If this life constitutes the entirety of your existence, then you absolutely must maximize your enjoyment. You must never miss an opportunity for fun and pleasure.
Articles on The Christian Life
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Memorizing Scripture Can Be the Most Important Discipline in Your Christian Walk
Scripture memorization keeps me close to Christ. As I go over the words of Scripture, I find my heart drawn into active fellowship with Christ.
The perfect happiness of heaven will make your greatest joys from this life feel like misery compared to the complete euphoria of heaven with Christ.
Podcast: How to Radically Pursue Justice While Living in the Suburbs (Amy DiMarcangelo)
Amy DiMarcangelo discusses how our lives can often look relatively comfortable, and she shares her own story of learning what it means to live sacrificially for God in the midst of everyday life.
Fulfilling Your Personal Definition of Happiness Is Not God’s Goal
Our agenda, our definition of what a good God should give us, is a life that is comfortable, pleasurable, and predictable; one in which there’s lots of human affirmation and no suffering.
Does God Care about Gender Identity?
In this video, Samuel D. Ferguson carefully walks through the core beliefs of the transgender movement, comparing them with fundamental truths expressed in Scripture.
Looking Heavenward Transforms Our Sorrow
Many may think this heavenly-mindedness would make a person detached and ineffective in this present earthly life. The opposite was true for the apostle Paul.
Podcast: What Makes You Long for Heaven? (Cameron Cole)
Cameron Cole shares how God used the unexpected and tragic death of his firstborn son to dramatically shift his daily focus heavenward, revealing the joy-inducing power of an eternal mindset.
7 Questions That Teens Need to Answer
Teenagers are in one of the most exciting and most important times of their lives. Paul Tripp points to seven questions they will face that will influence the shape and direction of the rest of their lives.
Devote Yourself to Good Works Even When It’s Hard
We don’t just naturally fall into doing good. So we want to orient our lives in such a way that we’re positioned to practice generosity, to show hospitality to the lonely.
Everything depends on how people use the term. Individualism can be simply the focus on self. In certain contexts, it would be very difficult to have a deep difference between the two.
Considering sin doesn’t have to mean conceding to it. Knowing this keeps you from being crippled by unnecessary guilt; it gives hope to keep fighting, even when temptation is raging.
Amaze the Next Generation with God
I beg of you, don’t go after the next generation with mere moralism. The gospel is a message not about what we need to do for God but about what God has done for us.
Win the Next Generation with Love
The evangelical church has spent far too much time trying to figure out cultural engagement and far too little time just trying to love. If we listen and are curious about people, we will be plenty engaged.
5 Things You Must Remember about the Resurrection
What does it look like to look at life through the window of the resurrection? As I assess my life right here, right now, what about the resurrection must I remember? Let me suggest five things.
That there is such a thing as Holy Saturday in the gospel is remarkable, if oft overlooked. Why wouldn’t a simple movement from death one day to resurrection the next be sufficient?
The Problem of Pain Is a Problem for Everyone
There are only a few ways to handle this issue, and all of them feel incomplete. So the question is this: Which incomplete answer will you embrace to help you with the problem of evil?
The Christian’s Hope Isn’t Complete without a Bodily Resurrection
The apostle Paul is talking about our Christian hope of a bodily resurrection—not to minimize our suffering, but to maximize our perspective.
An Open Letter to the Church Member Hurt by Their Local Church
Local churches hurt people. People hurt people, of course; but since churches are people, churches have the capacity to inflict severe relational pain.
Strengthen Your Prayer Life with an Assist from Past Pray-ers
Ordinarily, desire is not enough. We usually have to be shown how to do something, with plenty of examples, before we can feel capable.
The Promise Jesus Offers to Those Who Leave Everything Behind
Jesus is always honest, even blunt, about the cost of discipleship. He never buries suffering in the small print. He wants us to know that following him will be hard.
How (and How Not) to Fight Sin
Fighting sin is spiritual warfare, and warfare requires a battle plan. If left to our own devices, we would have little success against our unseen enemy.
A Guide for Your Personal Worship Entering Holy Week
A sample day’s readings from O Sacred Head, Now Wounded, a 48-day devotional liturgy to help readers effectively prepare their hearts from Pascha (Easter) to Pentecost.
John Piper on Instagram, Superficiality, and Online Fame
Influence is not wrong. Seeking to influence others is very Christian. But many Christians now set out to become social-media “influencers.” When does this become fame-seeking?
How the Gospel Transforms Our Productivity
To be productive is to embrace the reality of what God does in us and to respond in worship through our work and our rest.
Is Productivity a Godly Goal or an Unhealthy Obsession?
Let’s understand productivity correctly—as making the best use you can of the resources God has placed in your hands—and use it as a means of serving our Lord and the people around us.
Podcast: 6 Practical Principles for Increasing Your Productivity (Ana Ávila)
Ana Ávila emphasizes that we each have just the right amount of time to do what God wants us to do, walking through several key productivity principles that will help us manage our time wisely.
Answering Kids’ Hardest Questions: Does God Love Everyone the Same?
God hates the sin that’s in us, but he sent his son Jesus to pay the penalty for our sins so that we can have a relationship with him.
Encouragement for Those Who Aren’t Resting on the Sabbath
The Sabbath is a day that God calls us to observe in his word. It’s a day that we need to observe for our own good—soul and body.
John Piper on Profanity, Crude Joking, and Using the Word “Dang”
Christians are called to high standards with the words we speak. On the tongue’s use and misuse of words, four general principles guide us.
7 Tips for Being More Productive
True productivity is not about results but about faithfulness. We are productive when we are walking in the good works God has prepared for us, whatever the results of those good works are.
10 Things You Should Know about the Spirituality of the Church
True unity is what we want. This is achieved only together with true diversity. Uniformity is never the biblical pattern. Unity is, and unity, as we see perfectly manifested in the Undivided Trinity.
Unpacking “No Creed but the Bible”
Many Christians may well have heard the phrase ”no creed but the Bible“ at some point. Is it a faithful and useful principle for guiding how we think about Christian truth and authority?
When someone asks me a question about the faith that I don’t have a good answer for, it will rattle me unless the Lord Jesus is taking up holy ground in my heart.
For explaining the cross, the New Testament uses many images, many categories, many modes of thought blended together.
An Open Letter to Christians Who Doubt
Just defining or describing the doubt helps me talk to God more pointedly about it. And in some instances, he gives me insight or perspective that alleviates (but not totally removes) the doubt.
Podcast: How Should We Respond to Our Doubt? (Randy Newman)
Randy Newman explains that when we struggle with questions about our faith, we should view these not as roadblocks to faith but as natural twists and turns that accompany our lives as Christians.
If I Believe Jesus Has Forgiven My Sins, Why Do I Still Feel Guilty?
We trust that we’ve been forgiven because Christ paid for all our sins when he died on the cross, but the memory isn’t erased, and the effects on us and on those we hurt can linger long.
When Fear Prevents You from Being a Good Neighbor
One of the greatest detriments to being the neighbors Christ has called us to be is fear. And somehow, instead of identifying our fear as sinful we often call it by another name: wisdom.
3 Things to Avoid When Ministering to Those Suffering from Mental Illness
We make many mistakes in what we say to sufferers. Partly because of ignorance, discomfort, or fear, we end up saying nothing, or nothing helpful, or everything wrong.
Why Does Jesus Call Himself the “Door”?
Jesus is saying that, as the door, as we enter into eternal life with him and through him, we will be saved. He is access to salvation.
Podcast: The Most Important Thing Our Churches Have Forgotten to Do (Paul Miller)
Paul Miller deepens our understanding of prayer by highlighting why we need to pray with one another if we really want to experience the full blessing of prayer.
The Hollow Promise the Internet Makes to Lonely People
The web is preaching to our hearts that you can be anything and you can do anything, and you don’t have to accept the life of the world or the truth that God has put in your life.
Why the Mission of the Church Is Spiritual and Not Political
The church is a spiritual institution, and its core of agreement builds upon truths that transcend the more ephemeral matters that concern politics.
Lent Ends in Jesus’s Death—and Yours
Everywhere you die, you will be resurrected to new life in that area. It is the continuing resurrection/ transformation/liberation work of sanctifying grace.
What Question Is Jesus Trying to Answer in the Beatitudes?
Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. It’s a counterintuitive turn. It is, if you will, an upside-down kingdom.
Unpacking “Look inside Yourself”
Knowing who you are and being true to yourself has never been more important. They are seen as signs of good mental health and well-being and the keys to authentic living and true happiness.
God’s People Are a Forgetful People
We human beings are forgetful by nature. I do not mean in a finite sense but in a fallen sense. We forget because we choose to forget.
The Many Benefits of Scripture Memorization
There are numerous spiritual benefits to the memorization of Scripture. A proper assessment begins with understanding the role of the written word of God in our lives and in our spiritual growth.
What Is Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?
Jesus teaches all the things that will be forgiven of people and then closes that talk by saying that the one thing that will not be forgiven in this world or the next is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
Is there something great or small you’re currently grieving? Have you processed that grief before God or other people? Is this grief making you numb?
4 Things Pro-life Christians Must Do in a Post-Roe World
If we do these four things in a post-Roe world, I think pro-life Christians are well-situated to make a real difference.
9 Common Excuses for Not Memorizing Scripture (And How to Overcome Them)
The human heart is deceitful and twisted in so many ways (Jer. 17:9). We can make amazing excuses for not doing things that the Lord has commanded that would richly benefit us.
Actually, Goodness and Mercy Don’t Follow Us
When we see it or experience it personally, human goodness can be truly amazing. It can be life-giving and liberating. So, too, steadfast love.
How Do I Follow Jesus When He Is Not Here?
Jesus knew that he would not always be on earth, so the command that we follow him was relevant not only for his physical days on earth but for all time.
How (and How Not) to Memorize Scripture
Always remember to give full credit to God’s work in you, and constantly seek the Spirit’s help as you memorize. Our pride is a deadly enemy to every good thing God wants to work in our souls.
Jesus is king. Jesus obeys. How do we hold those two truths together? And what does it teach us about any authority we’ve been personally given?
Why Is It So Hard to Discern the Work of the Holy Spirit in My Life?
You come to awareness and confession and belief in Christ and then gradually become aware that if you are successfully believing in Jesus, it’s because the Spirit is at work within you.
Why Beauty Is a Problem without God
I think in a way, for somebody who has not yet surrendered to Jesus Christ, beauty is a problem because beauty is so evident in this world, and it awakens a desire for eternal things.
While our collective declaration of “New year, new me” is powerful on January 1, it loses steam quickly. The second Friday in January is known as Quitters Day because so many of us give up by then.
Podcast: How You Can Jump-Start Your Bible Memorization in 2024 (Andrew Davis)
Andy Davis shares encouragement for every Christian to begin their journey of Bible memory—including practical advice on where to start and how long to spend on Bible memory each day.
5 Tips for Creating Healthy Bible-Reading Habits
We must be convinced that God’s word is true, truer even than what our circumstances and our hearts’ longings are telling us.
Opportunities to Care for the Poor and Needy Are Closer Than You Think
Here are ways for you—in whatever season you’re in and whatever mundane activities you have to get done every day—to live for the mission of Christ.
A Devotional on the Birth of Jesus by Martin Luther
I would not have you contemplate the deity of Christ, the majesty of Christ, but rather his flesh. Look upon the Baby Jesus. . . . See how God invites you.
How We Learn to See the Face of Jesus
Experiencing the reassuring, transformative, and hope-giving power of God’s gracious gaze in Christ means we must practice seeing Christ’s glory.
How to Love People Who Feel Impossible to Love
Easy love rarely shows off gospel power. But love that stretches beyond what’s possible is a stage, set to display the glory of God.
Common Ways That Jesus Displayed His Genius
The way Jesus displays his genius is very understated. That is, he says to people, “Let the one who has ears to hear, hear.” And it’s very easy not to hear.
Help! I Don’t Like Evangelizing
Why do others seem to feel so much more natural at evangelism than you? You need to know that you’re not alone in feeling that way.
7 Tips for Loving “Those” People in Your Church
What do you do with “those” people in your church—the ones who drive you crazy? If love at church were easy, how would that testify to the power of his saving work in our lives?
You Must Study the Bible with a Purpose
Every good endeavor should be done with purpose. Without a clear sense of purpose, our efforts to do a good thing well can flounder.
15 Strategies for Men to Strengthen Their Friendships
Men, you were made for friendship. You can forge deep relationships and cultivate a culture of brotherhood around you. Here are 15 strategies.
Podcast: How to Wait for Christmas in an Age of Instant Gratification (Jonathan Gibson)
Johnny Gibson discusses what it looks like to truly prepare our hearts for Christmas and talks about how and why the Advent season is meant to be a season of waiting.
The place of Advent in our calendar as being the four-week period before Christmas day on December 25 certainly lends itself to that understanding. However, while this is true, it is only half the truth.
God’s Primary Provision for Our Spiritual Hunger
How does God intend to satisfy our spiritual hunger? He gives us his word. Matthew 4 says that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Podcast: When Authority Fails to Reflect God’s Good Design (Jonathan Leeman)
Jonathan Leeman calls on anyone with some kind of authority to think carefully about how they're using that authority, encouraging them to embrace a posture of humility and repentance.
4 Feasts We Eat Every Week at Church
The primary spiritual meal of our week is before us on Sunday mornings. Through a sumptuous banquet for our hungry souls, God’s word nourishes us. Together.
What Did Jesus Teach about Himself?
Jesus taught on a variety of topics, from family, to money, to discipleship, and more. But there is one subject that is central to all his other teachings—himself.
How Adoption Mirrors God’s Love for the Fatherless
Throughout history, God has faithfully used Christians to play a pivotal role in orphan care. Until Christ’s return—when he brings full restoration and makes all things new—we’re called to continue this work.
We develop wisdom by knowing the Bible and by relying on the Holy Spirit to help us correctly live it out.
Why I No Longer Support the Death Penalty
In law school, I was a full-throated supporter of the death penalty, but I have come to the view that, as currently practiced in the United States, the death penalty is unjust as the Bible defines justice.
Podcast: The Case for Abortion—and How to Refute It (Scott Klusendorf)
Scott Klusendorf offers pro-life training by actually making a compelling case for abortion so that he can teach us how to refute it through simple logic and reason.
The Sacraments Are a Christian’s Answer to Questions of Identity
Put differently, being in Christ is our primary identity as Christians. This is true because Jesus Christ, the Son of God incarnate, is the God-man
5 Ways to Practice Scripture Meditation
Whether we are feasting with our church—a fantastic God-given means of built-in meditation alongside other hungry believers—or “snacking on” Scripture alongside our children, the point is that we feed our souls.
The Hope of the Gospel Is Someone, Not Something
The hope of the gospel is Christ. The Father has accomplished our redemption and reconciliation through his Son in order to present us blameless at the final judgment.
Why Do We Get Baptized One Time but Take Communion Many Times?
Many Christians today have a weak understanding of the sacraments and what they accomplish in the lives of believers.
Is “Mental Illness” a Helpful Label?
Labels can be helpful in beginning to describe or define what we are talking about, but labels can also cause difficulties.
6 Habits of Heart and Mind for Lifelong Learners
Lifelong learning for the glory of Christ calls for continual growth in six habits of mind and heart. We seek to instill these habits in our students so that their education does not stop when their schooling stops.
What Does It Mean to Grieve the Holy Spirit?
To grieve the Holy Spirit is something we’re told is possible and we’re commanded not to do. There are two ways of thinking about it.
Kristen Wetherell answers questions from around the world about things like keeping your Bible reading time fresh and making time for God’s word as a busy parent.
7 Tips for Cultivating Deeper Relationships at Church
Belonging is much deeper than fitting in, and it’s much more satisfying than merely having other people around. To belong is one of our deepest human needs.
God’s Blessing Goes Deeper than Any Gift or Experience
We often think of God's blessing as an achievement or an experience, but it actually goes far deeper. Chris Castaldo started learning this lesson at age nineteen in a hospital.
“Love is love” proudly pronounced that the lover's authenticity determines the love's integrity. Who can judge love? it asked. But does God define love, or do I? Is God love, or are my feelings my God?
Podcast: When Your Kid Needs a Friend (Trillia Newbell)
Trillia Newbell unpacks how God has designed all of us for friendship—both with one another and even more importantly, with himself.
5 Ways the World Would Be Worse without Christianity
Christians are instructed to “check their privilege” and “do the work” to repudiate Christianity’s toxic legacy. But what would the world really be like without Christianity?
How to Make Your House a Home Base for Mercy
Can I let you in on an embarrassing secret? When I hear someone at the door, my instinct is to breathe a frustrated sigh as numerous thoughts race through my head.
Are You Losing Your Gospel Mind?
I don’t know about you, but in the rush and press of life I can lose my mind. No, I’m talking about a subtle form of insanity that often inflicts me and a vast number of my Christian brothers and sisters.
Podcast: When Churches Get Doctrine Right and Everything Else Wrong (Ray Ortlund and Sam Allberry)
Ray Ortlund and Sam Allberry discuss the connection between gospel doctrine and gospel culture and share what it looks like when a church is theologically careful but culturally sick.
God’s rebuke is never about giving up on us; it’s about investing in us once again. God rebukes us because we need it.
A Church Is Not Just a Truth-Dispensing Center
The church is the household of God, so we can expect relationships, interaction, and shared identity to be fundamental aspects of its life.
Feeling Alone in a Crowded Congregation
We are social beings, and human connection is essential for our brain functioning, physical health, and emotional well-being. Loneliness is the unsurprising symptom of an individualistic society.
Individualism Is Defeated Every Sunday Morning
Paul Tripp describes a transformational perspective that changes the Sunday worship service from feeling like an obligation to being a wonderful gift.
God’s word and his holiness ought to bring us to our knees in fear, reverence, and obedience. And they ought to make us ask for a mediator—someone to act as a go-between for us and God.
Podcast: Why Have So Many People Stopped Going to Church? (Paul Tripp)
Paul Tripp reflects on the importance of not just the universal church but the local gathered church, and he responds to many of the reasons that people stop going to church.
There is one kind of bad news that you and I often work to deny but that we desperately need to face. Facing this news is a matter of life and death, even though it is the worst news ever.
5 Ways for Ordinary Christians to Engage in the Mission of Christ
God’s redemptive mission is vast, touching every part of life in a fallen world. For ordinary Christians, that call can feel daunting.
Help! I Don’t Know If I’m Doing Enough for Christ
Following Jesus is costly. But, Jesus is a giver, not a taker. He calls us to die so that we can live.
3 Times You Should Disobey Authority
No human authority is absolute. Authority is always relative to the assignment given by the Authority Giver.
Podcast: Answering Common Questions about Mental Illness (David Murray)
David Murray responds to questions regarding anxiety, depression, and other forms of mental illness and also offers advice on differentiating between normal feelings of sadness and something more serious.
10 Things You Should Know about the Most Famous Blessing in the Bible
It’s quite possible that this Scripture text is the one you’ve heard most often in worship. Here are ten things you should know about this most famous blessing.
Feeling hopeless and helpless is a feeling that we all have encountered at various times in our lives. This feeling or thought is the most painful part of all mental illness.
When Genuine Obedience Becomes Impossible, Hell Becomes Impossible as Well
There’s no way to understand the pastoral epistles unless you realize Paul has a category for Christians who are living a faithful, obedient life, and a category for those who are unrepentant, in whom there’s no progress.
Missionaries Come from People Like You
God is closing in on some of you. He is like the “Hound of Heaven” who means to make you far happier in some dangerous and dirty work. Missionaries and ministers of mercy don’t come from nowhere.
Can a Christian Have Mental Illness?
Some Christians believe that Christians cannot have mental illness. If a professing Christian is depressed, anxious, or bipolar, they think it’s because they are not a real Christian, or it's because of unrepented sin.
5 Ways the Digital Age Is Transforming the Way You Think
Our work, education, relationships, and even worship are increasingly happening digitally. Our tendency is often to think of these technologies as just neutral “tools." But this is not quite right.
Spiritually Hungry? The Church Service Is Your Main Meal
We have a set-apart opportunity to breathe in God’s breathed-out words, to hear, and to believe. I want to encourage you: this matters!
Is There a Difference between Courage and Christian Courage?
Jesus is better. And that enables me to face the danger, the hardship, and the fear of death that’s in front of me, because Christ is gain.
Podcast: Why You Can’t Stop Looking at Your Phone (Samuel James)
Samuel James sets forth a distinctly Christian theology of technology, one that is profoundly realistic about its power, both for good and evil.
How to Pray for a Loved One Struggling with Mental Illness
When God gives us the right spirit in prayer—the spirit of hope, patience, and love—that will usually result in the right petitions.
5 Ways You Can Nourish Your Soul with God’s Word
In this 12-minute video, Kristen Wetherell describes one method for interacting with God’s Word that is distinct from a traditional quiet time and suggests five creative ways we can use it to nourish our hungry souls.
What Can We Know about the Father’s Involvement in the Crucifixion?
What sort of knowledge of God’s action in Christ’s death may we have? That a man named Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate. What further knowledge about the cross, then, may Christians enjoy?
One Simple Yet Crucial Decision College Freshmen Need to Make
My oldest son is a freshman in college. So I’ve thought about this question: What is that important piece of advice for a graduating high school student heading off to college?
This might sound surprising (even scandalous!), but there is no command in the Bible about having a daily quiet time.
10 Key Bible Verses on God’s Love
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Dear Pastor . . . We Are Out of Balance
The world as God created it was designed with perfect balance. What is balance? It is everything in its right place doing what it was meant to do. We cannot even picture such a world.
How We Can Cherish the Work of the Holy Spirit
John Owen points out three things that we see in the New Testament in terms of how we can go about cherishing the work of the Spirit.
Podcast: Remembering the “Seashells” Sermon 23 Years Later (John Piper)
John Piper shares what he was thinking as he walked onto the stage on May 20th, 2000 to deliver a message to over 30,000 young people and talks about the impact that sermon had on his ministry.
Help! God Didn’t Answer My Prayer
The problem of “unanswered prayers” is one we all must reckon with. What we hear in Scripture often seems to contradict what we see in everyday experience
Is There Any Benefit to Looking Inward to Find Myself?
It's easy nowadays to sneer at people who say things like, "Be yourself. Be true to yourself. You do you.” But the reality is there are some real benefits to looking within yourself to find yourself.
Backsliding Stems from Indifference to the Necessity of Christ
There are reasons that are peculiar unto every especial instance of backsliding in any kind. We must not forgo the gospel, with our own experience, and ruin our souls.
On the Crushing Guilt of Failing at Quiet Time
Meet any mature, fruitful Christian, and you can almost guarantee he regularly has something like a “quiet time”—a time set aside to talk to God in prayer and hear from God in the word.
Rebalancing Our Approach to Observing the Sabbath
We don’t want to add to his Word. We don’t want to take away from his Word. We want to observe his Word, and the Sabbath is no exception.
Podcast: Christianity Is Both Easier and Harder Than You Think (Kevin DeYoung)
Kevin DeYoung discusses the reasons we’re so hard on ourselves and what it looks like to truly embrace the freedom and joy of being beloved children of our heavenly Father.
Here’s the principle. Seeing courage spreads courage. Seeing boldness awakens boldness. Seeing fearlessness overcomes fear.
11 Reasons Jesus Is the Perfect Husband
John Owen argues that we live out our friendship with the Father with his love at the center, but when it comes to the Son, it’s all about his grace.
What Did Jesus Teach about Giving Generously?
The reason money is so crucial for Jesus is that across all cultures and all ages it represents the alternative to God as the treasure of our hearts, and therefore the object of our worship.
The Greatest Danger That Any Human Being Faces
For sinners, God is the supreme terror, and when we rightly understand our situation, we are right to fear.
Podcast: Are You Courageous or Cowardly? (Joe Rigney)
Joe Rigney discusses what it really means to have Christian courage. He explores why, contrary to common misconceptions, true courage isn’t the absence of fear but rather requires it.
Beauty Is in the Eye of the True Beholder
We know there is such a thing as beauty. We know this biblically. And if the Bible stipulates certain things as beautiful, then there really is beauty in the eye of the Beholder, with a capital B.
James calls on Christians to reckon any situation, however difficult, as an occasion of intense joy. Not every element of suffering is joy. But, however severe one’s suffering, every trial is a time for intense joy.
Practically, How Do We Abide in Jesus?
Jesus commands that we go on repenting, coming, believing, loving, and listening. The transformation of repentance continues. Coming to Jesus again and again continues.
Turning Prayer from Monologue into Dialogue with God
Prayer is not pleading with a God who is not already there to somehow show up. Prayer is not enticing a silent God to finally speak.
Teens Need Something They Can’t Find Online
It is vitally important today for all of us to prioritize our local church even as the rest of the world moves more of life online. The body of Christ is essential to spiritual growth.
Why Did God’s Beautiful Plan of Redemption Involve Something So Ugly?
When we consider carefully what Jesus was doing on that old, rugged cross, we can understand why it was so ugly. To atone for our transgressions, Jesus had to shoulder our guilty sins.
Delight in God Must Be the Fuel for Mission
The foundation of all our mission is our knowledge and enjoyment of God. Our delight in God is the main fuel for mission.
10 Key Bible Verses on Being Happy
The joy that Paul calls for is not a happiness that depends on circumstances but a deep contentment that is in the Lord, based on trust in the sovereign, living God.
12 Old(ish) Books to Read When You Are Young
Talk to almost any mature, vibrant Christians, and they will tell you about Christian books that have been instrumental in their lives.
