The topic of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is way too long for a daily devotional. There are too many references to even list them all. But they all point to getting good and evil backwards—calling Holy things evil and evil things good. It makes sense that this would be a fatal error since it’s... Continue Reading

The same day as the inaugural meeting of the anti-Christian bias task force, Collins sent an email to all VA employees, asking them to anonymously report any offenses. Workers should speak up, he wrote, about any policies “hostile to Christian views” or any punishments for displaying Christian symbols. Collins’ email—like Trump’s executive order creating the... Continue Reading

Why would an old man dig wells? Why would he plant a tree that he would never live to see the good of? A tamarisk tree is one of the best for providing a cooling shade, but Abraham would never sit under it. Yet Abraham understood something of the pilgrim life. He understood that things... Continue Reading

John’s presentation of the Pierced One as Feast is not merely a fascinating example of the Christocentric hermeneutic through which the apostolic mind reads Scripture, it is also a direct answer to the soul-hunger of the human race—to your soul’s hunger and mine.  Humanity is Hungry Food is the first gift explicitly given by God... Continue Reading

Luther understood that marriage and child-rearing take place in a world deeply marred by sin and death. He sees parenting as pleasing to God, a divine service for which sinners are “not worthy.” When Christians parent their children by faith in Christ, “God, with all his angels and creatures, is smiling.” Luther believed that the... Continue Reading

We should not wait until some medical emergency or tragedy hits us before we start taking God and our relationship with him seriously. We need to live a life of service here on earth, but always with a view to eternity. Too many folks simply think in these terms: “Life is short, better enjoy it.”... Continue Reading

We’re to be a household, even a stronghold, of prayer, and the officers of our congregations need to take the lead here. Prayer, public and congregational or private and individual, is not just a duty; it is a privilege. More than that, it is a means of grace.   The challenges that confront the congregations of... Continue Reading

Ecclesiastically, we have nothing at stake in the papal election. But culturally we Protestants do have an interest in who the next pope will be. Let’s hope he’s less ambiguous than the last.   The death of Pope Francis has captured the imagination of the wider world and perhaps inevitably raised the question of how... Continue Reading

At root, we are nations who have forgotten what freedom is for, choosing instead to define freedom by what we are free from, such as rules, constraint, or responsibilities. Freedom is always unsustainable for a morally malformed people. The freedom to do however we wish always leads to tyranny, either slavery to one’s own passion or slavery to... Continue Reading

We must always champion the sufficiency of Christ Himself. He is sufficient to justify us once-for-all and to progressively sanctify us over time. It is a ministry that proclaims the sufficiency of Christ that bolsters Christian soldiers against Satan’s devices and empowers them by God’s grace to pursue holiness.   Introduction Martyn Lloyd-Jones once said,... Continue Reading