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

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

Week after week, the Spirit of Christ does His quiet work, and one day you look back and realize you are not who you were. Why would God work this way? Paul answers: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us”... Continue Reading

Light sermons heal deep wounds lightly. When we stand before suffering people and give them five steps to a happier life, we aren’t offering good news. We’re just giving them more work to do. We tell wounded, exhausted souls to pull themselves together and try harder. In doing so, we become like Job’s friends, those... Continue Reading

Many of us think ourselves innocent of theft, but still scheme to gain the possessions of others by legal means. This applies even if the ‘neighbor’ whom you defraud is an extremely wealthy corporation with an overly generous return policy. Likewise, the commandment speaks to the common envy today that drives the intent to use... Continue Reading

The world tells us the key to happiness is “extreme personal freedom”, a world where we don’t depend on anyone for anything. But Jesus says the key to a flourishing life is “extreme personal dependence” on God, our Heavenly Father.   Nothing is more American than thinking of ourselves as people who pulled ourselves up... Continue Reading

This is the root of the issue. This is the bottom of it all. The question behind the question of what you are going to do with what God has given you is the question of how well you really know Him. Do you really know His generosity?   “You evil, lazy slave!” These are... Continue Reading

The Song reminds us that our bodies are not inherently ungodly and that sexual intimacy within marriage is not a concession to sin but part of God’s good design. “The Song guides us to see with scriptural sensibilities that the earth is ‘crammed with heaven’ (Elizabeth Browning, ‘Aurora Leigh,’ line 61), the way of a... Continue Reading

A key characteristic of the Word dwelling richly is that believers are willing to lovingly confront one another in their walk of sanctification…I am at work and have a poor, self-centered attitude. A fellow believer sees this and gently confronts me about my sin. Lovingly, kindly, and without assuming, he asks me questions that reveal... Continue Reading

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