet

How to Start Your Thanksgiving Diet – “A Thanksgiving diet means habitual gratitude. Yes, giving thanks is a spiritual discipline, a practice, a habit, developed by those growing in God’s grace.”

You Are What You Eat

You Are What You Eat – “Like candy, most of the information and entertainment we regularly consume on social media, TV, and the internet has no spiritual or moral nutritional value.”

 

Kindness in a World Gone Mad

Kindness in a World Gone Mad – “Christian kindness is no common courtesy or virtue in a vacuum, but a surprising response to mistreatment and hurt. It is not random or free, but a costly, counterintuitive response to meanness, to outrage, rather than responding in kind.”

 

I’ve Missed You

I’ve Missed You – “I’m so glad that you are pursuing God on your own. But your spiritual life isn’t intended to be lived out alone. It’s not even designed to be lived out with just you and your family. Part of God’s purposes for you are only found in the context of the gathered family of God.”

 

One Day Tolerance Will End

One Day Tolerance Will End – “Now is the day of salvation. Don’t risk meeting King Jesus on the white horse, having rejected him on the donkey.”

Self-Worship Is the World’s Fastest-Growing Religion

Self-Worship Is the World’s Fastest-Growing Religion – “Here’s the problem with this cult of self-worship—besides the obvious problem of being a rebellion against God: When we try to be our own sources of truth, we slowly drive ourselves crazy.”

The Fruit of Patience

The Fruit of Patience – “The end of Christian hope is never shame or embarrassment, because we have a hope that is a sure anchor for our souls. It is this hope in the trustworthy promises of God that is the ground of the Christian’s virtue of patience.”

A Monument of Gift

A Monument of Gift – “There’s a principle in the Bible that’s foreign to our Protestant intuitions. When the people of Israel were dramatically saved by the Lord, they built a monument.”

3 Surprises from New Research on ‘Progressive’ and ‘Conservative’ Christians

3 Surprises from New Research on ‘Progressive’ and ‘Conservative’ Christians – “It’s progressives who rarely defy political orthodoxy and who harbor disdain for conservatives.”

A Proposal: One Reason We Don’t Evangelize

A Proposal: One Reason We Don’t Evangelize – “What was once astonishment in our early Christian walk has too often now become the routine – and it’s no wonder we don’t evangelize like we should.”

How to Witness to Family Members at Thanksgiving

How to Witness to Family Members at Thanksgiving – “Here are a few thoughts from a fellow bungler to help us think ahead and pray about how we might grow in being proxies for the gospel, in word and deed, among our families this Thanksgiving.” 

3 Ways to Protect Your Child From Their Own Heart

3 Ways to Protect Your Child From Their Own Heart – “We’ve all seen children who were raised right still go wrong, following their hearts all the way to their own destruction.”

What Does the Bible Say about Marriage?

What Does the Bible Say about Marriage? – Here is a quick summary.

Should We Pursue Self-Love?

Should We Pursue Self-Love? – “We are taught to love God above all and love our neighbor above all but God. So where does that leave love of self?”

Resurrection Somehow

Resurrection Somehow – “Not once in all his writings does he vacillate on the certainty of resurrection – in the experience of our Lord and, therefore, in that of his people…but the process, the actualizing of resurrection for the believer, remains shrouded in a mystery that Paul is content to live with.”

Food Rules: How God Reshapes Our Appetites

Food Rules: How God Reshapes Our Appetites – “Murder did not bar Adam and Eve from paradise — nor did adultery, theft, lying, or blasphemy. Eating did. Our first parents ate their way out of Eden. And in our own way, so do we.”

Science Can’t Answer Transgenderism’s Deepest Questions

Science Can’t Answer Transgenderism’s Deepest Questions – “Scientific studies can offer answers on outcomes and physiology. But they cannot tell us what it means to be male, female, or even human.”

Every Day I Climb The Mountain

Every Day I Climb The Mountain – “Maybe the darkness I face, part of the turmoil of this world, is the very thing that pushes me to seek God’s light and strength in ways that I otherwise wouldn’t have bothered.”

4 Ways Churches Can Help Grieving Children

4 Ways Churches Can Help Grieving Children – “Consider four ways to help grieving children into your congregation, offering them space to grieve their losses and find comfort and hope in Jesus.”

Courage for Normal Christians

Courage for Normal Christians – “So then, what is Christian boldness? It is courage and clarity about Jesus and sin in the face of powerful opposition.”

Why Satan Wants You to Think You’re Alone

Why Satan Wants You to Think You’re Alone – “Satan traffics in lies. He wants you to believe that God isn’t good, that you are alone, and that your shame can never be removed. Each is a profound deception.”

