Christian theology ought to be an exercise in knowing God precisely as the God of salvation. But we have not confessed the God of salvation at all if we have not confessed God’s perfection and self-sufficiency apart from any considerations about salvation.   Calvin famously opens his Institutes with the observation that all true and... Continue Reading

When conflict does arise, there is a clear crossroads to consider. Will you respond in the same manner as last time, or choose a different and better path? The work that has already been done to understand and address your heart, responsibility, and sin now gives you the opportunity to respond in love when these... Continue Reading

We commune with our Creator and grow closer to Him in dedicated prayer, where we learn about Him (Jer 9:23-24) and ourselves. Whatever we are as Christians, we are less than we could be or should be if we do not pray as we should. Jesus died to give us this privilege, the abundant life... Continue Reading

Are we most like the person who wishes people well with our words, but never follow through with our actions? Or are we like the person who has head knowledge (doctrinally sound), but fails in doing good works with our hands? I hope we are more often like Abraham, who loved the Lord in word... Continue Reading

God does not worry. His face toward you reveals his rest and favor. During the turbulence of life, his face also reveals his compassion and care. And the word is out. Apparently, Jesus’ reputation has traveled to people who don’t know him well (like twentieth-century real estate agents), and even they occasionally rest and do... Continue Reading

The thing is: Heart application requires a grasp of both human nature and the Lord’s process for rebooting that nature in Christ. That takes hard work. If you want your Bible application to be quick and dirty, the sphere of the heart will nearly always become a neglected stepchild.   Of the three spheres of application, I... Continue Reading

God has already given up the greatest gift He could possibly give when He offered up His infinitely valuable Son to the cursed death of the cross for sinners like us. If He gives the greatest, we can be sure that He will not withhold the lesser. Christ is the measure of the greatness of... Continue Reading

Jesus didn’t eat with tax collectors merely to “hang out” with them, but to call them to repentance and salvation (Luke 19:10). Jesus’ model of evangelism, then, shows us that we must be willing to engage with the gospel those whom the world despises. But it also shows us that we are not called to merely... Continue Reading

Yuval Harari offers his readers a rare insight into the worldview of a postmodern materialist. According to Harari, morality is a façade that we attach to naturally occurring realities. Because all we are is just our biology, whatever occurs within us is, by definition, natural, and presumably, in Harari’s understanding, good. If it is natural, it cannot be... Continue Reading

The advance of major religions across the globe at the point of a sword, the secularization of society under the sharp edges of sophisticated educators, the totalitarian persecution of faith under communism – all of these threats never have, and never will, thwart the spread of the Gospel.  Mark 4 guarantees it.    We have... Continue Reading