Every one of us must deal with God. Every one of us must, at some time, face God. Every one of us must be prepared to give an account to God. For, as Scripture says, “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto…
It is something we have all observed at one time or another and something we have all wondered about. Why is it that those who seem most likely to come to Christ so often reject him? Why is it that those hear the boldest invitations and who have the greatest opportunities so commonly turn away?…
God’s plan and God’s expectation is that those who are saved will bear fruit. And not only will they bear fruit, but they will bear fruit quickly and abundantly. Fruitfulness is evidence of both salvation and sanctification.
It is good to contemplate God’s work in our lives—to contemplate the wonderful reality that we are children of God only because God took the initiative and drew us to himself. F.B. Meyer once considered this in light of Hebrews 7:25 which proclaims that Jesus is “able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him.” Here is how Meyer rejoiced…
There are some hymns that disappear because they are simply not very good. There are some hymns that disappear because they are too tied to a particular niche. And there are some hymns that disappear because their language becomes antiquated. I think this hymn/poem by John Newton spans the latter two categories. It is closely…
It is one of the most important habits that any married couple can form. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most rare. For a husband and wife to live well together before the Lord, they must pray together. For a couple to honor God in their marriage, they must be as intimate spiritually as…
It can be difficult to make sense of our trials as we endure them. But the Bible always assures us that our difficulties are never purposeless but always in some way purposeful. God is always using them to accomplish something good. This is the theme of this short devotional reflection from my friend Paul Tautges…
This life is filled with many cares, many concerns, and many anxieties. It is fitting that in our times of trouble we turn to the Lord, the one who is always eager to hear us and to bless us. This prayer from George Swinnock gives words to such prayers. Perhaps it would serve you to…
Sometimes we are forced to have conversations that are almost too strange to believe—conversations, for example, in which we insist that there is such a thing as a gender binary. Yet today so many people are convinced that gender is a mere construct of an oppressive culture. Gender, they believe, is a decision we make…
The Lord calls many of us to live humble and quiet lives, lives that are lived far more in the mundane than in the spotlight. And truly, even the most exceptional of men and women still spend most of their time in obscurity, laboring in secret, carrying out their tasks far from human eyes. But…
I spend a surprising amount of time reading through old hymnals and collections of poetry—rather a strange hobby, I suppose. There is a lot that’s familiar and a lot that’s terrible. Every now and again, though, I come across a poem that is new to me and that I find especially enjoyable. That was the…
We often marvel at the wonder of God made man—of Jesus coming to earth to inhabit a human body and to live in a world like this. Yet as Theodore Cuyler points out in this short reflection, Jesus is not the only member of the Godhead who has been willing to condescend for the sake…
It does us good to consider the return of Jesus Christ. When times are difficult, when life is sorrowful, when we are just plain weary, it does us good to shift our hearts from our circumstances to Christ’s sure and certain return. That’s the purpose of this sweet poem by Reginald Heber. “The Lord shall…
Never has there been a medium so ideally suited for spreading gossip as social media. Never have Christians been so eager to hear an evil report about another Christian than they are today. And that means gossip, slander, and evil reports move further and faster than ever. This old warning seems even more relevant today…
There are few things more sobering than praying for someone who is dying, and few things more humbling than praying with someone whose time on earth is drawing to a close. In his book Facing the Last Enemy, Guy Prentiss Waters offers wise counsel to those who have the responsibility and even the privilege of…
Sometimes it seems as if the cause of righteousness must be overthrown, as if the cause of evil must triumph in the end. Sometimes we look at the darkness of the world and wonder if and when the light will really break through. This was on the mind of De Witt Talmage in a sermon…
Whatever circumstances we may encounter in life, whatever difficulties may befall us, whatever suffering we may have to pass through, we can have the highest confidence that none of it has come apart from the knowledge and the will of God. As the Catechism says, God “watches over me in such a way that not…
We tend to think the issues in our churches are contemporary issues that we alone have had to contend with. Yet when we read voices from ages past, we are often reminded that many issues come and go, rise and wane. This is the case with the music we sing at church. At some points…
Janet Hamilton is one of those old poets whose work I have just begun to explore. She lived and died during an era when devotional poetry was important to Christians and I have found her poems quite enjoyable. Here is one that reflects on the beauty of a mother’s love for her child. Dear child!…
I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that I’m the only person in the world who reads through back issues of the Ann Arbor Baptist, a periodical from the late 1800s. But periodicals like that were the blogs of their era and within their pages I find such interesting articles and poems. One that I spotted…