APRIL 22, 2020

I am deeply grateful for the life and ministry of Bill Mounce. His Greek grammar was my introduction to biblical Greek as a sophomore at Wheaton College in 1998, and after using others over the years I still commend his as the best by far.

JULY 25, 2019

Tiny kids are hard. By tiny I mean the first, say, three years of life. The age when they are factories of need and vacuums of love, yet can’t even offer the decency of an occasional “thank you.” The endless demands of parenting little ones can feel heightened by...

APRIL 22, 2019

Just as the engine must be cared for if a car is going to function well over the long haul, the heart must be cared for if we are going to flourish over the long haul. And just as the engine powers the vehicle, so the heart drives all that we do. The heart is the motivation headquarters, the central animating core of all our longings, fears, and actions.

OCTOBER 17, 2018

Jonathan Edwards wrote that “a lamblike, dovelike spirit and temper” is “the true, and distinguishing disposition of the hearts of Christians.” And he has something to teach us.

MARCH 10, 2018

Have you considered the ministry of listening?

The very word “ministry” conjures up images of preaching, teaching, writing, talking, and counseling. But to minister to someone is simply to serve and love them. And a quiet, neglected, little-talked-about way we serve and love others is by listening to them.

SEPTEMBER 12, 2017

Is death a Christian’s friend or enemy?

Surely it’s both. But how do we put the two together without being either too glib or too morose at the next funeral we attend?

On the one hand death is a Christian’s enemy—indeed, our greatest enemy…

December 29, 2021

This passage gives every indication that the thorn in Paul's flesh is still a present reality and thus represents a prolonged, sustained pain. But what was the thorn?

May 06, 2021

We tend to project our natural expectations about who God is onto him instead of fighting to let the Bible surprise us into what God himself says.

September 30, 2021

The Bible is good news for us. Here are nine common but wrong ways to read the Bible, followed by the right way.

May 02, 2020

We cannot present a reason for Christ to finally close off his heart to his own sheep. No such reason exists.

March 31, 2020

You don’t need to unburden or collect yourself and then come to Jesus. Your very burden is what qualifies you to come.

March 13, 2020

These are strange days, days of fear, days of hysteria. In other words, days that simply bring all our latent anxieties up to the surface.

MARCH 28, 2020

Do you struggle, even after years of believing the gospel, to feel forgiven by God?

The most vital reality, of course, isn’t to feel forgiven, but to be forgiven.

JONATHAN EDWARDS (1703–1758)

August 12, 2018

In the spring of 1750, the central discussion at Northampton Church in southern Massachusetts was not how to honor their faithful pastor for almost a quarter century of diligent labors among them. Rather, it was how to most expeditiously get rid of him.

MAY 22, 2018

“Though we have not always the joy of the Spirit, yet we always have the Spirit of joy.” —Richard Sibbes (Works, 4:136)

The presence of the Spirit is constant. The experience of the Spirit ebbs and flows.

THOMAS GOODWIN ON OUR DEEP INSECURITY

August 6, 2017

How does God feel about you after you’ve sinned?

I’m not asking about your legal status before God — if you know the gospel, you understand that trusting in Christ and his atoning work fully removes your legal guilt. I’m asking a different question, a more deeply personal one. Does God view you as technically guiltless but personally repugnant after you’ve sinned?