When a wife presses into the most difficult aspects of Christian obedience, her life will shout to her sons and daughters that Jesus is telling the truth. In the Christian life, spontaneously “feeling like” doing something is not a prerequisite for actually doing it — trusting God’s promises is. And his word assures us that... Continue Reading

Anger is right when we respond to the right things in the right way. It is the appropriate response to sin and injustice. What provokes Jesus’ outburst in Luke 11 is the hypocrisy of the religious leaders and the way they prevent other people coming to God. The climax of his tirade is: “Woe to... Continue Reading

Even though we wandered from God, He has made a way through Christ’s sacrifice and the Spirit’s indwelling for us to be fully restored to the Manufacturer’s original design. We will experience this through gradual, daily transformation in this life (and the more we cooperate, the greater will be that growth) and then one day... Continue Reading

There is much that matters to the Christian life, but nothing more so than our willingness to see what lies ahead through the eyes of the one who made it from before the foundation of the world. Our call to not be anxious or worried about the circumstances of life is born out of our... Continue Reading

Wine can only be furnished in times of stability. Poignantly, wine then represents rest. Wine needs deep roots, hardy vines, and vats stored with the leisure to ferment. The Mosaic Law seems at first to overlook the wine offering, but as the promised Canaan rest drew near, wine took a more prominent role in the... Continue Reading

God did not redeem us by the blood of His Son in order for us to sit comfortably in our pew every week. The continuous shaping of the Sabbath equips, prepares, challenges, and changes us. Have patience in the work of Sabbath observance—in your own heart and in the response of the congregation. The Spirit... Continue Reading

Christians who display joy will bring something positive to the workplace that the world cannot provide. When we go through a trial and have confidence in God’s ability to work out all things for good, those who do not know him may ask us where this joy comes from. At that moment, we have earned the right to... Continue Reading

Despite how common war is, we still experience it as abnormal. Sure, there is more than a bit of normalization that can occur after long periods of unrest and conflict, but the fact that we recoil at violence, resist war as much as we do, and strive for peace says something else as well. The... Continue Reading

Our tendency is to feel that the more difficult life gets, the more alone we are. As we sink further into pain, we sink further into isolation. The Bible corrects us. He is in us, and he bears our pain with us. We are never alone. The sorrow that feels so unique to us was... Continue Reading

 I think we need to consider how good it is to read the Bible to the kids for our own benefit. Kids see things with a wonder that adults sometimes lack. Yes, reading to kids can be hard work sometimes, but let me encourage you, your kids are listening. And sometimes, their childlike approach to... Continue Reading