What’s the Difference Between Lament and Complaint?
Is “lament” just a name we give to complaining when it’s in the Bible?
“First, in a lament, you’re talking to God, not about God—implying that you still trust God. God’s response to grumbling in Numbers is opening the ground underneath the Israelites. Lament, to be safe, should be done in the context of worship. But, Longman said, Christians have lost the tradition of lamenting in Christian worship.” ... Continue Reading
Heaven-bound: What will it be like?
God does more than comfort us with His descriptions of heaven – He also uses them to correct our misdirected desires.
Many of us may remember back in our younger years, wondering if heaven was going to be boring. The idea of strumming on a harp and singing all day, every day, isn’t appealing to most children (nor to many musically inept adults). But while this question bothers many kids, few will ask it out loud... Continue Reading
Why is Godliness with Contentment Great Gain?
How can you find joy in what God gives you, especially when it is less than you had before?
“A Christian comes to contentment, not so much by way of addition as by way of subtraction… Contentment does not come by adding to what you have, but by subtracting from what you desire. The world says that you will find contentment when your possessions rise to meet the level of your desires… The Christian... Continue Reading
God’s Will for Your Life in A New Year
What will this new year, 2018, bring in your life?
There is the secret will of God and there is also the revealed will of God. What is the revealed will of God? The revealed will of God are those truths that he has clearly made known throughout his Word. In the year ahead, God’s will for you is really not that hard to discern;... Continue Reading
What Did Jesus Believe About the Bible?
Rather than grasping for a quote from the sixth or sixteenth century, Christians ought to be primarily concerned to study the example of Jesus Christ.
One of the best ways to learn what Jesus believed about the Bible is to observe how Jesus used the Bible in his earthly life and ministry. In John 10 Jesus is engaged in a heated exchange with a hostile Jewish crowd. They are hostile because Jesus has just made a very controversial claim: “I and... Continue Reading
Preventing Spiritual Scurvy this Year: The Micronutrient Bible Reading Plan
If you can’t read, meditate, pray, sing, congregate, or serve as much as you would like to, don’t just give up.
The more frequently and fully you can drink from God’s fountain, the less spiritually dehydrated you will be. There are many spiritual disciplines that will benefit your soul in this life and the next, and make you a more fulfilled, mature, and earnest disciple of the Savior. But… We all have experienced the deflating disillusionment... Continue Reading
On Unconditional Covenants
Are marriages covenants and therefore unbreakable?
Call if a contract or a covenant, we take solemn vows when we marry. Our spouse takes solemn vows. The solemn vows are dependent upon one another. A girl won’t vow those vows to a man who has no intention of vowing those vows. Lives are at stake, which is why we take solemn vows.... Continue Reading
History: Helping Children to Love it
How do we as parents go about encouraging our children to love church history?
Most children love to hear stories. They often like to hear stories about their families. How did our family come to live here? Where are we from? How did their parents and grandparents meet? Church history can be approached in much the same way. We can tell our children the stories of how our church... Continue Reading
Begging The Question, Abortion, And Slavery
The rhetoric “My Body, My Choice” is essentially identical to one of the defenses for chattel slavery as practiced by Americans in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The facts will not permit us to grant the premise. It is not “My Body” alone in question. Therefore, the question of whether to end that second, helpless, infant life is not merely “My Choice” anymore than it was ever the slaver’s choice to buy, sell, rape, or murder slaves. Notice the attached poster. They... Continue Reading
Why We Love New Beginnings
At the core of our being, we do not need New Year's resolutions--we need a "New Years Theology;" we need a theology of new creation.
We are frustrated that we repeatedly gave into particular sins, scarred our consciences, and grieved the Holy Spirit by whom we were sealed. All of this remorse weighs heavily on our hearts–and it is right that it does. But is there no hope of restoration and renewal for us as we enter into a New... Continue Reading