When we rightfully evaluate righteousness and holy living according to godliness, we realize “I have sinned and rebelled against God way more than any human being has ever sinned and rebelled against me. If God can forgive me my transgressions and debt and still remove the death penalty from me, then certainly I can show... Continue Reading

The elders of God’s church need to be known by the people and know the people. The people of God’s church need to be known by the elders and know the elders. That means opening ourselves up to one another; spending time together; being involved in day-to-day life with one another. This is how we... Continue Reading

n Ephesians 4, Paul’s command to put on the “new man” (lit: the new human being) means to put on Christ—because Christ is the firstborn of all (re)creation. By putting him on, we are new creations (2 Cor 5:17). Now most of us read Ephesians 4, I suspect, as a sort of moral imperative towards... Continue Reading

We’re at war. Spiritual warfare sounds like a strange concept to many of us, believed only by some camps within Christianity, when it should be believed by all of us. It’s the normal Christian life.   When we started to think about planting a church, a friend told us, “You’re going to go through more... Continue Reading

The teachings of Scripture and the realities they reveal do not become real and beautiful to us just because they are asserted by an authority. That is not the way our minds or our hearts work. You can make a child eat his vegetables because you have authority. But you can’t make him like them.... Continue Reading

If the New Testament were put into the hands of a thousand indifferent persons who knew the Greek language, but had never heard of the doctrines which had been derived from the book, and they should all be asked separately whether it inculcated the doctrine of eternal punishment for such as should die impenitent, there... Continue Reading

God has a divine plan and pattern for your marriage, and a divine picture he wants to convey. This is all for your good, for the health and prosperity of your family, and for his glory. Like every other area of your life, you cannot improve upon God’s best. It is perfect—beyond improvement. Do not... Continue Reading

Since the beginning of the new millennium, theologically educated Christians have been drawn increasingly not only to “hopeful universalism” but to forms of “assertive universalism,” insisting that God must save all sinners. David Bentley Hart’s new book, That All Shall be Saved (2019), is one of the most militant affirmations of “assertive universalism,” since he... Continue Reading

Frustrated expectations, painful memories, and difficult relations can turn some of us into Scrooges. For Christians, they may validate the objections of some Reformers and Puritans against what they saw as a recycled pagan holiday. But whatever we think of Christmas and the way it is celebrated, we are still called to be a witness... Continue Reading

It is only when you grasp what it means for God to be a Trinity that you really sense the beauty, the overflowing kindness, the heart-grabbing loveliness of God. If the Trinity were something we could shave off of God, we would not be relieving Him of some irksome weight; we would be shearing Him... Continue Reading