In a culture that conditions personal identity on the 70-hour work-week, Calvin’s insistence here acts as a vital reframing of the way we view our lives. This theological guardrail against excessive devotion to one’s career was further reinforced by Calvin’s distinction between sloth and leisure. The former is a sinful neglecting of our callings. The... Continue Reading

What would it look like to see with the spiritual eyes God intends us to have? In what might seem like an ordinary section of his letter, the author of Hebrews gives us an answer. “Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers” (Heb. 13:1-2), he admonishes. If I were writing... Continue Reading

While building successful and dynamic churches or ministries can be a good thing, it is also possible that such building can be done as another opportunity to build a name for ourselves. Anyone paying attention over the last decade can see how many churches and ministries have been shipwrecked by the desire for self-glorification. Now,... Continue Reading

Dads, you might not realize or be interested or even think it’s fair that such a weight of responsibility falls on you as the primary spiritual influence in the lives of your children. Sorry – you are, whether you like it or even know it or not. In these matters, there’s really not a choice.... Continue Reading

All Christians are called to garden work, and pastors are called to model it—to labor diligently like farmers as we cultivate the health of the saints under our care. (2 Tim. 2:6). Our churches are “God’s field” (1 Cor. 3:9). This simple truth should reorient the way all Christians view the church. Are you cultivating... Continue Reading

It takes a certain level of wisdom to see the pain as a means for joy. We must see the trials we endure as the means by which God shows us we are truly dependent on Christ. When all else is stripped away, all we have is Christ. What is our only comfort, or joy,... Continue Reading

We live in a world vandalized by the fall into sin.  Things are breaking down.  We’re breaking down.  Not just me, but all of us are terminal cases.  Right now, if everything is clear in your mind and God’s grace enables you, you can take hold of Christ and believe.  He holds on to you,... Continue Reading

The pattern then is clear: we cease working, we gather and feast, we remember what God has done and all he has provided for us, and we give thanks with joy.     Thanksgiving is upon us. In this article, I want to explore a little slice of what the Bible says about gratitude, but... Continue Reading

Christ is the faithful Covenant Head who never abandons those under His care. Every other covenant derives its strength from Him, and every refuge finds its fulfillment in Him.     God has established various covenant relationships—family, church, and civil government—to provide both protection and accountability. That protection is both physical and moral. It guards... Continue Reading

The hard truth is that our kids will experience meanness, unfairness, loss, and uncertainty. This is often not just painful, but confusing. We want them to feel loved and accepted and cared for. But as caregivers, we must also ask ourselves, “Why?” Why do we want them to feel loved? It can’t just be to... Continue Reading

“We will praise God because His lovingkindness is better than life.” It is not hyperbole. This is literally true—that those who know God truly can say with all their hearts, “Yes, life is precious, but the lovingkindness of God is better.” Therefore our lips shall praise Him. We will not be silent.     “O... Continue Reading

I want to walk in the confidence of prayers heard. I want to push away fear with the reality of a prayer-hearing God. I want to evangelize and kill sin and read my Bible knowing that as I’ve prayed for God’s help in these areas, God will surely come to my aid. I want to... Continue Reading

There is a strange unspoken theory percolating that believes loud means courage and faithfulness. They must be doing a great work of God because they are always speaking up and out. They’re condemning the government and they use words like ‘woke’ and ‘weak’ to describe those Christians who aren’t joining in loud unison. But of... Continue Reading

So what is honor? It is more than affection or quiet, unquestioning, obedience. Honor means giving a person what is owed because of the place God has given him or her. Luther recognized that honor includes respect and deference. The Reformed catechisms also teach that parents owe their children instruction, protection, and care. The commandment... Continue Reading

Your wilderness may be a terminal diagnosis, heartache over a loved one, the long ache of singleness or childlessness, the loss that doesn’t seem to heal. But looking back over your life, what has truly drawn your heart closest to God? Has it been his miraculous rescues, or his daily, sustaining help?     How... Continue Reading

Many children might prefer not to attend such events. Many adults feel the same way. But maturity means learning to fulfill our duties toward others even when it costs us time, comfort, or convenience. This is one of the great lessons our modern world desperately lacks. We are constantly told to organize life around personal... Continue Reading

These days can pass miserable and empty. We need satisfaction; we need it early, and we find it, if we find it, in his steadfast love. No matter what our days contain, if they are contained within his love, we can be glad all our days. So many turn their vessel toward what they think... Continue Reading

When things get hard, as they certainly will and do, it’s completely normal for us to look left and right before we look up. But even looking up doesn’t ensure that we’re looking at the right things to help us. The psalmist here is the perfect example. The road to the Holy City has become... Continue Reading

This is the covenant name, the personal name. It was as YHWH that God promised Abraham the Land. And now it is YHWH who will fulfill that promise. Moses can’t possibly have missed that connection, either at the time or (perhaps) decades later when he wrote the Torah. After identification comes the call to mission.... Continue Reading

Though God is plainly visible through what he has made, and though he has made himself clearly available to us in Scripture, men seek after that which is foolish and even unnatural, and in return, they end up in utter ruin. More than this, they ask others to join in their foolishness. They try to... Continue Reading