Welcome to the online home of Tim Challies, blogger, author, and book reviewer.
Trending Topics
#missions
#prayer
#singleness and dating
It’s a question I’m asked often: What are the top book reviews you’ve written? I take that to mean this: Which of the reviews you’ve written have been read the most? I suppose it’s not surprising that the most popular book reviews are all for books I disagreed with in various ways. Here’s the top-five. The Shack by Paul Young. I guess this shouldn’t be any great surprise since The Shack is one of the bestselling Christian books of all-time. …
While there are many places you can go today to find deals on electronics and other big-ticket items, I like to provide a place for Christian retailers to make their deals known to Christians who are trying to kick-start their Christmas shopping. I will update this list regularly throughout the weekend, so check back often. Be sure to check back on Monday for Cyber Monday deals. Accordance Accordance has 30 percent off everything as well as some even deeper cuts …
It’s the age of the expert, the age of the specialist. And sure enough, there’s a growing theme in the Christian world that experience is a necessary prerequisite to authority. If you want to know about parenting, you need to talk to a parent. If you want to know about marriage, you need to talk to someone who has been married. If you want to know how to suffer well, you speak to someone who has suffered. This theme is …
So much of the Christian life comes down to the matter of identity. At heart, who are we? Who or what has the right to define us? What is our deepest identity? Identity is at the core of many issues, not the least of which is same-sex attraction. In her book Gay Girl, Good God, Jackie Hill Perry offers four “categories” to guide our thinking about identity as we “act the miracle” of sanctification. Though she applies them specifically to …
Every few weeks I like to share an example of one of our worship services from Grace Fellowship Church. I hope it serves as simply one model of how we can worship the Lord in a distinctly biblical way. It’s been a joy to hear from people around the world as they tell how they’ve enjoyed seeing these services show up here. This service’s cast of characters included Steve as our service leader, Josh as our lead worshipper, and Chris …
I believe in the value of Sunday evening services. But my belief in their value is not evenly distributed across the Lord’s Day. I believe in them a lot at 7:00 PM, just after the service has come to a conclusion. I believe in them far less at 4:30 PM when I have to pry my weary body off the couch, get in the car, and drive to church. I believe in evening services far more a half hour after …
This summer Aileen and I celebrated our twentieth anniversary and I can say with honesty that few things in life have thrilled or honored me more than the fact that she chose to spend her life with me, of all people. All those years ago she agreed to link her life to mine and we’ve been together, joined, ever since. How amazing is that? Just around the time of our anniversary my devotions led me to the words of Solomon: …
I suppose it’s not a “manly” thing to admit, but Anne of Green Gables is one of my favorite novels, and one I read often. I am drawn to the character Lucy Maud Montgomery created—a quirky child who sees the world through a lens that is pained, optimistic, zany, childlike but still mature beyond her years. It’s a pleasure to see reality (and fantasy and the sometimes thin distinction between them) through her eyes. I’m drawn to the way Anne …
I enjoy John Piper’s “Ask Pastor John” feature and often benefit from hearing (or reading) his answers to the more than 1200 questions he has taken on so far. It reflects a lifetime of studying Scripture and applying its principles. He recently answered a question on whether premarital pregnancy nullifies the principle of “unequally yoked” and I want to interact with it just a little. Here’s the question: A young couple at my church is unmarried, and they have a …
One great benefit of having an evening service is that it provides opportunities that aren’t with just one weekly meeting. At Grace Fellowship Church we have a “standard” evening service that accomplishes a number of purposes, but sometimes we also mix it up. Last week we dedicated the entire service to an “explanatory Lord’s Supper.” In other words, we not only celebrated the Lord’s Supper, but we also explained each part of the service to ensure our members do not only …