I have often told people that they need to evaluate their lives by the video, and not by the snapshot. That is, they should not just look at one moment in time, but rather consider trajectories, tendencies, and narrative arc as well. I would like to suggest that we need to do the same thing …
Mechanics of Fatherhood
INTRODUCTION:In this series, we have been emphasizing the gospel of free forgiveness, and we have also noted that God is the kind of Father we want to become. This means that perfect love casts out fear—we are liberated by the blood of Christ to a life of imitation. Always remember that being precedes doing, and …
The Seal on Damnation’s Vault
Everyone gathered here, although we are gathered in Christ, is still aware of our remaining sinfulness. We are, in addition to this, aware of our sins, those which we have committed, and which we have confessed at the beginning of this service. Some of those sins are egregious, as man reckons them, and all of …
The Game of Virtue Tag
It is easy to drift into the mindset that is willing to become virtuous, provided the virtues drift our way. We would welcome them, we think, provided they took the initiative, and came to us. But the Scriptures tell us to pursue godliness. In the game of virtue tag, we are “it.” Righteousness, godliness, faith, …
Father Hunger Release
I mentioned this on Facebook the other day, but haven’t had a really good chance to say something about it here. Thomas Nelson has released my new book entitled Father Hunger, and you can order a copy here. And, on a complementary note, Mother’s Day is coming up, and Canon Press has bundled some of …
Shiners
“But let us not honor [Calvin] by building a tomb for the prophet, thereby showing whose sons we really are. Let us not be good little ‘Calvinists,’ running the floor buffer of pat catechetical answers over the marble of theological genius” (From With Calvin in the Theater of God, p. 89).
Mozart and Vince Gill
Let me begin this post with a list of the last twelve songs I listened to (at the time of writing), somewhat randomly, and working backward: (Sittin On) The Dock of the Bay by Sara BareillesBuild a Levee by Natalie Merchant29 Ways by Marc CohnLake Charles by Lucinda WilliamsSlow Dancing in a Burning Room by …
Errant Inerrancy
“Men with solemn faces and a shaky donor base affirm the inerrancy of the Bible, and they also affirm that this is not inconsistent with the subtle truth that the Bible has mistakes in it. The serpent was craftier than alll the beasts of the field, having completed some post-doctoral work in Europe” (From With …
More on Remarriage
John Piper was kind enough to interact with my blog post on divorce and remarriage here. My original post is just a few down the page right now, but for future reference the link is here. A fuller response will have to wait, but suffice it to say for now that I think John’s arguments …
Had We Never Been Born
“A minister should ascend into the pulpit in order to declare what would have been true had he never been born. He is there to preach what was written in the Word before all ages. He is an ambassador, a herald. He is not up there to preach himself, but rather to be a servant …