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We used to live on the fringes of a small town surrounded by farmland. We quickly learned that of all the farm creatures in the world, pigs must be the stinkiest. It was not unusual to drive down the highway on a hot summer afternoon and to begin to detect a faint whiff of pig manure in the air. As we kept driving the smell would get stronger and we’d soon spot a truck in the distance ahead of us. …
We can never be ambivalent. We who are Christians have no right to allow any sin to persist. We must go hard after every sin and to pursue each one until it has been completely crushed, for even one sin left alone is enough to do terrible damage to our souls. A recent study of one of my favorite old authors showed me the damning devastation of a single coddled sin. Here are nine things to consider in times you …
Every Christian can think of a sin he has identified and attacked with all the brutality he can muster. One of the great joys of the Christian life is seeing God be true to his Word as he motivates and empowers us to wage war against indwelling sin. Yet every one of us probably also has a sin we rather enjoy, a sin we refuse to put to death. In fact, we may even protect and promote it. We might …
We know that pornography is an ugly and harmful sin. We know that those who indulge in porn have committed the sin of lust, but there is so much more to it than that. When you open your browser and begin to look at those images and videos, you are sinning in ways that go far beyond lust. Here are 8 sins you commit when you look at porn. You commit the sin of idolatry. All sin is idolatry, an …
It is the deep longing of every Christian to be like Jesus, to imitate the one who perfectly obeyed God and perfectly fulfilled all righteousness. We long to be “transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). This is our longing because this is our purpose. According to Calvin, God means to “bring our lives into harmony and agreement with His own righteousness, and so to manifest to ourselves and others our identity …
Letters to the Editor is an opportunity for readers of this site to respond to things I have written. Here are a few of the top letters from the past couple of weeks. Comments on Honoring the Dishonorable As a wife who experienced ongoing domestic abuse at the hand of a professed Christian husband and struggled in raising children within that environment for many years even as I pleaded for help from my church leadership, I read this article with …
We know a big sin when we see one, right? We know the difference between depraved acts and mere peccadillos. We know that while all sin is the same in expressing rebellion against God, some sins show greater evidence of a hardened heart and bring more devastating consequences. In some ways all sin is the same and in some ways each sin is unique. The big sin I address most often in my church and travels is the sin of …
It was one of the darkest chapters in Jewish history. Zedekiah had chosen to rebel against his Babylonian overlords, and King Nebuchadnezzar’s retribution was swift and sure. He besieged Jerusalem and captured it. He burned the temple, he burned the king’s palace, he burned all the mighty houses. He broke down the walls and left the city bereft and defenseless. He didn’t stop there. He also drove off 10,000 of the city’s most prominent citizens, leaving behind only the lowest, …
Temptation is a mysterious thing. There must be method to the madness, there must be patterns of how and when we are tempted by specific sins. If there are, I’ve never quite been able to hack or solve the system. But at the very least we can observe this: There are some times in life when you should be especially wary, when temptation is especially likely. Here are four times you should expect to face temptation. During Times of Prosperity …
It has been a few weeks since I last shared a collection of letters to the editor. But I’m making up for lost time today by posting quite a few. I hope you enjoy them! Comments on Seems So Long Ago, Nancy I read your recent flashback article, “Seems So Long Ago, Nancy” with keen interest. Not because I know this song; in fact, I am not very familiar with much of Cohen’s music. I read with interest though because …