From Childishness to Childlikeness

From Childishness to Childlikeness – “A life of childlikeness—a lifestyle of Gospel-wonder, Father-trust, Kingdom-joy, and grace-fueled generosity”

 

8 Thoughts That Help Me Trust God When I Don’t Understand

8 Thoughts That Help Me Trust God When I Don’t Understand – These are all good reminders when we have more questions than answers.

Maybe the Single-Most Encouraging Verse in the Bible

Maybe the Single-Most Encouraging Verse in the Bible – “No other verse in the entire Bible is more pregnant with hope, filled with encouragement, and liberating-when-understood than this one.”

Bless Those Who Hate You

Bless Those Who Hate You – If you have never heard Rosaria Butterfield’s testimony, you’ll be blessed by it.

Billions of Unnoticed Gifts

Billions of Unnoticed Gifts – “God’s giving has always exceeded our ability to notice. Maybe that tells you something about God’s heart.”

 

No Flock, No Shepherd

No Flock, No Shepherd – “If a Christian truly wants to thrive, they must belong to a church community. The safest place for a Christian is square in the middle of a flock — a flock being led by the Good Shepherd, Jesus.”

The Value of a Secure Identity

The Value of a Secure Identity – There are plenty of competitors for our identity but when identity is found in Christ, life’s questions get answered.

What Love Is Not: Four Ways We Avoid the Costs

What Love Is Not: Four Ways We Avoid the Costs – “Without love, no matter how much we know, give, or do, we are and gain nothing.”

Does God Command Our Praise for His Sake or Ours?

Does God Command Our Praise for His Sake or Ours? – “God is committed to glorifying God.”

Christian Living Reoriented

Christian Living Reoriented – “All we have to do is trust in Christ and we are saved. To put it another way, we don’t have to do anything, because Christ has done it for us. The path then makes a surprising turn.”

Finding Peace and Rest in a World of Weariness and Division

Finding Peace and Rest in a World of Weariness and Division – “In this or any other disorienting climate, you will only become a gentle rest-giver to the degree that you yourself can also enter the Sabbath rest of Christ. A weekly Sunday Sabbath, to be sure. But also a daily, even moment-by-moment one. The abiding kind.”

2 Reasons Why ‘Jehovah’ Should Not Appear in English Bibles

2 Reasons Why ‘Jehovah’ Should Not Appear in English Bibles – “Good evidence suggests it should be Yahweh, but good evidence is all God has chosen to leave us—not certainty. There is one thing we do know, though: God’s name is not Jehovah. That word is a colossal, unrepealable, European mistake.” 

Bashing Babies on Boulders

Bashing Babies on Boulders – “How does a psalm that celebrates little ones dashed against rocks (Ps. 137:9) belong in the same Bible where Jesus says, ‘Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven’ (Matt. 19:14)?”

Don’t Fill Every Open Moment with Content

Don’t Fill Every Open Moment with Content – “Foolishness is rampant today in part because we’re rarely stationary enough to experience stillness. And stillness is a prerequisite for wisdom.”

Honor Women Like Our Lord Does

Honor Women Like Our Lord Does – “Every day, women advance the mission of the church by demonstrating the matchless worth of Christ. We cannot afford to overlook these sisters in Christ — neither the God of history nor God-in-the-flesh overlooks them.”

Our Most Destructive Assumption About Heaven

Our Most Destructive Assumption About Heaven – “If I could eliminate one belief about Heaven, it would be the heresy that the physical world is an enemy of God’s redemptive plan rather than a central part of it.”

3 Reasons for Hope in the Face of Grief and Worry

3 Reasons for Hope in the Face of Grief and Worry – “We are not at the mercy of arbitrary, impersonal forces; we are in the hand of our loving God.”

Abortion Is Unjust Discrimination

Abortion Is Unjust Discrimination – “Abortion-choice advocates consider their view morally superior. They believe they are defending a woman’s right to control her body. What they don’t realize, though, is that their position leads to an act of unjust discrimination.”

Lord, Restore the Years the Swarming Locusts Have Eaten

Lord, Restore the Years the Swarming Locusts Have Eaten – “Lord, I’ve wasted so much time in my life. Please forgive me.”

 

Lift Up Your Head

Lift Up Your Head – “After Halloween comes Christmas—the light of the world entered the darkness, and at Easter, overcame it once and for all.”

 

Laziness Ruins Happiness: What Makes Diligence a Virtue

Laziness Ruins Happiness: What Makes Diligence a Virtue – “Since all of us are tempted in different ways to the sin of laziness, it’s helpful to keep in mind all that’s at stake — and why, over and over throughout the Bible, God commands us to pursue the virtue of diligence.”

