The fallout of the fall was vast, thorough, and ongoing, distorting and perverting everything. What was once natural was now rejected for unnatural passions and lusts, and with all sense of appropriate order went any sense of shame for what they were doing. People don’t just do these things; they develop a support base to help... Continue Reading

You may be struggling today with the fear and pain and questions that fertility issues can bring. My prayer for you is that my words will bring comfort. You are not less of a woman because you have lost a baby or have had difficulty conceiving. And you are not alone. You are surrounded by women... Continue Reading

To be fully human is to embrace our need to receive his compassion, and to show compassion to others in return. So why do we experience “compassion burnout”? Because we are finite and fallen. Our compassion is a diminishing resource. But when we turn to the Scriptures, we discover that God’s is a never-ending supply.    The... Continue Reading

In heaven we will have new, perfect, physical bodies that can be tangibly nourished by the perfect feast that God has in store. For my non-Christian friend, hearing this seemed like a missing puzzle piece in making sense of eternal life. Never before had she conceived of eternal life as a tangible, physical reality and it seemed... Continue Reading

The goal of parenting is not to retain tightfisted control over our children in an attempt to guarantee their safety and our sanity. Only God is able to exercise that kind of control. Instead, the goal is to be used of Him to instill in our children an ever-maturing self-control through the principles of the... Continue Reading

What happened? Where are the kids? What destroyed their marriage? What shipwrecked their faith — assuming they’ve left it behind? It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way. Then it hit me: This could have been me. It could have been my family.    I clicked on her Facebook page with eager anticipation of seeing... Continue Reading

These themes from Keller are sound. Space permitting, no doubt he would have elaborated how Christian political witness is pursued and by whom. (Perhaps he does in his book, which I’ve not yet read.) It seems important, for example, to distinguish among the institutional church, i.e. a denomination or congregation and its employees, versus the... Continue Reading

For Jesus to associate with a “tax farmer” was politically incorrect. It was an affront the nationalist sensibilities. Zacchaeus, a Jew, was a traitor to his people. Still, he had a certain social (or at least economic) position. He was management not labor. This background makes Luke’s narrative all the more interesting   One of... Continue Reading

It follows that prayer must be a source of life for any community of Christians. It is to the church what it is to individuals—breathing. Yet many of our gatherings could be likened to people coming together merely to hold their collective breath. This would explain why people seem to have so little energy for... Continue Reading

Caution has not always characterized Presbyterians in the United States. A century ago, songs about America and America’s wars provoked controversy among Presbyterians, in part due to the nation’s intervention in World War I and the desire evident among many pastors and congregations to mobilize themselves for earthly warfare.   The new Trinity Psalter Hymnal includes only... Continue Reading