Hallmark Christians (Desiring God Chapter 4)

Have you ever stopped to consider what it must be like to work for Hallmark or another of the companies that creates greeting cards? Imagine spending your whole day attempting to come up with wonderful statements of deep feeling – love, remorse, sympathy – yet without feeling any of the emotions. Imagine having to write words that express sympathy, yet not feeling any sympathy yourself. Or imagine having to write words that can express the deep, passionate love a man …

Appraising Your Treasures

One of my long-time favorite shows on television is The Antiques Roadshow. It is a show that has been a staple on PBS for many years and on British television for longer than that. The show affords people the opportunity to bring their antique possessions, whether furniture, paintings, toys or anything else, and have them appraised by some of the world’s foremost experts in antiquities. Every show the producers single out ten or fifteen items and show an expert providing …

Become a Patron

Tolkien’s Tale of Stewardship

I was thrilled several years ago to hear that the book The Lord of the Rings was going to be made into a series of epic films. With production budgets in the hundreds of millions of dollars and the bulk of the work being done outside of Hollywood, I knew this series was going to be good! But more than being able to watch a great series of films, I was thrilled to know that a book I had read …

Desiring God – Chapter Two (Part 1)

If the chief end of man is to be a Christian Hedonist, there must be a moment where he becomes such – a moment where a Christian Hedonist is created. Having explained that God’s quest to be glorified and our quest to receive satisfaction are one and the same, the author now turns to a discussion of conversion, which he says is the creation of a Christian Hedonist. God’s desire to be glorified reaches its culmination in the echo of …

Reformed: A Definition

A reader posed the question this morning of what it means to be a Reformed Christian. His (or her) question made me realize that though I am Reformed in theology and have been for many years, I do not have a definition of Reformed to answer the question. So I thought today I would post a definition of what it means to be Reformed. First, it is important to note that because the Reformed tradition arose from the Protestant Reformation, …

Pareidolia & The Bible

I recently read an article (which alas I can no longer find) that described a search the BBC made for the Loch Ness Monster. They swept Loch Ness from end to end, back and forth for several days using some of the world’s most sophisticated sonar equipment. After a complete, thorough search they concluded that there is simply not a monster living in the Loch. To provide an idea of how the myth of the Loch Ness Monster continues to …

Desiring God – Chapter One

This is the second article in my series examining John Piper’s book Desiring God. The first article was co-written by myself and Doug from Coffeeswirls and can be found here. Today I am examining the first chapter of this book which is entitled The Happiness of God: Foundation for Christian Hedonism. You will recall that Christian Hedonism is the term Piper has given to his teaching that Christians are to desire pleasure above all else. The pleasure they are to …

Knowledge of God

In the past several days I have come across a particular passage of Scripture several times. Each time I see it, it grabs my heart. The passage is Hosea verses 1b – 6 which reads: There is no truth or mercy Or knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying, Killing and stealing and committing adultery, They break all restraint, With bloodshed upon bloodshed. Therefore the land will mourn; And everyone who dwells there will waste away With …

Desiring God – Preface

For several months, I have been conversing with my new friend Doug who runs the site CoffeeSwirls. Since the time we first began writing back and forth I have seen tremendous and exciting growth in Doug as he devotes himself to studying Scripture and seeking wisdom. He recently mentioned that he was going to dive into John Piper’s book Desiring God. That book has been on my shelf for a year or two now and I have never read more …

31 Days of Wisdom – Reflections

I recently completed an in-depth study of the book of Proverbs. Reading one chapter for each day of March, I completed this study in 31 days. As I sought to learn wisdom and discernment from God, I found this to be one of the most rewarding Bible studies I have ever completed. Every day I was challenged by the Divine wisdom so prominently displayed in each chapter and verse of Proverbs. Reflecting on that study, I found five main teachings …