The Counterintuitive Path to Blessing
When we pray for God’s kingdom to come “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10), we sometimes imagine the kingdom to be far away.
Jesus is not commending hypocritical prayer. He is not calling for show-prayer. He is calling for real prayer, that is, real Godward desire for the good of our enemy.
The Most Effective Way to Start a Conversation with a Muslim
The wonderful thing about our Muslim friends is that they are not really reluctant to talk about religion. If you don’t talk about religion in the first two minutes, they might bring it up.
10 Things You Should Know about the Beatitudes
The Beatitudes set the moral and spiritual bar so high that we cannot possibly live up to them—and in our best moments, we know this.
How to Grow in the Fear of the Lord
Since the fear of God is a matter of the heart’s deepest inclinations, how you think you can cultivate it will depend on how you think our hearts work.
How Can Jesus Possibly Say That Those Who Mourn Are Blessed?
Much of life happens before you are ready. Our hearts race and our minds search for meaning, but some circumstances resist explanation.
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?
I’ll Be More Faithful When I’m Older
I thought I would get to be this wise Christian woman that I desired to be later in life, and I really thought that would just come with age.
10 Things You Should Know about Elisabeth Elliot
The single great passion in Elisabeth’s life was not Jim Elliot, but her desire to know the God who loved her with an everlasting love.
Should Christians Sue Each Other? (1 Corinthians 6)
Paul’s main charge in this passage is that believers who have legal disputes with fellow believers should settle those disputes before believers and not take them to the law court before unbelievers.
Podcast: Why the Church Needs Spiritual Mothers (Susan Hunt)
Susan Hunt reflects back on decades spent working to nurture the practice of Christian mentoring and shares her personal experience of mentoring others and being mentored herself.
Observing the Sabbath Starts on Monday Morning
I need to order my life Monday through Saturday so that I can do the work God has given me to do in the six days that he's given me. And if I can't do that, then the problem is on my end.
Good Advice for Living a Countercultural Life
When you think about your life, you are the main character. You never think about your life as a supporting actor or actress in someone else’s story.
Why God’s Promises Are Important for Kids Too
The struggles and complexities of life teach us through the years that we must rely on our heavenly Father. How are God’s promises also for our little ones?
10 Things You Should Know about Sanctification
Margaret Elizabeth Köstenberger
Though work remains to be done in terms of our spiritual growth, the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit involves placing us in a spiritual position of having been cleansed from sin.
What Memorizing Scripture Will Do for Your Kids
One of the neglected spiritual disciplines of our time is Scripture memorization. Rarely are churches, families, and individuals taking the time to learn by heart God’s Word.
What Is Our Friendship with God Supposed to Look Like?
We think that communion with God, or friendship with God, is some sort of secret, mystical, spiritual experience, but it's not as complicated as we might be tempted to think.
Does the Bible Speak to Today’s Struggle with Personal Identity?
The Bible does actually address many of the questions of identity that we’re asking today—in really profound, beautiful, and true ways.
Dear Pastor . . . When You Wonder How You’ll Make It, Remember This
In my experience, this unsaid thing for sustaining a long, fruitful life and ministry sounds too basic to some who quickly dismiss it.
Your Gender Is God’s Good Design
For someone born female, discipleship includes living faithfully as a female. For someone born male, discipleship includes living faithfully as a male. Each of us needs the grace and wisdom of God to do it well.
Jen Wilkin Answers Your Questions about Bible Study (Women of the Word Bonus Episode)
In this special bonus episode, Jen Wilkin answers the questions that listeners have sent in about studying the Bible.
The doctrine of the necessity of Scripture reminds us of our predicament: the One we need to know most cannot be discovered on our own, and this same ineffable One has made himself known through his word.
Why Bible Study Should Always Lead to Worship (Women of the Word Episode 10)
Jen Wilkin draws all of the ideas covered so far together to remind everyone what the true end of Bible study should be.
Is Your View of Women Aligned with Your Theology?
A body of Christ is healthiest when women are esteemed and their gifts highly valued, not just in the home but also in the church.
The 10th Commandment: Don’t Even Think about It
If contentment has been a losing battle for you, if coveting comfort or cash or companions has been your common state, let the good news sink in: contentment is learned.
Tips to Help Anyone Teach the Bible (Women of the Word Episode 9)
Jen walks through different contexts for teaching the Bible, offering tips and wisdom on how to teach well no matter who or where you are.
2 Glorious Themes from These Overlooked Books of the Bible
In the context of 2 Peter and Jude, there’s a very strong emphasis on the reality of God judging those who are in rebellion against him. And that’s intended as comfort for his people.
Podcast: Enjoying Food, Sports, and the Rest of God’s Good Gifts (Joe Rigney)
Joe Rigney talks about the biblical command to love God and turn away from idols, and he discusses how to navigate the confusing task of being in the world but not of it.
The Intersection of God’s Sovereignty and Our Perseverance
Thankfully, the maturity of a steadfast heart that reflects the image of your Savior and clings to the truth doesn’t weigh on only your shoulders.
10 Devotional Treasures from Surprising Sources
Among the classics of devotional readings, we find that great devotionals often sprang from unexpected and even unintended origins, as the following list of ten surprising sources shows.
What We Misunderstand about the Story of Abortion in America
If early American men were going on trial for forcing women to eat abortifacients, we certainly can’t believe what Justice Blackman wrote in his original Roe v. Wade opinion.
10 Bible Study Tools Every Christian Needs (Women of the Word Episode 8)
Jen Wilkin walks through different tools that can be used in the Bible study process and offers wisdom to help know when and how to best use them.
2 Ways You Can Make Your Pastor’s Job a Joy
It’s so important to say that humility toward leadership is not a blind and uncritical following. We always want to measure what we are being directed towards or encouraged in by Scripture.
An Open Letter to Graduating High School Seniors
Of all the decisions you’ll face this year, the most important one may be whether you get up and go to church on the very first Sunday when no one is there to make sure that you go.
8 Principles of Prayer from John Owen
There are some generally allowed principles, which, though not always duly considered, yet cannot at any time be modestly denied, that give direction toward the right performance of our duty [of prayer] herein.
I’d like to offer different advice than what you might hear elsewhere: “Do not follow your dreams. Do not march to the beat of your own drummer. And whatever you do, do not be true to yourself.”
Application: Understanding How Scripture Changes Us (Women of the Word Episode 7)
Jen Wilkin walks through the final stage of the Bible study process: application. She discusses how to know when it is actually time to move into this stage and how to avoid common pitfalls.
Podcast: The Graduation Speech You Won’t Hear This Year (Kevin DeYoung)
Kevin DeYoung argues that the last thing that God wants us to do is be true to ourselves, at least when it comes to our natural selves.
Is Your Work Life Biblically Balanced?
We are not only expected to crown Jesus as Lord of all someday in a heavenly future; we are required to acknowledge his dominion over all things every day.
How God Uses Friction to Shape Us
God employs friction to shape us into his Son’s likeness. Scripture reflects on this in various places.
Interpretation: Understanding What Scripture Means (Women of the Word Episode 6)
Jen Wilkin talks through what the process of interpretation looks like and gives encouragement for when we find ourselves daunted by the task.
Podcast: Wayne Grudem on His Life, Love of Theology, and Translating the Bible (Wayne Grudem)
Wayne Grudem talks about his life as a child and young adult, how he met his wife, and his journey to become one of the most influential American theologians of his generation.
The Biblical Case for Observing the Sabbath Today
We were made to work, but we were made for more than work. We were made for worship—fellowship in communion with the living God.
What Does It Mean to Live a Life Worthy of the Gospel?
On the one hand, here is the gospel. And on the other hand, here is your life. And Paul’s exhortation is this: Live in such a way that your life “weighs the same” as the gospel!
Comprehension: Understanding What Scripture Says (Women of the Word Episode 5)
Jen Wilkin discusses the first of three steps in the Bible study process—comprehension. She walks through how this underappreciated step is a key building block to studying the Bible well.
How to Have the Mind of Christ
It is all very well to say that being “worthy of the gospel of Christ” means being restored to the image of God so that we begin to reflect the character of the Lord Jesus. But what does that mean?
What Is Natural Law and How Should It Be Used?
Natural law theory refers to the idea that there is an external moral order that God has brought into existence and is an extension of God’s reason and God's will.
Podcast: Sinclair Ferguson on Living a Life Worthy of the Gospel (Sinclair Ferguson)
Sinclair Ferguson walks through why living lives worthy of the gospel is a biblical exhortation that all Christians must take seriously and one that doesn't inevitably lead to the sin of legalism.
An Open Letter to Teens Facing Doubts about Christianity
Perhaps you believe in Jesus, but sometimes you are not sure. Maybe you find the Bible hard to understand or you find yourself wondering what is true. Asking questions is often the best way to learn.
Where Christ Isn’t Being Treasured, He’s Being Used
Christ as a treasure is not a slice of Christ. It is every dimension of Christ—all of Christ—making up the totality of his infinite value.
How to Improve in Our Reasoning
All our knowledge imitates God’s original knowledge. And this imitation is mysterious, because God’s knowledge is mysterious.
Can I Really Have Friendship with the Triune God of the Universe?
Because of everything that God has done for us in Christ, we can shockingly have a relationship—a friendship—with God.
5 Key Principles for Transformative Bible Study (Women of the Word Episode 4)
Jen Wilkin walks through principles for studying the Bible that are essential to remember in order to get the most out of your time in God's word.
The Bible teaches that we are continuously dependent on God. This dependence includes not only dependence on him for food and physical sustenance, but dependence on him mentally.
Everyone Has a Worldview, and Almost No One Has a Worldview
J. H. Bavinck makes the paradoxical claim that worldview is both everywhere (“Everyone has a worldview”) and nowhere (“Almost no one has a worldview”). How can both these statements be true?
How Much Should Christians Care about the Environment?
God is committed to the earth and has given humans responsibility to care for it. This Biblical truth is foundational from the opening chapter of the Bible.
What Not to Do in Your Relationship with the Holy Spirit
A relationship is a two-way street; that means that there is a role for us to play with the Holy Spirit. We need to think about what we need to do in order to enjoy and live out our communion with him.
Learn to Say “Help” to the Lord
It is not always easy to talk openly to the Lord. We need help, but it is difficult to actually ask God for it. Why is it so difficult? Why do we sometimes resist speaking to him?
In the age of TikTok, how does a naked, bloodied, and bruised body hanging on a wooden cross outside Jerusalem have any connection with my life?
Is There a Wrong Way to Study the Bible? (Women of the Word Episode 3)
Jen Wilkin describes the wrong ways we approach Bible study and what our failed attempts to engage with God's Word reveal about our own attitude toward Scripture.
Consensus is hard, especially in an individualistic culture where “have it your way” consumerism is the air we breathe. Sometimes it’s just easier to say, “You do you, I’ll do me.”
What Is a Personality vs. a Soul?
A soul can be called a personality insofar as the powers within it have come into connection with each other and have penetrated one another.
5 Reasons You Did Not and Cannot Reinvent Yourself
You are not just an individual. You are not your own creation. You did not invent yourself. You exist in a web of relationships. You are a social animal.
Podcast: How to Respond to Common Arguments against Christianity (William Lane Craig)
William Lane Craig discusses how to respond to common arguments against Christianity that we often hear but may not know how to respond to.
Our Friendship with God Is a Two-Way Street
Most Christians know that they are supposed to do some basic things: go to church, avoid sin, read the Bible, and pray. But what do any of those things have to do with being God’s friend?
4 Privileges We Enjoy as Friends of God
Our friendship with God isn’t just a vague concept filed away in heaven, it’s a permanent and stable reality that gives shape and structure to our lives.
Overcoming Common Barriers to Bible Study (Women of the Word Episode 2)
Jen Wilkin identifies a handful of perceived obstacles that prevent us from studying the Bible and how we can actually overcome those and take joy in reading and studying God's word.
Fight the Good Fight but Surrender the Bad Ones
Paul shows the Philippians catastrophic consequences of unnecessary war to make them long for necessary peace. Let’s fight the good fight of faith but surrender bad fights of faith.
Podcast: How Does Life Change If God Is Actually My Friend? (Mike McKinley)
Mike McKinley talks about what it means for us as Christians to be friends of God, about the friendship that Jesus had on earth, and about what it looks like for us to lean into our friendship with God.
Knowing the Power of His Resurrection
Do you strain with all of your might to see things the way Christ sees them? Do you strain to please him in everything? Do you strain to understand everything through him?
A really intriguing thing, which goes against the notion of expressive individualism, is the fact that we live in shared stories.
How Does the Cross Lead Us to Humility?
For an awakened heart—a heart that’s been touched by grace and the gospel—there’s a different kind of humility that is produced when you think about what Jesus did for you.
2 Comforts for Those Discouraged with Prayer
Many Christians are—or have been—discouraged by their prayer lives. Here are a couple of things to remember about the practice of prayer.
Introducing the ‘Women of the Word’ Podcast with Jen Wilkin
Join Jen Wilkin over ten weeks as she walks through methods, tips, and encouragements to studying the Bible more deeply so we might know and love the God of the Bible better.
How Studying the Bible Changed My Life (Women of the Word Episode 1)
Jen Wilkin discusses how believers can learn to study the Bible with both their hearts and their minds and ultimately love the God who it points to.
Podcast: Help Jump-Start Your Journey through Scripture (Jonathan Pennington)
Jonathan Pennington details three helpful approaches to reading the Bible, and he also highlights the potholes that we so often run into as we engage with Scripture and how to avoid them.
Outward Beauty Cannot Bear the Weight of Being Your Source of Hope
Does our outward appearance convey to the watching world where our hope is? Does it show that our hope is firmly rooted and established in Jesus, in his good work, on our behalf?
Hope sometimes doesn’t feel like power; it feels like foolishness. High hopes can lead to horrible hopelessness. The Bible has something to say about that feeling.
Build Your Life around Spiritual Habits, Don’t Just Fit Them In
If there's anything in our life that we want to do with regularity, we have to plan for it. It's just practical living.
Podcast: Does It Matter What I Believe? (Samuel James)
Samuel James walks through a number of common misconceptions and fears that we often have when it comes to thinking about our theology, ultimately making the case that what you believe matters today and for eternity.
11 Passages to Read to Help Fight Anger
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
Mom, What Is Your Only Comfort in This Life?
When our hearts are full of questions and we're asking Why? and How?, so often what we think we want or need is answers to those questions.
2 Common Mistakes in Interpreting Scripture
The point of interpreting Scripture is not to rob us of the joy of the journey but rather to protect us from wrong turns and unnecessary repairs that will slow us down.
5 Myths about Making Decisions
The sooner we learn to see decisions as a blessing rather than a burden, the more we will begin to experience the God-intended delight that comes with the decision-making process.
Podcast: How Journaling Could Reinvigorate Your Prayer Life (Erika Allen)
Erika Allen talks about the struggles of consistent prayer, how journaling can help us with that, and what God really thinks about our baby steps towards him.
Nativity Scenes, T-Rexes, and the Gestalt Shift
One of the most powerful human experiences is when one construal is replaced with another, when a shift in the Gestalt happens and we come to see in a different way.
True Peace Isn’t Found in the Absence of Conflict
When pain tempts me to feel disheartened and glumly stare out a window, I stand up to my miserable emotions. I quell those dark feelings by singing about peace and resting my soul in God.
Lady Brilliana Harley: Four Hundred Love Letters
I learned a lot from reading Harley. But I think one of the most valuable parts of studying her letters, at least for me, was that they showed me how important a simple note of encouragement can be.
Struggling in Your Faith? Isolation Isn’t the Answer
The hardest thing for struggling Christians to recognize is that church is exactly the community they need.
How the Holy Spirit Helps Us Read Scripture
Following Jesus by faith (i.e., discipleship) is the foundation of understanding. We don’t simply understand and then follow. We come to understand as we follow. This is the work of the Spirit.
Why Is Temptation So Hard to Withstand?
Why do we need a shield to live the Christian life? The Bible is clear: because we have an enemy, who is poised ready to attack us.
What True Humility Is and Is Not
One mistake that we can make in thinking about humility is seeing it as self-hatred, as though to be humble means you’re constantly attacking yourself or you’re denying your own worth.
‘Seinfeld’ Showed Me How We Got Here and Why I Don’t Care
The paradox of apathy is that we are captivated by the things we don’t really care about and are lukewarm to the things that, in our heart of hearts, mean the most to us.
Anne Bradstreet: Doubting Thousands of Times
The reason I can even have times of doubt and resolution and restored happiness is only because I am alive, because someone created me and is keeping me (and my faith!) going.
Podcast: The Life and Legacy of J. I. Packer (Sam Storms)
Sam Storms reflects on Packer's remarkable life and ministry, including how Packer came to faith and the impact that his many books have had on generations of Christians.
When we are praying in the Spirit, we are being obedient to what the Spirit desires, and bringing those desires to God in prayer.
Dear Pastor . . . No, You Are Not a Failure
Our present failures make us long for future heaven, to hasten the day when the pain of failure and the torture of disappointment will be gone forever.
Podcast: Help! My Christian Life Is a Mess (Lewis & Sarah Allen)
Lewis and Sarah Allen talk about the painful trials and unexpected disappointments in our lives as Christians and what we should do when our faith feels weak or our walk with Christ feels like a mess.
How (and How Not) to Think about Retirement
A good retirement is far from a given. Due reflection must be given to how you will take advantage of the new opportunities available and how bad choices can easily disappoint.
9 Conversation Starters to Help You Get Out of a Prayer Rut
How do we talk to our heavenly Father like we might to good friends? Quite simply, what does it mean to become human again as a group?
Joanne J. Jung, Richard Langer
Followership, like leadership, is prone to misunderstanding. Unlike leadership, however, followership has few (if any) positive perceptions in contemporary culture.
Mary Rich: Turning Pain into Power
It is often our deepest pains that inspire and motivate us to do the greatest good we can do in our lifetimes.
3 Musts before You Hit “Reply”
A commitment to wholesome talk isn’t first a commitment to a restricted vocabulary but rather to change at the level of the thoughts, desires, intentions, and choices of the heart.
In Your Race of Faith, Run Together
Christians aren’t designed to run alone. When we run together, we encourage one another to endure.
10 Key Bible Verses on Spiritual Gifts
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.
Luther's Two Theses about What a Christian Is
A Christian is a free lord of everything and subject to no one. A Christian is a willing servant of everything and subject to everyone.
The Hidden Prayers and Pray-ers behind Great Movements
God designed his church to look like his Son who spent most of his life hidden, so the most important people in the church are often invisible.
Lucy Hutchinson: My Favorite Puritan Woman
According to Puritans like Lucy Hutchinson, loving God and godliness did not mean hating other people, either openly or secretly.
Jesus doesn’t say that we must. But he says we will. In that sense, fasting is not an obligation, but it is an opportunity—and one too powerful to miss.
Lemuel Haynes: The Most Important American Figure That You’ve Never Heard Of
Haynes needs no modern apologies, no asterisk next to his legacy. He was a great minister of grace, worthy of great emulation.
Podcast: Are You an Evangelical, a Pharisee, or Both? (Michael Reeves)
Michael Reeves talks about the Pharisaism that all-too-often takes root in our churches, our homes, and, ultimately, our hearts, challenging us to see how the sins of pride and hypocrisy are an ever-present threat to us as God’s people.
The Dangerous Ways We Add to Scripture
The pages of church history are littered with heretics who boasted of their devotion to Scripture yet failed to spot how their biblical language concealed unbiblical thinking.
The Story of Jesus Guarantees How Your Story Will End
We all work to make the plot that we have written for ourselves come true. But grace introduces another author.
The 2 Characteristics of Revival
By divine command, we must pray for the reinvigorating of God’s people—morning and evening, today and tomorrow, this year and next year, and in all the years until Christ’s return.
Agnes Beaumont: Making Sense of the Nonsensical
Puritans believed that Scripture was inspired by God and without error, but also that it gives us all the wisdom we need in the exact place, time, and situations we find ourselves in.
Why 2 Peter and Jude Matter to You Today
In the midst of a world that often seems out of control, knowing our ultimate destiny is a source of great comfort and motivation to press on in the face of serious challenges and opposition to the gospel.
Does Singleness Waste My Sexuality?
There will be a time when there will be no more earthly marriage. Marriage, as we practice it now, will have served its purpose. Life then is a fulfillment of all that marriage now is meant to point to.
The Deceptively Easy Path to Prideful Humility
There is a danger, in thinking about humility, that we can become so self-preoccupied in the process, and it kind of defeats the point.
How to Pray with the End Times in Mind
Closely connected to end-time gatherings for the sake of encouraging each other not to grow cold in love, but to persevere in faith, is the summons to end-time praying.
Why Catholic Philosopher Robert George Matters to Protestants
With a career spanning over thirty years and who presently holds the title of McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Robert P. George is one of the world’s most prominent and respected public intellectuals.
Tossing Out Beliefs When They Don’t Spark Joy
What’s fascinating (and saddening) is that there seem to be many Christians, particularly in the affluent West, who think of theology, or doctrine, the way Marie Kondo thinks of clutter.
The Most Important Paragraph in Human History
The human means of justification is (God-given) faith; the divine means is redemption. God justifies sinners by uniting them with Christ.
An Open Letter to the Prayerless Church
The church is a spiritual force. It is animated by the Spirit of Jesus in our midst. So, if we want to see the church brought back to life, we have to make room to listen and be led by the Spirit as a community.
Carolyn Mahaney, Nicole Mahaney Whitacre
When we come to the house of God—in Solomon’s day, the temple, and in our time, the church—we are coming into the presence of God.
A Devotional on Communing with God through Nature by George Washington Carver
Nature in its varied forms are the little windows through which God permits me to commune with Him, and to see much of His glory, majesty, and power by simply lifting the curtain and looking in.
Who Killed the Prayer Meeting?
Behind our busyness and wealth is a philosophy called secularism, which doesn’t just deny God’s existence but denies the existence of any spiritual world.
What Must Happen before Jesus Returns?
We do not know how much time must elapse before Jesus comes. We err to say otherwise. But we may err in the other direction as well—presuming to think that he must not be near.
Help for Regular Bible Reading When Life Is Hectic
The best thing is to have a plan—even if it's one of your own creation. Just map out a series of readings for yourself.
There’s No Heaven That Envy Can’t Turn into Hell
Envy is one of those sins that hides and lurks. And so many times we can be experiencing envy that's robbing our joy, and yet we're not even aware that we're struggling with the sin of envy.
An Antidote to Spiritual Amnesia
We forget we were saved by God. We forget the suffering required to save us. We forget to worship God for saving us. What’s the antidote for such serious spiritual amnesia?
What Did Jesus Teach about Discipleship?
Jesus’s instruction about discipleship applies to all (i.e., not simply the twelve) who want to follow him and includes three elements: denying oneself, taking up one’s cross, and following him.
Why Should Christians Care about Church History?
For the Christian community, history is the stage on which the drama of redemption is being displayed—at the beginning is the Fall, at the end is the Last Judgment. In between, the most crucial event of all.
Can We Have Justice without Jesus?
The real question is whether or not we would want justice without Jesus. And there are two reasons why the answer to that question should be ‘no.’
Can Humility and Social Media Coexist?
We cannot stop the incessant screaming and scrambling that is the internet. But we can try to reduce our own involvement in the problems and do whatever we can to contribute to a healthier culture.
An Open Letter to a Young Woman Contemplating an Abortion
If by “personal” we mean something that belongs to you and no one else, your decision about whether or not to end this pregnancy by abortion is not as personal as they say.
The Spirit’s Work of Conviction through the Conscience of a Sinner
The work of conviction of sin on those who expected it not, who desired it not, and who would avoid it if by any means possible they could.
It’s more difficult to think too much of yourself when you remember what is currently riveting the attention of the mightiest angels.
Podcast: The Cure to Our Polarization and Outrage: Humility (Gavin Ortlund)
Gavin Ortlund talks about misconceptions we often have about humility—that it corresponds to weakness or that it hides our abilities—and discusses how humility is so foundational for experiencing true joy in Christ.
Learning to Hate for All the Right Reasons
Carolyn Mahaney, Nicole Mahaney Whitacre
Like Solomon, we must hate life. We must hate its terms and dread its end. We cannot control or comprehend anything.
The Fruit of the First Sin Was Shame
We feel shame when some fault, imperfection, or vulnerability of ours conflicts with what we think we should be. Finding this shameful, we attempt to hide.
Revelation 5:8–12 portrays a similar scene, with multiplied thousands of voices singing of the worthiness of God and the Lamb. That is the song of heaven. I cannot wait to hear it.
20 Engaging Questions to Ask Kids at Church
As churches everywhere shake their heads in frustration over declining commitment among younger generations, we need to remember that a person’s commitment to the church is often formed early.
Podcast: Recover the Lost Art of Bible Meditation in 2023 (David Mathis)
David Mathis talks about the spiritual discipline of meditating on Scripture and why it has the power to lead us to renewed excitement, joy, and satisfaction when it comes to God's word.
Are Vocation and Occupation the Same Thing?
In our ordinary conversation, vocation and occupation can be the same thing, but in the history of language and in the Bible’s expression of what we're doing, they actually have very special distinctions.
Let’s Talk about Our Bible Literacy Problem
When women grow increasingly lax in their pursuit of Bible literacy, everyone in their circle of influence is affected.
Porn is Satanic. Why do I say that? Because the world of porn is infested with lies. Porn needs lies and myths to keep going.
