Many individuals are like the rich young man when Jesus said to him, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt....
Dear Seminarian, It seems like just yesterday that I was sitting in my first seminary class. I was excited as that first professor walked into the room, wrote his name on the board, and proceeded to hand out the class syllabus. My excitement quickly migrated to being...
No practice in your home will prove more beneficial to your family than daily family worship. Just as two bankers living together doesn’t make a bank, so two or more Christians living together doesn’t make a Christian home. The exchanges that happen in a bank, or in a...
No experience on earth should delight the soul of the Christian more than corporate worship. It is the high point of our week and establishes the rhythm of our lives. As Christians, we live life from Lord’s Day to Lord’s Day. We dare not “neglect meeting together, as...
The Christian faith is quite simple. For many Christians, it seems too simple to sum up our faith by saying, “It is all in Christ.” Therefore, we often will seek and strive to make it more complex. As Christians, we must stand guard against the tendency to undo,...
How do we reconcile with fellow Christians? In my thirteen years of pastoral ministry, I have found that much of my calling deals with helping those who have been injured by other people—especially other people in the church. We live in a messy world filled with messy...
Over the years, a dozen or so individuals have entered my pastoral study for counsel due to struggling with assurance of their salvation—they are not quite sure whether they are saved. Week in and week out they attend Sunday services. They read the...
Persistent prayer proves hard for many Christians. We may labor on our knees for years as we pray for our unbelieving child, an empty womb, our spouse to be converted, the friend battling cancer, depression to no longer have a hold, a sin to lose its grip,...
In a world filled with sin, the flesh, and the devil, assurance of salvation is the soft feather bed on which the Christian rests. Assurance proves to be one of the greatest benefits of the Christian faith and the rightful inheritance of the child of God. In its...
A two-year-old will never obsess about world economies. A three-year-old will never ask for lectures on totalitarian regimes. It is beyond them. If you think otherwise, just try and lecture them about it. They won’t pay attention. Their tiny minds can’t be filled with...
It is no accident that Christ said, “By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). He did not say they will know you by your politics, your simple living, or your dress. None of these things are primary,...
The Westminster Shorter Catechism famously answers, "Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." This is to be the single greatest controlling influence in our lives. I confess that it is easy to talk about glorifying God and enjoying Him...
True knowledge of God manifests itself in love for all the saints. Growing maturity in Christ evidences itself in growing love for His people. Does an individual possess a lot of knowledge regarding doctrine and theology? Great, we can never gain enough knowledge of...
Discontentment may be the greatest trap in our culture. It may be greater than lust, greed, and even lying because discontentment leads to all these other sins. It tends to be a well-spring of iniquity. I have yet to meet an individual who engaged in an affair without...
Marriage can be painful--and Christian marriage is no exception. When two sinners are in a relationship as intimate as marriage, there is bound to be some measure of hurt. Our flesh will balk at the demands of self-sacrifice, service, and humility affecting one...