Do not minimize your sin or excuse it away. Raise no defense. Simply take it to the one who is already at the right hand of the Father, advocating for you on the basis of his own wounds.
Articles by Dane Ortlund
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The atoning work of the Son, decreed by the Father and applied by the Spirit, ensures that we are safe eternally.
It takes a lot of sermons and a lot of suffering to believe that God’s deepest heart is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger.”
God gave his own Son as the final sacrifice so that your brokenness could be the only prerequisite to receiving God’s abundant mercy.
For all his resplendent glory and dazzling holiness, his supreme uniqueness and otherness, no one in human history has ever been more approachable than Jesus Christ.
It Doesn’t Matter What Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh Was
The thorn’s purpose is to deflate the certainty that Paul would quietly become puffed up over his indescribable experience of heaven. And who wouldn’t, without a thorn to burst that bubble?
The crass references to hell we hear in everyday conversation shouldn’t dull the agonizing awareness all believers should have of the pains of hell.
Jonathan Edwards gives us longings for God and for holiness that are more satisfying than even our best joys currently are.
How the Psalms Verticalize Our Lives
Meditation on the Psalms lifts our eyes and reminds us to be mindful of God.
How the Psalms Speak to All of Our Emotions
The Psalms are in the Bible to give a us a full range of ways to approach God. They're not just for those who are happy and they're not just for those who are in pain. They cover the whole range of emotions.
How the Book of Psalms Is Like No Other Biblical Book
The book of Psalms is special because it equips us to speak to God.
How Christ Has Changed Our Destiny
What does it mean to be united to Christ? It’s a little bit mysterious and elusive.
We tend to project our natural expectations about who God is onto him instead of fighting to let the Bible surprise us into what God himself says.
Jesus isn’t like you. Even the most intense of human love is but the faintest echo of heaven’s cascading abundance.
Growth in Christ Is Not Just Personal Improvement
Jesus is not a concept. Not an ideal. Not a force. Growing in Christ is a relational, not a formulaic, experience. Who then is this person?
Just as we can hardly fathom the divine ferocity awaiting those out of Christ, it is equally true that we can hardly fathom the divine tenderness already resting now on those in Christ.
The psalms are poems that reflect the beauty of God himself and how he wants to enchant, allure, woo, and draw us up into him.
You don’t need to unburden or collect yourself and then come to Jesus. Your very burden is what qualifies you to come.
All our human friendships have a limit to what they can withstand. But what if there were a friend with no limit?
When you come to Christ for mercy and love and help in your anguish and perplexity and sinfulness, you are going with the flow of his own deepest wishes, not against them.
For the Joy before Him, Christ Came
When you come to Christ for mercy and love and help in your anguish and perplexity and sinfulness, you are going with the flow of his own deepest wishes, not against them.
It is in “our weaknesses” that Jesus sympathizes with us. His is a love that cannot be held back when he sees his people in pain.
Do This Breathing Exercise for Healthy Christian Living
Think of Scripture and prayer as inhaling and exhaling because that shows the two necessarily go together.
Don't Go through Life Overcome with Guilt
The Psalms give us language to pray to God when we are guilty and seeking forgiveness.
Christ’s Heart on Full Display
Jesus proves that he is gentle and lowly through his actions throughout his life and the pages of the Gospels.
Bible Q&A - Why Read the Bible Every Day?
Dane Ortlund explains the purpose behind reading the Bible every day.
Bible Q&A - Why Are There Two Testaments in the Bible?
Dane Ortlund answers why there are two testaments in the Bible.
Bible Q&A: What Was the Incarnation?
The incarnation was the quiet eruption in the middle of history of a mercy that defies comprehension—when, as C. S. Lewis put it, God wrote himself into the story.
Bible Q&A - What Is Hermeneutics?
Dane Ortlund discusses what hermeneutics are and why they are important.
Bible Q&A - What Does the Bible Say About Swearing?
Dane Ortlund shares what the Bible says about swearing.