Experiencing conviction over sin should actually encourage rather than condemn us, because it is evidence of being alive in Christ.
Earthly Categories for Spiritual Things
General revelation works both directly and indirectly. It works directly by creating categories in our minds and hearts for knowing God. This is direct because we move straight from the made thing to God himself.
The Bible promises that in Jesus, we have peace. But when our circumstances and our emotions threaten us with despair, it doesn’t always feel like that is the case.
7 Tips for Deeper Conversations at Family Gatherings
Cheryl Marshall, Caroline Newheiser
Preparation for your family gathering will involve shopping, decorating, and meal planning. But it will also involve preparing your heart for how to achieve deeper conversations at your family gathering.
The Crushing Obligation to Keep Doing More and More
I understand there are lazy people out there who need to get radical for Jesus. I also know people like me, people who easily feel a sense of responsibility, people who easily feel bad for not doing more
Lots of people want to teach us how to postpone death through healthy living, but very few teach on how to face up to death when healthy living is fading.
Excited about Christmas, Less So about Christ
As Christians, we sometimes find ourselves excited about Christian things, but surprisingly indifferent to Christ.
However baptism is conducted, we go under the water as a picture of our death with Christ and we rise up from the water as a picture of our resurrection with Christ.
How (and How Not) to Discuss Doctrinal Differences
Divisiveness belongs to the works of the flesh. Believers who walk by the Spirit must address their doctrinal differences in the fruit of the Spirit.
A Devotional on Christlikeness by Florence Nightingale
If we have not true religious feeling and purpose, life . . . becomes a mere routine and bustle. . . . Our work must be the first thing, but God must be in it.
Reclaiming Christmas Carols for Our Worship
In the midst of confusing, chaotic, and despairing times, carols give expression to the hope, peace, and joy we’re all longing for.
The Believe-in-Yourself Gospel
We’re a generation that has been raised on spiritual fast food, and we’re sick. It’s time for us to sit down at the table, linger, and sup on the feast the King has for us.
Podcast: D. A. Carson on His Life, Vision for Ministry, and Biggest Influences (D. A. Carson)
D. A. Carson talks about his life and ministry, how God led him to the academy, the original vision behind the Gospel Coalition, and what it looks like to pursue simple faithfulness before God in his stage of life.
What Does Jesus Want This Christmas?
What does Jesus want this Christmas? We can see the answer in his prayers.
You Become Like What You “Like”
Social media has become the new PR firm of the brand Self, and we check our feeds compulsively and find it nearly impossible to turn away from looking at—and loving—our “second self.”
What Do I Do If I Don’t Like My Job?
Even in the onerous jobs, there is a glory that God intends for his people as they do what needs to be done.
3 Misconceptions That Many Muslims Have about Christianity
Muslims love to talk about religion, and I write this to encourage you to talk with your Muslim neighbors about meaningful spiritual matters that concern salvation and eternity.
Podcast: Why Discernment Today Is So Needed Yet So Neglected (Tim Challies)
Tim Challies talks about what spiritual discernment actually looks like, why it's so important for the mature Christian, and how to cultivate it in our own lives.
I want to conduct a thought experiment by thinking about how some of our behavior can negatively affect our pastors.
Is Islam Really the Fastest Growing Religion in the World?
You have probably heard that Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world. This claim is driven by Pew Research Center data, but it can be misleading.
Can We Find Lasting Encouragement through the Power of Positive Thinking and Self-Help?
But God's word says that God's power is made perfect through weakness. So I'm intended to come in my weakness in search of God's power, not in search of my own power.
How Prayer Produces a Soul at Rest
We pray because we should, or worse, because we think we have to if we want to experience God’s blessings. A quote from John Calvin in his commentary on Matthew 6:5–6 helped me understand prayer differently.
What If I Differ with My Pastor on Politics?
You may disagree with your pastor’s approach on a particular issue. He could be wrong. You could be wrong. It may be important enough to leave. It may not.
5 Pitfalls to Avoid When Sharing the Gospel with a Muslim
We should be prepared to avoid particular pitfalls in dialogue with our Muslim neighbors. We need to be focused and avoid distractions. Our goal is to reflect and proclaim Christ, not to defeat competitors.
Identifying Devotional Gems in Unexpected Places
In compiling my anthology, I worked hard to find devotional riches in unexpected places. Many of the authors would doubtless be surprised by what I chose for devotional purposes.
10 Things You Should Know about Islam
We are not called to accept, follow, or love any ideology, but rather, in discernment and wisdom and based on biblical fidelity, we should test every thought and claim.
Podcast: What Your Muslim Neighbor Misunderstands about Christianity (A. S. Ibrahim)
A. S. Ibrahim talks about misconceptions that Muslims may have about Christianity and misconceptions that Christians may have about Islam which could even lead to ineffective evangelism.
God is a good God and a generous God who wants to bring joy and happiness into our lives. He loves to bless his children.
What Is the Difference between God’s Discipline and God’s Punishment?
God promises never to repay us for our sins. Why? How? Because he's already poured out that judgment and that wrath on his Son in our place.
A Devotional on Prayer by Jane Austen
Teach us to feel the importance of every day, and every hour as it passes, and earnestly strive to make a better use of what thy goodness may yet bestow on us, than we have done of the time past.
What Does It Mean to Represent Jesus in My Job?
If we are representing Jesus in our work, it means there's value to our work because we are showing the world his character and care—and that's always part of our witness.
Podcast: Is the Sabbath Still Relevant for Christians? (Guy Waters)
Guy Waters discusses God's original purpose for the Sabbath, how the idea of Sabbath rest recurs throughout the Old and New Testaments, and whether the Sabbath is relevant for Christians today.
The Son of Man Came Eating and Drinking
The meals of Jesus represent something bigger. They represent a new world, a new kingdom, a new outlook. But they give that new reality substance.
Is Feeling Discouraged Always Wrong?
If Jesus knew our humanity and that we needed to be encouraged to be strong and courageous, then we don't have to feel embarrassed or ashamed when we feel afraid.
4 Questions about Headship and Head Coverings
What does it mean that the husband is the head of his wife? What is the covering? What “head” does the woman dishonor? What does Paul mean by “authority”?
Podcast: Growing as a Follower in a Culture Obsessed with Leadership (Richard Langer, Joanne Jung)
Richard Langer and Joanne Jung point out the prevalence of books, podcasts, and workshops on leadership and suggest that the contrasting idea of followership is where our focus should be.
What Did Jesus Teach about Resurrection?
Jesus's teachings affirmed a future resurrection for the righteous and the wicked, but he himself was raised in the middle of history as the firstfruits of the life that will be ours.
It’s by Design That We’ve Never Lived without the Sabbath
In the creation account, God makes the world and everything in it in six days. A seventh day follows that is set apart from the previous six in some important ways.
Jesus Is Not Ashamed of Those Who Have Nothing: The Story of the Thief on the Cross
The reality is that Jesus doesn't need anything. And we see this vividly in the story of the thief on the cross.
How (and How Not) to Keep the Sabbath
It is tempting to rush into discussions about what to do (and not to do) on the Sabbath. But before we get there, there are a couple of questions that we need to ask.
The One and Only Way to Enjoy Evangelizing
If we fear that God’s love for us is reluctant or that his approval rests on our performance, we won’t feel any real affection for him, our service will be grudging, and the world will likely see through us.
Practical Atheism Comes Naturally to Us
Practical atheism is natural to man in his depraved state and very frequent in the hearts and lives of men. “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” He regards him as little as if he had no being.
If the Good News Is So Good, Why Aren’t People Flocking to It?
Perhaps the most perplexing response we encounter in evangelism is not so much anger but apathy. This reaction may frustrate the evangelist, but it should provoke our compassion.
As we move through life, the world just constantly dupes us into believing a false story. Our heads and our Bibles might tell us, “God willing,” but we are immersed in the oxygen of the world, which says, “Me willing.”
What Makes Our Prayers Distinctively Christian?
We're asking for God to do gospel things in our lives, among our families, and in our churches. And that's what makes Christian prayer distinctively Christian.
In a Divisive World Your Values Reveal Your God
The gospel is entirely relational. Christ purchased for us peace with God and, through that peace, peace with one another.
Your Words Will Change the World Today
Do you ever consciously and deliberately set your words to work, sending them off into the world and into someone else’s life to do them good?
Do We Secretly Resent Evangelism?
Every Christian knows we’re meant to share the gospel and look for opportunities to witness to Christ, yet almost all of us find it a genuine struggle, if not a gloomy discouragement.
The Most Powerful Force of Transformation in the Universe
Grace is the most powerful force of transformation in the universe. The incalculable transforming power of grace should never be minimized or doubted.
Podcast: Why Is Obeying God So Simple and Yet So Incredibly Hard? (David Gibson)
David Gibson talks about our struggle with obeying God's word and what that reveals about our sinful hearts, our theology, and our understanding of the Christian life.
Our craving for love is good, for we were made to be known intimately and loved faithfully. However, when misplaced, this craving becomes deeply destructive.
What to Say to Someone Suffering like Job
The book of Job does not directly tell us how to address Job-like suffering. But I think we can sketch what a helpful answer would be, if we take an approach exactly opposite from the friends.
7 Commitments to Make before Using Social Media
Because of who human beings are by God’s design and their lofty place in God’s economy, we should always treat everyone with dignity no matter who they are.
12 Passages to Read to Help Fight Impatience
Waiting is not easy, and the strength for patience comes only through trusting in the Lord. Be encouraged by these verses from God's Word when you're in a season of waiting.
8 Ways We Normalize the Abnormal
God has made it clear that the norm for his children should be love. It is the thing that the listening and watching world should know us for.
Podcast: The Dehumanizing Habits That Social Media Has Normalized (Paul Tripp)
Paul Tripp discusses how we as God’s people should think about the reactive culture in which we live and how to make sure we're not part of the problem.
Priests of God in the Workplace
You are a priest of God in your workplace. A priest represents the glory of God by showing his character and care to his people.
According to Jesus, the people who are ashamed of him are those who refuse to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him. They’ve considered Jesus unworthy of their devotion and obedience.
Two Truths You Must Believe When You Feel Stuck in Your Sin
It is a good thing for you to see your sin. You need to feel the conviction of the Spirit on the one hand, but God doesn't want you to stay in that mindset.
The Most Important Lessons John Piper Learned from His Dad
Where did I learn that delight in God is our highest duty? Before I encountered Jonathan Edwards and C. S. Lewis and Daniel Fuller, there was my father, Bill Piper.
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.
How Does Being Created in the Image of God Change How We Think about Our Work?
Because we're created in the image of God, reflecting him in what we do, we're also fulfilling his purposes for our lives.
Why Do Christians Make Such a Big Deal about Sex?
The fundamental reason why Christians believe that sex belongs only in the permanent bond of male-female marriage is because of the metaphor of Jesus’s love for his church.
Podcast: Fighting for Faith in the Midst of Doubt (Glenna Marshall)
Glenna Marshall discusses how we should view our doubts about the Bible, the gospel, and God's love for us, and how our struggles with doubt should give way to a more resilient faith.
The Hardest Thing Jesus Said about My Money
Perhaps you felt a twinge of discomfort when Jesus told the rich young man to give everything he had to the poor and follow him. But he’s not done.
Preaching Can't Love You Back (but People Will)
I love expositional preaching. It re-centered my ideological world, exploded my love for Jesus, and opened my mind to the wonders of the Scriptures. But expositional preaching has never loved me back.
The Unbiblical Pursuit of a Trouble-Free Life
How can we keep on loving and serving people when life has so much pain and disappointment? What are the roots of endurance?
What Does It Mean When We Pray “Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread”?
This is still a powerful reminder and a necessary prayer because even though we may see grocery stores around every corner, we still are dependent upon God to give us what we need.
Jesus Is Not Ashamed of Those Who Are Overlooked: The Story of Bartimaeus
It's not hard to feel overlooked, right? In a world this big, we can kind of just blend in and it just makes us feel, in many ways, insignificant.
The God Who Runs After Those Who Wander
We are a people who are prone to wander. We are so drawn to instant gratification. We're drawn to the things that we can see that are tangible and right in front of us.
A Narrative of Hope in the Darkness of Tragedy
The sovereignty of God is not some debatable proposition; it is the assurance that your child’s death is not a meaningless accident.
14 Passages to Read When You're Doubting Your Salvation
When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.
Ashamed Sinner, Unashamed Savior
God has gone through great pains to prove to us that he's not as ashamed of us as we often are of ourselves.
Money can’t buy you a satisfied heart, money can’t buy you peace and happiness, and money can’t buy you a reason to get up in the morning.
Does God Really Care about My Job?
He does care about your job because he cares about you, and he has given you a calling of extending his kingdom, his name, and his glory into the place that you work.
Godliness with contentment is great gain. Read and be encouraged by Scripture on how not to covet after wealth and be glad in God.
3 Kinds of Prayers That God Answers
We know we should pray. We start praying. But soon we give up. Or we pray with no expectation of an answer. Or we pray for the wrong things. Prayer becomes a problem rather than a solution.
Why It Matters That Jesus Was and Still Is Human
The impression often seems to be that the Son of God came down from heaven in incarnate form, spent three decades or so as a human, and then returned to heaven to revert back to his preincarnate state.
Does Rahab Show Us That It's Sometimes Okay to Lie? (Joshua 2)
Although sparingly told—or perhaps because it is sparingly told—the tiny drama has exercised a fascination out of all proportion to its size.
Stress sickens the soul. Yes, stress causes bodily disease (some estimate that 90 percent of doctor visits are stress-related), but it also causes soul disease. Stress and spirituality are mortal enemies.
Podcast: The Antidote to a Boring Prayer Life (Donald Whitney)
Donald Whitney talks about a simple, proven approach to prayer that has the potential to transform your spiritual life for the better.
Is It Possible to Suffer Well?
It takes discipline to carry pain with you while not letting it asphyxiate you. It will not crush you if you believe Christ is in it.
Imagine Reading ‘The Lord of the Rings’ the Way You Read the Bible
Imagine reading The Lord of the Rings out of order. You pick it up, flip over to Rivendell for a moment, then hop over to Mordor before slamming back into the Shire.
Dear Pastor . . . You Should Follow More Than You Lead
Joanne J. Jung, Richard Langer
We challenge people to lead, we train and equip them to lead, and we celebrate and praise them for leading (or condemn them as the case may be). Followership, in contrast, is almost completely ignored.
My Suffering Savior Taught Me to Sing
My suffering Savior has taught me to always choose a song—a song that fortifies my faith against discouragement and breathes hope into my heart.
Podcast: 15 Questions about Reading and Understanding the Bible (Greg Gilbert)
Greg Gilbert answers common questions about reading the Bible such as: How do I get started with a consistent habit of Bible reading? When should I read it? How long? And what if I don’t understand something?
Mentoring is a discipleship relationship that focuses on equipping younger believers for the work of ministry so that they grow in maturity and unity in the faith with the ultimate goal of glorifying God.
12 Passages to Read to Help Fight Laziness
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
Songs of Suffering: A Short Film Featuring Joni Eareckson Tada
No one has spoken more personally and insightfully into the intersection of suffering and faith than Joni Eareckson Tada. In this 13-minute documentary, hear more from Joni herself about her story.
This Day in History: John Newton Was Born (and Surrendered His Life to the Lord)
“The day is now arrived when I propose to close all my deliberations on this subject with a solemn, unreserved, unconditional surrender of myself to the Lord.”
Many passages in Scripture speak to the missionary task, but at the foundation we need to remember that we do missions because Jesus commissioned his people to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth.
What the Church Today Needs to Hear from the Book of Revelation
This message to patiently endure persecution for Christ is a message our church needs today. And if where we are right now means we don’t need it today, maybe we will tomorrow.
Podcast: Paralysis, Heartache, and Hymns of Hope (Joni Eareckson Tada)
Joni Eareckson Tada talks about how she has wrestled with the truth of God’s sovereignty over her life through the years and how she hangs on to the hope of heaven each and every day.
Stop the Spread of Infectious Anger
Christopher Ash, Steve Midgley
Anger is infectious. It is not a purely individual phenomenon; there is a corporate dimension. Here, we'll explore five biblical examples of infectious anger.
Are Some Sins Worse Than Others?
John MacArthur, Richard Mayhue
Are all sins the same in God’s eyes, or are some sins worse than others? All sins are the same in the sense that each renders a person guilty and worthy of God’s wrath.
Help! My Sunday Mornings Are Chaotic
You have the opportunity of passing on to your children a deep love for Sunday mornings. Children learn to love what their parents love.
Which Sins Are Feeding Your Sin of Lust?
In ministry to someone who struggles with sexual darkness, you may get the breakthrough in another screening room, in an area that neither of you had noticed or considered to be related.
10 Things You Should Know about Family Discipleship
In Jesus's call to make disciples everywhere and to teach his commandments entirely, we can be absolutely sure that this imperative includes those disciples we will make in our own homes.
Podcast: 12 Key Tools for Bible Study (Lydia Brownback)
Lydia Brownback discusses 12 key tools for Bible study that all Christians can use—tools that will help us go deeper into the biblical text and understand the Bible’s life-giving message for ourselves.
4 Questions about Our Suffering
Why are we to rejoice in our suffering? Why do we suffer in the ways that we do, and why do some suffer much more than others? Why doesn’t God usually answer our prayers for him to end our suffering?
Viewing the Christian Story through the Lens of Our Suffering
Suffering disrupts our lives, seeming to violate the way life should be. This can make us desperate to know why we are suffering.
Podcast: Why Your Job Has Meaning and Purpose . . . Even If You Don't Like It (Bryan Chapell)
Bryan Chapell talks about why the work you do day in and day out matters to God—probably more than you realize.
Squeezing Marriage into Our Kingdom of Self
Why do we have to marry flawed people? Wouldn’t it have been much easier if God had worked it out so that we would be fully sanctified, then married?
Our occupation is what occupies us as we make a living. The word vocation originates in a word for “calling” and refers to what God has called us to do to fulfill his mission in our lives.
Why Are We Baptized in Jesus’s Name?
For Jesus’s name carries Jesus’s claim, and undergoing baptism is, for those who have reached years of discretion, a sign that the claim is being accepted.
A Lack of Generosity Means a Lack of Contentment
If we really believe that the God who created the universe cares for us and is working in our lives, then that removes the fear that makes us hoard our money.
Podcast: Why Apologetics Is Easier Than You Think (Neil Shenvi)
Neil Shenvi talks about how every Christian can do apologetics and why we must not stop advocating for the truthfulness of Christianity—even in our post-truth age.
Your struggle with assurance is a struggle to see yourself rightly—specifically, to exchange your perspective of yourself with God’s perspective of you.
We’ll Be Truly Alive on Our Third Birthday
Some day, some way, my heart will stop, as sure as eggs are eggs, and that what the world will call my death-day will really be a birthday—the third in line.
What Does Philippians 4:13 Mean?
This verse is well-loved and often quoted, but frequently misunderstood and thus misapplied. This verse is not a promise that God will enable believers to do whatever they want whenever they want it.
Podcast: Are You Ashamed of Yourself? Jesus Isn't (Erik Raymond)
Erik Raymond talks about why nothing in our lives is a surprise to our Savior because Jesus’s heart is bent toward those who have an embarrassing history, feel far from God, or struggle with sin.
Resources Related to Abortion and the Sanctity of Life
In light of the recent ruling by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, we wanted to highlight a number of resources that will help Christians to understand the truths of the pro-life position, to articulate that message, and to truly reflect on the sanctity of life.
10 Things You Should Know about Abortion
Does each and every human being have an equal right to life?
Why Seek the Truth? The Achilles’ Heel of Free Thought
Atheists and agnostics insist we pursue the truth about reality—even if the idea of a meaningless universe frightens and depresses us. We ought to face facts and accept reality as it is, not as we want it to be.
Jesus Is Not Ashamed of Those with an Embarrassing Past: The Story of Tamar
While we may blush over our sin and our stories and our embarrassing past, we have a Savior who doesn't blush. He actually enters into the mess with us.
Where Did Youth Ministry Go Wrong? Identifying a Way Forward
It's concerning that our ideals about how to do family discipleship have sometimes distracted us from our more primary responsibility to teach kids the gospel. Here are a couple of the ways we get distracted.
Blessed: Revelation’s Message to Persecuted Believers with Karen Ellis (Episode 9)
Nancy Guthrie talks with Karen Ellis about what it looks like for believers to patiently endure persecution.
Why the Message of Salvation Is Evidence of the Truth of Christianity
Isn't it obvious that most Christians adopt their beliefs on the basis of emotion or tradition or culture, rather than on the basis of reason and evidence? This is an interesting objection. How could we respond?
Jesus Is Not Ashamed of Those Who Are Hurting and Hopeless
Be amazed at the power of Christ to transform a helpless man; but also, marvel at the love of Christ that claims rebels like this as his own.
Jesus Is Not Ashamed of Those Who Still Sin: The Story of Peter
Our sin doesn’t put us on the sidelines for the rest of our lives. Christ forgives us and he puts us back in the game to serve him, just like Peter.
We’re All Writing the Stories of Our Lives, but We’re All Failed Authors
We’re all writing the stories of our lives, and we’ve all failed to write and publish the book we wanted. Some of us failed at the beginning, some of us fear failed endings, all of us have failed chapters.
How Does God Feel toward Discouraged People?
God speaks tenderly toward Jerusalem. He's kind. He's patient. He's slow to anger. He's abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
The Family Photo of God’s Family Is a Little Surprising
Imagine if we gathered together all of the believers throughout history and lined them up for a massive family photo. Whom would we see? What kinds of people would be there?
Blessed: Revelation’s Call to Courage and a Refusal to Compromise with Russell Moore (Episode 8)
Nancy Guthrie and Russell Moore discuss themes presented in the letters to the churches found in Revelation 2–3 and how we can gain courage and hope from the book of Revelation.
Does Reflecting on Our Past Hurt Show a Lack of Trust in God?
Trying to write our future story can change our present story. But what about our past story? Can we get any help in the present from reading what’s already been written in our past chapters?
7 Tips for Becoming a Better Encourager
Because Christians are called to encourage one another, we must make sure that we are crystal clear on who we are called to encourage, how we are called to provide help, and why we are called to do so.
Podcast: Don't Despair, Jesus Can Rewrite Your Story (David Murray)
David Murray talks about why there’s more to our stories than what we can do or have done, and how, in Christ, our stories can become part of God’s story—a story full of hope, and beauty, and grace.
In an Outrage Culture, Choose Respect
We would do well to remember that behind the social media post is someone who was formed by God to bear his likeness.
Who Are the 144,000? (Revelation 7)
Who will escape the wrath of God at the final judgment? Only those who belong to God, those who are sealed by him, who are numbered by him.
How Thankfulness Increases Your Capacity for Wonder
Thankfulness greatly intensifies one of life’s most precious capacities—namely, the capacity to marvel. We are created for it.
When You Don't Even Realize How Discouraged You Are
The truth is, most of us don’t like the look of discouragement. It feels embarrassing. But when we avoid areas of our own insufficiency, we also avoid finding the help we so desperately need.
Technological Progress Must Honor God’s Design for Our Bodies
We may eventually modify our bodies in ways that are helpful and necessary. But we will never reach a point where the human body is a disposable machine.
Podcast: Positive Thinking ≠ Lasting Encouragement (Lindsey Carlson)
Lindsey Carlson talks about the discouragement we all face and where to turn for true encouragement that won’t let us down.
Dear Pastor . . . Pride Is a Subtle Enemy
How frequently does pride come with us into our studies and sit with us as we prepare our sermon? How often does it choose our subject and more often choose our words and ornaments?
10 Reasons Why It’s Good to Be a Girl
We in the church should be the loudest voice in our world to rehearse all the ways it’s good to be a girl. We know the God who made us, and we know he made us very good.
How (and How Not) to Think about Religion
I cannot speak about religion without lamenting that among so many who claim to be religious, so few understand what it means.
4 Questions about the Lord’s Supper
When we understand that the church is a family, we more clearly perceive the biblical emphasis on the Lord’s Supper as a family meal, to be celebrated by the church as Jesus’s family.
Shouldn’t God’s Power Fast Track Me to Big Things?
There is to be no Christian guru. We must reject this constantly and carefully. Leaders are to serve in humility.
Podcast: Why Is Our Culture So Obsessed with Identity? (Brian Rosner)
Brian Rosner talks about how our cultural obsession with identity impacts us as Christians and how we should think about that through the lens of the Bible.
Praying to Our Father Is a Spiritual Privilege
To pray with intimacy to God as father is not a human right; it is a spiritual privilege. It is a privilege for the people of God who have been born again by the Spirit of God.
An Open Letter to Those Nearing Retirement
We need to have a clear understanding of our priorities in retirement and have a plan to implement them that can be flexible enough to adapt to changes in our abilities and life situations over the coming years.
The Lord’s Prayer Reignites Our Desire to Want to Pray
Jesus doesn’t give us an impossibly high standard of prayer. It's lofty, and none of us will do it perfectly, but he's giving us something that we can do.
Obsessed with Our Own Biography
Telling your own story is at the heart of expressive individualism. It is possible today to document your life story in considerable detail and publish it widely on a daily basis.
Blessed: The Marriage Imagery of Revelation with Jonathan Gibson (Episode 5)
Nancy Guthrie talks with Jonathan Gibson about God's people being prepared as a bride throughout Scripture in anticipation of the marriage supper of the Lamb and an eternal marriage in Revelation.
