Praying Psalm 13: From Fear to Faith
We can grow stronger in prayer praying the Psalms as our own personal prayers.
In Psalm 13, we hear the voice of Jesus Christ speaking prophetically about His own suffering, crucifixion, and resurrection. He has plumbed the depths of human suffering. He has walked through your valley of the shadow. He has faced and fought your enemy the devil, and He has won that war for you. The... Continue Reading
Why Resisting Tyrants is an Act of Love
Many Christians are attempting to bind the consciences of others in the name of Christian love with practices and priorities that do not come from Scripture itself.
Indeed, when a Christian’s best testimony to his neighbors is found in waiting patiently for governing officials to permit churches to gather again, thus denying Christ’s command to gather, we have a new instance of Corban—replacing the law of God with human traditions. In January, a few members of our church put on our masks,... Continue Reading
He Gave Gifts So That We Will Not Die
Our differences are divinely ordained in order that we might face perseuction faithfully.
Whatever our cooperative situation with other believers—be it church membership, ministry, the workplace, the family—let’s strive to more often view others through the lenses of sovereign gifts that might at some point save the day. We recently had a mini team retreat where we looked into the spiritual gifting and personality wiring of the... Continue Reading
Success Beyond What We Can Handle
Most people can handle failure better than success.
Those who pray for no more than they can handle will find joy and comfort in even modest achievements, for they will know and trust that God has given them what is for their best and withheld from them what would be to their harm. I know many who long to make a mark... Continue Reading
A Seeker-Driven Church Would Fire Jesus
The church growth gurus who eat, sleep, and breathe pragmatism would fire Jesus from their staff on His first day of work.
The seeker-driven church movement may have a formula for drawing a crowd but don’t for a second think it means they’re drawing people to Christ. Countless people are attracted to programs, entertainment, and even the casual nature of anything deemed “worship.” I recently met a pastor in passing who offered me encouragement regarding our... Continue Reading
Repenting of Our Agnosticism
Are Christians living “Etsi Deus Non Daretur” (As if God is Not a Given)?
How often do we all conduct our lives as if we lived in some sort of closed universe not actively upheld and sustained by the God who is, who spoke everything into being? For a few months I have been thinking about a phrase I first encountered in 1995 when I was teaching an... Continue Reading
Is All Work Equal? Yes and No
All work is not equal in every way.
Paul says every gift is essential for the church to be healthy. Thus, every gift has value. And that implies that every skill and every worker is valuable too. But Paul also says we differ in our functions. Yet there are “higher gifts” and believers rightly “desire” them (12:31). If God grants them, he expects... Continue Reading
Difference Belongs at Home
God made families to nurture children into the fullness of their image-bearing humanity.
When we walk into God’s household, we find not bare unity, nor random diversity, but unity-in-diversity streaming forth from our three-in-one God. And he means for our little households to increasingly reflect his own. Long before our children enroll in school, they learn in the classroom of the family. They listen in the living... Continue Reading
Dignity and Despair
An assessment of Steinbeck’s East of Eden.
Steinbeck was right to feel the weight of Cain’s God-given choice. There is tremendous dignity in having such a decision. But, we must not overlook what humans consistently choose. Because of our sinfulness, despair clutches the heel of dignity—always following close behind. Praise be to our God and Father—the fount of Goodness—who gives ceaselessly by... Continue Reading
Why We Must Reject Social Trinitarianism: It is Neither Nicene nor Biblical
It is popular, it is novel, and it fits like a hand in glove into the spirit of the age.
There never was a time when the Father was not the Father, nor was there ever a time when the Son was not the Son. The eternal generation of the Son does not occur in time. It is simply a window into the eternal nature of God. It is a holy truth and one that... Continue Reading
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