Book Review of “Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament,” by Mark Vroegop
Lament is “a prayer in pain that leads to trust."
Everyone will face suffering in life, and the grace of lament helps Christians persevere. I recommend this book for anyone who is grieving or walking through suffering. Since every person daily interacts with the effects of sin upon the world, all believers will benefit from learning how to respond to sin and suffering with lament.... Continue Reading
How Will We Live Now? Francis Schaeffer’s “How Should We Then Live” After 40 Years
The collision between Kenneth Clark and Francis Schaeffer introduced me to the great collision of worldviews that became such a central interest and urgency of my life.
Years before words like “worldviews” and “truth claims” entered the common evangelical vocabulary, Schaeffer was introducing the terms and stressing their importance. He knew that the great conflict of worldviews was underway, and he cared deeply about a generation of young people who were even then deciding between Christianity or intellectual revolution. The year... Continue Reading
Oh, the Company We Keep!
The Teaching and Influence of Dr. Wesley Hill In and On the PCA
Deceitful desires have affected a theologian like Wes Hill, making him come up with twisted arguments with the goal of PCA churches embracing strange teaching. Those who agree with Dr. Hill rejoice in the progress they are making, as resistance to this doctrine declines in the already changing evangelical church (WW 22). In the PCA... Continue Reading
David Bentley Hart’s Lonely, Last Stand for Christian Universalism
A Review of "That All Shall Be Saved"
These pages breathe an atmosphere of weary resignation. Hart depicts himself as a lonely battler for the truth of universalism—which hardly seems to be the case, given that many academic theologians today share his views. Here’s another oddity: the total absence of joy in this book. Someone who is genuinely convinced that everyone is finally... Continue Reading
One Thing We Know for Sure Is God’s Will for You…
Yes, He cares about your job and your hobbies but He cares about your joy and your holiness more.
As we wrestle with decisions, a good question to ask is “Will this make me more like Jesus?” “Will this make me more holy?” If there are multiple job offers, ask which one will make you more like Jesus. If there are multiple choices on the dating front, ask which person will help you know... Continue Reading
‘The Rise of Jordan Peterson’—A Review
What makes “The Rise of Jordan Peterson” particularly notable is that it neither shies away from the political controversies surrounding Peterson, nor allows itself to be defined or limited by them.
The Rise of Jordan Peterson constructs a kaleidoscopic narrative that enables the viewer to look at the same sequence of events in several different ways. Engaging with the film fully demands a willingness to listen to a wide and often conflicting range of perspectives. Those who insist on placing Peterson in an airtight box, and... Continue Reading
Eliezer: Faithfulness in Fulfilling a Trust
Servants we are, everyone of us, and a trust is committed to us all.
There can be no faithful service except there be love. And the form love takes in a ‘good and faithful servant’ is sure to be the form which meets us here: — I mean, an eager, anxious love identifying itself with the welfare of those it serves: a self-sacrificing, self-denying, self-forgetting love: — a love... Continue Reading
Why We Need a Children’s Book About Death
When it comes to sad things in life, we tend to wrap up their hearts in cotton wool and lock them away.
The preacher of Ecclesiastes tells us: “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart” (7:2). The living should take this to heart—which includes children, not just adults. Often, when we go to... Continue Reading
Entrust Yourself to God at Night
God sustains you by your sleep.
David’s childlike trust in God as his protector led him to earnest prayer: “I cried aloud to the Lord” (v. 4). And God answered. He provided sleep for the rehabilitation of David’s weary mind and body. God will do this for you, too. If you follow David’s example of earnestness in prayer, his testimony can... Continue Reading
It’s All About the Conscience
Our task as spiritual physicians is to treat bad consciences, continually delivering the healing balm of the living word of God and his life-giving sacraments.
Our goal is not to build people up to utilize their own inner resources or become better spiritual athletes. The cure of souls is instead geared to address spiritual dysfunction and disease, restoring health and life to souls burdened by guilt and torn by shame. I’ve made it no secret that Harold Senkbeil’s The... Continue Reading