10 Things to Consider before Retiring Early
Early retirement may sound attractive—but be careful. There are several things to consider before you choose to retire voluntarily, since work may be more valuable to you than you realize.
Why Do We Need to Keep Praying “Forgive Us Our Debts”?
If you want to be happy in the church (or simply not give up on the church), you need to learn forgiveness. You need to grant it, and you need to receive it.
Podcast: Does Your Heart Ache for More? (Amy DiMarcangelo)
Amy DiMarcangelo talks about how our many longings point us to Christ—the only person who understands our every need and offers us eternal joy in himself.
Why Are We So Reluctant to Die?
Is there a rest remaining for the people of God? Why then are we so reluctant to die and to depart from here so that we may possess our rest?
What Should We Do When Members Won’t Attend?
Pursuing longstanding non-attenders and disciplining those who can’t be found is a mark of a healthy church.
5 Myths about Your Personal Identity
These days, knowing who you are and being true to yourself are seen as signs of good mental health and well-being, and the keys to authentic living and true happiness.
The Lord’s Prayer Teaches Us How to Pray Every Other Prayer
The Lord's Prayer orients us, most importantly, to the vertical dimension of our prayers. That's why we start by saying, “Our Father.”
What Does It Mean to Enter God’s Rest?
We are like the Israelites: When God gave them his Sabbaths of rest in a land of rest, he had more work to do to make them believe it than he had to overcome their enemies and obtain it for them.
Is “Be True to Yourself” Good Advice?
You don’t need to look far today to notice that personal identity is a do-it-yourself project. People think about themselves constantly, it seems, and with high expectations!
Blessed: The Theology of the Book of Revelation with Tom Schreiner (Episode 4)
Join Nancy Guthrie as she talks with Thomas Schreiner about how our reading of the book of Revelation is impacted by our theology of the Trinity, judgment, and eschatology.
What Does It Mean to Pray “Your Kingdom Come”?
A simple definition is to think of the kingdom of God as his reign and rule. Another way to think of the kingdom is as God’s redemptive presence coming down from heaven to earth.
Does God Care about Our Happiness?
A passion for holiness isn’t the problem. It’s something every true disciple values. But sometimes we make the mistake of pitting holiness against happiness.
What Is the Sin that Leads to Death? (1 John 5)
What is the “sin that leads to death” and why does John not say we should pray for people committing such sin?
Podcast: Struggling to Pray? Start Here. (Kevin DeYoung)
Kevin DeYoung talks about our common struggle to pray and how the Lord's Prayer—the prayer that Jesus offered as a model for our prayers—can help us to pray to God day in and day out.
6 Basic Realities about a Man's Identity
What gives a man his identity? On what foundation are you building your sense of self? Your answer, whether true or false, defines your life.
All the Very Best Stories Lead Us to Hope in the Darkness
Stories, it seems, can remind our kids that in Christ, morning will always come, no matter how deep the darkness.
The One Essential Ingredient for Biblical Manhood
As men, we can fight the symptoms of a disquieted inner life—anger, lust, insecurity, anxiety, and the like. Such fights are necessary. Or, we can wage war against the bunker out of which these enemies come.
What Can I Do to Foster a Deep Hunger for Jesus?
There are so many ways that we can foster a hunger for Jesus, but the most important and primary thing is to be praying for the Holy Spirit to change our hearts.
Is Jesus Worth Following at Any Cost?
Are you ready to receive him and believe in him as your supreme treasure, even if it costs you the loss of your family and your life?
3 Ways the Gospel Changes Every Man's Life Today
Men who taste gospel freedom can’t get enough of it, and they will push through, run, chase, and endure to the end to get to that prize already promised them before time began.
10 Things You Should Know about the Book of Revelation
The challenge greater than understanding the book may be opening ourselves up to the adjustments in our lives this book calls for. Yet this greater challenge is also what promises the greatest blessing.
Blessed: How the Old Testament Helps us Make Sense of Revelation with Andrew Sach (Episode 3)
Join Nancy Guthrie as she talks with Andrew Sach about how the more we keep our eyes and ears open for Old Testament imagery and allusions, the less strange the book of Revelation will seem.
Why Being Discontent Can Actually Be a Good Thing
While my never-ending desire to explore the unfamiliar can lead to sinful discontent, there’s a holy discontent it reflects too.
Podcast: Dragons, Absent Fathers, and Stories That Heal (Kathryn Butler)
Kathryn Butler talks about the power of stories to help our kids grasp and value the true story of God’s redemption and shares about how reading with her kids helped to carry her family through the pandemic.
13 Passages to Read on Mother’s Day
Consider these passages for encouragement as a mother or to reflect on the sacrificial love of a mother in your life.
Spiritual warfare made the Puritans what they were. They accepted conflict as their calling, seeing themselves as their Lord’s soldier-pilgrims.
4 Reasons We Should Study the Book of Revelation
Many of us have a rather lightweight perception of what it means to be blessed. Revelation is going to correct some of our assumptions about what the blessed life looks like.
Blessed: Why Study the Book of Revelation? (Episode 1)
Nancy Guthrie discusses the book of Revelation and how we actually can understand its central message, encouraging us to accept the blessing promised to those who “hear and keep” this book.
Blessed: The Apocalyptic Nature of Revelation with Iain Duguid (Episode 2)
Nancy Guthrie as she talks with Iain Duguid about how we can understand Revelation in new ways when we read it as a letter, as a promise, and as apocalyptic prophecy.
The Church’s Role in Making Abortion Unthinkable and Unnecessary
Our God laid himself down for us. He gave his life for us. So whenever we take life for our own purposes, it is deadly, both to bodies and to souls.
4 Reasons We Avoid the Book of Revelation
Revelation is actually less about when Jesus will return and more about what we are to do, who we are to be, and what we can expect to endure as we wait for Jesus to return to establish his kingdom.
The Relationship between Saving Faith and God-Pleasing Works
Paul underlines repeatedly the crucial and powerful relationship between faith and the good works of love.
Podcast: Why You Shouldn't Be Afraid of the Book of Revelation (Nancy Guthrie)
Nancy Guthrie discusses why the book of Revelation is actually more accessible, more timely, and more encouraging than you probably know.
A Word of Encouragement for Those Who Don't Journal
Those of us who have not journaled before might wonder where to even begin. We might ask why journaling is important or how it helps us in our walk with the Lord.
How Do We Read the Bible Differently as Followers of Jesus?
The Christian attitude toward the Bible is part of Christian discipleship. To follow Jesus is to follow him in this too.
Podcast: Can Affectionless Faith Be Genuine? (John Piper)
John Piper discusses how he came to saving faith in Jesus and how his view of that faith has changed over the years.
Should Christians Always Submit to the Government? (Romans 13)
Paul’s counsel in Romans 13 assumes a government acting within its God-appointed parameters. When it does not, other measures may be in order.
The Theology We Claim versus the Theology We Live
Our hope is the glorification without which we cannot see the Christ who saved us. But believing in the Christian hope is one thing. Living as though that hope is real is another.
10 Things You Should Know about the Sexual Revolution
The sexual revolution is simply one manifestation of a broader culture of what we might call expressive individualism.
For the Christian, the Best Is Yet to Be
“The best is yet to be,” indeed, as the Christian poet Robert Browning wrote. God has a project. He is restoring his defaced images to the likeness of Christ.
Help! I’ve Stopped Caring about the Things of God
I imagine all Christians sometimes feel like we don’t love God enough, don’t read our Bibles enough, don’t pray enough, don’t evangelize enough, and so forth. And there’s a sense in which we are largely correct.
Podcast: Why Are We Apathetic about What Really Matters? (Uche Anizor)
Uche Anizor discusses seven deadly causes of spiritual apathy that we should all be on the lookout for and how to take steps back toward God when we realize we’re not doing well.
Is Doubt the Backstory Behind Your Apathy?
While I am consoled somewhat by the fact that doubts are normal and potentially formative, they still feel like what Lewis calls an emotional “blitz” on my belief.
The Holy Spirit, Our Helper and Beautifier
Without the Holy Spirit, the church would never have been founded. Godly leaders would never have been called, believers added, gifts distributed, service rendered, or growth realized.
Passionate about the Trivial and Apathetic about the Vital
The paradox of apathy is that, for the spiritually apathetic, there is an inverse relationship between the greatness of a truth and our emotional and practical response to it.
Podcast: How to Lament after Two Years of Loss (Mark Vroegop)
Mark Vroegop considers what it looks like to lament the COVID-19 pandemic—and how that lament can help us heal, both individually and as churches.
Is Evangelicalism Today Truly Evangelical?
If evangelicalism is to have a future worthy of the name, we who would be people of the gospel must cultivate an integrity to the gospel, and on more than paper.
An Open Letter to the Christian Disheartened by Ongoing Temptation
D. A. Carson, John D. Woodbridge
That you are experiencing rounds of temptation is not as unusual as you might suppose. From the inception of the church believers have found this pilgrim way to be strewn with multiple temptations.
Preview: ‘Gospel People’ by Michael Reeves
We are pleased to offer a special preview of Michael Reeves’s new book, ‘Gospel People: A Call for Evangelical Integrity.’
Does Evangelicalism Have a History?
If evangelicalism really is “mere Christianity,” how could it be anything but the oldest orthodoxy of the apostles?
Hope in the Midst of Languishing
Spiritual growth in seasons of languishing is more about persevering through the struggle for belief than it is about arriving at a settled conclusion.
The Notion of Authority in God's Created Order
Authority is integral to God’s created order, and when his work of creation was completed, the structure of authority he’d established in the world was good and beautiful.
How to Help Those Who Believe the Prosperity Gospel
How do we help our family members, friends, coworkers, or even fellow church members who are swept up in the prosperity gospel? Here are a few simple ideas.
If the Bible Is Enough, Why Is It Good to Retell Bible Stories?
God, throughout history, has always given not only his word to people but also has given qualified men who might teach others.
Podcast: If You Don’t Catechize Your Kids, the World Will (Kevin DeYoung)
Kevin DeYoung talks about how Christians (parents and non-parents alike) can help children to trust Jesus, embrace the Bible, and love others—even those with whom we disagree.
Social Media Is Discipling You
We are shaped by the winds that blow around us. In the age of the omnipresent smartphone, the wind that shapes us most is online.
Get Your Feet Out of Death’s Path and Live
May this generation turn from the greatest of wickednesses, the placing of any created thing in the place of the Creator, getting its feet out of the paths of death so that it may live.
An Open Letter to Women Straining under the Burden of Expectations
Are you worn down by the weight of the countless roles and expectations in your life? Are you feeling the pressure of doing more and striving harder to please the people around you?
Preview: ‘Strange New World’ by Carl Trueman
We are pleased to offer a special preview of Carl Trueman's new book, ‘Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution.’
Despairing Over the Culture? There's Still a Reason to Get Out of Bed Tomorrow
Is the world so intent on dismantling what it means to be a human being that society is doomed to collapse, or at least committed to shunting Christians and Christianity to its far margins?
You Were Made to Love Your Neighbor
Just because the Bible says that not all men are our brothers, it does not follow that we are not to love all men as our neighbors.
Podcast: We're in a Strange New World. Now What? (Carl Trueman)
Carl Trueman explores the history of Western thought with the view of answering two simple questions. How did we get here? How should the church respond?
There is not an uninfluenced day, hour, or minute in our lives. We are constantly discipled by the cultural, relational, and spiritual forces around us. Which discipling forces influence you the most?
The true Christian is called to be a soldier, and must behave as such from the day of his conversion to the day of his death.
Is There a Distinctively Christian Approach to History?
How should we think and write about history? How should we read critically the historical accounts of the past? How should each of us think about personal history and the history of relatives and friends?
Help! I Love Jesus but Not the Church
Have you given up on the church? Shift your gaze from your hurt and disappointment and behold the church through the eyes of Christ.
Should the Sick Be Anointed with Oil? (James 5)
James instructs the church elders to “anoint” the sick person with oil “in the name of the Lord.” Throughout the centuries, Christians have struggled to understand and apply this verse.
What Does 1 Corinthians 16:13 Mean?
“Act like men” is a phrase that could be easily misunderstood in light of modern sensibilities. For many, at first blush, it could read as a sexist statement by Paul. So, what does it mean?
A Simple Solution to a Boring Prayer Life
But if God invites and expects all his children—regardless of their age, IQ, education, or resources—to do the same thing—to pray—then prayer has to be simple.
Podcast: Do You See the Church as Lovely? (Dustin Benge)
Dustin Benge explains why the church—despite all her faults—is worth fighting for.
Suffer the Loss of What Has You in Its Grip
Lent calls us to remember once again that sin reduces us all to idolaters somehow, someway.
The New Testament Epistles offer several characteristics of false teachers and those susceptible to their teachings.
Disguising Ungodliness as Righteous Anger
Christopher Ash, Steve Midgley
Sometimes our imitation of God slides, ever so subtly, into replacement of God. We do that thing that we do. We take his place, and soon it is our honor that we are concerned about.
Can We Really Claim to Be Well?
Wellness is much more than physical health and freedom from distressing symptoms. Wellness involves the whole of our being, which includes six distinct areas.
Dear Pastor . . . You Need to Recognize Your Limits
Our limits and weaknesses are not in the way of what God can do through us, but our denial of limits and our delusions of independent strength are.
Podcast: Are We in a Loneliness Epidemic? (Lydia Brownback)
Lydia Brownback talks about her experience of the pandemic and how Christians can rally together and support one another in the wake of two years of social isolation, masks, and lockdowns.
What Did Jesus Teach about Prayer?
As mediator, Jesus brings us to God, but he does so by pouring out his Spirit upon us so that our own prayer life is to replicate his prayer life in terms of how the Holy Spirit binds us to our Father in heaven.
What Does Radically Ordinary Hospitality Look Like?
Those who live out radically ordinary hospitality see their homes not as theirs at all but as God’s gift to use for the furtherance of his kingdom.
Give Yourself to Prayer This Lenten Season
Lent could be one of those seasons where you take time to meditate, examine, and consider. Here are four categories that can organize this season of worship for you.
10 Passages to Read in the Face of Global Conflict
God is our refuge and strength. Read these passages for comfort and to help guide prayer during times of worldwide strife, conflict, and war.
What Is the Difference between Union and Communion with Christ?
An important distinction that a lot of Christians misunderstand is between the eternal union we have with God and the experiential communion that we have on a daily basis.
To Cry Is Human, but to Lament Is Christian
Every human being has the same opening story. Life begins with tears. It’s simply a part of what it means to be human—to cry is human. But lament is different.
We Are Both Job and Job’s Friends
One important question in reading any biblical text is who you, as a reader, identify with. This is easier for some texts than for others. Who do we identify with in the book of Job?
Podcast: Overcoming Me-Centered Discipleship (Jonathan Dodson)
Jonathan Dodson talks about what a gospel-centered approach to discipleship entails, highlighting the importance of transparency for everyone involved.
What Does a Committed Church Member Look Like?
There are many marks of true discipleship, but one mark is singled out as signifying to the watching world that we belong to Christ.
Watch for Faithfulness in Those around You
As you spend time in the local church, observe how the believers around you follow Jesus. Watch for people who radiate the life of Jesus and spend time with them.
The Holy Spirit Is at Work in Our Ordinariness
Our lives are building slowly toward a great climax of redemption when we will finally see God face to face. And there are smaller victories along the way.
The Necessity and Danger of Mercy Ministry
Deeds of mercy can show the power of the gospel to change us. When we help our neighbor, we give evidence that our message is true.
Preview: ‘Demystifying Decision-Making’ by Aimee Joseph
We are pleased to offer a special preview of Aimee Joseph's new book, 'Demystifying Decision-Making: A Practical Guide.’
It Takes Time to Become an Effective Missionary
God works in mysterious ways, and we should never set limits on him. All the same, depending on God to work in unlikely ways just because he can do so is unwise.
Is Joy in Christ Possible When All I See Is My Sin?
We think that somehow we have exceeded God’s capacity to forgive. We deceive ourselves to think that our sin is greater than his grace.
A Call for Theological Humility
There are plenty of issues over which Christians will be tempted to divide. We must even be willing to make sacrificial adjustments for the sake of our unity with others in the body of Christ.
What glory right here, right now, has captured your heart, and how is it shaping the way you respond to the situations, locations, and relationships in your life?
The notion of proof is multifaceted. It is often assumed that it is illegitimate to assert anything not susceptible to a strict proof.
How Can I Be Ready to Defend the Hope I Have?
If one is to be adequately prepared to give an answer for one’s Christian faith, the lordship of Christ must be a solid and unwavering commitment of one’s heart.
Podcast: The Life and Legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Stephen Nichols)
Stephen Nichols discusses the remarkable life, tragic death, and enduring legacy of the German theologian and pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
The Hope of Renewal for the Sexually Broken
Is darkened sexuality even the prime battleground today? Where is today’s choice point? The current struggle is the place where the Vinedresser is pruning.
Aim to be mistaken for an elder before you are appointed an elder. All pastors are elders, and every elder is a pastor.
Entering into the Loneliness of Job
There is a deep sense in which the lonely sufferings of Jesus Christ mean that no believer today is called to enter Job’s loneliness in its full depth.
Innovation Exists by God’s Design
Innovators—both virtuous ones and nefarious ones—are created by God. Scripture protects us from the myth that God is trying his best to stifle and subdue the unwieldiness of human technology.
J. Alasdair Groves, Winston T. Smith
The issue isn’t really whether or not God has emotions but what they are like. Does God experience emotions the way we do?
If My Sins Are Fully Forgiven, Why Must I Confess My Sins Daily?
There are a lot of Christians today who, amazingly, deny the importance of confessing our sins. It has to do with this distinction between eternal union and experiential communion.
Why You Need a Sabbath from Your Tech
The human body is remarkable in similarities to an efficient machine, but we are physical beings with finite limitations and eternal souls.
The Fear of God Is the Antidote to Our Anxiety
Fear is probably the strongest human emotion. But it baffles us. When we come to the Bible, the picture seems equally confusing: is fear a good thing or bad?
The Only Way We Can Overcome the Debilitating Power of Shame
Shame is undoubtedly one of the most crippling and destructive experiences in the human soul. To a certain extent, we’re all hardwired for self-punishment.
How We Work Reveals Who We Are
What we need is a work ethic that is informed by God’s word and religiously lived out in the workplace and the church.
Podcast: Why Is Making Decisions So Hard? (Aimee Joseph)
Aimee Joseph discusses why we struggle to make decisions, where God's will fits in to the topic, and how we can work on our efforts to make God-honoring choices in everyday life.
3 Things God Will Never Do with Your Sin
When we interact one with another, all too often we let our response be guided or dictated by past infractions. But this is precisely what God will never do.
10 Key Bible Verses on Brotherly Love
The faithful, covenant-keeping God asks the objects of his love to love him and other human beings too.
Is Making Decisions All about Knowing God's Will?
Before we can make decisions, it is helpful to have a robust biblical understanding of the nature of God’s will.
Sin is deceptive, both in its capacity to tempt us to follow its lead and in the way it confuses and clouds our thinking.
An Open Letter to the College Student Facing Weighty Decisions
The further into college you step, the more you realize that what you thought was the destination is really only an incredible depot for decisions.
How Can An All-Knowing God Not Remember My Sin?
Can an all-knowing, omniscient God ever truly forget? Is it not an essential element in being God that nothing ever slips his mind? Could God ever not remember?
The Crushing Freedom of Decision-Making
One of the unanticipated weights of living in an age of unprecedented freedom is the anxiety that comes as its counterpart.
Podcast: Hear What God Has Truly Done with Your Sin (Sam Storms)
Sam Storms talks about how God deals with our sin, once and for all.
For Warfield, Every Christian Is a Theologian
If life grows out of understanding, then it follows that a firm grasp and robust appreciation of Christian truth is of primary importance to Christian living.
Help! My Daily Worship Feels Stale
When we experience a time when our quiet time becomes stale, it’s easy to become discouraged, especially if we don’t know where to look for help. However, help is at hand in two ways.
Paul Was a Missionary Consumed by God’s Approval
If receiving God’s affirmation is of critical concern for our mission, then isn’t the antithetical desire for others’ approval to be a potential snare for Christian ministers?
Did Jesus Forbid Us from Taking Oaths? (Matthew 5)
Disciples must keep their word, especially when others depend on them, even if circumstances change or oath keeping brings real loss.
Podcast: How to Endure Inexplicable Suffering (Eric Ortlund)
Eric Ortlund looks at the example of Job and how, as Christians, we should respond when we face the kind of suffering that Job did.
Jesus’s Love for the Marginalized of this World
We are inclined to give our attention to and serve those with influence and power, to praise those who wield influence in the world, but every person is made in God’s image and every person is significant.
What Does It Mean to Be Fearfully and Wonderfully Made?
There is something so intricate and meaningful about how God has made us that we really should be in awe of that fact.
One Great Encouragement to Spend Personal Time With the Lord
The Lord Jesus is the one who encourages us not just to say the Lord's Prayer together at church, but also to go to our room, to shut the door, and to pray to our Father in heaven.
Resources to Help You Dig into the Bible in 2022
Consider the following resources to help you as you commit to pursuing biblical truth this year.
Discipline Your Body—for Christ
The Bible is littered with cautionary tales of those who seemed spiritually vibrant but in the end showed themselves to be disqualified. The key to it all is the body. It needs to be disciplined.
Do You Idolize a Picture-Perfect Home?
Christian, everything God has for you is grace upon grace because of what Jesus has done for you.
Modeling Our Faith to Our Kids as Both a Sinner and a Saint
Two key components are essential for family discipleship through Christian modeling. A godly role model needs to be reliable and relatable.
If Christ came to die so that when you do sin, there is a propitiation, a removal of God’s wrath, then what does this imply for living your life? Three things.
Why Do We Need a Liturgy for Our Daily Worship?
It's not whether or not you're going to have a liturgy for your daily quiet time, it's just which kind of liturgy you're going to have.
You and I and all those who belong to him and are his children are indeed called to his glory, and we shall become partakers of his divine nature.
The Unresolved “Why” of Suffering
When tragedy strikes, almost everyone who believes in God, along with almost everyone who claims they don’t, asks the same question: Why does God allow suffering?
John Piper shares a helpful guide for how to pray over the Word in the fight for joy.
5 Ways to Commune with Christ on a Busy Day
The crazy days will come. But with a little intentionality, and with a modest plan in place, you can learn to navigate these days, and even walk with greater dependence on God.
Discovering Depth and Renewal through Daily Liturgy
If we are dissatisfied with our times of devotion with the Lord, enriching our daily liturgy can lead to renewal and rejuvenation.
Hopelessness Leads Us to the True Hope of Christmas
God created our lives to be propelled and directed by hope, and he meant our capacity for hope to drive us to him.
What Does 1 Corinthians 10:13 Mean?
This verse promises that God will never allow a temptation that we cannot stand under because he will provide the power to escape through endurance. But what is Paul getting at here in particular?
Preview: A Special Excerpt from ‘R. C. Sproul’ by Stephen Nichols
A special one-hour excerpt from ‘R. C. Sproul: A Life’ by Stephen J. Nichols, focusing on the final days of Sproul’s life and the lasting legacy of his ministry.
Does the Bible Direct Us to Have Quiet Times?
It may come as a surprise, but there is no explicit command in Scripture to have a time of worship each day, either as an individual or as a family.
A Guide for Your Personal Worship Today
One day of structured content from the 31-day liturgical guide Be Thou My Vision to help you in your daily worship.
Preview: ‘Be Thou My Vision’ by Jonathan Gibson
Today's episode is a special audio preview of Jonathan Gibson's new book, Be Thou My Vision: A Liturgy for Daily Worship.
Podcast: How Ancient Liturgy Can Renew Your Walk with Jesus Today (Jonathan Gibson)
Jonathan Gibson talks about why liturgy can be such a powerful force for good in the life of the Christian when rightly understood and practiced.
3 Questions about Regeneration
Joel R. Beeke, Paul M. Smalley
New birth is an absolute necessity for salvation. Without regeneration, the glorious offer of the gospel will not save a single soul.
God loves joy-motivated giving to others because it expresses contentment in God’s gracious giving to the believer.
7 Tips to Help Introverts Connect at Church
In our individualistic, consumer-minded culture, it can seem acceptable to conclude that, if you’re an introvert, church just isn’t your thing. But the Scriptures tell a different story.
What Does the Bible Say about Evangelism?
There is a gift of evangelism, and we should be grateful for those to have it, but all believers are called to be faithful in sharing their faith.
The Food of Christian Survival
When you understand Bible reading as the means, the food, the fuel, the sustenance of your Christian life, then you will consume it with joy, like a hungry person eats bread.
Generosity is the calling card of all who are recipients of the generous good news of salvation through Christ.
Gospel wakefulness persists and endures, settling deep into the heart and the conscience of a believer that it carries through all emotional highs and lows.
Why We Desperately Need the Message of Revelation
In the midst of evil, in a world in which the Christian faith is under attack, we need hope and assurance that evil will not have the last word.
Watch Paul Tripp Teach on 12 Doctrines That Will Transform Your Life
Paul David Tripp takes a close look at twelve core doctrines and how they engage and transform the human heart and mind.
Though God receives our offerings, he isn’t looking for our outward offerings that give back to him what he gave us in the first place.
10 Key Bible Verses on Thankfulness
Reflect on the goodness of God and his gifts to his children, and give thanks for who he is!
