How Psalm 73 Speaks to the Christian Experience
A goal for all of us is to be able to say: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth I desire besides you.”
We want to be able to say, “Nothing in this life is as good as that taste of belonging to the Lord.” Once we’ve tasted it, we realize that nothing else ever compares. Asaph understood that perspective. It went from his head into his heart because he looked at God. There’s such a lesson in... Continue Reading
Repenting of Confirmation Bias Christianity
Confirmation bias: The tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs or theories.
Examine yourself. Knowing and acknowledging we have this problem is necessary before we can even address it. The problem with confirmation bias is that our biases are embedded, they are presumed, felt as “natural.” So we aren’t typically conscious that we’re doing these things. Paul tells Timothy to “keep a close watch on yourself” (1 Tim.... Continue Reading
An Open Letter to the Suffering Christian
Suffering must be walked through one step at a time. Be honest. Don’t take any shortcuts.
But when it comes time to say something, I might say this: Jesus is a most sympathetic friend, fellow sufferer, and Savior. He has walked a hard road. He has felt his own anguish and crushing pain (Isaiah 53). He understands. He is compassionate toward you. By the comfort of his presence and sympathy, he... Continue Reading
Why Do Christians Still Die?
Why do Christians have to die? Why can't they just live and then go to heaven without passing through the experience of death?
Believers do not have to die, as Christ has purchased deliverance from physical death and the redemption of our bodies. But, in most cases, the Lord has chosen to delay or postpone the application of these benefits until the final resurrection….The Heidelberg Catechism asks the same question: “Since Christ has died for us, why do... Continue Reading
Eternal Generation: Another Reason to Worship our God
Cheynell grounded the doctrine of Eternal Generation in the idea of God’s simplicity.
But in keeping with the doctrine of simplicity, Cheynell makes the point that just “as truth is not goodness, nor goodness truth, nor either of them unity, and yet all three are entity, so too the Father is not the Son, nor is the Son the Father, nor is either of them the Holy Spirit,... Continue Reading
When Angels Sing: When Believers Are Called Home to Glory
No matter how many times I've felt the loss of someone to death in the past the rawness seems a foreign emotion. Loss is like that.
We were created for eternity. The good news is the Good News, and that’s where I hold fast. Adam and Eve weren’t just sent out into the world to live, work and die in the dusty ground from which they were formed. God created a way back to Him through Jesus Christ. It’s in Christ’s... Continue Reading
Essential Tools for Preaching Christ (Part 3)
Preaching Christ is a devotionally necessary response to the preacher's relation to Christ
The nature of saving faith makes preaching Christ necessary devotionally. While saving faith receives the whole Word of God because it is God’s Word, “the principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace” (WCF 14.1). When... Continue Reading
The Pastor and Bible Translations
The pastor should find out which translations are being used in his congregation
“I have, over the years, read through a good number of the English translations available, including some of the more obscure ones. I have learned something from each one, and I have benefitted from each one.” Except in certain very conservative Christian circles, the KJV is no longer the exclusive Bible of the English-speaking... Continue Reading
What Is the Will of God for My Life?
If you want to know God’s will for your life, the Bible tells you: “This is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thess. 4:3).
So when people wonder whether to take a job in Cleveland or in San Francisco, or whether to marry Jane or Martha, they should study closely the preceptive will of God. They should study the law of God to learn the principles by which they are to live their lives from day to day. What... Continue Reading
The Origins of the Reformation Bible
Luther increasingly claimed that Christian doctrine should rest on biblical authority, a proposition made somewhat difficult if there is disagreement on which books can confer “biblical authority.”
But fourth-century Christians themselves disagreed on precisely which books constituted God’s authentic revelation. Especially with regard to the books most in dispute in the sixteenth century—the so-called deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament—the fourth century could provide no assured guide because even those ancient luminaries, St. Jerome and St. Augustine, disagreed particularly on the status... Continue Reading