The answer to Babel has therefore never been self-expression. The answer is repentance. The answer is not the creation of a new self but submission to the One who made us. The answer is not constructing an identity from our desires but receiving an identity from our Creator.   One of the greatest mistakes modern... Continue Reading

The sin of idolatry is a rejection of the only True God. A father must protect his family from that sin. He does so by his own example and by requiring his children to walk in obedience to the commandments of God. Since a father cannot change the heart, it will begin as external conformity.... Continue Reading

“Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation” (Psalm 146:3). The Psalmist is not telling you to abandon the public square. He is telling you where salvation does not live, so that you will stop demanding it from an address that cannot supply it. “It is... Continue Reading

Living out Acts 20:27 means that all our thoughts and actions are constantly to be corrected or revised according to divine, transcultural norms.   Averse which has been at the center of my life for over a half century has been on my mind a lot lately. Several of us have begun strategizing and working... Continue Reading

The fruit of joy blossoms from the heart of God’s gracious work. His very indwelling by His Spirit gives joy because He Himself is joyful. This is far more than a superficial cheeriness or a passing happiness dependent on circumstance. Joy overflows from a heart wholly satisfied in Christ and daily takes delight in Him.... Continue Reading

The communion of saints is a beautiful, demanding reality. It means that when you suffer, you do not suffer alone, for the Body suffers with you. It means that when you lack, the Body provides for you. And it means that your time, your spiritual gifts, and your bank account are no longer exclusively your... Continue Reading

When the church gathers in Christ’s name, heaven and earth overlap in a mysterious and glorious way. The risen Christ walks among his churches, ministers to his people, and prepares them for the everlasting assembly to come (Revelation 1-3).   From a biblical perspective, the gathering of God’s people is not merely a spiritual add-on... Continue Reading

What can a dead man do? We were completely impotent. For those of us who have been spiritually raised from utter death to live and walk with Christ, this too is all of God. Our part now is to walk with Him and testify of the One who raised us from hell to heaven and... Continue Reading

It is difficult to complain against God when you are bringing Him your heart. Your grumbling begins to transform into prayer. Your complaints turn into petitions. You stop dethroning God and start running to Him instead.   I want you to consider with me the sin of “complaining.” That might register as a small-scale sin... Continue Reading

We need much wisdom as we approach parenting and raising our children, and until Christ’s return Christians have the privilege and duty to raise their children in the love of God, obedience to his commands, and true hope in Christ our Savior.   A while back I read a series of articles by author Alex... Continue Reading

When Christ is our greatest treasure, our hearts rest content in Him. By loving Christ above all, our other loves become appropriately ordered. Wealth becomes a mere tool in service to His will.   One time early in our marriage, I, exasperated by yet another unexpected bill, voiced the following sentiment to my wife: “Wouldn’t... Continue Reading

The remedy for the fear of man is to have a greater fear. “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). To fear God is to kill the fear of man.   I don’t care... Continue Reading

The born again saints of the church drive the devil to distraction when we stand up to him and refuse to allow him to “bully” us.   One of the privileges of the true (regenerate) saints of the church, is that we get to frustrate the devil’s designs against us—and hence, make his existence even more miserable... Continue Reading

Eastern Orthodoxy, by grounding authority in Holy Tradition and righteousness in synergistic theosis, builds religious hope upon sand—unstable and contingent—whereas confessional Reformed theology builds religious hope upon the rock—the firm foundation of the covenant of grace, as the self-evidencing Scriptures authoritatively reveal a finished work and an imputed righteousness, received by faith alone.   Both... Continue Reading

The way you fight this “good fight” is by meditating on God’s assurances of future grace and by asking for the help of his Spirit.…The battle to be freed from sin is “by the Spirit” (Romans 15:16; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2) and by “the truth” (John 17:17, 19): the work of the Spirit... Continue Reading

Ministry discouragement has a way of shrinking our perspective until every criticism feels catastrophic and every hardship feels uniquely ours. What we usually need is recalibration. We need someone to lovingly remind us that the church belongs to Christ, not us, and that for all our striving, we were never asked to play the Savior.... Continue Reading

Humility is the result of a radical awareness of God’s glory and greatness that fuels life lived for him.  It’s the gospel applied and inhabited so that we think of ourselves less and of him more. What does it look like to put it on?   Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may... Continue Reading

It’s a name that we’ve been given, not because we earned it, but because we were adopted into a family. It’s a name that defines who we are. And it’s a name we already have, not one we are trying to earn. It’s the name that is above every name, and the name at which... Continue Reading

The Bible only acknowledges separation of body and soul at one point in life: death. In the end every Babelish expression of bending technology to our will is to escape the awful reality of that ultimate separation. Yet that won’t stop us trying for new Babels as newer and more integrated bricks and mortar become... Continue Reading

We should be careful that we are not merely ‘whitewashed tombs’, that appear godly and righteous to the church, but have hearts full of pomposity and pride (Matt 23:27). Such hearts are ripe for judgmentalism, devoid of grace, and empty of true virtue; underneath my signals of holiness is the assumption that I consider myself... Continue Reading