When God’s Provision Isn’t What We Expected
After Jesus’s first show of miraculous power in the Gospel of Mark (his healing of a man with an unclean spirit), the amazed people turn to each other and say, “What is this?”
Podcast: How to Find a New Church (Edward W. Klink III)
Mickey Klink talks about what you should look for in a new church, what factors should impact your decision, and what warning signs to be on the lookout for in your search.
8 Ways the Doctrine of Eternity Clarifies Our Values
If you want to know what you truly value, consider where you tend to invest your time, energy, gifts, and money.
As much as a church does facilitate and organize relationships and practices, the church is more than a means to an end, a utilitarian resource for an individual Christian’s needs.
Doctrine: Information Leading to Heart Transformation
When you enter the world of biblical truth, you’re entering a moral battleground. The great drama of life is not about information.
Introducing ‘Do You Believe?’ by Paul David Tripp
Paul David Tripp takes a close look at 12 core doctrines and how they engage and transform the human heart and mind.
Obey Even When You Don’t Understand Why
Whenever we take a rule from our Father and begin examining it apart from him—apart from his character, his fatherly affection, his authoritative goodness—we fall into sin.
What Is Doctrine and Why Does It Matter?
Faith is not just something you do with your brain. Faith is a commitment of your heart that changes the way you live every day.
Podcast: What You Believe about God's Sovereignty Matters for Real Life (Paul Tripp)
Paul Tripp discusses what the Bible actually teaches about the extent of God’s sovereignty, the purpose of evil and suffering, and the idea of free will.
Why the Church Can Rest in Christ’s Victory
We’re a part of what the Lord is doing in the world when we’re pastoring a church or even a member of a church. We know that he will accomplish his good end.
4 Roles Scripture Plays in the Life of a Believer
The doctrines of the word of God were not intended just to lay claim on your brain, but also to capture your heart and transform the way you live.
Should I Choose a Church for Its Pastor?
The centrality of the Word coming from the front, from the preacher, the one specially gifted by God and called to that ministry, is the most important thing you can look for in a church.
The Lord has a storehouse of blessing and honor for his people—the question is, are we humble enough to enter as unworthy characters in his story, humble enough to beg for crumbs?
What Our Physical Diet Says about Our Spiritual Appetite
He has prepared food for us. The food he has prepared is himself. He serves us himself through his holy word—the Bible.
Podcast: Sourdough Starters, Daily Bread, and the Goodness of Jesus (Abigail Dodds)
A discussion with Abigail Dodds about what the mixture of flour, water, and yeast can teach us about God, the Bible, and what it really means to be satisfied by our Savior.
The Wilderness Offers Us New Sight
When we walk through any season of wilderness, the greatest danger is not the scorching heat of the trial; it is that we would be blind to the God who sees us.
What Does the Bible Say about Marriage?
Marriage is an ordinance given to human beings in creation. It is therefore not negotiable, but is entrusted to us both as a “given” and as a gracious gift.
5 Questions about the Local Church
Ultimately, the local church makes visible what is invisible, and reflects in words and deeds the kingdom life that is to come.
An Open Letter to the Churchless Christian
It is impossible to have a faithful walk with Christ and Christian life—biblically or practically—without committed participation in a local church.
How Does Jesus Respond When We Doubt? (John 20)
Do we think our doubts trouble Jesus? Do we think skepticism is a surprise to him? Our honest thinking will not offend him. He can handle any question we have.
The Liberation of Being Bought By Christ
With the gospel, if we belong to Jesus physically and bodily, then actually the only person our bodies need to please is Jesus.
Draw Near to the Lord in Your Fight for Purity
By persevering in prayer, your gaze will be fixed on Christ, which God will use to transform you.
Is the Reformation Yesterday’s News?
The Reformation still matters because the debates between Catholics and Protestants have not gone away.
We are encouraged not to fear, but trust in the Lord with all our hearts, leaning not on our strength and understanding, but on his.
11 Notable Quotes from Missional Motherhood
There is eternal value in even the most mundane moments if the Great Commission informs how we’re thinking about all of life, including what it means to be a mom.
The Importance of the Gathered Church
Love is messy. You know what else? The gospel is messy. It means loving sinners—people like you and me.
Church Membership Is Not a One-Way Street
What is church membership? It’s the commitment Christians make to keep one another accountable for regularly gathering and centering their lives together on the gospel.
How to Pray for International Missions
When we pray for the work of missions, we are joining an essential work as co-laborers with the missionary. But what should we pray?
4 Ways to Prepare for Ministry
Perhaps you’re looking for boxes to check, some way to easily measure your progress toward the pastorate. Now you’re left feeling a bit frustrated. So what now?
Nehemiah's Deeper Concern for Building Up God's People
The work of God gets done when there is a good heart for God and his work. It starts in a heart with a deep concern for the glory of God and the health of his church.
Did Jesus Really Mean That We Should Hate Our Families? (Luke 14)
He is to have absolute rule and sovereignty over one’s life; no family relationship can take precedence over one’s commitment to Jesus.
You Have Everything You Need for Life and Godliness
Knowing that God has promised to complete the work he began in us, we are well equipped to practice perseverance.
Podcast: Mind Your Own Conscience and Love Your Neighbor (Andy Naselli and J. D. Crowley)
Should always obey our conscience? What should we do when our conscience disagrees with another Christian’s, and how the conscience relates to objective right and wrong?
Dear Pastor . . . You Need the Monday Gospel
Monday is the preacher’s dog day. Ask any of us. In the cold light of day we see just how far short we fell from what we wanted and hoped for.
Dear Pastor . . . Your Shepherd Doesn’t Care How Big Your Church Is
What the Lord requires of us is faithfulness. And while it’s perfectly normal for every pastor to want his church to grow, it’s also idolatrous to marry our validation and our justification to our attendance.
God saves people for a purpose. Salvation in Christ begins a life spent growing into being like him and serving him faithfully.
How Studying the Bible Restores the Soul
How does the Bible restore our lives daily? I find no better explanation of what I have learned than the words of Psalm 19.
The Most Accessible Person in the Universe
Jesus is lowly, he's accessible. You don't have to go through security to get to him. You just have to humble yourself.
Without revelation, we cannot know God. God’s revelation is trustworthy, for God is trustworthy.
Should We Look for God in Every Story?
Glenda Faye Mathes, Leland Ryken
Finding God is our primary task and our greatest treasure. Can he be found in every story? How can literature feed us spiritually?
Podcast: How to Have Hard Conversations with Those You Love (Caroline Newheiser and Cheryl Marshall)
Cheryl Marshall and Caroline Newheiser discuss how to have hard conversations with others that put the focus on what God has said, not their own opinions.
How Elders Shepherd by Example
A church should be able to direct a newborn believer to an elder and say: “Do you want to know what a real Christian should be like? Then look at him.”
Full Audiobook: ‘The Expulsive Power of a New Affection’ by Thomas Chalmers
As a result of the fall, human feelings of love are often misplaced on the creation rather than the Creator. This classic work of the faith reorients our affections toward him.
We need to look to Christ. We need to draw our strength from him. The way we grow is simply by looking to Christ.
Help! I Don’t Know How to Initiate Meaningful Conversations
Cheryl Marshall, Caroline Newheiser
Whether speaking with strangers, acquaintances, or those we dearly love, we sometimes realize that we and they would greatly benefit if we would talk about God. But how?
3 Pieces of Advice for Every Godly Man Fighting Porn
Prayer feels weak. We feel awkward trying. So we neglect prayer. But our prayers to God are not weak. They are powerful, because God is powerful.
How Christ Has Changed Our Destiny
What does it mean to be united to Christ? It’s a little bit mysterious and elusive.
7 Tips for Confronting a Friend in Sin
Cheryl Marshall, Caroline Newheiser
Scripture speaks directly to the Christian’s responsibility to address or confront sin in the lives of other Christians.
Words That Mark a Gracious Woman
Cheryl Marshall, Caroline Newheiser
The words of a gracious friend are self-controlled, wise, and hopeful, and those who hear her speak are the better for it.
Help! I Don’t Know If My Words Are Helping or Hurting
Cheryl Marshall, Caroline Newheiser
As you have conversations with those who are suffering, remember how the Lord’s healing words have strengthened and sustained you in your own times of trouble.
Podcast: Becoming Better or Going Deeper? How Real Change Happens (Dane Ortlund)
Dane Ortlund discusses why we, as children of God, can remain hopeful—even when our journey toward Christlikeness is painfully slow.
The Eternal Importance of Our Earthly Bodies
Jesus's resurrection body is the foretaste of what is going to happen to all of us. We will all be raised to new physical life.
Understanding the Role of Justification
Theologically understood, justification is the moment—the event—that God declares a sinner righteous in his sight.
Men: Seek Transparency Rather than Accountability
Accountability opens the door for men to be pressured, cornered, and coerced into admitting what they really don't want to admit.
You Need Christ to Put Your Sin to Death
Christian salvation is fundamentally a matter of grace, rescue, help, deliverance—it is God invading our miserable little lives and triumphing gloriously and persistently over all the sin and self he finds.
Was Christ’s Coming the End of the Law? (Romans 10)
Christ is the termination of the law in the sense that he ushers in a new age— both continuous with and different from the former age.
Why You Must Leverage Your Self-Despair
There is a strange though consistent message throughout the Bible. We are told time and again that the way forward will feel like we’re going backward.
Here are seven important principles for sharing our faith with others gleaned from a close reading of Acts 8.
Preview: ‘The Death of Porn’ by Ray Ortlund
Today, we are pleased to share a special hour-long audio preview of The Death of Porn by Ray Ortlund.
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.
Dare to Believe in Your Own Dignity
You may see yourself as damaged goods, but that's not all you are. You are made in the image of your Creator.
Jesus’s Love in the Midst of Sexual Sin
The unfailing love of Jesus is unspeakably glorious, sacred, and precious—especially right after sexual sin.
Podcast: The Fight against Porn Is a Fight for Justice (Ray Ortlund)
We are royalty created in God’s image for a great and noble purpose. This has the power to free us from the dehumanizing lies of the porn industry.
Take a Bold Stance against the Commonality of Porn
What if not just one man but a whole generation of men takes a bold stand against the new slave trade of our time—pornography?
Don’t Define Gender Apart from the Bible
What it means to be men and women is a really complex issue and one that's very controversial today, so we need to be really careful not to go beyond what God has said.
Seeing God’s Gracious Hand in the Hurts Others Do to Us
We need to know what Scripture says in general about God’s relationship to evil. Scripture declares that the Judge of all the earth will always do what is right.
The antidote to hypocrisy is humility. What good deeds do you do that are seen by few or none? When did you last volunteer for a menial task?
Help! I Don’t Know How to Rest Well
Be honest with yourself. Are you perhaps traveling too fast and trying to do too much—thereby violating the concept of Sabbath on a weekly and daily basis?
3 Ways to Surrender Your Will to Christ
God seems extremely concerned that we learn to submit ourselves to authority, especially to the one whose lordship demands obedience from the heart.
3 Questions about Christ’s Sinlessness
Temptation cannot be defined in terms of the capacity of the one tempted to succumb. Temptation is enticement to sin from whatever source.
Your Physical Presence Is an Irreplaceable Gift
We need to realize that being embodied means that we are designed to relate to one another physically.
Steward Your Body for the Glory of God
The fact that God has made us physical means that attending to our physical life is not unspiritual; our bodies are not unspiritual.
11 Notable Quotes from A Place to Belong
Though our congregations are made up of ordinary people engaged in predictable practices, we are an outpost of heaven itself.
Podcast: Real Faithfulness Is the Kind No One Sees (Glenna Marshall)
Glenna Marshall talks about the life-changing practice of Scripture memory, the oft-given advice to give ourselves grace, and the importance of perseverance in the Christian life.
How to Believe against Your Feelings
Some people stop following Christ because they enjoy other things more than Jesus. To them, Christianity just isn’t satisfying anymore. So how should you deal with this important issue?
7 Notable Quotes from Surviving Religion 101
The college years can challenge your faith and belief in the Bible, so it’s important to equip yourself to engage secular challenges with intellectual honesty, compassion, and confidence.
Podcast: What Keeps You from Going to Church? (Jonathan Leeman)
Jonathan Leeman discusses the vital importance of in-person church fellowship, how we can and should prioritize involvement with the people of God in a local church—especially after a year like 2020.
The Church Has One Testimony—and It’s Anything but Boring
In various times and places and life circumstances, God calls his people. For all the outward variety in our testimonies, we actually have a common story.
Dangers for the Churchless Christian
If you try to grow as a Christian apart from a church, your growth will be misshapen.
Why We Need to Gather as a Church
Collin Hansen, Jonathan Leeman
The push toward the virtual church, we fear, is a push to individualize Christianity. It trains Christians to think of their faith in autonomous terms.
Why It Matters What We Do with Our Bodies
We might think it doesn’t matter what we do with our bodies, but the Bible repeatedly and powerfully shows us this is not the case.
Act Like the Human that You Are
C. Everett Koop, Francis A. Schaeffer
People are special and human life is sacred, whether or not we admit it. Every life is precious and worthwhile in itself—not only to us human beings but also to God.
You Don’t Get the Church You Want, but the One You Need
Collin Hansen, Jonathan Leeman
You have many reasons not to go to church. That’s why we see this moment in history as an opportunity to rediscover church.
What the Atonement Means for You
In our sin, we—who were created to know, love, and obey the God of all glory—stand guilty and condemned before him; we cannot save ourselves.
Male and Female He Created Them
Everything else in creation reflects something of God’s glory in a general sense, but humanity alone is described as being created in God’s image.
We forget who we are, and when we do, we begin to give way to doubt, fear, and timidity. Identity amnesia makes you feel poor when in fact you are rich.
Podcast: Knowing Your Heart and When (Not) to Follow It (Craig Troxel)
What's the difference between a Christian and secular understanding of the heart, what are the heart's spiritual functions, and how we can think about them in terms of our minds, desires, and will?
8 Notable Quotes from Ten Words to Live By
Are Christians to disregard the law or embrace it with joy? Learn to see the law of God as a feast for your famished soul.
Why Good Theology Matters in Prayer
Knowing who God is and what he’s like as revealed in Scripture is very important as we approach God in prayer.
A Brief Intro to the Origins of Humanity
One of the hot spots in the perceived conflict between science and Christianity is around the question of how human beings came to exist.
5 Questions about Church Membership
The local church is the authority on earth that Jesus has instituted to officially affirm and give shape to my Christian life and yours.
Help! I Don’t Like Praying in Public
Prayer can get repetitious, feel rote, rambly, or distracted. For these reasons, many are reticent to pray in public. How can we overcome our fears and misguided thinking?
7 Tips for Being a Good Friend
As we emerge from this pandemic, we have a fresh opportunity to embrace essential relationships, not just returning to our pre-pandemic status-quo, but moving forward into something even better.
Preview: What God Has to Say about Our Bodies by Sam Allberry
There’s a danger in focusing too much on the body. There’s also a danger in not valuing it enough.
Unrealistic standards of beauty are being pushed on us almost constantly by the media, and the cumulative effect is that it can leave us thinking about our bodies in a seriously distorted way.
5 Guidelines for Preparing Congregational Prayer
Effective public prayer must be well-prepared prayer. This is the engine that will move all the other principles.
Podcast: Why Your Physical Body Matters to God (Sam Allberry)
Sam Allberry talks about the eternal significance of our physical bodies, how it relates to our identity, and why our bodies matter here and now.
God gave his own Son as the final sacrifice so that your brokenness could be the only prerequisite to receiving God’s abundant mercy.
10 Key Bible Verses on Slothfulness
According to Scripture, laziness or sloth is considered a sinful indulgence. Learn more about what God values in kingdom laborers.
Podcast: Reading the Psalms with Jesus in View (Dane Ortlund)
Dane Ortlund discusses how the psalms uniquely invite us into prayer and devotion, how they reflect the greatness of God, and how he cares for his people.
An Open Letter to the Hesitant Church-Goer
Helpful reflections and encouragement for believers who are hesitant to return to church for a variety of reasons.
How Moms Can Model God’s Grace
One way to teach our children about our need for God’s grace in Christ is to appropriately confess our sin to them.
A 10 Question Catechism for One-on-One Pastoral Care
What follows is the catechism that pastor Richard Baxter used in his parish to train and instruct those under his care.
If the people in our charge are to teach, admonish, and exhort each other daily, no doubt we pastors may do the same for one another
A faithful response to sin involves drawing near to God in faith through confession, repentance, and trusting the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
J. I. Packer on the Hub of Christian Life
Packer would contend that one has fallen short in the knowledge of God until such time as the glory of God becomes central in all areas of life and thought.
4 Ways to Fight Sexual Temptation
We must choke temptation to death—it is the only way out. Here are four ways to fight when temptation strikes.
Advice for a New Christian Reading the Psalms
We want to read the Scripture, inhale it, and then exhale it out to God in whatever way makes sense for our own life.
Stay on Mission—Even in the Later Years
One joy of aging is a stillness of soul that helps us see the small moments as sacred moments when we can reflect God’s glory to someone else.
Podcast: What an Old Controversy Teaches Us about Grace and Legalism (Sinclair Ferguson)
Sinclair Ferguson discusses the relevance of church history and divisive theological positions as we dig into a largely forgotten 18th-century Scottish debate about God’s grace and our works.
Advice for Wisely Navigating the Internet
Wisdom is knowing where you're going and sticking to that. Foolishness is straying off the path, being susceptible to people on the periphery calling for your attention.
Good Bible Reading Requires Humility
The first step in reading the Bible in the power of another is to begin with humility. It begins with the renunciation of pride.
How Medicine Is a Means of Common Grace
Common grace prompts us especially to love one another as Christ has loved us and to pursue medicine as a ministry of mercy.
Encouragement for a Fatigued Caregiver
Caregiver fatigue is real. For someone going through this, there is still hope, joy, and merit to your service.
What Does Jeremiah 29:11 Mean?
This verse is commonly found on bumper stickers, signs, cards, etc. to encourage people to have hope for the future. But is that really what this well-known verse means?
Prayer is oxygen for the Christian. It sustains us. So it follows that prayer must be a source of life for any community of Christians.
Blessing in God’s Plan of Redemption
Blessing plays a significant role in God's plan of redemption, in that blessing is the goal of God's plan of redemption.
6 Ways to Fight the Debilitating Power of Doubt
In your suffering, doubt is a battle worth fighting. Remember, you never fight this battle alone but with the strength that is yours because of the presence and power of Christ.
Does God Give Us More than We Can Handle?
Perhaps it takes growing old to realize that aging with grace sometimes feels impossible. It is more than we can handle.
10 Key Bible Verses on Freedom
As Christians, we’ve been released from the power of sin and death by Jesus and his substitutionary death on the cross.
11 Notable Quotes from Everyday Faithfulness
What does Christian faithfulness look like when life feels unpredictable, hard, or just plain ordinary? Be encouraged by these quotes from Everday Faithfulness by Glenna Marshall.
11 Notable Quotes from None Like Him
God is wildly different from us, and this is for good reasons—one of which is to teach us humility before him.
Podcast: Help! I’m Afraid to Share My Faith (Isaac Adams)
Isaac Adams discusses the nature of evangelism and why we so often feel intimidated, unequipped, or unsure of how to even speak about the gospel to others in our lives.
The word submission is loaded with a powder keg of emotions. We live in a culture more accustomed to questioning authority than submitting to it.
4 Reasons to Let Go and Trust God
We can trust God to manage the future without our help. It is none of our business.
We each have a blink. We can waste it in sinful busyness or laziness or discontentment or distraction. Or the gospel of Jesus Christ can change how we spend our time.
Dig into Historic Creeds and Confessions on ESV.org
Learn more about these how these truths can shape and motivate the lives of all who follow Christ.
Podcast: Why Union with Christ Is More Amazing Than You Think (Marcus Johnson)
What is the doctrine of union with Christ, and why is it so misunderstood today?
4 Ways to Look for the Good in Others
All of us can see the good in our friends. Scripture, however, authorizes us to see the good and enjoy it in all people, even when most of us are not always so good.
Help! I’m Feeling Anxious about . . . Everything
Let’s be honest, we’re all worried, aren’t we? The good news is that God knew this day was coming and has provided counsel for us to stop worry at its source.
Podcast: 5 Attributes of God We Too Often Neglect (Mark Jones)
How should we understand God in his fullness—both near to us as our Father and yet above and beyond us as our Creator?
Read the Bible for the Sake of Others
Sermons, classes, and small groups aren’t the only ways the church teaches us to read Scripture. We’ll also become better Bible readers by investing in relationships with fellow members.
Should the Church Operate Like a Business?
How we think about the church will affect how we think about our service in the church.
Why Christ’s Relationship to the Law Matters
Christ fulfills the law by obeying it perfectly during his earthly ministry. This is an important detail that's sometimes left out of gospel presentations.
Communion Is a Meal of Remembrance
As we eat the bread and drink the cup, we remember him, just as he told us to. We look back with thankful hearts to the cross.
Mere Christianity as C. S. Lewis’s Personal Testimony
Believing in a moral God is still not the same as believing that God took on flesh and dwelt amongst us as Jesus.
Why the 10 Commandments Are Still Relevant
The law in the New Testament is to show us that in the life of the believer, the law is in fact a means of grace because it shows us what pleases God.
Podcast: The Life and Mind of C. S. Lewis (Harry Lee Poe)
Learn fascinating details about the start of Lewis’s career, his personal faith, the relationships that would shape his world, and the books that would make his name world-renowned.
Seeing God’s Grace in the Hospital Room
It can be really hard to remember God's love when you're working in the hospital witnessing other people's suffering, or even in the hospital as a patient yourself.
Rest in God’s Faithfulness, Not Yours
God not only forgives your sins and guarantees you a seat in eternity, but welcomes you to a radically new way of living.
Ministry leadership, at its core, is about a community of leaders practicing together the presence of the Lord.
Why Pastors Have a Unique Responsibility to Counsel
You must counsel. It’s not optional. You can’t say no as if it were simply a career choice, a matter of personal preference, or an absence of gifting.
What Changed after C. S. Lewis Came to Christ?
He not only knew about God with his reason but also met God with his emotions. He experienced Joy. And God changed him.
Why Are There So Many Versions of the Bible?
Go into any Christian bookstore, and you can find an entire shelf—sometimes an entire section!—of different Bible translations.
Only one Comforter is great enough: the infinite-personal God who exists—that is, the God of Judeo-Christian Scripture. Only He is the sufficient Comforter.
The Lord’s Work in the Lord’s Way
If we try to influence the world by using its methods, we are doing the Lord’s work in the flesh.
How Is God Defeating Satan?: A 5-Day Devotional
John Piper explains four ways God is defeating Satan by allowing Satan to deceive, influence, and tempt—for now.
The Lord Provides—Even in Tragedy
Any good news in the hospital is a glimmer of God’s grace. Any cure reflects not the power of our own hands, but rather his provision for us.
How to Pray for Your Child’s Salvation
We cannot force this faith. We labor for it, we teach to it, we encourage it, and above all, we can pray for it.
We Must Worship God on His Terms
True worship is not possible unless God himself enables it, because human beings are unable to truly worship him without his enabling.
How Delight and Obedience Coexist
The law of God changes when we move from thinking about it in terms of our justification to our sanctification.
How to Pray for Christian Doctors
The demands of medicine and the spiritual burdens of long hours take their toll. Here are five ways to pray.
We Should Expect Frustration When Reading the Bible
If we give in to impatience with the learning process, we tend to react in one of two ways.
4 Key Components of Mainstream Anglicanism
Jesus Christ fills the mental horizon of mainstream Anglican believers; the claim and the purpose is that in all we do, we are seeking Christ’s glory and furthering his kingdom.
Podcast: What Your Marriage Needs Most (Paul David Tripp)
Paul Tripp discusses how the gospel comes to bear on the day-to-day realities of marriage and why that’s more than just a platitude.
Survival mode for the weary Christian is not hibernation from Christ but perseverance in Christ.
Tips for Students Facing Doubt in the Real World
When facing doubts and fears, the last thing you want to do is isolate yourself and struggle alone.
Why Sanctification Is Not Passive
Sanctification is absolutely essential to the life of faith—so much so that Scripture frequently treats holiness as the identifying mark of a true believer.
Luke: A 10-Day Devotional Reading Plan
See how the Gospel of Luke presents Jesus as the promised King of kings, showcasing how Jesus’s earthly ministry is good news to the downtrodden, the hurting, and the outsider.
3 Reality Checks for Your Marriage
What are the essential wisdom perspectives that Scripture gives us that enable us to have realistic expectations for our marriage?
Tithing in Financially Tight Times
Giving out of scarcity declares in an especially profound way that God is better than money.
The practice of remembering the Sabbath requires Israel (and us) to remember what God has ordained for his children from the earliest moments of human existence: a pattern of work followed by rest.
An Open Letter to the Christian Frontline Medical Worker
The work to which you’ve devoted your life can plunge you into your darkest hours, luring you into doubts about God’s love, perhaps even about his existence. Where is God in all this?
4 Reasons Christians Should Use Their Minds
Stott recognized the need for both intellect and emotion in Christianity, but, clearly for him, “the greater danger is anti-intellectualism and a surrender to emotionalism.”
This Day in History: John Stott Was Born
On this day in history John Stott, one of the most influential Christian leaders of the twentieth century, was born. This year marks the centenary of his birth.
The Longing of Every Human Heart
There is no emotion, no experience, and no quest more authentically human than love.
