Of course life under the Curse is hard. (That’s why it’s called the Curse.) Instead of focusing on everything that goes wrong, we’re thrilled at God’s many kindnesses, and our hearts overflow with thanks that we who deserve nothing but judgment, death, and Hell are given deliverance, grace, and eternal life.    Jesus said to His... Continue Reading

Having the right relationship with the world that the Lord has made is central to our proper use of it. One of the great concerns of Jesus Christ in His earthly ministry was a warning against the allurement of riches. It isn’t money itself, but the blindness of thinking you must keep up with the... Continue Reading

Sacred Scripture is the voice of God in the world. It is authoritative in that it has the right to command because its author is God Himself. God’s people walk the difficult, narrow path, which takes them to meet their Saviour face-to-face in eternity, by submitting their thoughts and moral standards to God’s Word. Many... Continue Reading

The focus of our gaze must be upward and forward, not backward or around us. There must be a longing in our hearts for the beautiful city of God, combined with a holy indifference to the things of this world that we always will all inevitably leave behind us. Even the good things in our... Continue Reading

Joshua’s trust in God and his word formed him into a man of humble character. His confidence, dependence, submission, and patience offer powerful glimpses of Jesus, who perfectly lived out these qualities as our substitute and example. May God give many young men in the coming generation the ability to trust their God and lead... Continue Reading

If Jesus wasn’t truly condemned on the cross, then we are not truly justified before God. If Jesus did not objectively suffer the equivalent of hell in his body and soul, then there will be hell for us to pay. Praise God that there was hell to pay for Jesus when “in my place, condemned... Continue Reading

In God’s plan, more was going on than what met the eye. Although uncomfortable physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, God allowed these circumstances in the lives of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha for something greater. The immediate circumstance did not reveal the totality of what God was doing. In our own circumstances, it is important to remember... Continue Reading

God did not commune with any animal in Eden in the sense that He communed with Adam and Eve. He did not call out to any animals, “Where art thou?” There is a unique capacity in us to have communion with Him. Nature does not choose to praise God because it does not have the... Continue Reading

This world is Babylon—the world in rebellion against the Lord. It presses in on us constantly, trying to squeeze us into its mould. It may seem like God is absent, that he has been ousted by the more powerful gods of Babylon—not Marduk, Ishtar and Adad any longer, but Self, Equality and Freedom. We may... Continue Reading

Christ’s kingdom may have a small and inauspicious beginning (twelve disciples) but it becomes far greater than any geopolitical empire (such as Nebuchadnezzar’s), as the gospel spreads to the end of the earth, through word and sacrament, in the power of the Holy Spirit. As the apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:8, “none... Continue Reading