The Purpose of Suffering

The Purpose of Suffering – “Almost three years had passed, since our daughter’s illness, but the pain hadn’t lifted. It wrapped around me like a lead blanket. Peter, Jesus’ disciple and I were buds.”

Does It Really Matter Whether Adam Was the First Man?

Does It Really Matter Whether Adam Was the First Man? – “The simple aim of this article is to show that, far from being a peripheral matter for fussy literalists, it is biblically and theologically necessary for Christians to believe in Adam as a historical person who fathered the entire human race.”

 

Two Truths about the One Percent: How Important Is Corporate Worship?

Two Truths about the One Percent: How Important Is Corporate Worship? – “What do we need to remember about this surprisingly tiny and absolutely vital one percent called corporate worship?”

 

Reducing Stress at Family Gatherings

Reducing Stress at Family Gatherings – With all we look forward to at Christmas time, the season also produces stress in a variety of ways. Here are some practical helps.

Medical Marijuana and Christian Ethics

Medical Marijuana and Christian Ethics – “The appropriate use of medications is morally permissible for Christians. Yet, at this stage, it is still unclear exactly how marijuana or products derived from it can be appropriately used. The Bible gives us two principles which should guide our reflection.”

 

Why Suffering Pushes Us Toward or Pulls Us Away from God

Why Suffering Pushes Us Toward or Pulls Us Away from God – “But strangely, the same suffering that drives some away from God can become the mechanism that pulls other people close to him.”

 

Why Is Biblical Repentance Necessary for Christians?

Why Is Biblical Repentance Necessary for Christians? – “Biblical repentance is an important discipline of the Christian life, but it can only be properly understood within the larger work of sanctification.”

The FAQs: What You Should Know About the ‘Women’s Health Protection Act’

The FAQs: What You Should Know About the ‘Women’s Health Protection Act’ – “Why should Christians be concerned about this legislation?” It previews where the fight is going.

5 Takeaways From the Facebook Papers

5 Takeaways From the Facebook Papers – Here is a fairly simple summary of what has been learned about Facebook and why it matters.

The Hidden Gift of Spiritual Amnesia

The Hidden Gift of Spiritual Amnesia – “The truth is, we’re all victims of spiritual amnesia. You might have thought, ‘Why am I always forgetting this about God?'”

Ten Interesting Facts About Generation Z and How They Affect Us All

Ten Interesting Facts About Generation Z and How They Affect Us All – “Some of these realities are good, and some are not so good. In any case, parents, teachers, coaches, and employers may just need to adjust how they lead and develop this young population based on these realities.”

The Seven Heavenly Virtues: An Ancient Framework for Spiritual Formation

The Seven Heavenly Virtues: An Ancient Framework for Spiritual Formation – “The seven heavenly virtues, however, remain more foreign to contemporary readers than the more familiar seven deadly sins.” 

The Quarter-Time Church Member: Five Observations

The Quarter-Time Church Member: Five Observations – “If your church is typical, over one-half of your members attend one out of four weeks or less.”

How to Treat Fellow Christians

How to Treat Fellow Christians – “The Bible says a lot about how to treat each other. Here, I organized a host of biblical commands that tell us how we should do so. Can you imagine what your church would be like if every member took these Scriptures to heart?”

 

What is Heaven Like?

What is Heaven Like? – “Many people view heaven as some kind of consolation prize for our sorrows here on earth, or as a nebulous default status we attain by being “good” enough. In any case, it doesn’t usually sound like a fun place to spend eternity.”

Don’t Just Read Your Bible: 12 Ways to Go Deeper

Don’t Just Read Your Bible: 12 Ways to Go Deeper – “When we talk about spending time in God’s Word, we usually say ‘read your Bible!’ But that doesn’t mean you always just pick up the Bible and read a chapter – here are a few other creative ways to soak in Scripture.”

 

A Strange and Holy Calm

A Strange and Holy Calm – “In times that socialize us for outrage and outbursts, we need men who know how to hold their peace.”

Is This the Right Way?

Is This the Right Way? – We often ask this question and in times of trouble wonder if we are going the right way. Here’s some encouragement.

We Are All Cultists On the Inside

We Are All Cultists On the Inside – “The gospel of Jesus Christ is meant to transform those who believe it to such a degree that communities structured around it are markedly different from those that are not.”

 

Staying Power

Staying Power – “It’s one of those myths that just won’t die. For decades, we’ve heard the factoid that half of all marriages in America end in divorce. We’ve heard it so long, it must be true. Right?” – Wrong.