Podcast: Trauma, Pain, and Loss: A Doctor’s Story of Faith and Healing (Katie Butler)
Kathryn Butler discusses her work as a trauma surgeon working in the ICU, sharing what it was like to be inundated with life and death situations day in and day out.
An Open Letter to the Christian at a Secular College
Whenever we start doubting our faith, it’s usually because we’ve come to believe something else in its place.
What to Do When God Doesn’t Answer
We are called, as was Job, to begin our lives of discipleship with the fear of God and repentance from evil.
Help! My Beliefs Are Viewed as Intolerant
As our world continues to speak about inclusivity, diversity, and tolerance, it can seem like Christianity is embarrassingly behind the times.
3 Important Truths Job’s Friends Neglected
In the context of the whole Bible, perhaps the deepest error and omission of Job’s friends is this: they have no place for innocent suffering.
Help! I Can’t Find Someone to Disciple Me (Garrett Kell)
In this episode, Garrett Kell discusses why all Christians are called to be discipled and to disciple others.
Deaconing is not for the faint of heart. Much of it is thankless: grunt work, not stage work.
What is righteous vs. unrighteous anger? What does the anger of God look like? Glean insight about the right time and application for anger by reading these verses and commentary.
Deacons are not the church’s spiritual council of directors, nor the executive board to whom the pastor-CEO answers. They are a cavalry of servants.
An Open Letter to Those Suffering in the Hospital
Perhaps in the hospital bed, you try to pray but can’t find the words. The spiritual disciplines upon which you’ve depended seem oceans away.
Podcast: How Should We Define the Gospel? (Greg Gilbert)
Greg Gilbert discusses why Christians so often struggle to clearly define a simple yet foundational concept: the gospel.
Help! I Don’t Know How to Reestablish a Healthy Church after COVID
Not meeting together has meant missing out on the countless interactions that establish and enable the very practical supports which overflow from our spiritual unity in Christ.
Feminine Beauty and Masculine Strength
What do we say to our sons and daughters who ask, “Daddy and Mommy, what does it mean to be a man or a woman?” Tell them they are made in the image of God and for union with Christ.
How God Brings Us to Glory: A 5-Day Devotional Reading Plan
God doesn’t just require holiness; he promises it to his people, he bought it for them, and he brings it about in their hearts and lives.
Are Miracles Still Possible and Probable?
The most fundamental reason that people don’t believe the miracles in the Bible is because they already believe something else, namely, that miracles are impossible.
Podcast: Faith, Family, and the Creative Life (Ruth Chou Simons)
Ruth Chou Simons discusses her life as an artist, sharing her passion for creating beautiful pieces of art that reflect the beauty of our Creator.
Because your world is not out of control but under God’s careful redemptive control, you can have hope even when it looks to you as if darkness is winning the day.
Podcast: Surviving College with Your Faith Intact (Michael Kruger)
Michael Kruger discusses the top intellectual challenges to biblical Christianity many students will face on a secular campus.
Learn more about German designer and illustrator, Peter Voth, and his work on the ESV Single Column Journaling Bible, Artist Series.
Full Audiobook: The Biggest Story by Kevin DeYoung
We are pleased to share the entire audio of The Biggest Story by Kevin DeYoung on The Crossway Podcast.
The 5th Commandment Is for Adults Too
The fifth commandment is found in the middle of a list of commands clearly addressed to adults, targeting issues that are, developmentally speaking, primarily the concerns of adulthood.
God Doesn’t Love You Because You’re Special or Good
God loves his people despite their sin against him. He loves them before they love him back, and before there’s anything in them worthy of his love. But his love doesn’t stop there.
6 Questions about Finding a Mentor
We need mature believers to help us resist sin, grow in godly affection, and to persevere in faith.
We Need Both Rules and Relationship with God
To obey the law is to look like Jesus Christ. While legalism builds self-righteousness, lawfulness builds righteousness.
Delighting in God’s Law: A 10-Day Video Devotional with Jen Wilkin
Join Jen Wilkin, author of Ten Words to Live By, for a ten-day journey through the Ten Commandments, learning what they are and what they mean for our lives.
An Open Letter to Women in the Church
Sister, don’t try to follow Christ alone. There is no substitute for your commitment and service to your local church.
5 Questions about the Ten Commandments
We should love the law because we love Jesus, and because Jesus loved the law.
3 Losses of an Illiterate Culture
Glenda Faye Mathes, Leland Ryken
The decline of reading has impoverished our culture and individual lives. We have lost mental sharpness, verbal skills, and ability to think and imagine.
Preview: Ten Words to Live By by Jen Wilkin
Today, we are pleased to share a special hour-long audio preview of Ten Words to Live By: Delighting in and Doing What God Commands by Jen Wilkin.
Podcast: Delighting in the Ten Commandments (Jen Wilkin)
In this episode, Jen Wilkin discusses what's wrong with the way we often talk about the Law, along with some of the common dangers of legalism.
The Wisdom of God-Centered Rhythms in a Me-Centered Age
When every moment of our iWorld existence conditions us to celebrate the self, the church boldly celebrates something bigger, grander, and more compelling.
Help! I Don’t Know How to Answer My Kid’s Tough Questions
Rather than seeing our cultural challenges today only as obstacles for our kids, I’m increasingly convinced they’re opportunities to do three important things.
Thoughtful reading is becoming a lost art. Artful reading is dying. Many people believe it’s drawing a final breath on its deathbed.
Our new status and our new identity are due to the saving mercy and transformative power of God and are not of ourselves.
Podcast: Why Your Church Needs Plural Leadership (Dave Harvey)
Dave Harvey discusses why plural leadership—a team of elders—is so crucial for the health of a local church.
You Can Change: A 5-Day Devotional Reading Plan
Over the course of five days, be encouraged by God’s commitment to his own in this devotional adaptation from John Piper’s book, Providence.
Most of us like to think we’re basically good people. We know we’re not perfect. We sometimes do bad things. But at heart, we think we’re pretty good.
6 Questions about the Fear of God
On the one hand, we are told that Christ frees us from fear; on the other, we are told we ought to fear—and fear God, no less. Is fear a good or a bad thing?
What Does It Look Like to Be Blessed?
What is the proof that God is for us? Where else do we need to look other than God giving the most valuable thing in the universe, offering up his one and only Son for his people?
Podcast: Preparing Our Kids for a Post-Christian World (Rebecca McLaughlin)
Rebecca McLaughlin discusses what it looks like for parents to prepare their teens for a life in a post-Christian world, reflectong on kids' propensity to ask hard questions and why that's a good thing,
We need to remember that the Bible is God's direct speech to us. His word is the source of wisdom. It is God himself speaking to us.
Why It Is Unloving to Preach #YouDoYou
If the ship is going down, it’s not arrogant to tell people the truth and point them to the lifeboat. It’s deeply unloving not to.
I would argue that the author of Hebrews is presenting much more than a definition of what faith is, but also offering a summary of what faith does.
God’s Calling for George Müeller
When Müller was twenty years old, he was invited to a Bible study and, by the grace of God, felt the desire to go.
As we savor the good news of the sin-bearing servant of the Lord, we learn to enthuse. The gospel of a surprising salvation can only make us laugh, sing, and cheer.
3 Ways the Internet and Social Media Benefit Wisdom
In what sense are the Internet and social media potentially valuable for wisdom? We know the many downsides to online life. What are the upsides?
9 Notable Quotes from Providence
The providence of God is his purposeful sovereignty by which he will be completely successful in the achievement of his ultimate goal for the universe.
You Live in a God-Entranced World
The world is not a machine that God made to run on its own. It is a painting, or a sculpture, or a drama.
The Role of Prayer and Missions in Salvation
Prayer and evangelism are both part of the plan—the all-embracing, all-pervasive, unstoppable providence of God is the only hope for making our efforts effective.
Pursue God, Not Just His Blessings
God’s blessing is not contingent upon whether we live in material wealth or whether we live in material poverty because we can learn to be content.
Help! I’m Struggling to Connect with my Church Family During COVID
The pandemic has stripped away many of our opportunities to connect with the people in our congregations.
Q&A: Dane Ortlund Answers Your Questions about the Heart of Christ for Sinners
A couple of weeks ago, we asked readers to submit their questions for Dane Ortlund. Many of you sent in questions from around the world.
10 Things You Should Know about R. C. Sproul
R. C. Sproul loved to laugh. He enjoyed people. He truly knew the generosity of God, and that propelled him to serve people.
Christians, remember that God has graciously given us his Holy Spirit, who makes us fearless in troubled times.
Podcast: The Life and Legacy of R. C. Sproul (Stephen Nichols)
Stephen Nichols discusses the fascinating life and ministry of the late R. C. Sproul reflecting on who he was in private and how his theological passions shaped his ministry.
Preview: R.C. Sproul: A Life by Stephen Nichols
Today, we are pleased to share a special hour-long audio preview of R. C. Sproul: A Life by Stephen J. Nichols, including the book's prologue and first chapter, on The Crossway Podcast.
We live in an angry world, and most of it is obviously destructive. But anger is not intrinsically evil, essentially evil, or necessarily evil.
How to Pray When You’re Tempted by Anger
Here are five things you might focus on in your prayers as you seek to do the heart work necessary in your own circumstances.
What Can We Learn about God’s Anger from Jesus?
When Jesus is angry, he is right to be angry; the cause of his anger is right, and he expresses his anger rightly.
3 Moral Principles to Consider Related to Reproductive Technology
Modern medicine can be used to overcome many diseases and disabilities today. We should view this as a good thing, and as something for which we can give thanks to God.
Podcast: Diagnosing the Heart of Anger (Christopher Ash)
Christopher Ash discusses why anger is such a powerful, dangerous emotion for the Christian, walking through some of the key Bible passages that address the topic.
We Need the Soul-Stirring of John Wesley
Is anybody listening to the voice of John Wesley anymore? Outside the self-identified Wesleyverse, the Wesley Literacy Quotient among evangelicals has declined alarmingly.
Why would anyone ever fast? What is to be gained from giving things up?
9 Notable Quotes from Seasons of Waiting
God uses seasons of waiting to teach us patience and make us more like himself.
How Books Help Us Connect in Ways the Internet Doesn’t
We sometimes characterize the digital age as a “post-literate” age, where images and video have taken over the place that written words used to occupy.
Why It Is Good to Be Poor in Spirit
Our culture is obsessed with wealth and riches. Why, then, does Jesus call the poor "blessed?"
Practical Counsel for Those Who Have Experienced Painful Divorce
Christians who have been through divorces also have a wonderful encouragement to realize that Jesus understands our sufferings and is willing to walk beside us in them.
Podcast: The Power of Habitual Gratitude (Sam Crabtree)
Sam Crabtree explains why gratitude is actually more foundational to the Christian life than you probably think and offers practical advice for cultivating gratitude in the ups and downs of our everyday lives,
10 Things You Should Know about Love
We often say “love” when we mean sexual intimacy, or romantic love. But real love is far bigger than that.
The biblical picture of love can differ wildly from how the world defines it. Be set aright and encouraged by these verses and commentary.
Social Algorithms Are Today’s “Lady Folly”
Algorithms lure us into constant distraction by putting “suggestions” into our minds, waiting to pounce and consume our attention.
5 Ways the Church Makes You Wiser
Church can be an indispensable source of stability and growth; a treasure trove of communal and Spirit-infused wisdom that we’d be foolish to neglect.
Practicing Thankfulness during a Pandemic
There is a kind of thankfulness that is grateful not only for what isn’t but for what is. The Bible doesn’t exhort us merely to be thankful in everything, but for everything.
The First Step in Celebrating Divine Grace
It’s good to mourn, it’s healthy to be sad, and it’s appropriate to groan. Something is wrong with us, something is missing in our hearts and our understanding of life.
Why do we need suggestions on how to express gratitude? Shouldn’t a truly grateful heart just naturally overflow in expressing that gratefulness?
Podcast: Inherent Dangers of the Information Age (Brett McCracken)
Brett McCracken discusses what it looks like to pursue true wisdom in a noisy and confused age.
The Beauty of Shared Suffering
God delights in identifying with us in our suffering. He feels the sting in his chest when you hurt. He takes
it personally.
Podcast: Honoring God in Singleness and Dating (Marshall Segal)
Marshall Segal discusses singleness and dating as a Christian, sharing some of his own story including his struggle with contentment as a single person.
Many unmarried people have strengthened their hands with the truth that no one has left anything for the sake of the kingdom, says the Lord Jesus, who will not receive back far more.
Fearing God Is a Matter of the Heart
The fear of God is not a state of mind you can guarantee with five easy steps. It is not something that can be acquired with simple self-effort.
Are God’s Attributes Relevant Today?
Most of us take God’s attributes for granted and seldom think about them specifically. They may be hard to fathom, but they matter greatly for our relationship to him.
The Blessing of God’s Presence
The most important blessing of the church’s new existence will be its similar experience of the immediate, palpable presence of God.
Even those in their prime with perfect health have limits. We need a stronger strength to match our deep discouragements.
It is the devil’s work to promote a fear of God that makes people afraid of God such that they want to flee from God.
4 Misconceptions about Contentment
One of our greatest struggles with contentment is that we often have an incorrect picture of what it means to be content.
Why You Should Be Thankful for Your Knowledge of Sin
Of all the blessings in my life, one is without a doubt the most wonderful blessing of all. Of all the things I most needed, but could never provide for myself, this was my deepest need.
4 Questions about the Attributes of God
His almighty power makes it possible for him to reach out to us in love and to save us from our sins. This is why the attributes of God matter.
1–2 Peter: A 10-Day Devotional Reading Plan
Over the course of 10 days, dig deeper into the books of 1–2 Peter and learn how God uses hope, humility, and holiness to prepare believers for their final home in heaven.
Podcast: Should Christians Fear God? (Michael Reeves)
What is the Bible getting at when it commands us to fear the Lord? Is it ever sinful to fear?
Why Mourning Can Be Good for Us
Mourning sin—past, present, and future—is the first step in seeking and celebrating the hope of divine grace.
We Need a Theological Framework for Racial Reconciliation
It’s really critical that the Bible and theological categories inform the racial reconciliation conversation lest culture and politics become where we start from.
How Lament Moves Us toward Others
Lament doesn’t solve all the problems of racial reconciliation, but it can really help.
Podcast: Practicing Hospitality in a Pandemic (Rosaria Butterfield)
What does it look like to embrace the call on all Christians in a time where we're limited in unprecedented ways?
In God’s sweet providence, I began studying Psalm 90 about a year before my eightieth birthday, asking the Lord to teach me how to glorify him in old age.
What Does It Mean to Flourish?
As counterintuitive as it sounds, flourishing is a slow and progressive death that brings abundant life.
An Open Letter to Victims of Abuse
Justin S. Holcomb, Lindsey A. Holcomb
Disgrace is the opposite of grace. Grace is love that seeks you out even if you have nothing to give in return.
14 Notable Quotes from Habits of Grace
“Habits of grace” are the God-designed channels through which his glorious grace flows—making them life-giving practices for all Christians.
Podcast: Disciplines of a Godly Woman (Barbara Hughes)
Barbara Hughes discusses why discipline is important for Christian women, highlighting her own struggle to cultivate a disciplined life over the years.
An Open Letter to the Woman Struggling with Aging
If you’re like most women, fear about your changing physical appearance is just the beginning of aging anxiety. Many of us struggle with aging because we know it is often a season of loss.
The one prayer Christ calls us all to pray requires us to let go of our momentary agendas and take up his eternal one.
Grace Gives Us a New Way to Live
The most outrageous acts of penance in the world are powerless to do what needs to be done—radically transform your heart. So you and I are left with only one final option.
10 Key Bible Verses on Spiritual Discipline
Godly character is developed over time—honed by the practice of spiritual disciplines and commitment to living honorably before men and God.
Meditate On and Mutter God’s Word
Slowly and prayerfully turning over Scripture engages the eyes, the ears, and the mouth, and drills through the granite to the heart—maximizing internalization and devotion.
Common Barriers to Family Worship
There are barriers to creating a regular habit of family worship, but God has provided many helps to get over them.
Good deeds matter to God in regards to their purpose for the church, the world, our sanctification, and God’s glory.
Podcast: Disciplines of a Godly Man (Kent Hughes)
Kent Hughes discusses why discipline is so important for the life of a Christian man. He explains how discipline is actually aimed at freeing us to be the men that God called us to be.
What Does Deuteronomy 31:6 Mean?
What’s the most frightening thing you’ve ever had to do? Terror is a powerful force that can seize us and render us powerless to act.
9 Principles for Navigating Anxiety and Depression with Your Teen
What are the general principles to bear in mind as you begin to work with your teen through anxiety and depression?
Why You May Want to Take a Silent Retreat after Christmas
You may not know how badly you needed silence and solitude until you get to know them.
11 Notable Quotes from Come, Let Us Adore Him
Recapture your attention and reactivate your awe for Christ and his coming during Christmastime.
Jesus Didn’t Show Up Unannounced
The surety of past prophecies and the specificity of how Jesus fulfilled them is also your guaranteed future hope.
How to Worship in a Way That Speaks to Unbelievers
Though we don't want to cater only to the unbelievers in our congregations, we need to be aware of certain things we can do to help them encounter Jesus in a way they can understand.
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.
One day the ruler—the King of kings and Lord of lords—will return and make peace a reality.
Joy is the gift of God to those who trust in Christ—not circumstantial, but the result of a deep trust in and love for Jesus.
It is God’s intent that every person who comes into a relationship with him through Jesus Christ eventually will grow up into maturity. And maturity looks like Jesus.
Podcast: How to Become Fluent in the Gospel (Jeff Vanderstelt)
What does it mean to be fluent in the gospel, and why is it an essential part of living as a disciple of Jesus?
Help! I Don’t Know How to Help My Kids Focus on Christ this Season
To see the goodness of God most clearly—to focus on Christ during Christmas—your children will need to see you enthralled by him and captured by him.
Busyness is like sin: kill it, or it will be killing you. When busyness goes after joy, it goes after everyone’s joy.
There is a reason to value some gifts above others, but the Bible does not teach that any are more important, lasting, or Christ-centered than other gifts.
As believers, we put our ultimate hope not in this world, but in what is unseen. We trust and wait expectantly for God to usher forth the promised King and kingdom.
Help for When a Pastor’s Time and Energy Are Limited
As you think about God-ordained limits of time, what changes are needed in your leadership community?
Podcast: A Christian Scientific Perspective on Evolution
Stephen Meyer discusses the controversial topic of theistic evolution and explains what the term does and doesn't mean.
May the God of peace be with believers—now and always—as we seek to usher in his kingdom here and now.
The Role of Technology and Media in the Sexual Revolution
Technology and the media have played a significant role in the triumph of the sexual revolution—specifically in terms of the LGBTQ+ movement.
How to Maintain Everyday Faithfulness in Festive Times
God has equipped us to follow Christ faithfully no matter what season of life we’re living.
At Christmas, God thunders into our lives in his flesh and beckons us to behold in him the glory of God, full of grace and truth.
How to Pray for the Advent Season
How do you pray to prepare for Advent season?
It is the Spirit’s work to help us see our sin. This drives us to Jesus for forgiveness, and this is very good.
Podcast: Do You Know That Jesus Is Praying for You? (Joel Beeke)
Joel Beeke discusses the doctrine of Christ's ongoing intercession in heaven and why it's more important and spiritually edifying than you may realize.
3 Reasons Jesus Is Our Only Hope
The Advent story is a hope story because it chronicles the coming to earth of the One who is hope, Jesus.
10 Key Bible Verses on Contentment
A believer’s contentment is not to be affected by circumstances, but firmly rooted in the good news of Christ and what he has accomplished for sinners.
Why Contentment Stems from a Thankful Heart
If the contentment goes and the giving of thanks goes, we are not loving God as we should, and proper desire has become coveting against God.
10 Key Bible Verses on Gratitude
Gratitude to God is essential, but not only for the sake of the good things which he bestows.
What Does It Mean to Be Your True Self?
Expressive individualism, like a lot of things, captures something of the truth. Human beings do have an inner life, and that inner life is very important to who we are.
5 Idols Revealed through Hardship
Lamenting the toppling of our cultural idols can reorient Christian exiles as to what King and what kingdom we were supposed to long for.
Podcast: Can We Really Be Content? (Erik Raymond)
What does it look like to cultivate a spirit of contentment in a world that often seems dead set on helping us do just the opposite?
C. S. Lewis and the Beauty of Self-Forgetfulness
To become humble and self-forgetful is to become truly human so that we might truly know God. God wants to give us himself.
How to Spend Your Time Waiting for an Adopted Child
God has designed the universe so that anticipation is built into the order of things.
4 Ways Christians Can Navigate Cultural Confusion around Gender in the Coming Decade
The question of transgender identity looks set to be significant for Christians both in matters of public life and pastoral care for the foreseeable future.
Inspiration for At-Home Schooling
Life includes not only living experiences, but also the best that mankind has produced in art, books, music, ideas, and many more areas.
5 Questions about Biblical Spirituality
Justin L. McLendon, Christopher W. Morgan
There is no shortage of conversations surrounding spirituality—culturally and across various religious expressions—but a Christian understanding of spirituality must have its roots in the gospel.
Look at the Jesus of the Bible. Look at him. Don’t close your eyes and hope for a word of confirmation. Keep your eyes open and fill them with the full portrait of Jesus provided in the Bible.
9 Notable Quotes from Weep with Me
In the Bible, lament is a prayer that leads to trust, which can be a starting point for the church to “weep with those who weep."
Preview: The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman
Enjoy a special two-hour preview of The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman on The Crossway Podcast.
Podcast: Making Sense of Transgenderism and the Sexual Revolution (Carl Trueman)
Why is our culture obsessed with gender identity and sexuality? Learn what history has to say about our modern times and how Christians can navigate this increasingly hostile issue.
10 Key Bible Verses on Persecution
Jesus suffered and died on behalf of sinners and calls blessed those that follow in his steps for his name’s sake.
The Why behind Rapid Cultural Shifts in Gender Politics
Christians are often prone to focusing on symptoms rather than looking at underlying causes.
Consider Your Money Philosophy
Are we truly using and thinking of money with a Christ-centered heart? These questions will help you evaluate the role of money in your life.
There are eight godly attitudes in Colossians 3:12–14 that are foundational to biblical peacemaking.
The wasted life is the life without a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples.
What Does It Mean That God Chose Us before the Foundation of the World? (Ephesians 1)
God’s choice of his people is related to their being predestined to be a part of his family, but predestination is not an end in itself.
Make a Change from Me-ology to Theology
Me-ology prizes you and me. Theology prizes the God of the universe who holds everything together.
How Grace Lets You Have It All
The more you understand the magnitude of God’s grace, the more accurate will be your view of the depth of your unrighteousness; and the more you understand the depth of your unrighteousness, the more you will appreciate the magnitude of God’s gift of grace.
6 Ways to Live in Light of the Serpent-Slayer Story
Jesus is the serpent slayer. So how should a Christian live in light of that thrilling storyline?
10 Key Bible Verses on God’s Sovereignty
When life feels out of control, it can be comforting to remember that we're never out of the sight of our Creator—and he never loses control.
Faith is much more than a one-time decision; it is a lifestyle lived with the presence, promises, and call of God always in view.
Podcast: Covenant Theology 101 (Guy Waters)
How do we understand the biblical covenants, and how can they help us to read Scripture rightly?
Introducing 2 Devotionals from Paul David Tripp
With 40 daily readings, each of these short devotionals encourage Christians to experience the life-giving message of the gospel every day.
9 Notable Quotes from ‘Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy’
Lament gives us a language to express our grief and sorrow to God, while asking him to lead us to deeper trust.
10 Things You Should Know about Covenant Theology
John R. Muether, J. Nicholas Reid, Guy Prentiss Waters
The Bible is a book about God’s plan to glorify himself by saving sinners through the work of his Son, Jesus Christ. At every point, Scripture’s covenant theology leads us to Jesus.
The topic of money can be tricky for Christians to navigate. What does the Bible say about it and how ought we to use it to honor God?
10 Key Bible Verses on Anxiety and Worry
God tells us over and over in Scripture to lean on him for what our human strength and ingenuity cannot achieve.
3 Practical Ways to Battle Depression
There are some basic steps we shouldn’t miss before we try and treat anxiety and depression with medication and counseling.
Podcast: How Should Christians Navigate Political Disagreements among Friends? (Jonathan Leeman)
How should Christians think about political disagreements within the church and how much should politics be shared from the pulpit?
3 Causes for Political Tension between Christians
Jonathan Leeman, Andrew David Naselli
What is going on when a disagreements affects your heart’s posture or hinders fellowship with another person in your church?
3 Questions about Blessings and Curses
God’s design has always been for his people to experience the fullness of life in his presence—physically and spiritually.
Perhaps one of the greatest misunderstandings concerning the Christian faith is that God is only concerned with “good people.”
Why You Can’t Be a Christian without the Church
A Christian is someone who, by virtue of his reconciliation with God, has been reconciled to God’s people.
Your Salvation Doesn’t Depend on Your Feelings
If our salvation depended upon our feelings, we should be lost one day and saved another, for they are as fickle as the weather.
What Does It Mean to Be Blessed?
Just like themes such as law, sacrifice, and covenant, the theme of blessing must be understood within the full biblical story, if it is to be understood biblically at all.
Podcast: Understanding the Presence of God (Ryan Lister)
What does the Bible say about the presence of God, and how does it relate the Christian life?
