When you are sinned against

You cannot keep people from sinning against you. You will be treated unjustly. You will be lied to and gossiped about. Ungodly accusations will be spoken against you — and said directly to you. Others will be angry with you — sometimes because they have misunderstood you and sometimes because they understood you. Sometimes people […]

Are you changing?

“Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John, and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were marveling, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13; NASB) Many years ago I read something that continues to challenge me — “I worry that our lives are like soap […]

Don’t miss the obvious, and…

Comparisons are virtually always a bad idea (I’d say “always,” but I was taught that it’s always bad to say “always”). Inevitably, we favor ourselves in our comparisons and we fail to be objective in those comparisons. Even in the church, it’s tempting to offer comparisons that are unfair to the ones compared. For example, […]

Resolutions, moment-by-moment

Paul Tripp has noted that the effectiveness of resolutions is not in the decisiveness of one moment (e.g., January 1 resolutions), but in the 10,000 moment-by-moment decisions we make to reinforce those resolutions — You and I live in little moments, and if God doesn’t rule our little moments and doesn’t work to recreate us […]

Grab Bag

A few things I’ve spotted around the Internet recently: The end of the year means the inevitable “year in review” lists. Here is a list of “Top 10 Theology and Church Stories” (with many supporting links) from Colin Hansen. Accordance recounts a brief (and recent) history of the study Bible. [Accordance is my Bible study […]

Grab bag

Recently seen around the Internet that I found interesting: I might tweak some of his counsel at the end to be a little more Biblical, but I agree with his observation that “Busyness is the new spirituality.” Nine Marks produces an e-Journal every two months that is always helpful and thought-provoking. This month the theme […]

Still studying

During a dinner party conversation, the neighbor of Albert Einstein asked the white-haired physicist, “What are you actually, by profession?” “I devote myself to the study of physics,” replied Einstein. The girl was astonished: “You mean to say that you study physics at your age? I finished mine a year ago!” What that poor young […]

A different kind of life

The life of the believer will be different from the life of the unbeliever. There will be transformation into the image of Christ in the life of the believer (he will not be perfect, and there will be differing levels of maturity, but his trajectory will be towards Christ). John Calvin said it this way:” […]

There are Canaanites in the land!

The story of Israel in the book of Joshua is triumphal and victorious. It is filled with obedience, worship, and delight in God. The story of Israel in the book of Judges is sorrow and defeat. Judges is everything that Joshua isn’t. It is a book of disobedience, idolatrous worship, and rejection of God. And […]

Today’s Quote – Spiritual Growth (Brooks)

Phillips Brooks: We never become truly spiritual by sitting down and wishing to become so. You must understake something so great that you cannot accomplish it unaided.

Today’s Quote – Spiritual Growth (Calvin)

John Calvin, Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life: Let us not cease to do the utmost, that we may incessantly go forward in the way of the Lord; and let us not despair because of the smallness of our accomplishment.

Today’s Quote – Spiritual Growth (Tozer)

A. W. Tozer, Jesus, Author of Our Faith: It has become popular to preach a painless Christianity and automatic saintliness. It has become part of our “instant” culture. “Just pour a little water on it, stir mildly, pick up a gospel tract, and you are on your Christian way.”

Today’s Quote – Spiritual Progress (Calvin)

Today’s Quote (10/2/08)

Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students: Dwell in God, brethren; do not occasionally visit Him, but abide in Him. They say in Italy that where the sun does not enter the physician must. Where Jesus does not shine the soul is sick. Bask in His beams and you shall be vigorous in the service of […]

Today’s Quote (9/21/08)

Thabiti Anyabwile, What is a Healthy Church Member?: …it may be the case that the most chronic problem facing churches and Christians is the lack of consistent spiritual growth and progress in discipleship. …we must clarify what growth is and is not. Ours is a superficial culture that lays emphasis on the outward signs and […]