The Blog
Spiritual Dimensions
This long, drawn-out description of Jerusalem and the temple is significant. In fact, its significance and importance is evident in how long and drawn-out it is!
Comfort the Enemy
Spiritually speaking, comfort is the enemy. Comfort draws us away from God. Comfort causes us to lack spiritual zeal. Comfort causes us to compromise our spiritual integrity. Comfort leads us away from living out the purposes of God in our lives.
Display of Glory
God wants His people to understand the depth of His holiness and the depth of the devastation of sin.
Simple Faith
Faith is a conscientious act. Christian faith is defined by the Bible. And I should live out that spiritual reality in my life every day through my simple obedience.
Proved Holy
Why does God cause trials and struggles and challenges to come into my life at all? Why does our Sovereign LORD cause bad things to happen in this world at all? The nuance of the language of Scripture could be understood in the following way …
End of War
Because of the curse of sin, war is pretty much inevitable. But to acknowledge that reality really breaks my heart.
Whose Agenda
it’s not that God does not want to bless us. It’s not that God does not want us to experience the good things of this world. It’s not that God does not want us to gain wisdom. He does! It’s just that God wants us to experience the goodness and the blessings of life as we pursue His purpose in this world—as we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.
Heart Surgery
We need God to remove the heart of stone that is in us. Our hearts become calloused and hardened whenever we seek first the things of this world. … We need God to put a new heart of flesh in us, one that beats with the blood of Christ pumping through its ventricles. … Without God performing His surgery on our hearts, we cannot be His people, and He will not be our God.
Eternal Prosperity
The prosperity that we so desperately seek is not of this world. Whatever prosperity that humanity may attain in this life is fleeting. And that prosperity is fleeting because of the sinfulness of the human heart. The word of God bears witness that it is perfectly fine for us to pursue prosperity in our lives. But the pursuit of prosperity must be subordinate to the pursuit of God’s purposes.
Friends
There is God, then there are His people, and then there is the rest of the world. In God’s economy, a person should not want to find themselves grouped with “the rest of the world.” Outside of God’s kingdom, there is no protection from the curse of sin. And most of all, there is no protection from the wrath of God itself. Inside the kingdom of God, we are protected by the blood of Christ that stains the frame of the gates of the kingdom.