The Spirit’s Fruit: Patience
There was once an ancient man who so pursued the Lord, seeking always to glorify God no matter what came his way, no matter how crooked his lot, that even God himself could proclaim of him that “He still holds fast…
Tag spirituality
The War of the Heart
It’s sad, but true. If we fail to love our neighbor as ourselves and instead bite and devour one another, we will be consumed (Gal. 5:14-15). You have seen this in your relationships with family and friends. You have witnessed…
By His Spirit
Think of the one area in your life right now in which it seems that it will take everything you have to make it through. Maybe it’s a class in graduate school or seminary. Perhaps it’s a season of struggle…
Philosophy, Marriage and the Queen
Philosophy is the love of wisdom. However, as soon as some hear the sound of the word they think of an unbearable heaviness. They immediately think thoughts that don’t often approximate what philosophy really is at its heart. What is…
Let’s Study the Beatitudes! Part 1, Introduction
Some passages of Scripture are better known than others. How can they not be? The Lord’s Prayer is recited across the landscape of Christendom along with the Twenty-third Psalm and the Ten Commandments. But there are others. In fact, it’s…
Martin Luther and Stinkering at Satan
Legend has it that the great Reformer Martin Luther once threw an ink well at the Devil who had been incessantly accusing him.[1] Whether or not this is true, Luther certainly had remarkable fits and fights with the ancient foe…
The Gentleness of God
The much-loved hymn, ‘I greet thee who my sure Redeemer art’ – included in the Strasbourg Psalter of 1545 and attributed to John Calvin – contains the lines, Thou hast the true and perfect gentleness, No harshness hast Thou, and…
Church Discipline: What is Excommunication?
Learning about the battle between popes and civil authorities in medieval Europe feels a bit like an episode of Oprah’s show: “You get excommunicated; you get excommunicated; everyone gets excommunicated.” Of course it famously culminated in Henry VIII finally not…
What the Bible Teaches About Anxiety & Contentment
“Our life on earth is a brief pilgrimage between two moments of nakedness.” So wrote the late Rev. John Stott. He was commenting on Paul’s candid way of summoning the believer’s soul to the green pastures of contentment. Writing to…
Charles Haddon Spurgeon and His Struggle with Depression
Charles Haddon Spurgeon and His Struggle with Depression Charles Spurgeon is known as one of the greatest preachers in history. Not everyone knows about his ongoing battle with depression. Even fewer people know about his advocacy for people who…