Why You Don’t Read Your Bible (and How to Start)
The most important thing for spiritual growth is reading the Bible, yet most people in the church aren’t
“In my experience, there are two main reasons people don’t read their Bible. The first is that people honestly don’t understand the Bible holds transformational power. Second, they don’t read the Bible because they don’t know how to find delight in reading it. Both issues are worth understanding in more detail.” Over and over... Continue Reading
The Eternal Shore Five Things We Forget About Heaven
Think of these as qualities we forget about heaven — parts of the shoreline most likely to be overlooked
“Imagine being out for a walk and bumping into Charles Spurgeon. Or Moses. Or Joni Eareckson Tada (who, of course, can walk and run!). All the saints, from all times, will be your intimate friends and neighbors. It is, after all, eternity, so if you miss anyone over the first ten billion years, you’ll have... Continue Reading
Don’t Confuse Spirituality with Righteousness
I was caught up with a crowd who confused the means with the end. Spirituality can be a cheap substitute for righteousness.
Spiritual disciplines are vitally necessary to achieve righteousness. Bible study, prayer, church attendance, evangelism, are necessary for Christian growth, but they cannot be the final goal. I cannot achieve righteousness without spirituality. But it is possible to be “spiritual,” at least on the surface, without attaining righteousness. When I first became a Christian I was... Continue Reading
4 Painful Lies Stay-at-Home Moms Tell Themselves
When it comes to stay-at-home motherhood, the cacophony of voices, both inside and out, can be deafening.
I’m a stay-at-home mom because I’m striving to obey God’s calling on my life. He’s given me gifts, talents, and abilities that I steward while devoting most of my time to my family. We prayerfully made these decisions for our family; they’re not a judgment call on yours. We’ve all come across passive-aggressive people who says things in... Continue Reading
Wisdom Christology in James and 1 John
As Calvin understood, the eternal Wisdom is a creative, redemptive, and sanctifying wisdom; therefore, this Wisdom is a fountain of life.
The ability of the Word to transform human life is the basis of its authority and its glory. It is this Word of life – the divine Wisdom – which brings us into fellowship with God and restores the bond of love between believers and God, and between believers one with another. In the previous... Continue Reading
Where to Bring Your Broken Heart
Gospel hope is the foundation of healthy grief.
In a world where sin infects and impacts all things, it is impossible for believers to make it through without hearts that break. But we have a God who is not silent at such times. He knows, because he has walked in our shoes (Hebrews 4:15). He has felt the terrible pangs of a broken... Continue Reading
It’s Not Just About The Sex
Our culture has concluded that relationships are defined by sex.
The good news is that friendship, and especially commitment, are more stable than sex and eroticism. To the extent that couples begin their relationships on the basis of sexual attraction, the stability of their marriage is a long shot. To the extent that they begin their relationship with commitment and friendship, they are exponentially more... Continue Reading
Humanity’s Oldest Ache
Words not only describe how we feel, they distinctly shape how we understand our feelings.
The biblical narrative begins and ends at home. From the Garden of Eden to the New Jerusalem, we are hardwired for place and for permanence, for rest and refuge, for presence and protection. We long for home because welcome was our first gift of grace and it will be our last. The setting of our... Continue Reading
When Your Pastor Becomes A Social Justice Action Hero
It has become common in our day for pastors to frame their sermons to deal with the social justice issues of the day.
The one thing the church offers is an answer to the wrath of God because of sin. As the world remains under judgment, the Christian gospel offers a way of transference out of a kingdom of darkness and into a kingdom of light, out of Babylon and into the heavenly Jerusalem. We do this by... Continue Reading
A Historic Framework for Social Responsibility
How shall the church think about social issues of race, justice and power?
On the one hand this is freeing. The single mother working two low-wage earning jobs does share the same kind of moral responsibility as the wealthy CEO for her neighbors, but she does not share the same degree of moral responsibility as the wealthy CEO. On the other hand, it is morally challenging. True righteousness is measured by deeds... Continue Reading