God actively wrestles with us. He’ll hold us at arms-length (still graciously hanging onto us) and letting us swing ourselves dry. And then in those moments, when we’re but a heap of tears and helplessness, He makes himself “grabbable.” He makes Himself able to be held onto and able to hear us cry out for... Continue Reading

You and I are exactly as holy as we want to be. We are exactly as holy as we’ve determined we will be through every opportunity to act righteously or sinfully, to move forward or fall back, to be more like Christ or to forsake him altogether.   Every Christian is a work in progress.... Continue Reading

Jesus Christ came lowly to save you from your sin and filthiness. He became dirty and low on this earth so that you might be clean and elevated. He took on your flesh and he took on the punishment for your sin, so that you might be a child of God. God became man, so... Continue Reading

During Advent, then, we remember with great joy that Jesus came to a world of folly to show us how to live with wisdom from God. When we follow his paths—when we listen to his teaching—we gradually become more and more like him, the true Wise One from on high.   O come, O Wisdom... Continue Reading

A truth-claim regarding (for instance) the simplicity of God is “necessary” in that it is integral to the definition of Him: God would not be God were He not metaphysically simple. On a classical theist account, to be actus purus, without unrealized potentialities, is simply what it means to be God. What this means is that the claims of Protestant... Continue Reading

Mark’s ending calls us to discipleship. I contend that he intends to use the failure of the male disciples in Mark 14–15 and the female disciples in Mark 16 to remind us both that Jesus graciously uses even imperfect sinners to build his perfect kingdom and that their failures serve to call us to be... Continue Reading

Everything in the world—everything in your world—is groaning and travailing under the burden of sin and unbelief. Everything can be improved. Everything needs more of the King’s beauty, goodness, and truth so that it can realize the “very good” possibilities God has invested in it. Your world already shows much evidence of Christ’s rule, but... Continue Reading

Ephesians 2 provides a clear depiction of the fallen condition of humanity apart from the grace-filled saving work of God, but Romans 5:12 is the locus classicus for discussions about original sin. In this chapter, Paul seeks to expand on his argument in the earlier chapters of Romans by describing the universal impact of the... Continue Reading

Look beneath anger, and you will often find grief and loss. But as we seek to speak into our experiences of anger in the face of loss, we need to be alert both to right and wrong expressions of indignation. It is right to feel indignant when our enemy death does his damaging work; that... Continue Reading

The suggestion that Jesus never sinned is a jarring claim, particularly when you recall that the first adherents of this belief were Jewish. The Jewish Scriptures repeatedly affirm that everyone sins both intentionally (1 Kings 8:46; Proverbs 20:9; Ecclesiastes 7:20) and unintentionally (Psalm 19:12). And so, the initial spread of the belief that Jesus was... Continue Reading