Christward Collective

If there is one area in which young Reformed men preparing for seminary have generally failed to give adequate attention it is to the writings of that period of church history from the Apostles to the Reformation. There are obvious reasons for this. One such reason is that we live on this side of...

A few months ago, I had the privilege of meeting with a young couple in our congregation in order to choose vows for their wedding. We decided to look at some historic Protestant marriage vows. Ultimately, we ended up with a combination of the marriage vows in the Directory of Public Worship and...

The Apostle John’s record of Jesus’ farewell discourse on the eve of his crucifixion and of his high priestly prayer opens a window into the heart of the Savior for his disciples. Earlier in his ministry Jesus announced that he was the Good Shepherd (John 10:11, 14). Jesus is the good...

My neighborhood is one big loop with homes on each side. It’s an older neighborhood, filled with mature trees that, when covered in leaves, provide almost zero visibility for neighborhood happenings. But I can see all the way around our loop in the winter when deciduous trees stand bare. It...

If you could live anywhere where would you live? We know God’s answer to that question: a tent (that’s His second choice) and a human body (that’s His first choice). In the Old Testament He chose to live in a tent (Ex. 25:8) and in the New Testament He chose flesh and blood (John...

One of the great matters that ought to be on the forefront of every believing mind is that which concerns the nature and evidence of a true church. The Reformed Confessions spoke to this issue, as it was pressing for the Reformers and Puritans to do so in light of Roman Catholic perversions of the...

One of the Apostle Paul’s great preoccupations in both of his letters to the church at Thessalonica is the second coming of Christ. He was not only concerned with getting the doctrine “right” but also with the great pastoral implications of such teaching. In 1 Thessalonians he...

The Christian family is under constant assault. Western hemisphere Christians have awakened to this reality in recent years as Western nations embrace everything from homosexual union as marriage, to legally forbidding parents from disciplining their own children, to restricted parental rights...

In Mark 9:24, we find the famous cry of the man who came to Jesus for healing for his son, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief!” It is the cry of a desperate parent. After years of caring for his demon-possessed child and having his hope deferred by the disciples failed attempt to drive...

I was always better at sprinting than running long distance--back in the days when I actually ran...in high shcool. My wife, by way of contrast, was and is a marathon runner. One of the things that I've noticed as I have watched her run over the years is that she knows how to pace herself. I...