The False Gospel We Don’t Talk About
What makes a gospel false is when acceptance and approval by God is placed in something other than Christ.
But that is where this idea of pastors’ visions can go. It’s when the pastor receives a so-called prophetic word from God about what God is doing in that body and the members are required to obey it. This invokes fear for the sincerely faithful who really want to obey God, do not want to... Continue Reading
Don’t Waste God’s Time
It is the degree to which we view time as God does that ultimately determines what we choose to do with the time He has given us
By means of God’s common grace every person who has ever lived, regenerate and unregenerate alike, has been apportioned a certain measure of time on this earth. Ideally, it is to be used in service to the One who gifted that time to us to begin with. Unfortunately, however, not everyone appreciates this, including Christians. As the Puritan missionary David Brainerd, who... Continue Reading
From a “Worthless” Evangelical Woman: A Response to Robert Truelove
Every Christian’s sense of deepest fulfillment and contentment needs to be rooted in Christ, and even that will be imperfect until Heaven.
A person feeling unfulfilled COULD be a result of shirking their duties, but it could be evidence that they are not yet glorified! I realize that Pastor Truelove likely did not mean that a woman should find her ultimate satisfaction in keeping her household, but I think it’s an important clarification to make! (I think... Continue Reading
Translating the N. T. Wright and David Bentley Hart Tussle
The recent New Testament dust-up between big-name scholars reminds us how hard—and important—Bible translation can be.
One notable scholar who does not appear to be particularly impressed by Hart’s translation is Wright, who is probably the closest thing current New Testament scholarship comes to having a celebrity. His review of Hart’s New Testament, published January 15 in The Christian Century, details a lengthy list of disagreements with Hart’s translation choices, and ends... Continue Reading
Start Planning Your Own Funeral
Daily obit reader, artist Maira Kalman, muses, “[When I read obituaries,] I’m trying to figure out two very simple things: how to live, and how to die.”
People who have lived long lives are worth learning from, if for no other reason than they have simply experienced more than we have. In Moses’ case, his faithful example and leadership make him even more interesting to study, which is why we should take seriously his prayer for wisdom recorded in Psalm 90 (we should... Continue Reading
Disabled by Design
My Abundant Life Without Arms
The beautiful reality is that God has given humans value by creating them in his own image (Genesis 1:27). In this one action, we see the Trinity establishing intrinsic value in each person. No external factors alter the value of a human being. Every person, from every race, across every nationality, is the precious workmanship... Continue Reading
Trials, Our Blessed Chauffeurs
Like a spiritual uber driver, trials chauffeur us to God’s blessings.
This is how we know it is faith at work; amid the trial and temptation it does not look within but without. Faith never looks within but always looks away. Faith has eyes to look for God; it has hands to cling to God, it has feet to run to God; faith latches onto her... Continue Reading
The Hard Job of Interpreting Job
Despite the enormous challenges the reader faces when working through the book of Job, it is full of divinely inspired spiritual instruction for believers.
The book of Job teaches us, in an unparalleled way, about God’s sovereignty over all things, the reality of spiritual warfare, the hope of the consummation, the rationale for the suffering of the godly, the mysterious wisdom of God in creation and providence, the need to be careful about how we counsel friends who are... Continue Reading
No Little Sins?
When Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, their sin was a "small sin" when viewed from a humanistic lens.
It is correct to say that not all sins are equally heinous; however, it is also appropriate to state that when a person clings to any sin, this person is making an exchange. In clinging to a “little sin”, a person is making a subtle statement that this sin is greater to him than all... Continue Reading
Trust
We have a natural tendency to attempt to add our own works to our salvation.
How can you trust in the Lord if the Lord Himself is against you? And here is the problem with all schemes that seek to put even one little work back into the plan of salvation. If I have to prove to God that my faith is genuine, if I have to add one little... Continue Reading