“Stuffed!” “Full!” “I’m done!” Thanksgiving dinners have a tendency to do that. Gone are the cravings for mashed potatoes and the longings for cranberries and turkey. Gone is the anticipation for the great feast. You’ve eaten. You’re full. The hunger is forgotten. It is time for a nap! We experience being full in different ways. From your stomach to your gas tank; from your piggy bank to your house—when life is full, it’s easy to forget what it was like to be empty.
Read MoreDuring the time of the Reformation, justification was heralded as the central article of the Christian faith. Namely, as Scripture says, “ all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:23-24). All humankind is guilty of offending God by their sin, deserving only death and damnation, but on account of Christ, they are declared innocent and made righteous through faith in His death and resurrection.
Read MoreWhat is it about a person that makes thousands of people drop everything to race after Him? Jesus was dealing with some bad news that was sad news. His cousin, John the Baptist, had been murdered by Herod and He needed some time to process it all. As was often His practice, He went away to rest and pray. But when He gets ashore, there is a massive crowd already waiting for Him.
Read MoreGod declares each day of creation to be “good.” Yet, on day six, the day human beings are created, He intensifies that description: “God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good” (Gen. 1:31).
Good—pleasant, agreeable, excellent, superb. That’s how we think about God’s declaration, as an adjective that describinges His act of creation. But good is also a noun. Good—decent, blameless, upright, moral, righteous. So, which is it here? I’d argue for both. One that describes the beginning of all that there is, the other that describes the origins of all that there is.
Read MorePaul exhorts the Philippians to stand firm in the face of an unbelieving and deceiving world. He reminds them of their heavenly citizenship, while also championing the power of the one who fights for them—Jesus Christ—noting that He will one day change their mortal bodies into resurrected glorious bodies like His. It is the essence of Christian confidence still today.
Read MoreIn a cultural context like ours, seemingly intent on spiritual suicide, intentionally deconstructing and dismantling human identity and purpose, it’s essential we keep our bearings. Doing so means we must stand upon the truth of God’s Word and rest in the power of His Holy Spirit. They are what allow us to confidently and boldly go first, speaking truth and acting in love.
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