How to Cast Out Impure Affection
The best way of casting out an impure affection is to admit a pure one, and, by the love of what is good, to expel the love of what is evil.
10 Key Bible Verses on Hardship
With the power and presence of Jesus in our lives, we are called to endure and thus shine the light of Christ in a dark world.
Why should you get baptized? Christ not only commands believers to get baptized, baptism is also a gift he graciously gives for our benefit and blessing.
Podcast: The Day I Lost My 3-Year-Old Son (Cameron Cole)
Cameron Cole talks about losing his three-year-old son and how that tragedy and all the suffering it entailed has ultimately strengthened his hope in God.
How Christians Evidence Christ’s Victory
Between the victory on the cross and the present day, and on to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, did God intend that there should be any evidence of the reality of the victory of the cross?
2 Categories of Questions to Ask When Reading the Bible
The worst thing you can do when you read the Bible is to read it passively or thoughtlessly.
How to Pray for the African Church
Major news outlets in the world tend to concentrate on the economic poverty and social deprivation that characterizes much of Africa, but then many believers miss what God is doing in his church across the continent.
11 Notable Quotes from Gospel Fluency
To become fluent in a new language, you must immerse yourself in it until you actually start to think about life through it.
How to Pray When You’re Feeling Anxious
Anxiety may misdirect us, or, properly grasped, may point us to the right path.
Gospel-Centered Leadership: A 12-Day Devotional
Over the course of twelve days, be encouraged by Scripture and wise leadership principles as you seek to become a better leader at home, in your workplace, and in the church.
4 Things to Remember When Meeting with Jesus
Pray, have a plan, be patient, and be positive. You will meet him in his word.
To be converted as a Christian is to have changed your thinking and your believing about Jesus Christ, and to be changed into a person who is no longer an enemy of God but a beloved child of God.
10 Key Bible Verses on Leadership
A leader is to be above reproach, held accountable for the care of those entrusted to them.
How to Pray When You’re Tempted by Sexual Sin
Sexual sin is a matter of the heart. When it comes to sex, we all need to say that the biggest problem in our sexual lives is us.
Podcast: Habits for Better Bible Reading (Drew Hunter)
Drew Hunter discusses advice for Christians eager to reinvigorate, or maybe jumpstart for the first time, a consistent Bible-reading habit.
The Bible is more than just a book about events in history: it’s a unified story.
The Demise of the Deified Self
Truly, we are lost in a darkness of our own making, and we got here by dethroning God and enthroning ourselves. We’ve deified ourselves. And it’s led to our demise.
3 Ways to Prepare for the Battles of Ministry
How do we strategize together as leadership communities for the battle?
Learning from the Life and Death of Stephen
This is the way all of us want to live and die. We want to live full of faith and the Holy Spirit.
God has given us work to do faithfully and joyfully—with both our minds and our hands.
Free Download: Printable Verse Cards Tracing God's Unfolding Grace
Download these free printables for memorizing and meditating on God's word.
7 Tips for Reading the Bible with Another Person
Reading the Bible, like eating a meal, isn’t only for individual consumption. Some of the greatest joys come when we enjoy God and his word together with others.
7 Ways to Use ‘Unfolding Grace’ in Your Church
Many Christians know key doctrines or various texts within the Bible, but they often miss the sweep of the Bible’s big story and how it connects to Christ.
Depression Isn’t a Modern Problem
Depression has been around since the fall, and the Bible gives examples of even the greatest people who suffered from depression.
Does God Single Out the Sin of Homosexuality? (Romans 1)
While in recent years same-sex relations have been glamorized in some sectors of society, Jesus confirmed that God’s will for marriage has always been lifelong heterosexual monogamy.
On the side of God’s infinity, there is a complete chasm between God on one side and man, the animal, the flower, and the machine on the other. On the side of God’s infinity, He stands alone.
Podcast: How I Study the Bible (Lauren Chandler)
Lauren Chandler shares her Bible study and reading habits and how Scripture has impacted her personal life and work as a songwriter.
The best self-care habits, not only for the Christian but for any human being, lead us back to our Maker and Savior.
Infographic: 4 Biblical Ways to Pray
How do you pray biblically? Paul Miller outlines four ways to help you pray biblical prayers.
What Did Jesus Teach about Politics?
If we take the lordship of Christ in our lives seriously, then we should seek to apply that lordship to our participation in politics.
10 Questions about Spiritual Gifts
Spiritual gifts are capacities or abilities imparted to Christians by the Holy Spirit to enable them to exceed the limitations of their finite humanity in order to serve other believers to the glory of God.
What Does It Mean to Be a Man in the Home?
Andreas J. Köstenberger, Margaret Elizabeth Köstenberger
Men are to be worshipers, disciples, witnesses, husbands and fathers, leaders, providers, and protectors.
We Need Another Storyline to Put Ours in Perspective
Orienting ourselves by stories involves using their storylines to put our lives in proper perspective.
What does the Bible teach about how to make decisions and discern God's will in the life of believers?
Doctrine is a body of teaching. Christian doctrine is the teaching found in the Bible—about who God is, who we are, and why the world exists.
Free Audiobook: How Can I Love Church Members with Different Politics?
Free audiobook available of 'How Can I Love Church Members with Different Politics?' by Jonathan Leeman and Andy Naselli read by
What Is Anxiety vs. Depression?
It's important to realize that anxiety and depression are different while being careful to realize that they do sometimes overlap.
Podcast: Why You Shouldn't Feel Bad about Enjoying the World (Joe Rigney)
What does it look like to love God and enjoy this world? Are the two in contention with each other?
9 Tips for Making the Most of Your Bible Study
As you read the Bible devotionally, seek to complement this with time in which you also build a basic knowledge of Scripture. Here are nine suggestions to help you make the most of that time.
4 Ways Baseball Fuels Supernatural Joy
How does my natural joy in baseball become a supernatural joy in God? That’s the question Christian Hedonists ask.
Don’t Neglect Worship to Enjoy the Earth
Our lives ought to be structured by regular rhythms of direct and indirect godwardness, moving back and forth between direct interaction with God himself and active engagement with the world.
4 Qualities of God-Honoring Work
Your vocation, be it ever so humble, is a divine calling, and thus must be done for the glory of God. This alone will take the church out into the world.
What the Apostle Paul Teaches Us about Suffering
When God called Paul from being the church’s persecutor to be a gospel preacher, the Lord showed him how much he would suffer for the sake of his name.
10 Key Bible Verses on Humility
Christ set the ultimate example of humility by submitting himself to life on earth and then death on the cross on behalf of sinners.
Doing good and being rich in good works and being generous and ready to share aren’t just about money.
Podcast: Asking God "Why" in the Midst of Suffering (Mark Talbot)
Is it okay to ask God why when suffering? What do you do when you go through profound suffering?
Suffering and Hope in the Time of COVID-19
In these circumstances, we may find ourselves wondering, Where is God? How can these things be happening if God is perfectly good and all-powerful? Can’t he stop them? Doesn’t he want to?
Why Jesus Cannot Be One Truth among Many
Jesus claims rule over all of heaven and earth. He presents himself not as one possible path to God, but as God himself.
When it comes to family discipleship, low-hanging fruit is everywhere. Family discipleship does not have to be intricate or complicated.
Excellent Revelations through Ordinary Means
As was typical among the Puritans, the Lord’s Supper is seen not simply as a memory aid, but an occasion in which Christ is present among his people through the Holy Spirit.
12 Reasons You Might Not Feel Like Going to Church
There are many reasons Christians might not feel like going to church. But if you can discern the reason behind your reluctance, the path forward becomes clearer.
4 Reasons for Hope in Suffering
In our suffering God is at work to give us something much better than what we want.
10 Key Bible Verses on Discipleship
Christ calls us to himself and then invites us to lead others to follow him in obedience and trust. We are called disciples when we love each other in this way.
Why Christians Depend on Revelation from God
Christianity is a religion that rests on revelation: nobody would know the truth about God, or be able to relate to him in a personal way, had not God first acted to make himself known.
When it comes to family discipleship, low-hanging fruit is everywhere. Family discipleship does not have to be intricate or complicated.
10 Things You Should Know about Family Discipleship
In Jesus's call to make disciples everywhere and to teach his commandments entirely, we can be absolutely sure that this imperative includes those disciples we will make in our own homes.
Over the course of 10 days, dig deeper into the book of Esther and learn how God is faithful to keep his promises and deliver his people.
Why Study the Books of 1–3 John
The more divisive, the more stressful, the more anxious, and the more lonely our society grows, the more compelling the need becomes for a clear exhortation to love.
12 Notable Quotes from Confronting Christianity
The gospel challenges some of our culture’s deepest beliefs and can prompt a lot of questions, yet we are called to make a defense for our hope.
Podcast: Tips for Leading an Effective Bible Study (Lydia Brownback)
What does it look like to lead an effective Bible study? How can a leader keep the conversation on track and guide people to discover the treasures of God's Word?
How to Read (and Not Read) the Bible
We have to read the Bible as literature, but we also have to recognize that it is unlike any other book we know.
Is Propositional Revelation Nonsense?
There are two ways to consider the question of propositional revelation and infallibility. Until the first is in place, the second cannot be sensibly pursued.
The Little ‘C’ Catholic Church Explained
Most people associate the word “catholic” with the Roman Catholic Church. Yet, when used with a little c, the word simply means worldwide or universal.
How the Psalms Teach Us to Sing
God’s people have always been a singing people. There must be a robust expression of our testimony to his grace, something not just seen in our lives but heard from our voices.
Truth in relationships, especially between Christians, is divinely commanded and truth telling is integral to godliness.
Help for Discerning God’s Will
There are several things that can be taken into account in a cumulative way to help us know what God is guiding us to do.
Podcast: Hymns and the Joy of Singing (Kristyn Getty)
What are hymns, and how are they still relevant in a Christian's life today? What are the benefits of learning hymns and congregational singing?
4 Questions about Parenting and Screen Time
If we intend to teach our children how to appropriately enjoy, but not abuse, time in front of a screen, we must check our own hearts and habits first.
4 Reasons We Need a Biblical View of Humanity
When we consider the view of personhood presented in Scripture, the question of whether we are mere brain machines or something more becomes a gospel question.
Why Death Is the Final Stage of Salvation
Death often brings reality to light. When individuals are thrown onto their last resources, they show where their true hopes lay.
How to Pray When You’re Feeling Depressed
During seasons of depression or anxiety, most of us find it hard to concentrate, we feel God is far away, and we despair of God hearing us or helping us.
12 Notable Quotes from Enough about Me
Self-care may produce happiness and temporary relief from stress or hardship, but real joy comes when we stop serving ourselves and find meaning and purpose in something outside of ourselves.
Ask for Grace and Go to Church
The reasons you don’t feel like going to church might be good, bad, or ugly. But, as a fellow sheep loved by the same Shepherd, I’m asking you to trust God, ask for grace, and go.
John Owen’s Ministry to Young Christians
John Owen specialized in ministry to young people, though that’s not how he tends to be remembered.
3 Lies Women Believe about Serving
It’s difficult to steward our time, talents, and treasure well in a world that invites us to self-satisfaction and self-fulfillment.
Why Mentoring Is Better than Asking Alexa
In our digital age, it’s helpful to remember the importance of real-life relationships and the benefits of older believers in the faith who can offer us wisdom, presence, and pursuit.
10 Things You Should Know about John Owen
Now more than ever, it’s time to pick up Owen and find his encouragement for the Christian life.
Why Computers Can Never Replace the Human Brain
If we are not just machines, but spiritual beings as well, even the cleverest computer could never replicate the priceless and wondrous imago dei borne by every human.
Podcast: How Confronting Death Helps Us Live (Matthew McCullough)
How can thinking and being really honest about the reality of death paradoxically free us to find hope and joy in God like never before?
10 Key Bible Verses on Strength
Call on God for help and strength when yours is lacking, and be encouraged by his sufficiency.
Finding Contentment in Singleness
If you’re over the age of twenty-five and single, surely by now you’ve experienced at least some of the challenges of living an uncoupled life.
J. I. Packer: In His Own Words
We ask you to join us in thanking God for J. I. Packer—a man who has consistently evidenced a passion for God's glory and a love for God's church.
Sin causes us to deny our need for God and others. Sin causes us to assign to ourselves the wisdom, strength, and righteousness we do not have.
10 Things You Should Know about J. I. Packer
Over the course of his life, J. I. Packer became one of the most famous and influential evangelical leaders of his time.
Retirement presents a new freedom to live your life according to your God-given priorities.
11 Practical Ways to Reduce Digital Consumption
If we can get digital technology under control, we will do so much better—physically, intellectually, relationally, vocationally, educationally, financially, emotionally, and spiritually.
Don’t Quit the Everyday Work of Marriage
Why do we quit paying attention? Because it is hard work to care, it is hard work to discipline ourselves to be careful, and it is hard work to always be thinking of another person.
10 Things You Should Know about Prayer
It’s easy to complicate prayer; but at its essence, prayer is simply talking with God.
9 Notable Quotes from Coronavirus and Christ
The only firm foundation we have in an unpredictable world is the rock of Jesus Christ.
Help! My Teen Is Struggling with Anxiety
Go to God and ask him to lead you into more understanding of the various factors involved in your child’s suffering: physical, emotional, spiritual, mental, and social.
How to Pray When You’re Feeling Anxious or Depressed
During seasons of depression or anxiety, most of us find it hard to concentrate, we feel God is far away, and we despair of God hearing us or helping us.
11 Practical Ways to Reduce Digital Consumption
If we can get digital technology under control, we will do so much better—physically, intellectually, relationally, vocationally, educationally, financially, emotionally, and spiritually.
3 Questions about Small Groups
We should be asking ourselves if we act like family members of the church and whether or not our participation in the church strengthens or weakens it.
Why We Can’t Lament without Listening
When it comes to loaded subjects like racism or ethnic tension, too often believers fall into the familiar ditches of denial or despair.
Lament: An Open Door for Racial Reconciliation
Most Christians are not sure what to do about racial reconciliation. There are some whose hearts are sinfully closed, but I think most Christians simply lack the tools.
Help! I Don’t Know Where to Start with Racial Reconciliation
Lament doesn't solve all the problems of racial disharmony. It’s not without risk. But it helps.
Why Moralistic Therapeutic Deism Is a Dead End
It's very easy to shelve God and decide we don't really need him, that we just need to believe in ourselves and to invent who we are and what we want to do.
An Open Letter to the Pastor Desiring Racial Reconciliation in the Church
Reconciliation—vertical and horizontal—is the goal of the good news. Gospel unity creates racial harmony.
Why We Need a Paradigm Shift about Money
We need a brand-new way of thinking about money, a way that is rooted in the gospel story and its narrative of the lavish grace of God.
5 Questions about Mental Illness
Mental illness is an old problem; as old as the fall. Although God made everything very good, when sin entered, humanity—together with the rest of the creation—came under the divine curse.
What Does It Mean That an Elder Must Be the Husband of One Wife? (1 Timothy 3)
One’s gifting is certainly a consideration (“able to teach”), but it is not the whole, or even the main thing, that Paul is looking for in an overseer.
3 Threats to the Mission of Small Groups
There are some common sins that keep us from living missional lives: apathy, indifference, and fear of man.
Podcast: Learning from the Church Fathers (Michael Haykin)
What can we learn from the early church fathers and how can early Christian creeds help us define our faith today?
10 Key Bible Verses on Serving
Christ set the ultimate example of service and sacrifice when he condescended to us and submitted to death on our behalf.
The Mission Field I Never Expected
For those of us who are parents, God wants us to esteem the field he’s given us. It’s not a tiring distraction from the true mission field we should be tilling.
8 Notable Quotes from Women of the Word
If it is true that we become what we behold, we must devote the time to learn how to dig into Scripture with our hearts and minds.
Is There Such a Thing as Race?
It is a healthy sign to wish that the term “race” did not exist. It has not served well to enhance human relations.
Help! I Find Myself Perpetually Discontent
Contentment is something that we, as Christians, must regularly work to cultivate. By not working on our contentment, we are working on our discontentment.
The realities of hell give us all the reasons in the world to persuade sinners to put their faith in the one who experienced hellish despair on the cross.
Podcast: What If I Don’t Feel Like Going to Church? (Gunner Gundersen)
What do we do when we just don't feel like gathering with God's people in corporate worship, and how has the pandemic affected us in this area?
10 Key Bible Verses on Obedience
We are no longer under Old Testament law; but as believers, we are still marked by our obedience to Christ.
10 Notable Quotes from New Morning Mercies
As sinners in need of grace, we can find comfort and rest knowing that God’s mercy toward us is new at the break of each day.
The most rebellious, countercultural thing you can do in our culture is to be happily married until death do you part.
Double listening . . . is the faculty of listening to two voices at the same time, the voice of God through Scripture and the voices of men and women around us.
10 Things You Should Know about John Stott
What do you know about the life of John Stott? Do you know about the various facets of his ministry? It can sometimes feel as if Stott lived a dozen lives.
What John Stott Learned about Theology from Bird-Watching
Stott’s obsession with the snowy owl was more than a charming eccentricity. It reflected some important themes in his theology.
Podcast: Thinking Biblically about Transgenderism (Denny Burk)
How should Christians think about transgenderism, and how should we talk to our kids about it? What does the Bible teach on gender and sexuality?
An Open Letter to Daughters on Father’s Day
Our heavenly Father has good news for each and every one of us, as well as fatherly gifts in store.
Mary J. Moerbe, Gene Edward Veith Jr.
Scripture is clear that all earthly fatherhood finds its origin in our heavenly Father, but it also reveals more than that.
Help! I Can’t Stay Consistent with My Bible Reading
God is working in and through the daily, faithful, consistent discipline of Bible reading—even if it’s hard to see it in the moment.
Hope for When Sanctification Feels Slow
You’re a new creation. So sanctification is a reality, affected by how obedient and willing we really are.
How to Root out Apathy with the Power of Habit
Practicing spiritual disciplines may feel like work at first. Establishing new habits always presses against our apathy in uncomfortable ways.
Will God’s Wrath Come upon the Sexually Immoral? (Ephesians 5)
Not everyone who commits these sins is excluded from God’s heavenly kingdom. Yet, those who persistently give themselves over to them demonstrate that they are indeed excluded from eternal life.
Podcast: How to Pursue Meaningful Mentoring Relationships (Melissa Kruger)
What are some core aspects that should be in place in every mentoring relationship, and how can we build relationships that actually help others follow Christ?
Practical Faithfulness in the Throes of Motherhood
Know that God’s mercy abounds every morning, and his grace covers you. The Lord loves you, he is working toward your spiritual growth, and he is not done sanctifying you.
4 Tips for Discipling Younger Women
Older women are to be faithful examples as they teach younger women. As you think about Paul's message to older women, consider these questions from the book of Titus.
5 Questions about Sanctification
Knowing that you are a beloved child does not leave you complacent and self-satisfied.
What to Look for in a Spiritual Mentor
A spiritual mentoring relationship is one where a younger believer is tethered to a more mature believer for a season so that he or she might grow stronger in faith and be equipped for ministry.
12 Notable Quotes from Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel
Marriage was created to evidence Christ’s love for his bride, the church. Our earthly relationships, though marred by our sin, can point us toward this true and ultimate reality.
How to Pray When Your Heart Feels Cold
Many Christians experience seasons of spiritual apathy when the heart seems miles behind what we know to be true in our minds.
10 Obligations Christians Have to Scripture
John MacArthur, Richard Mayhue
Throughout his New Testament writings, the apostle John summarized a Christian’s obligation to obey the Scriptures. He made it clear that walking in the ways of the word was not optional.
10 Things You Should Know about the Church after COVID-19
In all the important ways, nothing has changed about church. We are still the people of God, gathered in the presence of God, to bring glory to God.
Podcast: Using Stories to Help Kids Understand Right and Wrong (Betsy Childs Howard)
Why are stories such powerful tools for instilling deep, biblical truths in our kids? Are moral formation and the gospel of grace mutually exclusive?
Podcast: A First Step toward Racial Reconciliation (Mark Vroegop)
How does the biblical practice of lament offer Christians from different backgrounds a common language for productive, God-honoring conversations about race?
A Prayer for Racial Reconciliation
Divisions of mistrust and historical bias run deep. Without God, nothing will ever change. In our pain and our weariness, we know that only Jesus can change our hearts and unite the church.
Why Ordinary Faithfulness Is Enough
Feeding your faithfulness is an unremarkable practice in real-time. It’s unglamorous by the world’s standards, yet it is precious as it contributes to a life of holding fast to Christ.
Podcast: Learning to Love the Local Church (Megan Hill)
Why is the local church so important and essential for our spiritual growth as Christians—especially in the time of COVID-19?
10 Key Bible Verses on Salvation
Because of Christ, believers are granted salvation from sin and the promise of eternal life. What hope we have in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus!
How Could a Loving God Send People to Hell?
Jesus is not separable from the God whose wrath he faces on the cross, so he is not separable from us, if we but put our trust in him.
How to Grieve Racial Violence through Lament
Rather than allowing racial tension to drive a wedge between us or to frighten us into silence, lament can invite all of us on a journey toward seeking God’s grace together.
12 Notable Quotes from 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You
Technology is not itself bad, nor is it innocuous. Though we’re not all aware of how we are being changed by our digital habits, we are being changed nonetheless.
8 Notable Quotes from What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?
God’s word addresses how we, as Christians, should think about sexuality and offers us hope and wisdom for navigating today’s cultural landscape with humility and grace.
God’s Plan for Your Discontentment
There is room for the power of Christ to rest on you in such a way that it will give you the strength to be content even as you continue to live your life in the wilderness of this world.
Podcast: Are Christians More Divided Now Than Ever? (Rhyne Putman)
How should Christians think about theological diversity and gracefully disagree within the body of Christ?
9 Ways Emotions Play a Role in Theological Diversity
Because human beings are complex creatures with reason, will, and emotion, no reductionistic scheme can explain why we reason or why we dissent the way we do.
How to Honor the Lord with Your Summer Vacation
When you take your vacation time, how do you reflect your priorities and honor the Lord?
We Read the Bible to Commune with God
We know God for who he is, and meet him as he is, when we meet him through his word—the Bible.
9 Notable Quotes from The Gospel Comes with a House Key
The Bible teaches that hospitality is not an option, but a requirement, for Christians. In opening our doors, we have the opportunity to shine the light of Christ in dark places.
A 7-Step Approach to In-Depth Bible Study
Studying God’s word is worth all the effort we can give, because it is God’s voice to us, making us wise for salvation and equipped for a life of love.
Do You Orient Yourself Toward Others?
The discipling life is an others-oriented life. It labors in the power of God to proclaim Christ and present others mature in Christ.
How Social Media Worsens Theological Divides
Rather than rushing to refute every theological misstep, we must exercise patience and grace toward those who disagree with us.
10 Key Bible Verses on Wisdom and Discernment
Wisdom is, first and foremost, from the Lord. When you desire wisdom, be encouraged to go to him and his word in prayer.
Podcast: Understanding the World of the Bible through Archaeology (David Chapman)
How can archaeology bolster our faith and enhance our understanding of the Bible?
4 Ways Paul Encourages Us to Love the Church (Even When It’s Hard)
Like it did for Paul, the truth should shape us, so that belonging to an ordinary gathering of unremarkable people becomes one of the highest joys and greatest privileges of our lives.
Fasting = Homesickness for God
Christian fasting is not only the spontaneous effect of a superior satisfaction in God; it is also a chosen weapon against every force in the world that would take that satisfaction away.
How Baptism Changes Our Status
Baptism declares that you are in Christ. You have died with him and risen with him.
There Are No Unimportant Parts of the Church
The Spirit gives exactly the right gifts in exactly the right measure at exactly the right time to exactly the right people for the well-being of the local church.
10 Key Bible Verses on Patience
God is unendingly patient with us, his children. In turn, we can exhibit grace and patience with others through the help of the Holy Spirit.
Introducing Exploring the Bible Together
Help your family establish regular devotions through realistic aims, a clear plan and direction, and stimulating interaction with Scripture and prayer.
Mundane with the Chance of Miraculous
The dirty dishes are not my biggest problem in life, even though it seems like they are. The biggest problem in my life and yours is sin.
An Open Letter to Husbands on Mother’s Day
The fact that Mother’s Day may have secular origins does not mean that it can’t be used by Christian husbands to remind us of biblical principles related to our mothers and wives.
Waiting on the Lord Is Not a Waste
You’re not doing anything, but God is. Waiting is one of the greatest applications of the Christian faith.
Help! My Kids Seem Uninterested in Family Worship
Do your kids try to avoid family worship? Do they find excuses not to be there? Do they obviously dread it and groan when you reach for the Bible?
Coronavirus and the Second Coming of Christ
Even though the history of the Christian church is littered with failed predictions of the end of the world, it remains true that Jesus Christ is coming back.
Pride is a sin because of its self-centered, rather than God-centered, perspective on life.
How God Helps Us Pray according to His Will
Our focus is on God through prayer; our glance is at the Bible; and we turn Godward and pray about every matter that occurs to us as we read.
Why Christians Must Remain Dissatisfied
The Christian is not merely a man who knows now that he’s been forgiven, and that’s the end of it all. Not at all. That’s merely the introduction.
My friend, as you are united to Christ and the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is applied to your life, you will experience the change that you long for.
3 Ways to Root Your Marriage in Worship
Where will you find the reasons to continue working on your marriage in those disappointing moments when those reasons are most needed? Well, you won’t find them in your spouse.
