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
Does It Bother You That God Barred Moses from the Promised Land?
Sometimes, the areas where God most offends us are the areas where we most need to grow.
It’s not good to stay in a place where you criticize God’s judgment or question his character. Whenever you read the Bible and find your sensibilities don’t line up with how God is described, you face a choice. You can reject God’s ways and stand in judgment over him, or you can submit to God’s... Continue Reading
What Is Love?
From God’s perspective, love is the chief of all virtues.
The bottom line is that the gifts of God can be used without love. When that happens, their value is destroyed. The essence of love, 1 Corinthians 13 tells us, is to seek the welfare of others. A person who reflects God’s love is driven to give of himself for others, not to wield his... Continue Reading
What Is God’s Holy Mountain?
Citizenship in God’s holy city belongs only to those who are sanctified by God.
Viewed in its broader literary context, the whole exodus-Sinai story looks forward to the restoration of the harmonious situation that existed between God and humanity prior to Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God in the Garden of Eden. With its emphasis upon the need to be made holy in order to ascend into God’s presence,... Continue Reading
How Bad is Bad? Reflections on Pervasive Depravity!
The answer must be "far worse than we think and as bad as we can conceive!"
We should not be surprised when Christians do bad things, or be shocked at the wickedness of some of the things they do. This is not at all to excuse evil in church. The last thing we should do is modify or adjust our standards. The Gospel raises the bar and calls us to holiness.... Continue Reading
9 Bible Verses for Depression to Shine Light into Darkness
May these give you hope and strength as you wait for God to lead you out of the Valley of Darkness.
Now, one thing that’s really important to note as you read these verses. You probably won’t FEEL any different after reading these verses. There’s this weird idea in some Christian circles that the moment you change your thinking your feelings will also change. That as you read these Bible verses for depression, the gloom will suddenly lift. This couldn’t... Continue Reading
Why Does God Let Evil Happen?
This is a question I’ve been asked, and have asked myself, so often. I have come to find that it is because God is good.
None of this is to say that God gives evil a free pass. My dad, a rapist and an abuser, is around 60 years old now. Within about 40 years he will meet God face to face. Every evil on this earth is punished within about 100 years, whether or not our earthly courts ever... Continue Reading
Vocation in Retirement
Some say that Christians should keep working as long as possible because the Bible says nothing about retirement. But this is not completely true.
Retirement underscores two important facets of the doctrine of vocation: the purpose of every vocation is loving and serving our neighbors. And the way we make our living is only one of our vocations and not even the most important one. When I retired after more than four decades of college teaching and administrating,... Continue Reading
First-Rate Sons
Adoption exceeds original sonship, because the Beloved Son of God carried human sonship to its glorious, royal finale.
Some long to feed their appetite for a rags-to-riches story, and adoption often mercifully extricates children from drugs, poverty, and the most inhumane conditions. For some, the quest to know sprouts from sincere longing to taste gospel grace. Even if we don’t openly utter it from our lips, deep in our souls we relish the... Continue Reading