Do you love God? How do you know?

Augustine observed, “There can only be two basic loves, the love of God unto the forgetfulness of self; or the love of self unto the forgetfulness and denial of God.” From that it might then be asked, “whom do you love supremely? God or yourself?” Now we all know what the answer should be — […]

Because God is love…

More than 20 times singers rejected the song before Johnny Lee selected “Lookin’ for Love in All the Wrong Places” to sing in the movie, “Urban Cowboy.” It was never intended to be recorded as part of an album, but with the success of the movie, it was released as a single and sold more […]

As you prepare for worship, give thanks

This morning you may be in a hurry to get to church to worship. Your clothes may not look or feel right; your children may be complaining; you may have had some conflict with your spouse; you may have slept too late and now you are rushed. But in your haste to leave the house, […]

Grab bag

Some helpful articles I’ve recently read: Some Thanksgiving leftovers: Mark Talbot explains why even suffering is something for which we can praise God. Jerry Bridges reminds us that, “Paul said we’re to come to God “with thanksgiving.” We should thank Him for His past faithfulness in delivering us from troubles. We should thank Him for […]

The only reason I can sleep well at night

Michael Horton: My conscience does not render a positive verdict in God’s courtroom when I look inside myself. The only reason I can sleep well at night is that even though my heart is filled with corruption and even though I am not doing my best to please him, I have in heaven at the […]

How great a love

Our girls were still very young when one night I heard one of them still awake and talking in their room some time after we put them in bed, so I went to check on them. Elizabeth (our four-year-old) was already sound asleep, but Emily (our almost-two-year-old) was wide awake, lying on her back and […]

The True Story of Thanksgiving

From Desiring God: Come Thanksgiving Day each year, many of us give the nod to Pilgrims and Indians and talk of making ready for a harsh first Winter in the New World. But for the Christian, the deepest roots of our thanksgiving go back to the Old World, way back before the Pilgrims, to a […]

He really forgives!

I was about eight years old. It was Saturday morning. My little brother was still in bed. Cartoons were on TV. All was right with the world. Except that while my eyes were looking at the television, they weren’t seeing the cartoons. My mind was preoccupied with a problem. What if I died? Would I […]

This isn’t hard to understand

Some books of the Bible are difficult to understand. In some Epistles, the flow of thought is somewhat obscured by complex structure. In some historical narratives, there are accounts of strange events that leave us wondering how to interpret and apply them (see Judges 19, for one example). In many of the prophets there are […]

What God says to the disabled (and others)

How does one live with disability? How does one persevere when suffering with great weaknesses? She listens to God’s Word: Krista Horning is also the author of Just the Way I Am.) HT: “Disability says ugly things to me. . . God says beautiful things to me. Listen!” Krista Horning [The Works of God.]

When others leave the faith

I heard it again Sunday morning. While visiting another church (a “kindred spirit” church that I frequent as often as I can when I am on vacation on a Sunday), I heard of two more men who are in the process of leaving the faith. They are turning their backs on what they know is […]

Finish well

At 7 P.M. on October 20, 1968, a few thousand spectators remained in the Mexico City Olympic Stadium. It was cool and dark. The last of the marathon runners, each exhausted, were being carried off to first-aid stations. More than an hour earlier, Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia — looking as fresh as when he started […]

Why God forgives

The sin of all men is great. We may choose to compare ourselves with others and suppose that we are “not so bad,” but set against the firm criteria of perfection (Mt. 5:48), all men are desperately sinful. There are no exceptions to that statement. The psalmist underscores that truth when he says, “If You, […]

Don’t miss God at church tomorrow

Read a Scripture. Sing a hymn. Pray. Sing a hymn. Pray. Sing a chorus. Sing another chorus (or two). Pray. Read another Scripture. Hear the special music. Listen to the sermon. Sing a hymn. Pray. Beat the Methodists to the cafeteria. For many that is the extent of their worship experience. It just all seems […]

It’s not going to get better. But there is an answer.

In the middle of his second and final letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul writes a sober and startling statement: “But realize this, that in the last times difficult times will come” (3:1). That sentence jars the reader into wakefulness. That is not the kind of sentence that we like to read. Our presupposition is […]