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The Best of January

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I’ve been at this blogging thing for quite a long time now–a bit over 9 years. I’ve been at the daily blogging thing for almost as long. This means that I’ve got an extensive backlist of articles from years gone by. I thought it might be fun to pull out some of the articles I wrote in previous Januarys, stretching all the way back to 2004.

2011

Whose Wife Are You? – “We spend a lot of time talking in general about how men and women complement one another—generic men and generic women. This complementarity is obvious from a physical standpoint, but also from many others. But I wonder if we spend far too little time talking about how this husband and this wife complement one another. When we move beyond the generalities of gender roles, we find that the specifics may look very, very different from one couple to another.”

In the Hands of the Communists – This is a two-part biographical article I wrote on the lives of missionary martyrs John and Betty Stam.

2010

Letters to Luke – The third and final letter in a series of blog posts I exchanged with a popular atheist blogger. I wrapped up the series by pleading with him to turn to the Lord.

2009

On Being Weak – Sometimes we are too proud to admit that we are weak; we would rather help others than accept help ourselves.

Don’t Let Me Lose the Wonder – After a while even the most amazing thing can become mundane. “But oh, how I long for those moments when God gives me that glimpse of just where he has taken me and what he has given me. How I long to know and to believe, to experience afresh, to rejoice in my heart, to marvel, to appreciate, to love, to feel.”

2008

Reflections From a First-Time Author – Written just weeks after the release of my first book, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment, this article reflects on the process of writing a book.

The Shack – This review of The Shack is easily the most-read article in the history of the blog. I’d be surprised if anything ever overtakes it. I know that many people first learned about my blog when they went looking for a review of The Shack and found this page.

2007

Selfish Prayer – An article on the most selfish kind of prayer–the prayer we don’t ever get to.

Reformed Eye for the Arminian Guy – I don’t quite know what happened here, but somehow I thought I was being funny.

2006

Blessed Are the Underappreciated – “Blessed are the underappreciated.” That’s the theme of this article. It seems like a theme I’d write about today if I thought of it.

2005

My Iniquity I Did Not Hide – Some early thoughts on Protestants and confession. I can’t remember the exact circumstances under which I wrote this. I wish I did.

Successful Evangelism – This was an important article in my spiritual development. At the time I was part of a church that was exceedingly results-oriented and here I tried to grapple with what it means to evanglize successfully.

2004

My Concerns With The Passion of the Christ – One of the first “big” articles on my site was a review of The Passion of the Christ. Before the movie’s release I thought about some of what the movie might mean and what theological challenges it might pose. I had forgotten that I ever wrote this one.

The Bible’s Sufficiency – Another hugely important article in my own life, this one explained my newfound understanding of the Bible’s sufficiency.


  • Are We Living in the Last Days

    Are We Living in the Last Days?

    The world is a mess. The world is a mess and seems to be getting messier. I could draw up an inventory of all the wars and conflicts, the diseases and disasters, the rise of immorality and decline of virtue, but that would be to tell you what you have already observed and already know.…

  • A La Carte Friday 2

    A La Carte (March 29)

    A La Carte: How to protect your kids from sexual abuse / Talk to God about what hurts / How’s your Bible reading plan going? / Resentment between men and women in the church / and more.

  • A Batch of New Books for Kids

    A Batch of New Books for Kids (and Teens)

    Every month I put together a roundup of new and notable books for grownup readers. But I also receive a lot of books for kids and like to put together the occasional roundup of these books as well. So today I bring you a whole big batch of new books for kids of all ages…

  • A La Carte Thursday 1

    A La Carte (March 28)

    A La Carte: The case against the abortion pill / What I’ve learned about grieving with hope / Heartbreaking deception: teen girls, social media, and body image / Could podcasts save the church from stupidity? / Count it all joy / and more.

  • What God Wants You To Forget

    What God Wants You To Forget

    We are never far from reminding God of our credentials, of providing him with a curriculum vitae that lays out all we are, all we have been through, and all we have accomplished for his sake. We are never far from making the subtle turn from grace to merit, from what is freely given to…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (March 27)

    A La Carte: New music / Millennials and GenZ / Scotland’s new hate crime law / Cate Blanchett, Easter is for you / Why the Reformed pray for revival / What truly happened to Jesus on the cross? / and more.