Even Baptist minister Charles Spurgeon, in an apparent attempt to win a “most overstated case for anything ever” competition, famously advised his students that growing a beard was “a habit most natural, scriptural, manly, and beneficial.”   At first glance, a beard may seem like an unremarkable thing—just a bit of protein, really, sort of... Continue Reading

“In that moment — with a knot in my throat, feeling exposed — I knelt on the ground and confessed aloud in great detail my past and present sexual sins both to God and the other guys there. And they prayed for God to completely cleanse me of those sins.”   Like far too many... Continue Reading

“The truth is, struggling people have probably already seen numerous doctors, done hours of research, and undergone different treatments. Our desire to help is good and necessary, but sometimes one of the best things you can do is simply be there for them. Listen. Sit and comfort them with a ministry of presence.”   No one... Continue Reading

But we need to tend the garden.  What we say and how we say it matters.  There are ways that our rhetoric and discourse can start to slip in unhealthy directions.  Some politicians treat criticism as if it is not just incorrect but illegitimate.  Some people revert to rhetoric that characterizes political opponents as enemies... Continue Reading

The same principles hold for social justice movements of our day. We need to vigorously seek the truth where charges of injustice are brought. Feelings must be considered, but they cannot be the arbiter of truth. The Old Testament’s safe spaces were not designed to be places where people’s feelings could be protected. They were... Continue Reading

To be clear, having spiritual children isn’t the same as having biological or adoptive children. But just because it isn’t the same doesn’t mean it can’t satisfy. The family of God is expansive—uniting the old and the young, the black and the white, the orphan and the widow, the single and the married. When I... Continue Reading

“I’ll gladly cede to Dr. Trueman’s historical expertise at this point, but it seems Luther’s ecumenical style was a bit more bullish, and far less concessive than Calvin’s. Calvin thought Luther a great man, a latter-day apostle even. But Calvin (and a decent number of other Reformers) did not seem to follow him as a... Continue Reading

Take, for example, a “news report” about a new $90 million, 170-acre church complex with a petting zoo, seven bookstores, nine coffee shops, three restaurants, a baseball field and a monorail to the parking lots. But church leaders forgot something. Thus the headline: “Sanctuary Mistakenly Omitted From Megachurch Campus Design.”   Anyone who visits a... Continue Reading

“According to Fortune, Facebook removed the photograph after a Norwegian newspaper editor posted it as part of a series of war-themed images. When the editor attempted to re-post the photo, his account was suspended, and an international furor followed.”   The recent skirmish over Facebook’s removal of a harrowing image—the Pulitzer Prize-winning, 1972 photograph of... Continue Reading

Abuse is an event(s) with lingering consequences. That is what the question, “I said I was sorry, why are you still upset?” misses. Abuse is an event more like a house fire than a cigarette burn. A burn produces initial pain, but heals with little more than scar. A house fire has more far reaching... Continue Reading