Welcome to the online home of Tim Challies, blogger, author, and book reviewer.
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It is easy to look at the world around us, the culture around us, the institutions around us, and to despair. It is easy to see all that is wrong, all that looks so dark and dangerous, and to lose our hope, to lose our confidence. I have been helped here by J.I. Packer in a powerful little part of Knowing God. Packer teaches the benefit of comparing God with whatever forces and powers we regard as great, and then …
If you pause to think about it, you may just come to agree with me: Nobody really has a problem with Jesus’ atoning death. Not at heart. Nobody really has a problem with Jesus’ resurrection. Not at the foundation. They don’t have a problem with his miracles or coming return. They actually have a problem with Jesus’ incarnation. The problem is not Good Friday or Easter, but Christmas. As J.I.Packer says, “Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this …
Love is a risky business. In one way or another, at one time or another, we have all suffered because we have loved. We have all been shocked to learn something we didn’t know before, we have all been grieved as we have discovered another person’s hidden actions or behavior. Some of us have even asked: If I had known that before, would I have still loved her? Now that I know that, can I still love him? We love …
Theology is a dangerous subject. In fact, there may be no area of interest more perilous than theology. That is true if it is not pursued in the best way and for the highest purposes. In the opening chapter of Knowing God, J.I. Packer says that if we wish to avoid the perils, we need to always consider this question when we consider the study of God and his ways: What do I intend to do with my knowledge about …
One week from today I am going to begin a very public reading of a very good book. I would love for you to join me. Why don’t you read on to see if it would be beneficial to you? For the past few years I have been running an ongoing program called “Reading Classics Together.” This is the way I force myself to read those classic Christian books that I somehow otherwise neglect. I do it by inviting others …
Many times over the years I have invited readers of this blog to join me in a reading project, mostly as part of a program I’ve called Reading Classics Together. We’ve read some incredible books together —Holiness by J.C. Ryle, Christianity & Liberalism by Gresham Machen, The Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards, The Cross of Christ by John Stott, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices by Thomas Brooks, and a whole lot more. Most recently we read through The Mystery of Providence by …
I am a committed blogger, but a sporadical journaler. If blogging is thinking out loud and in public, journaling is thinking quietly and in private. I am convinced that both practices have value, and I have often regretted my lack of dedication to the discipline of keeping a journal. This regret was heightened as I encountered a little postscript at the end of one of John Flavel’s books. Having written a couple hundred pages of theologically-dense teaching on God’s providence, …
There is a natural seed of atheism in every heart. This seed exists even in the believer’s heart. Even in your heart. The seed is nourished in times of difficulty when you pass rash and false judgment upon the circumstances in your life. When you see the wicked prosper and the godly crushed it may tempt you to think that there is no purpose to your faith and that all of this pursuit of holiness and godliness is a waste …
There are times in the Christian’s life where we wait upon God, where we wait for relief from some kind of afflication, and where we wait for a long time for God to answer prayer. I am certain that you have experienced times like these, and know that the temptation in such times is to despair and to demand, to grow angry and impatient. But in The Mystery of Providence John Flavel warns: Though God means to give you the …
It is our duty to reflect on life’s circumstances and to look for God’s hand in them. It is our duty because God works in and through our circumstances and, by his providence, matures and strengthens us in them. In his work The Mystery of Providence, John Flavel writes about the importance of doing this very thing: reflecting upon God’s performance of providence. He offers 7 reasons that this is our duty. God commands it. God expressly commands that we …