Why Did God Create the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?

Why did God keep back just one thing from the people he made? Why would he make people in his image, then give them one prohibition? What was the purpose in that tricky Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? Sinclair Ferguson addresses this in The Whole Christ. I am giving you everything in this garden. Go and enjoy yourselves. But just before you head off, I have given you all of this because I love you. I want …

This Is Thy Day

I quite enjoy The Valley of Vision, that book of Puritan prayers. This one is a favorite, a perfect prayer for the Lord’s day–one that looks to the Lord of that day. O Lord, My Lord, This is thy day, the heavenly ordinance of rest, the open door of worship, the record of Jesus’ resurrection, the seal of the sabbath to come, the day when saints militant and triumphant unite in endless song. I bless thee for the throne of …

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Learning from a Brother

It would not be my preference to begin this way, but I guess I need to say it up front: R.C. Sproul Jr. and I have some significant theological differences, and not only that, but we have differences in areas in which we are both rather vocal. Though we disagree on these things, he and I have often shared cordial emails expressing mutual love and respect even in the midst of significant disagreement. However, though I wanted to offer that …

How I Lead My Children in Personal Devotions

Last weekend I mentioned on Twitter that I had finished planning out my kids’ daily devotions for another week; this led a few people to ask what these devotions look like. Though I am by no means an expert in this area, I am glad to share how I lead my children in their personal devotions.   I have always wanted my children to form the habit of doing personal devotions, but it took me a surprising amount of time …

Weekend A La Carte (3/12)

I spent the first half of yesterday traveling and the second half at a conference. Along the way I heard one person say something about an earthquake in Japan. It wasn’t until I got to my hotel that I learned there had been an utterly devastating earthquake in Japan and that it was followed by a tsunami. I spent a long time reading about it before turning in for the night. This morning the news is even worse and there …

A La Carte (3/11)

I’m on the way to South Carolina to speak at one of the Psalm 119 conferences on discernment. I’m looking forward to spend time with guys like Todd Friel and Trevin Wax. And of course, sharing a couple of messages on why to be discerning and how to be discerning well. The Prince of Wales and John 14 – “Prince Charles has read from John chapter 14 as part of an online version of the King James Bible. The idea …

Reading Classics Together: The Bruised Reed (VII)

I don’t know how many Reading Classics posts I’ve written over the years, but I do know that as time goes on, as we progress through a particular book, fewer and fewer people read along. There is a lot of attrition along the way as people find that they just cannot (or perhaps are not interested in) keeping up with the reading. Nevertheless for those who remain, let’s carry on and look to this week’s selection from Richard Sibbes’ The …

“The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment” Blog Tour (Day 11)

Today marks the end of The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment blog tour. This was meant to be only a two week tour, but events conspired to keep me from visiting SharperIron on the scheduled date. We decided we would add one date to the tour so I could make that stop. The guys at SharperIron focused on the common belief that discernment is intuitive rather than something that requires dedicated thought and practice. How does Scripture tell us to view …

“The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment” Blog Tour (Day 10)

Today is the second to last day of the blog tour for my new book The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment. For the past two weeks I’ve been answering questions that have been asked by a variety of bloggers. Though something neither I nor Crossway had tried before, this blog tour has been fun, I think, and I’ve been pleased to receive quite a lot of positive feedback. Today the tour moves to Church Matters, the blog of 9Marks Ministries. They …

“The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment” Blog Tour (Day 9)

We are nearing the end of The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment blog tour and today the tour takes me to Michael Spencer’s blog. I appreciated these words from Michael: “Those of you looking for an argument can move along. I’m sure Tim and I disagree on many things, but scripture tells us that it’s a good thing when brothers dwell together in unity. Our agreement on the Good News of Jesus outweighs our disagreements.” He asked questions about what happens …