By gathering the family for shared devotions we display the priority and necessity of hearing from God and speaking to God. And I think we also declare something about our priorities when we show that we are unintimidated to miss a day here and there as circumstances dictate—we show that devotions are not the means... Continue Reading

Success is defined by performance. Faithfulness is defined by constancy. Success is defined by accomplishment. Faithfulness by devotion. Success is defined by achievement. Faithfulness by commitment. Success is defined by attaining a goal. Faithfulness by being true to a promise. As long as we posed the question “How do we redefine success?” we were still coming out as losing. We felt like failures.... Continue Reading

It’s not a long book, so I encourage people to read Song of Songs through pretty rapidly and then go back and read it again. Maybe read it rapidly a couple times, and then go back and try to study it more closely. It’s a short enough book that you can definitely read it, read... Continue Reading

According to Cotton Mather, it was Anne who persuaded her husband to emigrate. When she arrived in Salem on June 1630, however, she was baffled by what she saw. “I found a new world and new manners, at which my heart rose. But after I was convinced it was the way of God, I submitted to... Continue Reading

The Corinthians had determined that Paul was a loon. But he kept preaching the gospel to them because he knew that this would be the means by which they’d get a new set of eyes. Apart from grace, though, they’d put gospel men in the loser category every time. And they’d fall hard after super-apostles…even... Continue Reading

Persistent praying puts us in that frame of mind and spirit in which we may properly receive what it is that God desires to give. In other words, it isn’t so much that God is reluctant to give, but that we lack preparation to receive. Try to envision what a mess your life would have... Continue Reading

Jesus castigated ritualistic worship for its hypocrisy. If we are true believers who have bowed the knee in repentance and faith to rest upon Christ alone for our salvation, we tend not to think ourselves as hypocrites. But the word hypocrite can simply mean to be insincere. Our worship can be a pretense of going through the motions.... Continue Reading

The Lord’s Supper represents to the senses of God’s people the death of Christ for sinners. It reinforces one of the most basic lessons of Jesus’s teaching, that salvation is by the grace of God alone for the undeserving. In the Supper, Christ invites his needy people to come to him to be filled with... Continue Reading

Let books flood your home and wash ashore on coffee tables, dressers, and nightstands. Your kids and grandkids will, one day, thank you (even if your spouse, in the present, does not).   With gratitude for half a decade of service alongside the Comment team, and in particular for the mentorship and friendship of Brian Dijkema and... Continue Reading

Bolz-Weber is attacking the Bible’s teachings on human sexuality. And the response from the White Horse Inn? An attack on the efforts of some in the church to promote those biblical teachings to women in the church. Not having a daughter, I don’t have a lot of knowledge about those who promote purity rings. I... Continue Reading