Even if an authenticated portrait of Jesus had survived, it could truthfully preserve the contours of His human face. But once presented as an image of Christ for worship, it would be asked to do what pigment cannot. Christ is not merely an extraordinary man who happens to share space with God. He is one... Continue Reading

The early church devoted itself to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer (Acts 2:42). Those priorities remain essential. Many churches today treat worship and prayer too casually, acting as though just because Jesus is a Friend to sinners, that He can be approached casually. He is a holy God, and worship... Continue Reading

How to sleep like Jesus is not a prescription for how many hours you need to sleep each night. It is about progressively transforming into someone who can entrust both their sleeping and their waking to God. If sleep doesn’t come, this perspective of trust allows you to pray openly and honestly to the Lord.... Continue Reading

A lot of the practices that go under the heading of meditation are things that essentially try to manipulate physiology, like postures and breathing techniques, to try to push away all the distractions, clear the mind, and get to a quiet headspace. Whereas the meditation commended in Scripture—in Psalm 1 and picked up by the... Continue Reading

The Hebrew word translated “heart” (leb) covers a much wider range of intellectual, emotional, and volitional activity, including deciding, loving, longing, and sorrowing.  Your heart, in other words, is the part of you that imagines what is best for your life and acts accordingly. Your heart has the capacity to envision something—whether a marriage, career,... Continue Reading

Suffering, Scripture reminds us, is never random, because the world is not random. Rather, suffering is, as John Flavel put it, God’s “workman,” accomplishing precisely what He, the wise Physician, intends. Further still, the Bible reminds us that God has put an expiration date on mourning and crying and pain (Rev. 21:4). As astonishing as... Continue Reading

Nothing in the text calls the eunuch transgender, homosexual, or “queer.” A eunuch was a recognizable social and courtly category in the ancient world; it is not a synonym for contemporary claims about sexual orientation or gender identity. Scripture nowhere invites readers to convert the eunuch’s status into an identity label unknown to the passage.... Continue Reading

There is an old story about an elderly man planting a fruit tree. A friend said, ‘Surely you realise you might not live long enough to eat its fruit?’ The old man replied, ‘All my life I have eaten fruit from trees I did not plant. I am planting this one for those who come... Continue Reading