Instruction & Parenting
As the children grow, we as parents must be deliberate in our teaching and instructing of their hearts.
So how do we teach and instruct? It’s something that we can’t not do. We can’t ignore this clear command. We’re called to impress God’s truths deeply on the hearts of our kids (Deut 6.4-9). Come my children listen to me and I will teach you the fear of the Lord (Ps 34.11). So what... Continue Reading
An Open Letter to the Sexual Sufferer
The life-giving Spirit speaks to the heart deeper than the most awful experience.
How do you ever come to terms with betrayal and violation at the hands of an evildoer? There are no easy answers or quick solutions. Other people—who genuinely care, who want to be helpful—often don’t really understand. Pain and woe bring a loneliness—“The heart knows its own bitterness” (Prov. 14:10). Even people who do understand... Continue Reading
Are Protestants Closer to Catholics than Martin Luther? A Response to the Recent Pew Study (Part 1)
The Reformers argued the Bible was the highest and only infallible authority.
“U.S. Protestants also are split on another issue that played a key role in the Reformation: 46% say the Bible is the sole source of religious authority for Christians – a traditionally Protestant belief known as sola scriptura. Meanwhile, 52% say Christians should look both to the Bible and to the church’s official teachings and tradition... Continue Reading
Is The Nashville Statement A Surrender?
The Nashville Statement is helpful in forcing us Christians to face what we really believe about marriage, sex, and sexuality — which, like it or not, has become the most important issue dividing the church today.
Would I have liked to have seen something about divorce, pornography, and similar sins indulged in by straights? Yes. Do I think it’s a big deal that those things were left out? No. The perfect shouldn’t be the enemy of the good enough. I was e-mailing this morning with a conservative Christian friend who... Continue Reading
Union With Christ in the Heidelberg Catechism, Part 1
There has been much debate in Reformed Christendom over the last few decades over the nature of our Union with Christ, especially as it relates to the ordo and historia salutis
It is important to note before we close, that this Engrafting into Christ by faith, by which we receive all His benefits by faith, is a personal, vital, mystical, existential Union. We will have much more to say on this in the next post, but it must be pointed out here that the only Union... Continue Reading
Is God Pleased With You?
God’s love for us, His pleasure with you and your security, is not bound up in Jesus’ death plus your obedience record afterward.
This doesn’t negate the need for a Christian to obey God’s word (Romans 6, 1 John, etc). However, it transforms the way that we view obedience to God as His kids. On a Tuesday you don’t have to earn a happy status with God, even with all of the garbage you did on Monday. You... Continue Reading
Love the Sinner as You Love Your Sinful Self?
"Love your neighbor as yourself" (which is the second greatest command, according to Jesus) is now apparently the favorite verse of atheists, agnostics and liberal Christians alike.
The second great command is not, “You shall love the sinner as you love your sinful self.” As Augustine succinctly put it: “No sinner is to be loved as a sinner.” Rather, we are to love our neighbor “as a man for God’s sake.” This involves first realize that “God is to be loved for... Continue Reading
A Prayer for When You Don’t Know What to Do
Perhaps you are in the midst of a difficult decision right now. If so, this prayer is for you.
Forgive me for getting caught up in wanting to know the future and how everything turns out. Forgive me for treating you like a “magic 8 ball.” Forgive me for fearing the future and for waiting around in the hopes that the answer will be written on the wall. Help me to rest and trust... Continue Reading
40 Truths about the Fear of God
Fearing God is a mark of the New Testament church and is consistent with the comforting work of the Holy Spirit
After preaching a sermon on the necessity of the fear of God in public worship, a friend reminded me, “If you want a nail driven in, you have to hit it more than once.” With that in mind, I set about a survey of the Bible’s teaching and found forty truths about fearing God to... Continue Reading
5 Marks of a Contented Heart
We know that this contentment is not simply idealistic but rather characteristic of the Christian life.
Because contentment works from the inside out, it is shielded from the ever-changing circumstances outside us. Remember, Paul himself said that his contentment was seen “in any and every circumstance” (Phil. 4:12). Do you find yourself content when things are going well but struggling when the winds are contrary? What are the characteristics of... Continue Reading