Blessedness

One of the most difficult things for people to do is to cease striving and rest. Yet striving after the things the human heart craves, like significance, security, and success, has not brought people contentment. Instead, people are frustrated, hate their jobs, despair of life itself, and grieve...

On Christmas Eve, 1968, astronaut Jim Lovell sat aboard Apollo 8 and watched the earth rise over the moon for the first time in history. Reflecting on that moment, he observed: “You can put your thumb up and you can hide the earth behind your thumb. Everything that you've ever known, your loved...

There’s a bright thread of connection between the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the way the sermon on the mount begins. The tree stood as a perpetual sign for Adam and Eve to rely upon and walk submitted under God’s word. God declared all that was good or not good and they, as His...

Introduction Reading through the bible seems to be on just about everyone’s list of “to do’s” at the beginning of every year. But that resolution usually ends in failure for most. Some hold on a few months, and some sink within days, but I think if we had solid reasons for reading through the...

In her rich fantasy novel, Piranesi , author Susanna Clarke has the main character, whose name is also the book’s title, keep a journal for each year he has been living in the Beautiful and Kind House. As described on the back cover, the rooms of the House “are infinite, its corridors endless, its...

Command these things 1 Timothy 4:11: “Command and teach these things.” 1 Timothy 5:7: “Command these things as well, so that they may be without reproach.” 1 Timothy 6:3: “Teach and urge these duties.” Perhaps they fear legalism and perhaps they fear they will abuse their authority, but some...

This blog is adapted from Dan Doriani’s book, published in July, Work That Makes Difference. At the moment, Western culture is facing a post-covid crisis in our view of work. Everywhere we go, we see Help Wanted ads. Restaurants that recently paid $9-10 per hour are offering $16 and a signing bonus...

Back in 1959 a short book appeared under the title The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner . It was the fictional account of a troubled teenager who took up running to deal with his inner troubles and it was later turned into a movie under the same title. I have often wondered if there might be...

It’s probably fair to say that Jesus was the most misunderstood man who walked upon the earth. The gospel accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus seem to continually highlight this fact. Of course it started at his very birth, when Herod attempted to kill him. Those to whom he spoke often...

Goodness is a word that can obviously mean upright. Think of the oft used comparison between good and evil. But the word can also point up the benefit or qualities possessed by another. We might say something like, “The teachers are good here.” Of course, by that we mean that the teachers are the...