Blessedness

Your training program is now in place. You have identified places in your life that need special focus in pursuing godliness and purity. At least one coach motivates you to keep at it. You even have an accountability partner, running right alongside you. Success at this “Christian life” marathon...

This blog is adapted from Dan Doriani’s book, published in July, Work That Makes Difference. At the moment, Western culture is facing a post-covid crisis in our view of work. Everywhere we go, we see Help Wanted ads. Restaurants that recently paid $9-10 per hour are offering $16 and a signing bonus...

Back in 1959 a short book appeared under the title The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner . It was the fictional account of a troubled teenager who took up running to deal with his inner troubles and it was later turned into a movie under the same title. I have often wondered if there might be...

It’s probably fair to say that Jesus was the most misunderstood man who walked upon the earth. The gospel accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus seem to continually highlight this fact. Of course it started at his very birth, when Herod attempted to kill him. Those to whom he spoke often...

Goodness is a word that can obviously mean upright. Think of the oft used comparison between good and evil. But the word can also point up the benefit or qualities possessed by another. We might say something like, “The teachers are good here.” Of course, by that we mean that the teachers are the...

Waiting is hard. Whether it is sitting at a traffic light or standing in a checkout line, we have no choice but to wait and watch the seconds tick slowly by, often with gritted teeth. We wait because we are dependent on things outside of ourselves – the timing of the lights and the number of cars,...

Constancy is something every human being craves. Knowing that, in the midst of all the upheaval and change that marks the course of life, there are anchor-points that provide stability along the way. But where can we find such certainty? It is an issue we become more acutely aware of as one year...

[Originally submitted in December of 2019, but retracted; see footnote number six.] Two weeks ago my wife went to Urgent Care during our morning Sabbath service to get important treatment. When she returned while I was leading our singing of the closing Psalm, she jubilantly waved at me through the...

Sometimes we can be surprised by the kind of things theologians say that seem to resonate with us. We might expect them to be profound insights into a particular doctrine; but, more often than not, it is because of a different kind of profundity. One example is the story of Karl Barth’s being asked...

COVID Repentance Peter VanDoodewaard is the pastor of Covenant Community Church in Taylors, SC. He’s in-house today to chat about an article he’s written for Reformation21.org titled Covid-19 Repentance. Peter's piece combines a reflection on the Old Testament minor prophets with the unprecedented...