A Tiny Life in a Pandemic

I know the temptation there is to feel the drudgery or the wastefulness of life, especially in this time of stay-at-home orders, economic uncertainty, an invisible microbial enemy, the endless waiting for a positive turn in the news, the exponentially greater hazard for those in at-risk situations (whether health, abusive environment, trafficked, in poverty).

The good news of Jesus’s reconciling and restoring acts of atonement and resurrection is reflected in the tiny minutiae of stories like yours and mine.

Making Marriage the Winner in an Age of Coronavirus

The gospels record 307 questions that Jesus asked those he encountered. A simple way to love your spouse better is to spend time discovering things you may not know about them, explore how they think so you can understand them better.

Weight Loss & Glory Gained

Weights are things which “mar communion with Christ,” and we enter into communion with our Savior through contentment and obedience. As tempted as I may be to get rid of unpleasant people, projects or situations, they are often the very thing that I need to learn contentment and obedience and to progress in holiness.

Do Not Fear Those Who Kill the Body

Death cannot be avoided, but the sting of death can.

God’s Eroding Love

There is a rock bed harder than that of the floor and walls of the Niagara, and it is buried within the soft flesh of every person born since the time of The Fall (not the Falls).

My heart was that rock bed once. Hard and unyielding and resistant to life, truth, mercy. Then it underwent erosion and battering.

Persevere, Moms, the Ark Awaits

Persevere, moms, “as the snail to the ark.” (Charles Spurgeon) The ark is ahead. That great deliverance beyond the flood is ours, sealed by the trustworthiness of the Holy Spirit, and we inch forward according to the pace God sets for us. I’m praying for you.

A Glimpse of Glory from the Nose-bleed Section

The wall between the people of God and the nations who represented lawlessness, immorality and absence of God was being dismantled, and it wasn’t brick by brick, it was section by section. In the New Covenant, the descendants of Abraham include Gentile believers, and with sweet humility, Peter hints that he isn’t even half the man that they are.

A Book About Gospel Life and Its Practical Implications

Christina writes with transparency about her own fears and failures, doubts and trials and afflictions. But her focus is on the vastness of the gospel and the promises of Christ, and she examines how faithful and Spirit-empowered obedience to God’s word unveils the perspective we need to face life’s daily struggles. We are so inclined to start with the struggles and end with whatever Christianesque plug we can find to fix the problem. Christina puts things in the right order.

Grasping for Enough: the Empty Promise of Idols

We need to preach the gospel of freedom in Christ to ourselves. We need to remind ourselves daily, hourly, moment by moment, how merciful and patient the Lord is with us.

The Neverending Gift Exchange

Who says Christmas has to come to a close? Who says that just because the boxes and bags get broken down and packed away for use next year that we can’t intentionally and carefully prepare beautiful presents and packages of love and ministry for others?