While it’d be great to have thirty minutes alone in the morning with a fresh cup of single-origin coffee from Kenya—you can’t rely on the setting to read the Scriptures. If you get the 6 am dream setting, fantastic. Enjoy. But don’t hitch your reading of the Holy Bible to that sketchy schedule.   Life... Continue Reading

The opening sentence of Ephesians has been analyzed systematically by many. This work is profitable, good, and necessary for the church and fulfills the duties of the office of the minister. But, Paul did not deliver the topic of union to us in Ephesians 1:3-14 is a systematic fashion.   As is commonly noted in... Continue Reading

The Israelites to whom this was written often feared not having water and food provided for them, but for you, that may not be your struggle. For some, you might be struggling with the Lord’s provision and care in other areas. This Psalm is a reminder that the Lord will lead and guide and protect... Continue Reading

We find pride persuasive for a reason. For a moment at least, pride gives us what we’ve grasped for: the admiration of our peers, the eyes of passing admirers, the laughter of the crowd, the pleasure of being part of the in-group. But the purchase is costlier than it appears, for pride offers us something... Continue Reading

When we look at people, we should see exactly JUST that—a person in the image of God who needs a relationship with the Son of God. Nothing more. Nothing less. As we look, we must not allow the distractions of the “things” to keep us from seeing what is truly real, really important, and really... Continue Reading

I see a lot of people, especially young people, who want to be noticed, who want to do big church growth and write about it, who want to be in charge and preach and teach, but who seem much less interested in welcoming difficult newcomers, journeying with people through pain, and pitching in with Sunday... Continue Reading

What I’ve come to discover, is that when we care for our loved ones who need help, massive blessing can result from what we had maybe, in part, previously viewed as stress.   As I tearfully drove my mother down to hospital this morning, a wonderful truth was impressed upon my heart. If this blog... Continue Reading

I don’t want to address the specific apostasy of any one individual. Instead, I want to remind us of some important facts that tend to get lost in explosive, scandalous nature of such stories, especially when they happen in a string.   Of late many high-profile apostasies have rattled evangelical Christianity. Some of the men... Continue Reading

Christians serve in earthly politics, they seek to persuade their neighbors to pursue just laws and policies, but their loyalties are twofold because they belong to what John Calvin called a “twofold kingdom” (duplex regimen) and there is a hierarchy among the two aspects of God’s twofold government of the world: our first loyalty is... Continue Reading

Just because criticism can hurt doesn’t mean it’s not good for us. Scripture paints a positive picture of anyone who welcomes correction as wise (Proverbs 9:8, 15:31) and those who reject it as foolish. Furthermore, we’re instructed to use all Scripture “for reproof” and “for correction” for our good and God’s glory.   If you’re... Continue Reading