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  • Envy

    A Big Problem You Didn’t Know You Had

    I still remember, and may never forget, the first time I stopped to consider envy. I was reading a book by Os Guinness and was blindsided by a section on that particular sin. I immediately understood that it was prominent in my life and immediately began to take steps to address it. The process took…

  • You Will Never Regret The Sins You Do Not Commit

    You Will Never Regret The Sins You Do Not Commit

    There are a few little phrases I think about and repeat to myself on a regular basis. One of the simplest but most frequent is this: You will never regret the sins you do not commit. It’s basic. It’s easy. It’s obvious. But I need to hear it again and again. Like you, I know…

  • Learning Lessons From Scandals Close to Home

    Learning Lessons From Scandals Close to Home

    Though we would never wish for a scandal to take place and make its way into the headlines, and while we should always regret the circumstances that bring one about, a scandal does offer the opportunity for personal introspection. A wise man will heed its lessons, for it inevitably provides the context to consider whether…

  • The Decay of the World and the Love of God

    The Decay of the World and the Love of God

    Do you ever find yourself wondering just how much the Lord loves us? Do you ever find yourself wondering just how good his purposes can be and just how glorious his plans? Do you ever find yourself wondering if God really cares? I found myself pondering these matters the other day after a friend sent…

  • The Murderer Who Crushed a Worm

    The Murderer Who Crushed a Worm

    The Bible warns about the danger of a hard heart. It warns that a heart can be so hardened that it becomes resistant even to the words of God. It warns that a hard heart is an impenitent heart and that an impenitent heart is a heart that falls under God’s just judgment. In this…

  • Idolatry is Futility

    Idolatry is Futility

    We are all prone to idolatry. We may consider ourselves far too advanced to bow before an idol of wood or stone, to bend the knee to the image of an animal or man. But none of us is immune from bowing before the idols of our dreams and desires, before the idols of our…

  • My Heart Longs for Justice Kind of

    My Heart Longs for Justice (Kind of)

    Sometimes I find myself on a reading kick in which I follow a common theme through a number of books. Over the past few weeks I have been fascinated with businesses that have the appearance of being legitimate while they are actually over-hyped at best and fraudulent at worst. Elizabeth Holmes’ Theranos claimed to have…

  • Careless

    The Dead Seriousness of Careless Words

    A technician for an airline neglected to check the logs from previous flights and therefore failed to take action on a control problem that had recurred multiple times over the past days. His carelessness was one of the factors that led to the plane crashing on a subsequent flight. An engineer failed to set the…

  • Like a Ruined Castle

    Like a Ruined Castle

    No visit to Edinburgh is complete until you’ve walked to the top of the Royal Mile to tour Edinburgh Castle. The castle has been remarkably well maintained and is as splendid now as it was in its heyday. You can stand on the battlements high above the city and see all the landmarks—the Firth of…

  • The Power of True Holiness

    The Power of True Holiness

    This week I found myself pondering some powerful words from the pen of J.C. Ryle: “Satan knows well the power of true holiness and the immense injury which increased attention to it will do to his kingdom.” We are called to God so we can become holy like God. He means for us to be…

  • It Has To Be Dark Before We Can See

    It Has To Be Dark Before We Can See

    A skillful poet once imagined Adam’s first evening in the Garden of Eden. He described the scene as Adam began to notice that the sun was sinking toward the horizon, that the shadows were growing long, that the light was getting dim. The first day was becoming the first night and Adam didn’t know what…

  • Post the Strongest Soldiers at the Weakest Gate

    Post the Strongest Soldiers at the Weakest Gate

    The bridge was drawn, the gates were barred, the watchmen were posted to the walls. From their vantage point they observed the enemy armies draw close, they watched as the officers divided their force into ranks and regiments. They heard the great shout and looked on in trepidation as the enemy units surged forward. And…

  • Its Far Too Easy To Buy A Tiger

    It’s Far Too Easy To Buy A Tiger

    A comedian jokes, rightly I’m sure, that it’s far too easy to buy a tiger. Buying a tiger “is not an all day thing,” he says, “it’s like an hour—I’ll be right back with our tiger.” We do hear about people who welcome big cats into their homes and we all have a pretty good…

  • Why Should We Remember What God Forgets

    Why Should We Remember what God Forgets?

    We serve a forgetful God. This forgetfulness reflects no fault in him, no weakness of his mind or memory. Rather, it reflects the strength of his mercy and grace, for he forgets only what would separate us from him, only what would alienate sinful humans from a holy God. It is our sinfulness that he…

  • Money

    Our Lust Is Furious and Our Greed Limitless

    If you have ever wanted a taste of Calvin’s Institutes but without committing to the whole thing, you may want to try reading A Little Book on the Christian Life. It is an excerpt of the larger work, and one focused largely on Christian living. Here’s an extract from a new edition translated by Aaron…

  • Respectable Sins of the Reformed World

    Respectable Sins of the Reformed World

    Jerry Bridges gave many gifts to the church, not the least of which was his 2007 book Respectable Sins. In it he coined a term that describes a whole category of sins that might otherwise escape our attention. “Respectable sins” are behaviors Christians (sometimes individually and sometimes corporately) regard as acceptable even though the Bible…

  • The Prayer of a Convicted Sinner

    A recent book titled Piercing Heaven shares favorite prayers from the Puritans. Many of them are amazing. As an example, here is Philip Doddridge with the prayer of a convicted sinner. Injured King and almighty Judge, what can I say to the charges against me? Should I pretend to be offended, and defend myself? I…

  • On Being an Inflatable Tank

    On Being an Inflatable Tank

    It’s one of my favorite tales from a war that was packed full of stranger-than-fiction moments. During the Second World War, the Allied forces created a dummy army. Eager to deceive the Germans into thinking they were stronger than they actually were, the Allies hired a team of artists and designers to create a fake…

  • Run Toward

    What Gave Him Such Confidence?

    When we sin against other people, our natural response is to distance ourselves from them. The naughty child who has defied her parents will look at the mess she has made, then slink away to her room. The church member who has spread gossip about another person will keep his distance the next Sunday. In…

  • Count the cost

    Always Count the Cost

    Just a couple of blocks from my home is the concrete shell of an unfinished mosque. Several years ago they broke ground and quickly after poured the concrete for the foundation and the four great minarets. And then the project went dormant. For almost three years it has sat ugly and unfinished, a grey concrete…