We No Longer Make Boys Into Men
Do we think that men simply sprout up, like weeds?
In our time of fatherlessness, underachieving boys, social fraying, and the collapse of marriage, helping boys to become men needs to be done. We owe it to them in justice, or else we will not have healthy families, parishes, neighborhoods, and towns. Many years ago, in an article for Touchstone called, “A Requiem for Friendship,”... Continue Reading
God’s Providence Summarized in The Westminster Confession
The Westminster Confession’s chapter on providence takes us behind the scenes of history to impress on us that absolutely nothing is outside the purview of God’s reign.
The doctrine of providence reminds us that while the precise purposes of God may be veiled from our sight, we can still draw comfort from knowing that whatever befalls us comes from God’s good and wise plan for our lives. God’s ways at times seem baffling. As the Apostle Paul says, they are inscrutable (Rom.... Continue Reading
Why Does It Take So Long To Explain Infant Baptism?
If it is true, should we not be able to explain and defend it more briefly?
The biblical and Reformed view can be stated quite simply: God promised to be a God to believers and to their children. He gave a sign to Abraham to illustrate that promise and he repeated the promise in the New Testament and gave a new sign to illustrate that promise. That is fifty-two words. Why... Continue Reading
The Fruit of the Spirit: Patience
Patience helps us forbear with one another.
It takes more than mental assent to familiar verses and self-effort to become patient. It is a virtue, spiritual character that is developed within and flows out towards others. Patience is waiting on a good God, knowing that his timing is perfect and his purposes for ourselves, the church, and the world will be fulfilled.... Continue Reading
Three Antidotes to the Fears that Rule the World
To shake free from the fear of losing control, stop believing that you have any control.
A new year may have just arrived, but it is sure to bring with it the same fears as 2020. And for Christians, the task ahead is the same as it was the previous twelve months: to be people of hope, confidence, and thankfulness as we lean into the fact that we are not in... Continue Reading
The Book of Job in Redemptive History
How does it relate to the fulfillment of all things in Christ?
Jesus, the Seed of the woman, is the greater Job who endured the temptations of the evil one and who wrestled with God in the Garden. He is the ultimate Servant of the Lord (Isaiah 42:1) who would suffer in order to justify His people (Isaiah 53:11). Like Job, Jesus cried out to God in... Continue Reading
Always Reforming
Genuine revival is always closely connected to biblical reformation.
The church is not called to be ever changing or seeking to become culturally relevant. Cultural relevance makes the church biblically irrelevant. The call of the Christian and the church of Jesus is to be consistently reforming from the deforming effects of the culture. What does it mean to be always reforming? The statement is rooted... Continue Reading
Simple Fisherman In Simple Places
“Lord, teach us to be fishers of men as we follow you."
For sure, Washington needs to be captured by the gospel. So does Wellington, so does Sydney, so do dozens more. But I wonder if we’ve forgotten something important? I wonder if we’ve focussed too intently on special people for special places? I wonder if the slow moving rivers of this world, and the people who live there, are waiting... Continue Reading
Walk in Light
We are to walk in the light of the Lord because we are children of light.
No Christian will be sinless. However, we must beware of those who offer assurance of salvation to professing believers who live unrepentant lives. The unrepentant, who show no shame for sin or hunger for the holy and pure things of God, are headed for wrath and we must not be partakers in their wickedness. ... Continue Reading
When Ideas Have Feet, We Can See How CRT Moves
Common grace does not give a license to utilize methodologies that run contrary to Scripture.
Those who claim that CRT has some compatibility with Christianity or at least can be used as a tool to diagnose the problem of racial stratification, tend to repudiate any claims of opposition as an endorsement of white supremacy. Why? I’ll be honest right from the start, I’m growing weary of hearing about Critical... Continue Reading
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