Under the covenant of works, the law was a terrifying taskmaster with a whip. Under the covenant of grace, the law is a friendly guide holding a lantern, while the Spirit of Christ holds our hand and gives us the strength to walk the path cheerfully.   In our previous article, we saw how the... Continue Reading

What is required is a repentance that goes all the way down. Not merely a new resolution about your morning routine, but a reckoning with what you actually believe your life is for.   You shall not steal. —Exodus 20:15 Two words in Hebrew. Lo tignov. The commandment lands with the flat certainty of a... Continue Reading

What makes me a Christian dad is not that I have mastered the art of raising children beneath a tasteful banner of biblical conviction. No, What makes me a Christian dad is that Christ keeps dragging my fatherhood out of the closet of image and into the house of repentance, clinging, and real love.  ... Continue Reading

The Bible does not give a list of rules, but it does give us several principles that help us think wisely. Self-control is one of them. The loss of self-control leads to real harm, and it is striking how often the deliberate aim of drug use is precisely to lose control.    We live on... Continue Reading

Unrealistic expectations ultimately impoverish the church’s witness. A congregation that forgets how to bear with its shepherds forgets how to bear with one another, thereby undermining the very pastoral care it demands.   The History of Unrealistic Expectations Placed upon Pastors Throughout the history of the church, pastors have been burdened with expectations that exceed... Continue Reading

The tragedy is not that the world rejects the truth; it always has. The tragedy is that the Church, more often than not, no longer has the courage to proclaim it as written.   The real issue before us today is not differences in style or methods, but whether the Church still fears God enough... Continue Reading

God has been kind to restrain sin and allow truth to surface even in a fallen world. But He hasn’t left us to piece together the human condition from fragments. He’s spoken clearly in His Word.   Common Grace Is Not a Blank Check There’s a growing pressure inside the church to make peace with... Continue Reading

We should avoid a hermeneutical approach to Scripture that says God’s revelation progresses after the Bible to make us more just, more equitable, and more merciful than the Bible is itself.    A common narrative is that Christianity slowly, over time, realized that slavery was wrong. Although it took centuries, it followed from the logic... Continue Reading

God has promised never to leave you nor forsake you, even to the end of the age. Be content. You have everything you really need. You have Christ. Surely he is enough.   If you’re asked, “Has God ever failed you?” or “Will God ever forsake you?” you are likely to answer no to both.... Continue Reading

When Christ came first out of the other world, from the dead, clothed with that heart and body that He was to wear in heaven, what message sends He first to them?…His first word concerning them is “Go tell my brethren.”   God’s Love Demonstrated Let us now take a view of our Savior in... Continue Reading