For both the Israelites thousands of years ago and for us today, the law is a mirror we desperately need to look into. And if we’re honest, we will admit that we transgress against that law, and often. But this isn’t just about our actions. Jesus says the law is not just for behavior, it’s for... Continue Reading

Sin is not just something we occasionally do, but sin impacts every willing act in our lives. Consider the call of Christ to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). I don’t believe there is a single moment of my life... Continue Reading

The older I get, the more I realize that my struggle with anxiety and depression has been at the center of the circumstances God has used in the past three decades to strengthen my faith and to increase my desire to know Him through His Word. All of the times that I consider to be... Continue Reading

In one sense, we are just. In another sense, from a different perspective, we are sinners; and how he defines that is simple. In and of ourselves, under the analysis of God’s scrutiny, we still have sin; we’re still sinners. But, by imputation and by faith in Jesus Christ, whose righteousness is now transferred to... Continue Reading

Now, let’s be honest: even though the prosperity gospel encourages idolatry, all Christians struggle with and are tempted towards idolatry on a daily basis. If our faith is genuine, however, we can overcome this temptation in the same way Jesus overcame the temptation he experienced in the Garden: by focusing on God’s promises.   What... Continue Reading

If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant... Continue Reading

As Martyn Lloyd Jones points out, despair and depression are the result of self: self-pity, self-concern, self-reliance, etc. What you can expect as the Holy Spirit works in you during this time is that your love for him and others will grow tremendously. There will be many tears because your love will be so strong,... Continue Reading

The world has a messed up definition of love. Some churches allow the world to define love and then fit in with the world in how it loves. This is wrong. Love needs to coordinate with truth. But we people do weird things. Sometimes we allow another person or group’s wrong behavior to influence our... Continue Reading

Something that is false is the opposite—something that is not in accordance with reality. If the door is actually open, then “The door is open” is true as it is in accordance with reality. If the door is not actually open, then “The door is open” is false as it is not in accordance with... Continue Reading

Every soul that crosses our path in church leadership should be viewed with great dignity. In the works of the church father John Chrysostom known as the Six Books of the Priesthood, he urges pastors to think upon how the devil wages war on the human soul. The immediate and eternal impact of the harm of... Continue Reading