I am blessed to have many special people in my life. My sister (Sarah) and her husband (Anders) are such people. At age 22, they might have been two of the least likely people you could have imagined to be where they are today: homeschool parents of eight kids. Neither their background nor their career trajectory would have given you a hint they would choose to have eight kids. Both came from families of four and Sarah was enrolled in medical school on the way to becoming a doctor. I had the opportunity to sit down with Sarah and Anders and listen to how God led them to choose to have eight kids.
The thief’s good works: Jackson Gravvitt considers two different perspectives on the thief on the cross: does the thief demonstrate that our faith is solely because of Christ’s work or through our good works that flow from Christ’s work?
Lessons from caring for a disabled child: Jamie MacGregor shares, “At first, we were told to terminate the pregnancy since it was likely that she would have disabilities. We responded that abortion was not an option. Then, we were told that we have no idea what it would be like to raise a child with special needs. The doctors were right. We had no idea how difficult it would be.”
Weeks before I received my first calling as a pastor, the elders decided that they were going to seek tWho wouldn’t want to experience God’s blessing? So, then, how can we step into the blessing of God? One of the straightforward ways the Bible teaches us that he blesses us is through children. Look, for instance, at the book of Genesis, where blessing is directly correlated to having children:
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.” (Gen. 1:28)
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” (Gen. 9:1)
The angel of the Lord also said to [Hagar], “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” (Gen. 16:10) acquire property and build a new facility for the church. They informed me that leading the relocation and capital campaign efforts would be part of my job. As a fresh seminary graduate, I had precisely zero requisite experience for the task. I had no experience in fundraising or contracting. And, of course, seminary did not include any preparation for the task.
Over the course of those years, I had to learn a lot, but perhaps the most important lesson I learned was that leading a congregation through a capital campaign could be a significant spiritual blessing.
Healthy Christians know that the Church is bigger than their church. We call this the universal church, the collective body of all followers of Jesus worldwide and across history. This spiritual entity is invisible, transcending denominations.
Unhealthy churches and denominations communicate directly and indirectly that they are the only true church. Unsound churches make the opposite error: not drawing any boundaries for who is outside of the orthodox church.
But what does this mean for the ordinary Christian? For many Christians, it doesn’t mean much at all. Their only meaningful connection to the church is with their church.
What ‘gentle parenting’ misunderstands about human nature: Michael Reneau and Megan Dent explain, “A core feature of Jesus’ gentleness to sinners was his understanding that they were trapped in a world in which the sinful parts of their nature were likely to be tempted and exploited, again and again. In this sense, sinners were indeed victims. But Jesus suggests that their problem was not that other human beings weren’t catering to their every emotional need (and in the process, eliding their own), but rather that they had become lost in a longing that Augustine called concupiscence: an immense desire, or ardent longing for fulfilment that often leads one astray, toward hubris, power, violence, lust, or material greed.”
I had the blessing of just returning from an amazing trip connecting with our brothers and sisters in India.
It’s always impossible to put into words what it is to see a glimpse of God’s miraculous work. India is one of the most challenging places for the gospel in the world. Christians are suffering in ways it is hard to imagine from our Western context.
What are the idols of your heart? What are the ways in which you have allowed your heart which is intended to worship God, to worship the golden calves that surround us? Where else have you placed your hope?
If you’re unsure of the answer to that question, perhaps one of these questions might help diagnose your heart. What keeps me up when I’m trying to sleep? What do I fear? What do I think about? What do I daydream about? What gets me most excited in life? What do I give myself to? What do I use my time for?
Can Christians Date Nonbelievers? Marshall Seagal handles this question wisely, “Who you marry will likely shape who you become more than any other human relationship. If your husband runs from Jesus, you won’t be able to avoid the undertow of his lovelessness. If your wife runs from Jesus, you will live in the crossfire of her unrepentant sin. You may survive an unbelieving spouse, but only as through fire. Marriage under God would become a long and devastating war.”
Sexual Liberation Has Failed Women: Andrew Wilson reviews Louise Perry’s intriguing new book, “Louise Perry has written a feminist critique of the sexual revolution, and it’s brave, excoriating, and magnificent. The Case Against the Sexual Revolution isn’t a Christian book. Perry’s critique is rooted in evolutionary biology, feminist passion, and empirical observation, not biblical interpretation or theology.”
Big Boys do Cry, After All: Tim Shorey shares his heartache as he navigates the ravages of cancer, “Gayline and I have not known a single day of adult life without each other. But now, unless God spares me, she’ll likely know a couple decades of adult life without me; with me as but a memory. I won’t be there with her and for her. I won’t be holding her hand, kissing her goodnight, and saying, as I always do when she turns over to sleep—'Good night. I love you! I can’t wait to see you in the morning!’”
God Wants You to be a Burden: This is a good reminder by Christine Gordon and Hope Blanton, “Burden bearing is a two-way street. The friend you hesitate to text with your bad news has the same call on her life that you do. Will you allow her the opportunity to obey or deny her the chance because you’ve decided she’s too busy?”
The Most Repeated Verse in the Bible: Sam Allberry helps us square God’s wrath and love. He explains, “But while both God’s love and wrath are undeniable and necessary features of his dealings with us, they are not symmetrical. They do not spring from the same central part of God’s being with equal force. The two are not parallel components of God’s work.”
