He super-regards and cares when enemies set traps, or hunt us down in hot pursuit (in all places that they lurk – at home, school, work, minds or even church). We may be in a gravely weakened, enfeebled, state, or hyper-triggered by stress and prone to constant fainting fits: still, our first, last and best... Continue Reading

Paul draws a sharp contrast between tongues and prophecy, but he’s careful to not declare tongues worthless or a problem. He makes this clear with , “Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy.” But that line is sandwiched between two harsh statements. Paul’s point is that speaking in... Continue Reading

Raising children well weaponizes them for advancing the gospel. Building well enables you to fight well. I wanted my stories to reenchant the world — but what if I raised sharp children who are renegades, mavericks, iconoclasts, insurgents, and terrors to all the dark enchantments of unbelief? Kids don’t anchor ambition; they amplify it. They... Continue Reading

A young man with the Holy Spirit has a destiny mapped out by God’s sovereignty.  So this reality requires the pastor to recognize that he will pour into the young men, guiding and correcting them, but his job is not to suppress them.  Many ministry successions have been ruined because a clinging pastor refused to... Continue Reading

We’ve simply been reading a chapter of Proverbs each day as a family at the breakfast table. We’ve done the time-tested practice of reading the chapter that corresponds to the day of the month (for instance, Proverbs 12 on the 12th, etc.) My wife and I and our two older boys take turns reading verses... Continue Reading

Our theology may be sound, but we’re often worse than our theology. Deep down, we can still harbor contempt for those who we perceive haven’t come as far as we have—or at least as far as we think they should have by now. Can you truly delight in people who aren’t like you, who do... Continue Reading

We might wonder, though, how God can forgive sin and yet “not clear the guilty”? Isn’t that the nature of forgiveness: to clear guilt, to leave wrongs unpunished? This tension confronts us all throughout Scripture, as well as our experiences in life: How can God be both good and just? One answer is that in... Continue Reading

If people saw that he was a godly man and that he accurately taught the Word of God, then they would know that he was worthy of commendation.   We often think too highly of ourselves. If we need to consider who we really are before God or speak of ourselves to others, how can... Continue Reading

In Ephesians 1:21-23, Paul declares that Christ has won a victory and now reigns over “all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.” In Christ, God completed his plan of uniting heaven and earth (1:10) by... Continue Reading

To wave sinful identity banners in pride is to miss the very point on the tip of the nail that went through Jesus’ willing hands. Labeling ourselves with the things that God hates is to hate God himself. We are to count his cost, not just our own.While we may think our sins aren’t harming... Continue Reading

We are, of course, not the first to ponder the meaning of life, so we would be foolish not to consider how those who preceded us have struggled with this question. Perhaps the most renowned effort to locate meaning in a world without God is represented by atheistic existentialist philosophy. Existentialism powerfully captures the emotions... Continue Reading

In the midst of the exile, when God’s vine has been all but destroyed, they pray for God to raise up a root of dry ground. It reminds us of Isaiah, where just after the vineyard is destroyed in Isaiah 5, a stump remains in Isaiah 6, from which a shoot will come forth in... Continue Reading

Does foul language adorn the Gospel? Does slandering opponents help anyone see the Gospel? Does misrepresenting a point of view help persuade people of the Christian faith? If you lob muck at people over the trenches, don’t be surprised if they grow it back in your face…and it sticks. And the anonymous voice? Don’t do... Continue Reading

Paul explains that our understanding of these other things is partial. This is easier to see if we print verses 9, 10 & 12 without verse 11 (which we’ll get to next). For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. … For now... Continue Reading

To see my salvation realized. To hear the judgement call sound forth, “Righteous!” To hear the words, “Well done,” and to know its significance. To finally enter into the rest that I so long for now. Finally home.     I long for the inheritance untouched by corruption. The sweet unbroken fellowship between God and... Continue Reading

Jesus accused the religious leaders of using their generosity as an excuse for dodging God’s call to righteous living, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without... Continue Reading

While the wilderness does not change Who the Lord is, it can absolutely change how we perceive His nearness and nature. And because of that, we are dangerously prone to trusting our feelings about Him over the truth of Him.   If you’ve followed my work for any length of time, you know that I’ve... Continue Reading

We can become so accustomed to hearing biblical truth that we stop being confronted by it. The Bible becomes something we teach rather than something that teaches us. The sermon becomes something we evaluate rather than something that searches us. The passage becomes something we explain rather than something we obey.   Last Sunday our... Continue Reading

One of the most important ways Christians must be ready to give a reason for the hope that is within them is by making the case for marriage. Marriage as God intended has always been one of the best gifts we can give to the wider world.   The old joke, that “whoever said marriage... Continue Reading

We need not run from suffering or lose hope if God doesn’t remove it or do so as quickly as we’d like. We can trust that God has a purpose for whatever He permits.   A Jesus-loving young friend who is going through deep suffering sent me these wonderful words: “I pray God just keeps... Continue Reading