Joy can be our resistance to the culture of death all around us. Joy refuses to look at unborn children, an aged great-grandmother, and the uncultivated prairie meadow as problems to be solved. Rather, people who live in a culture of joy can receive them as gifts because they can see the Giver—and his Goodness—in them.  ... Continue Reading

If you won’t give thanks to God for all the goodness he bestows on you, you’ll seek goodness and blessing elsewhere, in created things. You will become a worshiper of idols. Little, then, could be more important in life than cultivating gratitude and thankfulness to God for his many blessings, the blessings of salvation and of... Continue Reading

The purpose of this new body will be to rule wisely over God’s new world. Forget those images about lounging around playing harps. There will be work to do and we shall relish doing it. All the skills and talents we have put to God’s service in this present life . . . will be... Continue Reading

Your heart doesn’t know everything and often forgets what it does know. God does know everything, and he doesn’t forget. He sees more than your most recent fall — the sin that breaks your heart and sheds your tears — he sees a new life and fruit (even in this contrition) that gives honor to... Continue Reading

Romans 3:20 is one of the most humbling passages in the Bible. It crushes human pride. It makes it impossible for us to continue to caress the delusion that we can perform our way into a relationship with God. It lets us know that our best track record of obedience falls woefully short of God’s... Continue Reading

We wrestle against our spiritual adversary by holding fast to God and His word, staying the course in seeking His kingdom and righteousness. Perhaps our primary weapon, however, is prayer, not only for ourselves but also for our fellow believers and the work to be done, as Paul stresses: “praying always with all prayer and... Continue Reading

There are many reasons to fight sin, especially sexual sin. This article is focused on one particular reason that the Bible legitimizes—sin harms the sinner. The book of Proverbs is full of warnings not to sin because it will lead to pain, suffering, and death. Wanting what is best for your life is not selfish,... Continue Reading

The therapeutic world tells us a story for us to live in. It tells us that the goal of life is to find peace, that the problem in the world is whatever causes us pain or discomfort, that the world is a dangerous place full of exploitation and trauma, that the way to find peace from those... Continue Reading

Christ’s death was a substitutionary sacrifice meant to satisfy the demands of God’s justice. Man’s main problem is depravity, and thus the atonement is directed toward God as a payment for the law’s prescriptive and penal demands. This understanding of the atonement does not eliminate every aspect of the other views, but it most fully... Continue Reading

The resurrection is the best argument for the reality and significance of Jesus Christ that has ever been made, and it is so because it is an argument made by God Himself. Thus, in an age of pluralism and profound epistemological uncertainty (which is to say, paganism and unbelief), I think the best course of... Continue Reading