Is it possible idolatry might still be alive and well in us today?
I am currently in India, a land of a million gods. The first time I traveled to India, I was startled by how many altars and temples filled the land. Gods are layered upon gods: family gods, regional gods, and gods of healing and fertility. Devout Hindus, in search of hope, pour out their time and resources to god after god in hoping that one of these gods might be able to solve their health problems or financial woes.
This is the human condition, not a quirk of Indian culture. We want something tangible to place our hope in, and we want objects to worship.
Are you an idolater? I already lost you, didn’t I? Most wouldn’t raise their hand to affirm their idolatry.
Idolatry doesn’t preach well to us 21st-century Westerners. A couple of years ago, I had someone leave the church after I preached on idolatry. “You preached for most of your sermon on the Old Testament, the law against Idolatry, and how might we be guilty of idolatry today,” she reflected. She said that the sermon didn’t connect with her and didn’t offer “spiritual encouragement.”
Oh, friends, the dangers we face when we think that biblical passages on idolatry don’t apply to us!
Can you change in 2023? Yes, yes, you can! And that change begins not by never giving up on you, but by never giving up on God. He has made you for something far bigger and far more satisfying than what the world offers. And he promises that when you give up on yourself, you will change….May 2023 be the year we behold his face. Are you willing to give to God your plans, hopes, dreams, and desires to experience his transformation? The reward is worth the price.
“A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.” In 1977 these blue words scrolled across black screens in theaters across America, introducing an unsuspecting audience to the world of Ewoks, Wookies, Storm Troopers, and light sabers. With those words, George Lucas simultaneously transported viewers into the future and then back into the past (as Star Wars obviously takes place in a future version of our universe). Lucas’s words were a brilliant stroke that called the viewer forward and backward at the same time, evoking both the imagination and nostalgia.
“There is nothing new under the sun,” the writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us (Eccl. 1:9).
“A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away,” another author evoked audiences to consider the Triune God in eternity past. John begins his gospel with these words, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3).
What Have Theologians Said About the Fall of Satan? I don’t love the title of this article, as there is quite a number of challenges in the passages cited, including the fact that several clearly first reference human beings (they might also reference Satan). But Dustin Benge does a good job of laying out the way many theologians have constructed the story from what we have.
Three Times Jesus Told Us He Was God Without Saying It: Rebecca McLaughlin is always so good. She says, “What does it mean for us that the Creator God became a man in Jesus Christ? It means that you and I are fully and completely known. It means we’re known more fully than a mother knows her baby, than an artist knows his paintings, than a novelist knows her imaginary world.”
Seeds and Sunflowers: Seth Lewis invites us to wonder, “Imagine showing someone who had never seen a sunflower that tiny seed in its tiny shell and trying to describe to them what would happen if they planted it in the ground. Imagine being the person that had never seen a sunflower, and trying to get your head around the idea that the little grey nothing in your hand could transform so completely into something so impressive and colourful. If all you knew was the seed, how could you ever guess the flower?”
Beware the New Seeker Sensitivity: Trevin Wax takes this post in a direction I didn’t expect at all from the title. He begins, “For decades now, I’ve heard pastors, preachers, and theologians preach against ‘seeker sensitivity’ as a ministry philosophy…It’s ironic, then, to see some of the same voices become known as much for their political punditry as their gospel proclamation.”
8 Ways We Normalize the Abnormal: Paul David Tripp asks us to consider those things which have become normalized that the Christian should fight against. For instance, emotionally-driven and self-righteous responses.
1. Decline of Christianity Shows No Sign of Stopping: Daniel Silliman reports, “Currently, 64 percent of people say they are Christian, but nearly a third of those raised Christian eventually switch to “none” or “nothing in particular,” while only about 20 percent of those raised without religion become Christian. If that ratio of switching continues at a steady pace, then in roughly half a century, only about 46 percent of Americans will identify as Christian.”
2. Who are the 144,000 in Revelation 7? Tom Schreiner answers. “Here we have the number twelve representing the people of God from the twelve tribes in the OT, and the number is squared and then multiplied by 1,000. Hence the number should be understood as a symbolic way of designating the entire people of God.”
3. Five Truths About Suicide and the Church: Kathryn Butler reports, “As stewards of the greatest message of hope in history, churches are uniquely positioned to minister to those grappling with thoughts of self-harm. However, leaders can struggle with knowing how to help and may worry their words or approach will only bring more anguish.”
4. Say the Quiet Things, Out Loud: Kristin encourages us to not withhold encouragement. “Our children, regardless of their age, are not our parents. We are theirs–so let us be about the business of seeking and loving them well–unselfishly with our time, full gaze, and devoted words.”
5. Getting America’s Most Famous (or Infamous) Sermon Right: Travis Hearne sets right the many who have a distorted understanding of an infamous sermon. He begins, “In the Summer of 1741, Jonathan Edwards preached Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God—the most famous or infamous sermon to land on what would soon be American soil.”
A recent survey found that Americans agree that our democracy is in peril. What is the threat to democracy? In short: them. And how do we fix democracy? Doing whatever it takes, even if it means bending the rules (or, as the poll creatively posed, “going outside of existing rules”—how many parents would accept that excuse from their kids!).
The one thing both sides of the political aisle apparently agree on is that the ends justify the means. As long as their side wins, how they achieve that perceived good makes any questionable ethics deployed okay.
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