The Beauty of Complementarity Goes Beyond Gender
As much as contemporary Western culture tries to suggest otherwise, the difference of male and female exists and matters.
When God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Gen. 2:18), he did not just just create a clone of Adam. He created a complement. God’s solution to Adam’s “not good” problem was not two of the same flesh, as if company was all Adam needed. It was a one-flesh union, two distinct... Continue Reading
Who Is the Happiest Human Being Who Ever Lived?
“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).
Ironically, we often think of ourselves as fun-loving, and of God as a humorless killjoy. But we’ve got it backward. We are the dull ones, not God. Did we invent wit, humor, and laughter? No. God did. We’ll never begin to exhaust God’s sense of humor and His love for pleasure-filled joy. Though the... Continue Reading
Being a Father isn’t Easy, But it is Simple
As I've reflected lately on being a father, it strikes me that I've never seen anyone who did the things on this list fail as a father.
Just as it is impossible to lift others higher than where you’re standing, so it’s virtually impossible to help your children while you remain distant from God. Not only for the sake of your own joy and spiritual health, but for your children’s sake, draw close to God by all the means He’s given. ... Continue Reading
Why Calls for Discipleship Make us Feel so Guilty
The weakness of Protestantism on the subject of personal discipleship in an affluent culture has laid groundwork where the logic of the prosperity gospel rarely bumps into anything that seems to be at cross-purposes with being a disciple of Jesus.
The Christian who feels manipulated or guilt-tripped when the simple ethics of having Jesus as Lord appear anywhere near where his definition of “normal and entitled lifestyle” has taken root. Discipleship, now relegated to discussions around a class or small group, becomes about not being legalistic, pious, or pharisaical. The actual processes and content of discipleship... Continue Reading
Godfrey on Shepherd In 1978
"Justification is an act of God by which He forgives sinners acquitting them of their guilt, accounts and accepts them as righteous, and bestows upon them the title to eternal life."
This seems to me a strangely and fundamentally defective statement of the doctrine of justification, in that three elements that are always to be found in the confessional standards’ statements about justification are not to be found there. First, there is no reference to our Lord, or a clear statement that it is His righteousness... Continue Reading
Born this Way?
Suggesting that we were “born this way” with certain desires, and so we should be accepted as is, is – quite frankly – an argument of pure selfish pride.
Humans are born with plenty of desires that we must be taught to suppress or eliminate, like the desire to take whatever we want and have all the toys. Humans have “natural” desires for satisfying all kinds of outrageous lusts of the flesh, sexual and otherwise, and some downright deviant like pedophilia. We are born... Continue Reading
Raise Your Song in the Night
“At night his song is with me” (Psalm 42:8).
Christians sing not only at sunrise, when rescue has finally rushed over the horizon. They also sing at midnight, when the blackness makes the sun seem burnt out. And often, God uses our midnight songs to keep us till the morning. Christians are the sort of people who sing at midnight. When Paul and... Continue Reading
We Need to Regain and Teach an Understanding of the Physical Nature of the Resurrection
If we don’t get the resurrection of the body right, we’ll get nothing else right concerning our eternal future.
Ironically, there are believers who would die rather than deny the resurrection, yet they actually don’t understand or believe what the doctrine of the resurrection means! Despite the centrality of the resurrection in Scripture and church history, many of them have never been clearly taught its meaning, so they imagine they’ll live forever in a... Continue Reading
What Is the Bible, Anyway?
The Bible guides us to its purpose and power through the many metaphors it uses to describe itself.
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but... Continue Reading
Every Good Parent Will Have Regrets
Advice to My 30-Year-Old Self
Once, a man told me about a parenting event titled “No Regrets.” I assumed it was an event organized by parents of newborns. The parent with no regrets, after all, probably needs to think a little deeper. If you have no regrets in parenting, just ask your kids. What would I tell my younger... Continue Reading