This Hideous Complaint
Only one person has truly understood the words that Christ said on the cross: “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”, that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). That person was Christ himself. The rest of us…
Tag Christ
From Marching to Murmuring
If we were reading the Gospels for the first time, what might we expect to happen immediately after the baptism of Jesus? It is a breathtaking moment. The heavens open, the Spirit descends like a dove, and the Father declares…
How to Not Fall Away
I was recently driving with my young daughter a few days after she publicly professed her faith in Christ. She asked an important question: Not everyone who says they trust in Jesus stays faithful to him. How can I be…
To Whom is Christ the Wonderful Counselor?
One passage cherished for Advent reflection is Isaiah 9:6. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,…
Perfect Peace in a Problem-Filled World
Isaiah 26:3-4 gives God’s people one of the most precious truths in all of Scripture. Isaiah speaks directly to God and says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.…
Contextualizing the Gospel in 21st Century Western Culture
Fundamentally (an interesting choice of opening word given its vexed history in Protestantism; here I mean by it “essentially” but in the sense of “foundationally,” what is at base rather than merely what is at the core or essence of…
My Jesus Poster
In college, I lived with seven of my best friends in apartment Nu 8, “The Ocho.” Our living room was placarded with posters displaying our various passions: a Pulp Fiction scene with John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson pointing pistols at a…
When Great Men Collide (Review of When Christians Disagree)
Following the tumultuous years of the mid-Seventeenth Century, two titans of English Puritanism left an especially enduring imprint upon church history. For centuries, many Protestant ministers have dedicated feet—yes, feet—of shelf-space to the published works of both John Owen (1616-83)…
The Ministry of Presence
Chaplain Mike Gilson in the Spiritual Care Service unit of San Diego’s Kaiser Permanente Zion Medical Center shared about his visits with a Vietnamese patient and husband who both spoke little English. The wife had terminal cancer, but later on…
Twelve ways to promote the Sunday evening service
Do you have an evening service at your church? Is so, and especially if you are a Reformed pastor or elder, you’ll likely be wanting to encourage better attendance at your church’s Sunday evening service. Many of the Young, Restless…