The Most Dangerous Question You Can Ask When Studying the Bible
“What does this passage mean to me?”
“Why is this a dangerous question to ask? It’s because the question itself implies a level of authority for you or me that we simply don’t have. It supposes that you and I have the right to determine what a passage of Scripture means to us. And what it means to me might not be... Continue Reading
How God Excels In Our Weakness
God specializes in using the not-so-obvious candidate to show off His power
“Grace is the fuel in our tank that will never run out. Paul demonstrates to us that God’s grace not only saves us but sustains us. Grace is God’s presence and thus his provision for every circumstance, no matter how difficult or how sharp the thorn may be.” While there are so many things... Continue Reading
When the Future You Planned for Never Comes
Even if the journey ahead looks bleak, God invites us to find deep joy in him, often through stories like Job’s.
You may be thinking, Job’s suffering was worse than mine, but his story had a happy ending. God gave him back everything he lost. That’s never going to happen for me. You may be right. Often, God orchestrates deep losses that are never restored in our lifetime. That’s where we need to look beyond Job’s story —... Continue Reading
10 Things You Should Know About the Kenosis Controversy
The translation “he emptied himself” inclines many to ask the question: “Of what did Christ empty himself?”
It isn’t that God the Son ceased to be God while he walked and ministered on the earth. Rather he voluntarily and willingly suspended the independent exercise of those divine attributes that would have been incompatible with his living an authentic human life in dependence on the Holy Spirit. That title may have put... Continue Reading
What Are the “High Places” in the Old Testament, and How Does That Apply to Us Today?
The “high places” is a shorthand term for places of pagan worship.
The New Testament recognizes a figurative sort of high places, where Christ’s people worship false gods instead of the one true God. Like Israel’s kings, we have the responsibility to topple all the idols in our own lives in order to give Jesus full Lordship. The fact that they didn’t use their power and authority... Continue Reading
A Thanksgiving Jesus
Jesus’ thankfulness teaches us to pour out our own hearts in thanksgiving to God–above all, for the redemption that He has freely given to us in the Son.
In short, the three things for which Jesus expressed thanksgiving were all bound up in the work of redemption. In this, Jesus teaches us that above all the things that we should be thankful for–not just on one day in November, but every day of our lives–is the redemption that we have in His blood, the... Continue Reading
Blessed Even in the Worst: How to Give Thanks in Every Circumstance
We enjoy God’s blessing only because Jesus experienced the full measure of God’s curse in our place.
So how is it that God can be so good to us? On what basis can God bless us so generously? You and I can anticipate being showered with God’s blessing only because Jesus experienced the full measure of God’s curse in our place. Christ was given what we deserve so that we might be... Continue Reading
We Need To Listen To Dissenters, And Have Leaders Who Are Willing To Stand Alone
An observable pattern in both the Old and New Testaments: people who have spoken for God have often spoken alone.
Periodically leaders with insight and courage will speak up when others won’t. Do we welcome that, or just put up with it, marginalizing those voices instead of earnestly listening to what they have to say? God may be speaking through them, not the current majority. I’ve noticed a pattern in both the Old and... Continue Reading
Fill Your Wandering Heart with Thankfulness
The more thankfulness is present in us, the less vulnerable we are to sin.
Gratitude is what we experience when we perceive that what we have received is an undeserved gift of God’s grace. It is a fruit of humility; it’s inherently unselfish. We don’t feel true gratitude toward ourselves, but only towards someone else who treats us better than we deserve. Do you know what’s stronger than... Continue Reading
Approaching the Throne of Grace
We can approach the throne of grace with boldness because we have the righteousness of Christ imputed to us.
If Christ’s intercession is not sufficient for us, what can be added to it? If Christ has not granted to us access to the throne of grace, who can? Without Christ’s righteousness and merit, we dare not approach Him, but thanks be to God that Christ, our High Priest, continually makes intercession for us in... Continue Reading