A La Carte (October 9)
A La Carte: The normalization of slander / Doctrine and formation / Destructive relationships / Why Satan wants you to think you’re alone / Laughing at yourself is grace / and more.
Explore Romans 13
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The Night Is Far Gone
There are few things in life more shameful than sleeping when you ought to be working, or slacking off when you ought to be diligent. When your calling is to be active, it is inappropriate and even sinful to remain passive. This is especially true when it comes to contexts that are of the highest…
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A La Carte (January 27)
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today. All My Not-Enoughness Britt reflects on her “not-enoughness” in this poignant article. Caesar Said to Brutus Zach and Maggie (whom you’ll recognize from The Gettys’ live shows) have released a fun and quirky album. Here’s a video from it. You can find the full…
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A La Carte (April 25)
Grace and peace to you. Today’s Kindle deals include an interesting title by Collin Hansen and Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra. (Yesterday on the blog: Deconstruction, Exvangelicals, and Jumping Overboard from an Ocean Liner) Should Christians Always Submit to the Government? Robert W. Yarbrough comments on Romans 13 and whether Christians should always submit to the government.…
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The Church Is You, So the Church Will Be Like You
The culture around us may not have much knowledge of the Bible, but everyone still seems to know and freely quote these words: “Judge not.” People may not know much, but they do know that the Bible strictly warns against standing in judgment against anyone else. Christians expend no little effort in explaining how “judge…
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Ask Me Anything (Logos, Posting Pictures of Children, Lord’s Supper, Submitting to Government)
I receive lots of feedback from readers of this site, and now and again attempt to answer some of the questions that come my way. Here’s a new batch that offers brief answers to questions on Logos, posting pictures of children to social media, the Great Sermon Series of videos, celebrating the Lord’s Supper online,…
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Thankful for God’s Good Gift of Government
I was asked the other day what I was thankful for in the midst of a pandemic. My answer surprised even me. “I’m thankful for government.” It was surprising, but true. Even as I sit at home during a long, forced lockdown, even as I wonder whether anyone really has a master plan, even as…
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A La Carte (April 7)
We have had an amazing run with Kindle deals lately, but it came to a screeching halt today. We will try again soon. In the meantime, for the committed readers, check out today’s New and Notable Books. (Yesterday on the blog: Has There Ever Been a Better Time To Start a Blog?) When Can We…
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The Commandment We Forgot: Honoring the Dishonorable
Today we continue this series on honoring our parents, the series that considers how we, as adults, can fulfill the fifth commandment. Behind it is the knowledge that few of us seriously consider the fifth commandment and how we can actively fulfill it, even after we have left our parents’ authority. We have been focusing…
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Marijuana and the US elections: Is it Really Legal?
One of the reasons Christians don’t use marijuana is because doing so is against the law, in the United States at least. But what about when the law changes and suddenly, overnight, it’s (supposedly) legal? For some of you, that’s your reality. For others, it will likely be your reality in the not too distant…
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Letters to the Editor #10 (Sleepovers, Christians, Guns)
Once again, here is a selection of Letters to the Editor. The most popular article I’ve ever written is Why My Family Doesn’t Do Sleepovers. While I wrote it long before I invited letters to the editor, as soon as I allowed letters, they began to flow in. Here is a selection that represents the…
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How Should Christians Use Guns?
John Piper sparked a firestorm with his recent article, Should Christians Be Encouraged to Arm Themselves? Piper’s article was a response to Jerry Falwell Jr. who has encouraged the students at Liberty University to secure permits to carry guns. I appreciated Piper’s attempt to answer a difficult question, and equally appreciated some of the measured…
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Do You Pay Your Taxes Joyfully?
It is tax season again. In just a couple of weeks a lot of us will be writing a check to the government, or, far better, hoping that the government will be writing a check to us. It is this time of year when, more than any other, we are forced to think about taxes,…
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Honor, Respect & Taxes
I spent a lot of time pondering the first few verses of Romans 13 last week, verses that speak about authority. Paul is writing to the church at Rome and telling them that each one of them is to actively obey the governing authorities in every situation. He makes no exceptions; he simply commands them…
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Missing the Bombs for the Bottles
Much has been said about the TSA and their growing freedom to do pretty much whatever they want to us once we enter an airport. I don’t like those backscatter x-ray machines and refuse to go through, which means that I have had to get that full and invasive patdown a few times now. While…
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The Death Penalty on Trial
That the Bible advocates and even commands the enforcement of the death penalty seems almost like it should be beyond controversy. The dignity God gives to humans, created as they are in his image, demands the utmost penalty for those who would recklessly and deliberately destroy life. Yet controversy abounds with many of those who…
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Scripture Memory Wallpaper – Romans 13
As you know, I’ve been enjoying memorizing passages of Scripture with readers of this site. To this point we have finished Psalm 8, Psalm 103 and Romans 12. We are hard at work on Romans 13. I thought it might be valuable to offer wallpapers for your desktop that tied in to the memorization program…
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Memorize Scripture With Us!
A couple of months ago I began an effort to memorize Scripture with other people who read this site. My initial projection of having thirty people interested in participating was quickly shattered and there are now more than 1100 participating. Those who have been participating from the beginning have now memorized Psalm 8, Psalm 103…
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The T in TULIP – Part 1
Yesterday morning my pastor preached on Romans 12-13 under the heading of “Cross-Centered Authenticity.” Though I missed much of the first half of the sermon walking the halls with a fussy baby, I returned in time to hear the end of the first (and longest) point and the final four points. I am glad I…
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Total Depravity: Extent vs Degree
This morning I decided that today I was going to write about man’s sinful condition, or as we says as Calvinists, man’s total depravity. Doing my rounds of other blogs this morning I noticed that Jollyblogger had written about this topic yesterday, so I thought I would take a slightly different approach and write about…