Fears and Fleeting Faith
Our faith is shockingly shallow on the day of uncertainty. Our fears quickly overwhelm our fleeting faith.
We marvel at the disciples for their lack of faith. They had seen miracle after miracle, had experience after experience. They had walked with him and been taught by him as his dearest friends, his closest allies. Yet in one moment of uncertainty they forgot it all. We marvel, but we shouldn’t. If we are... Continue Reading
Don’t Give Up the Battle
We can’t afford to give up or give in; so much is at stake.
Though hard and painful emotions are often distorted and exaggerate reality, they do tell us something, they tell us that something is wrong. They indicate that something is going on in our heart. They reflect our internal struggle with God. When we ignore them, try to control them, attempt to cover them up, or pretend... Continue Reading
Smilingly Leading You to Hell
Christians are called by God to stand firm on what the Bible says is true, no matter how counter-cultural, and no matter how odious to the spirit of the age.
Niceness is not a bad trait. It is not wrong or sinful to be nice. But we vastly overestimate it and at the same time confuse it with those traits that matter so much more. It may be good to be nice, but it is so much better to be holy. One of these... Continue Reading
Show My Child Grace, or Lay Down the Law?
Law and grace are not opposing forces
So, as I know my children need the awareness of God’s law, they also need the self-awareness that law gives them. They need the guidance of God’s law. I also know that I need to bring that in a spirit of tender, patient, kind, loving, and forgiving grace. Law and Grace Are Not Opposing Forces... Continue Reading
The Evangelical Fall From The Means Of Grace
The various revival movements of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries tended to push the Lord’s Supper to margins of Reformed piety.
It is because we have become practically anti-supernatural and simultaneously super-spiritual in our theology, so that we are, on the one hand, bored with God’s ordinary means of grace (the sacraments) and on the other hand have stopped believing that God can and does use those means to accomplish His purposes. That is to say,... Continue Reading
Why It Matters
If we all agree that homosexual behavior goes against Scripture, what’s the big deal if we differ over how to discuss and label same-sex desire?
There’s no question that Christians should be empathetic toward those struggling with same-sex attraction and have the humility to acknowledge that if we don’t have that struggle, we don’t know what it’s like. But there’s a point at which empathy becomes distorted and blinds us to Scriptural truths and to the reality that suffering is... Continue Reading
Restricting Women to the “Pink Passages”
Responding to the claim that no woman should teach, not even other women
Pastors should be encouraged to preach sound doctrine. Husbands should be encouraged to study the Word with their wives. But, we should be careful not to set up extrabiblical hedges. In our defense of qualified men as ordained leaders and husbands as spiritual leaders in the home, we should not restrict women to the “pink... Continue Reading
Four Key Principles of Repentence
We hate sin, we confess sin, we kill sin. Here are some principles we’ve learned about repenting of sin.
We need to confess before God but also before anyone we have offended. Of course we need to confess our sins before God, and when we do this we honor his rule over us and we acknowledge his omniscience—he already knows our sins and has been most deeply grieved by them. But when we have... Continue Reading
Moral Philosophy and Marriage
According to Witherspoon, there are five “particulars which reason and nature point out relating to the marriage contract.”
Christians (and not only Christians) have been thinking about marriage for a long time. We would do well to listen to them carefully, and, when there is a broad consensus on essential matters, set aside their wisdom only with great reluctance. A good deal of John Witherspoon’s influence in America came from the course... Continue Reading
Why Fiery Trials Happen, Pt 1
Trials makes us long for a Savior. They make us ache and groan for redemption, someone to set it all straight, and fix it once for all.
Peter’s not saying that because trials are temporary and a necessary part of life on earth, that they are trivial. He’s not saying, ‘Quit your whining.’ No, he acknowledges “you have been grieved.” The Scriptures are clear that trials can be grievous and devastating. Jesus knows that better than anyone (Isa 53:3-4). Why did Jesus suffer? So that... Continue Reading