Saved from what?

The word “salvation” means “rescue.” And in this rescue the believer is rescued from two different objects. He is rescued from the wrath of God — in a very real sense, salvation is not just to God, but also from God — from His wrath. But the believer is also rescued from the ongoing effect […]

A prescription for contentment

Nina Fry, in an insightful article about raising girls to be godly women, notes a set of principles for cultivating contentment. These principles came from the diary of a woman who served as a missionary in the African bush for 52 years — in the most primitive of conditions and in extreme heat. How would […]

Book Review: Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ

Title: Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ: The Cost of Bringing the Gospel to the Nations in the Lives of William Tyndale, Adoniram Judson, and John Paton Author: John Piper Publisher: Crossway, 2009; 126 pp. $17.99 Recommendation (4-star scale): In college and seminary I had very little affinity for history or biography. Now I naturally […]

Book Review: Bitesize Theology

Title: Bitesize Theology: the ABC of the Christian Faith Author: Peter Jeffery Publisher: Evangelical Press, 2000; 110 pp. $5.99 Recommendation (4-star scale): When I was in seminary, one of my Hebrew professors, who not only had a doctorate in Semitic languages from a prestigious university, but whose wife also had a doctorate in biology […]

Experiencing a post-Christmas let-down?

Each year Christmas night finds members of my family feeling some melancholy. After weeks of anticipation, the Christmas celebrations have flashed by us and are suddenly gone. And we’re left standing, watching the Christmas taillights and music fade into the night. But it’s possible that this moment of melancholy may be the best teaching moment […]

It’s Christmas day…

It’s Christmas day — a time to remember the advent of Christ. A time to remember both the fact that He came and the reason that He came. The circumstances of His arrival were quite remarkable. His birth was singularly unique because of the virgin birth, of course, but Joe Stowell reminds us even more […]

What Jesus thought of His birth

For the past several weeks, children around Granbury and the country and the world have been trying to listen in on the private conversations of their parents, hoping to gather hints about what might show up under the Christmas tree. Mostly, their attempts — I think — have been in vain (at least they always […]

Christmas Eve and Good Friday

There is a clear, unmistakable, and critical link between Christmas and Good Friday (Christ’s death). Celebrate Christmas without meditating on the cross, and you will have a Christmas devoid of meaning — all pretty paper, bows, lights, and tinsel, without any real treasure and joy. Christmas without the cross is a meal without the food, […]

Preach the gospel to yourself today

“Preach the gospel to yourself every day,” Jerry Bridges has written and said in numerous contexts. And he means that literally — each new day demands a fresh rehearsal (through the quotation of Scripture) of the essential components of the gospel so that we are reminded each day of our standing before God. In a […]

A little help with Revelation

This week we finish our annual reading through Scripture. We finish in Isaiah and Revelation — perhaps two of the more difficult books to interpret. As someone told me about Revelation yesterday, “I’m having a little trouble understanding what I’m reading.” This is a difficult book, but it is not unintelligible. And several accessible resources […]

Whate’er my God ordains is right

When we are discouraged, despairing, and disappointed with life and God, we need to be reminded of the truth of God’s character and His trustworthiness. He really is a good and gracious God, we need to be reminded. One such encouragement is an older hymn (which, to my knowledge, I’ve never heard sung), entitled, “Whate’er […]

Sunday Leftovers (12/20/09)

The story of the birth of Christ is populated by a broad variety of people who — superficially at least — seemed to have no particularly significant qualifications for their involvement in the story. The credentials for Joseph and Mary are humble at best: poor, young, alone, largely ostracized by family and friends. The shepherds […]

They saw Christmas, Pt. 2

[Continued from yesterday.] Consider two more groups of people who saw that first Christmas, and their kindred spirits who still see Christ today. Two oft-forgotten God-believers are Simeon and Anna (their story is told in Luke 2:22-38 if you wish to refresh your memory about them). There were a number of similarities between these two. […]

Grab bag

Al Mohler has had several thought-provoking posts recently: “Starting Something You Cannot Finish” “An Amazing Article on Abortion…” “The Kindle Experience…” (Would you read an electronic book?) Reflections on Tiger Woods — “The Travail of Tiger Woods” (Mohler) “Hunting Tiger Woods” (Mahaney) “The Seduction of Power — the Tiger Woods Story” (Witherington) “Tiger and the […]

They saw Christmas

If there were people who, though proximate to Jesus’ birth, missed Christmas, examples also abound of those who celebrated Christmas the Christ way. Consider Mary. Though young in years (she was probably a teenager), she was mature in spirit. Luke tells us that she and Zacharias experienced similar angelic revelations (1:5-38). Yet when Zacharias was […]