Podcast: Where Is God in Suffering? (Ligon Duncan)
How can Christians can face profound life-changing suffering with their faith intact and find encouragement from God's word in the midst of a season of intense pain?
It’s the Spirit who brings life to our spirits and enables us to know, love, and worship God the Father through Jesus Christ.
6 Questions about Christ’s Heart for Sinners
We cannot present a reason for Christ to finally close off his heart to his own sheep. No such reason exists.
Abortion and the Forgiveness of God
Have you confessed your sin to God and acknowledged that it was wrong? His word says that he is faithful to forgive your sins.
5 Prompts for Journaling through Scripture
As you spend time reading and journaling through the Bible, consider these five prompts to guide your study and reflection.
Introducing a Bible Study Resource for Kids
Learn more about this resource designed to lead children ages 6–12 to a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.
Podcast: Rethinking Multiservice and Multisite Church (Jonathan Leeman)
Do multiservice and multisite church models run counter to the pattern for the local church we see in the New Testament?
8 Bible Reading Habits to Establish as a Young Person
How can we establish healthy Bible-reading habits so that we are connected to God, have a God-centered worldview, grow in confident faith, and enjoy spiritual peace and confidence?
4 Ways to Practice Theological Humility
Our zeal for theology must never exceed our zeal for our actual brothers and sisters in Christ. We must be marked by love.
5 Questions about the Sanctity of Life
What does the Bible really teach about abortion and the sanctity of human life?
3 Doctrines That Sustain Us in Suffering
While we may not understand what God is doing, we can always trust who he is. We must never interpret God’s character by our circumstances.
An Open Letter to Those Who Divide over Doctrine
We live in polarized times. Outrage and rancor seem to be simmering all around us, and it’s making it harder to talk across ideological lines.
God’s grace sustains us, even in the darkest hours, so that we never give up. Psalm 88 offers four lessons of hope.
Podcast: Does Jesus Really Like Me? (Dane Ortlund)
What does Scripture say about God's disposition towards us as redeemed sinners? What does it mean that Jesus is "gentle and lowly in heart"?
Exercise Spiritually as You Exercise Physically
Why should we Christian women turn our attention to the disciplines that will train us for godliness? In today's culture, disciplined Christian lives are the exception, not the rule.
Loving Others through Political Difference
Jonathan Leeman, Andrew David Naselli
What is wisdom? It’s a capacity of mind that combines the fear of the Lord with the skill of living in God’s created but fallen world in a way that yields justice, peace, and flourishing.
Sometimes we end up disappointed with Jesus because we want the miracle, the answer, the reconciliation, the restoration, the healing right now.
10 Notable Quotes from Gentle and Lowly
The gospel flows from God’s deepest heart for his people, a heart of tender love for the sinful and suffering.
Jesus’s Troubled Family History
If you have no hope to be accepted into God’s family other than the perfect record of your righteous brother, Jesus, then you can be sure you’ve found your forever-family.
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.
Jesus’s Troubled Family History
If you have no hope to be accepted into God’s family other than the perfect record of your righteous brother, Jesus, then you can be sure you’ve found your forever-family.
The Scoundrels of Scripture: A 6-Day Video Devotional
Learn from the stories of a handful of the Bible’s scoundrels and see more clearly the ways in which they reveal the generous grace of Jesus toward sinners.
We all long for the restoration that will come when God gives us new, resurrected bodies. But we don’t have those bodies yet.
If God sent his own Son to walk through the valley of condemnation, rejection, and hell, you can trust him as you walk through your own valleys on your way to heaven.
Podcast: The Scoundrels of Scripture (Nancy Guthrie)
What can we learn from some of the less well-loved characters of Scripture? Why is Jesus's scandalous family tree good news for sinners like us?
The Reason We Don't Feel the Weight of Our Sin
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.
Jesus isn’t like you. Even the most intense of human love is but the faintest echo of heaven’s cascading abundance.
10 Key Bible Verses on Death and Resurrection
God’s Word paints a picture of a future when death will be swallowed up in Christ’s victory on the cross and where believers will live eternally with him.
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.”
Praying in Jesus’s name is an acknowledgement of our total dependence on his provision. We push away from any personal claim on God’s blessing and lean entirely on Christ’s provision.
All our human friendships have a limit to what they can withstand. But what if there were a friend with no limit?
John Piper’s Prayer for the COVID-19 Pandemic
Grant recovery. Grant a cure. Deliver us—your poor, helpless creatures—from these sorrows, we pray.
The Hidden Value of Pastoral Gentleness
As leaders of God’s people, we all long to make a difference for Christ. We don’t want to be unfruitful. The main reason to nurture gentleness is neither pragmatic nor historical, but biblical.
The whole reason we care about sound doctrine is for the sake of preserving God’s beauty,
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.
Are You Conveying the Loveliness of Christ to Your Kids?
Do our kids know the thing that will sustain and oxygenate them when other vital needs go unmet?
The doctrine of the atonement reassures us with what Christ has done in the past, the doctrine of his intercession reassures us with what he is doing in the present.
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.
4 Things that Make the Bible Literary
The subject of literature is human experience. We should read the Bible through that lens.
Podcast: Gracefully Dealing with Doctrinal Disagreement (Gavin Ortlund)
What should Christians do when they disagree over doctrine?
Is the Bible’s Teaching about Homosexuality Offensive?
Jesus is sometimes caricatured as a prophet of free love, unconcerned about sexual ethics. But his teaching on sexual morality was consistently stricter than the Old Testament law.
Living with the Enemy That Is Sin
The greatest victory in David’s life was not a victory of David’s at all, but, rather, God’s victory of grace over the sin that had captivated David’s heart.
The atoning work of the Son, decreed by the Father and applied by the Spirit, ensures that we are safe eternally.
5 Ways the COVID-19 Pandemic Points Us to the Gospel
When we are weary and distraught, we have a place to go. Jesus welcomes us to come to him and cast our cares on him.
Rather than dispensing grace to us from on high, Jesus gets down with us, he puts his arm around us, he deals with us in the way that is just what we need.
Scripture tells us that we cannot serve two masters and that the love of money is the root of all evil. What is the proper way to use our money for the glory of God and the good of others?
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.
God Cares about Beauty (and We Should, Too)
God has implanted in people longing and desire for the true, the good, and the beautiful. The Bible speaks to all three of these.
Fear Not, Your Future Is Secure
No matter how hard your story is right here, right now, it is guaranteed for you as God’s child that it will end better that you can imagine.
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.
How Pride Undermines the Joy of Confession
Confession is like the gateway to freedom. As we confess, repent, and own the wrong things that we have done, we move forward with a lightness of heart.
When Jesus, the Clean One, touched an unclean sinner, Christ did not become unclean. The sinner became clean.
The Importance of Lament in the Midst of COVID-19
The more you know about lament, the more things really come alive to you in reading Jeremiah's lament. His lament is so relevant to the suffering that we’re going through right now.
You don’t need to unburden or collect yourself and then come to Jesus. Your very burden is what qualifies you to come.
Gentle and Lowly: A 14-Day Podcast
Join Dane Ortlund for a 14-day audio devotional to discover the true heart of Christ for sinners and sufferers.
Podcast: Are You Aware of Your Own Blind Spots? (Collin Hansen)
What problems with our lives, priorities, and even theology do we not recognize? What would it look like to wake up to our own blind spots and to lovingly engage with those with whom we disagree?
10 Key Bible Verses on Endurance
The Christian life requires strength, fortitude, and endurance. The path marked out for believers is never promised to be easy or smooth.
Two of Prayer’s Essential Ingredients
The resurrection is the most important thing to behold in God’s word to fuel our desire to pray. But really, we need all of God’s word. We also need God’s people.
We May Be Confused, but God Isn’t
As much as we try to make sense of our lives, there are things that we simply aren’t able to understand.
Pastor, Are You Growing in Submission to Scripture?
God’s leaders are to be people who are growing in submission to Scripture. Their daily lives are to reflect and exemplify the scriptures that they teach.
The Bible presents the greatest story ever told: the ultimate good-versus-evil storyline—the great cosmic battle between God and Satan.
Faith is a necessary part of the Christian life and allows us to live as people of hope, even when we cannot always see the fruits of our hope.
With our course marked out for learning contentment, let’s think about how we might evaluate where we are in our own personal progress.
Practice Hospitality, Especially during COVID-19
Christians know that the dread of death can only be met by the redemption in Jesus Christ, so we need to proclaim Christ into a COVID-19 world.
Don’t Just Teach—Teach Your Church to Love God’s Word
There are three things to bear in mind when trying to grow a church in the conviction that the Bible is worth studying over a lifetime.
A Christian Doctor Answers Questions about COVID-19
Read answers to common questions related to COVID-19 from a Christian physician.
Free Resources for Your Stay at Home during COVID-19
When many families are reorienting their lives and schedules around more time at home, we hope you will find these resources helpful in grounding you in the hope of the gospel.
Podcast: A Christian Doctor’s Guide to Thinking about Coronavirus (Bob Cutillo, MD)
A Christian doctor discusses the current coronavirus pandemic, explaining what's currently happening in the US and around the world and offering perspective on how we should think about this virus.
If only we could depend on something more than the power of our thinking and the tools we possess to stand between us and disaster.
Help! My Teen Struggles with Self-Image
From its beginning, the self-esteem movement has been crushing. And the movement hasn’t dissipated over the last generation or two, it has only intensified.
What Is Successful Evangelism?
Following Christ means loving those who don’t follow Jesus, and that love includes sharing the gospel.
12 Prayer Ideas for New Believers
Praying regularly is hard work. So how do we develop the discipline of a healthy prayer life?
8 Reminders in the Face of the Coronavirus Pandemic
These are strange days, days of fear, days of hysteria. In other words, days that simply bring all our latent anxieties up to the surface.
Introducing the Church Questions Series
Church Questions booklets answer common questions about the local church and what it means for the daily life of a Christian.
I’m passionate that every Christian display the gospel in their lives, which is why I’m passionate about church membership.
We can learn what and how to pray to God from his very Word—even from the example of his own Son.
Lacking Assurance of Salvation? Join a Church
You don’t join a church in order to be saved, but you may want to join the church to help you in making certain that you are saved.
10 Key Bible Verses on Courage
The Christian life isn’t guaranteed to be without struggle and strife—and it undoubtedly requires courage. God’s Word invites us to trust in God’s power and strength, and not our own.
Podcast: 8 Questions to Ask Every Time You Open Your Bible (Matthew Harmon)
Questions we should ask when studying the Bible to help us get at the true meaning of Scripture, and how to apply it to our lives today.
The Origins of the Self-Esteem Movement
People threw off the shackles of the church and the state and they began to look inward. They began to look to themselves for what is true and what is real.
Jesus said that it is out of the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45). What comes out of your heart displays what’s in it and what has captured it.
A Christian Perspective on International Women’s Day
As the world takes a moment to applaud women and girls in various ways, may we Christians be the biggest champions, the loudest cheerers, and the most proactive supporters of women.
A Personal vs. Private Relationship with Christ
As we've prioritized our personal relationship with Christ, we've also privatized it.
What Did Jesus Teach about Men and Women?
Christ not only valued women very highly, but also demonstrated a clear role distinction between men and women.
How to Guard against a Self-Centered Relationship with Jesus
Often without warning or intention, the drive to know ourselves becomes all-consuming. It’s impossible to not be affected by the age of self in which we currently live.
You Need a Theology of Uncomfortable Grace
Mourning acknowledges that the world is not the way God meant it to be. Mourning cries out for God’s redeeming, restoring hand.
Make a Change from Me-ology to Theology
Me-ology prizes you and me. Theology prizes the God of the universe who holds everything together.
Help! My Teen Struggles with Self-Image
From its beginning, the self-esteem movement has been crushing. And the movement hasn’t dissipated over the last generation or two, it has only intensified.
Why Moralistic Therapeutic Deism Is a Dead End
It's very easy to shelve God and decide we don't really need him, that we just need to believe in ourselves and to invent who we are and what we want to do.
The Origins of the Self-Esteem Movement
People threw off the shackles of the church and the state and they began to look inward. They began to look to themselves for what is true and what is real.
How to Guard Against a Self-Centered Relationship with Jesus
Often without warning or intention, the drive to know ourselves becomes all-consuming. It’s impossible to not be affected by the age of self in which we currently live.
A Personal vs. Private Relationship with Christ
As we've prioritized our personal relationship with Christ, we've also privatized it.
An Open Letter to the New Christian
Now that you're a Christian, what do you in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead? Here are a few practical suggestions as you seek to follow the Lord.
Podcast: The Danger in Being a Self-Made Woman (Jen Oshman)
What does it look like to pursue real fulfillment in God, rather than in ourselves? And what's wrong with the self-obsessed, individualistic culture that dominates our world today?
An Open Letter to the Younger Women of the Church
Let’s talk about why we should take the Titus mandate seriously and not miss God’s rich provisions for our growth in grace.
Christian Hope Changes Everything
We can rest because our choices don’t actually have the final say in any sphere—God has the final say.
5 Guiding Principles for Church Elders
God has called elders to be men worth imitating. A healthy local church typically has many people, men and women, whose example we could follow.
An Open Letter to the Older Women in the Church
Older women, read Titus 2, and be encouraged to embrace your calling to train younger women in the church.
Podcast: Are Christians Obligated to Give 10%? (Sam Storms)
What does the Bible teaches about tithing? Are Christians still obligated to give 10% of their income today?
4 Crucial Truths the Gospel Presents
Perhaps more clearly than any other book of the Bible, Romans contains a deliberate, step-by-step expression of what Paul understood to be the good news.
Why Living for God Depends on Good Theology
We live for Christ because Christ lived and died for us. But we are not able to maintain a Christ-focused life apart from being “Spirit energized.”
God Blesses Holiness, Not Pastoral Talent
If you’re not cleansed from the things that corrupt your life, you’re not a vessel fit for the Master’s use.
Parents, Your Kids Need Big Theology
Let them grow into understanding the big truths of Scripture by building a foundation that will shape and guide them as they learn and understand the big words and the big theology of the gospel.
Podcast: The Freeing Reality that You Are Not Enough (Jen Wilkin)
Jen Wilkin discusses God-given limits as created beings, reflecting on why the common refrain that we should look inside ourselves for meaning and purpose is so misguided.
4 Examples of How Knowing Original Greek Improves Your Understanding of the Text
God’s word is powerful. When reading our Bible we hear his voice. However, it does not mean that Scripture is always easy to understand.
We are convinced in our heart of hearts that love is a feeling, but God’s word says nothing of the sort.
Pastor: Is Your Holiness a Priority?
There's diminishing interest in holiness and godliness among this generation of younger pastors because of pragmatism.
10 Key Bible Verses on Marriage
Be encouraged from God's Word about his plan and purpose for marital relationships.
An Open Letter to the Single Person on Valentine’s Day
You are completely valued and treasured just as you are because the Being running this massive universe is, in fact, a personal Being and he loves you wholly and completely.
God speaks in light of who he is and what he has done, and we respond back to God.
The same grace that saves sinners from the penalty of their sin also instructs them in holiness.
Podcast: Navigating Conflict in Marriage (Christopher Ash)
Christopher Ash shares biblical wisdom and practical advice for couples working through disagreements related to money, sex, and kids.
10 Things You Should Know about Baptism
A sacrament is a covenant sign that is appropriate to the promises made by God in his covenant.
Norman L. Geisler, Frank Turek
Many non-Christians take a “blind leap of faith” that their non-Christian beliefs are true simply because they want them to be true.
Creeds and confessions are useful only to the extent that they reproduce faithfully the teaching of Scripture itself.
Help! I Can’t Get Control over My Tongue
There is an intimate path between our words and our heart. Our speech simply puts on display what is produced in the heart–whether good or evil.
What Did Jesus Teach about the Devil and Demons?
There is an enemy of God and humanity. That enemy needs to be known.
The advice to listen to your heart is not only common, but it has also been exalted to a sacrosanct place of moral authority in our culture.
Podcast: Is the Church Facing a Discipleship Crisis? (Ajith Fernando)
Has the church neglected one-on-one discipleship? Why should an emphasis on this kind of intensive discipleship be recaptured today?
The Collapse of the Secularization Hypothesis
It has long been assumed that the rise of modernity will be accompanied by the decline of religion, but the scholarly consensus today rejects the secularization hypothesis.
An Open Letter to the Pastor in a Post-Christian World
Though we are in post-Christian times, when the culture is becoming increasingly secularized, Christianity is far from “over.”
What is prayer and when and how should we do it? Explore answers to some common questions from To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism.
What is a creed and why is it important for the Church? Learn the basics from the answers to seven questions from To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism.
The Core Problem with Genetic Engineering
Children are not commodities to be bought and sold, or products to be manufactured, or objects to be designed for someone else’s use.
9 Ways to Guard Your Personal Relationship with God
Like all healthy and satisfying relationships, our relationship with God needs time and energy.
Podcast: Are We Undervaluing the Lord’s Supper? (Tim Chester)
Do evangelical churches undervalue communion? What's the significance of the fact that Jesus gave us the physical elements of bread and wine?
Catechesis is meant to be a robust witness to biblical faith and practice, a tool which in the hands of skilled practitioners to be used to instruct, form, and make mature disciples.
5 Myths about Studying the Bible
If we truly believe that our very spiritual lives depend on every word that comes from the mouth of God (Deut 8:3; Matt 4:4), we will make the time to study God’s Word.
Know Why You Think What You Think
Norman L. Geisler, Ryan P. Snuffer
The theistic worldview begins with a belief in a personal, all-powerful, and morally perfect God. Moral ideas that flow from God’s nature are absolute.
What exactly is salvation and how does it work in the life of a believer. Get answers to the basic questions of God's saving work from How to Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism.
10 Things You Should Know about the Lord’s Supper
The Communion meal involves us in and embraces us in God’s grace. We are not mere observers. We do something. We eat something. We become participants in the story.
When Jesus walked the earth, he wasn’t afraid to touch hurting people. He drew people in close. He met them empty and left them full and turned everything upside down.
Your Kids Need You to Talk to Them
The Spirit makes godly conversations possible, and he expects you to give yourself to them because the people around you—your children—need them.
How the Sacraments Act as Contracts
The gospel is a series of promises expressed in words. God promises forgiveness, acquittal, adoption, preservation, resurrection, and glory.
Why We Sometimes Prefer to Keep God at a Distance
The Lord pursues and offers forgiveness of sins to those who want their own way, who want to have their own kingdom.
Podcast: Common Misconceptions about Heaven (Ian Smith)
Ian Smith discusses what the New Heavens and New Earth will be like when Jesus returns.
Fathers are called upon to choose not only between our children and our work, but between our convenience and the inconvenience of keeping a promise.
Why Doing Theology Right Matters—for All Christians
The case can be made that every Christian is a theologian because every Christian has a theology, whether well thought out or not.
Why Wisdom Is More than an Intellectual Pursuit
To do theology we need to do with an attitude of reverence to the God who has made himself known in his Word.
5 Questions about the Sacraments
What is a sacrament and what is its purpose in the church? Learn answers from To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism.
How Our Theology Shapes Our Prayers
Theology helps us uncover what we know about God and turn it into prayer and praise to God.
Help! I’m Struggling to Strike a Work/Life Balance
Work is not primarily a place to please our boss, help our customers, make money, or build a career. Work/life balance begins with a biblical view of work.
Podcast: The Human Need to Connect (Ed Welch)
Ed Welch discusses the human need for relationship, reflecting on the epidemic of loneliness in our world today, and offering advice for the person who feels God is distant.
The reality is that Christians are priests and that’s one of the most significant identities we share as human beings.
3 Implications of the Fact that God Has Spoken
Joel R. Beeke, Paul M. Smalley
Hearing and remembering God’s word requires a worldview that takes into account the whole counsel of God in order to guide the whole life.
The Difference Family Worship Makes
Having your family in a Christ-exalting, gospel-centered, Bible-teaching local church is crucial to Christian parenting—but it is not enough.
The Priesthood of Believers: A Lens for Viewing the World
As we live in our identity as a priest—which means that we are near to God—there are a couple of things that emerge as we look out into the world.
The highest meaning and the most ultimate purpose of marriage is to put the covenant relationship of Christ and his church on display.
We were made for closeness to others and to God through Christ, and yet it doesn’t always feel as though we can grasp God’s nearness to us.
10 Things You Should Know about the Priesthood of Believers
Our role as priests—a role that includes both male and female—is a premier theme throughout Scripture.
Podcast: Help! I Hate My Job (Jim Hamilton)
Jim Hamilton discusses what to do when you hate your job, offering encouragement for those frustrated in their work and explaining the difference between a job and a vocation.
Help! My Faith Is Being Opposed in the Classrom
Conflict can be an opportunity to be salt and light, particularly in academic settings.
Communing with the Savior in Every Season
We can rest in the midst of difficult seasons because of the Savior who leads us and loves us, even in unexpected and hard places.
Why has there arisen this impulse in our day toward pastor-scholars and scholar-pastors? Why are so many in the younger generation reluctant to let the pastoral and scholarly roads diverge?
You Are Set Free from Self-Improvement
Many of us believe that Christian discipleship is synonymous with self-improvement. But true Christian discipleship is a call to die, not to improve.
The Bible teaches that heaven has come down to us most wonderfully and assuredly in the person of Jesus Christ, to bring us back up to heaven.
7 Essential Things to Know about Hope
Hope is not a situation. Hope is not a location. Hope is not a possession. Hope is not an experience. Hope is more than an insight or a truism.
5 Ways to Flourish in Journaling
It can be helpful to hear that there’s essentially no wrong way to go about journaling, and no real rules for it, but that it’s something you can really make your own.
We will often neglect what we don’t prioritize. And book reading is often neglected because it fails to be a priority.
Podcast: How to Read the Bible Every Day in 2020 (David Mathis)
David Mathis discusses how anyone can make Bible reading a habit in 2020, reflecting on the pros and cons of New Year's resolutions and offering practical advice on making a plan to read the Bible every day.
Be Excellent as Christ Is Excellent
It is precisely because Christians have been called to or by God’s glory and excellence that they are to add excellence to their faith.
One of the Church’s Greatest Needs
People outside the four walls of the church will eagerly embrace the faith of believers who model the honesty and integrity for which they long.
4 Prayers to Pray When You’re Afraid
When fear paralyzes you, turn to the Lord through his word and in prayer and be comforted by the light that overcomes darkness.
Scripture indicates that in heaven we will join the angels in worshiping God around his throne.
Although we cannot bequeath God to our children, we can help them know him and understand him in ways that prepare them to believe in his name.
3 Tangible Ways to Care for Widows
For the widow, a needed gift, a consumable gift, or a sentimental gift are some of the most significant gifts she can receive that often uniquely minister to her.
How to Pray for Unity across Denominations
Jesus prayed that our unity would also be a testimony such that “the world may believe you have sent me” (17:20).
An Open Letter to the Overwhelmed Parent at Christmas
For the believer, the most important thing we can do this Christmas is not wrap another present, but open up our hearts and minds anew to the wonder of God coming to earth.
When Good Gifts (Like Marriage) Distract Us from God
The problem with so many of us today is that we have close to no anxiety about spiritual realities and endless anxiety about the things of this world.
Podcast: Navigating Grief during the Holidays (Nancy Guthrie)
Nancy Guthrie discusses dealing with grief over the holidays and how God used suffering in her own life to teach her about his healing grace.
Despite the commercialization of Christmas and its overall worldly cast, God still infuses wonder into the season.
What Your To-Do List Can’t Accomplish
When your eyes are fixed on the horizon of eternity, it affects your vision for motherhood.
Help! I Want to Read the Bible, but I Find It Boring
We won’t love God’s word until he helps us to do it. And the beautiful thing is that he will.
Derek W. H. Thomas, John W. Tweeddale
For Calvin, self-denial was not a special requirement for the few but a norm for all believers, and we deny self because we have been united with God, not because we want to achieve such a union.
How to Be Content in Plenty or in Need
Women who love God and love his word find sources of joy and satisfaction that surpass any the world has to offer.
Are We Meant to Enjoy Our Work?
The stories we tell reveal our understanding of the world, with our hopes and fears, and the songs we sing are reflective of the deep longings of our hearts.
The Paradoxical Pattern of Jesus’s Life
God is unswervingly active in bringing about good from troublesome circumstances in the Christian’s life.
5 Lessons from One of the Most Famous Christmas Carols of All Time
How we live in the world should manifest the change the Spirit is working in us, carrying the impact of the joy of God “far as the curse is found.”
Journey through the Psalms: A 7-Day Devotional
Humans are relational, emotional beings—and nothing reveals this more beautifully than the book of Psalms.
How to Pray During Marital Conflict
Andreas J. Köstenberger, Margaret Elizabeth Köstenberger
The potential causes for conflict in marriage are virtually limitless. We must put on the armor of God and pray for each other and for our relationships—often!
The True Way of Keeping Christmas
I entreat that your time may be thus spent. Let it not be about your dressing, your plays, your profits, or your worldly concerns but let it be the wonders of redeeming love.
How to Make Yourself at Home While Awaiting Heaven
Fixing our eyes on the home that is to come will help us thrive in this world that is not our home.
Podcast: How to Do Family Worship During the Holidays (Don Whitney)
How can you help your family not lose sight of God and the gospel during the holidays and build in a rhythm of regularly worshiping him together?
Like many larger-than-life figures in the history of the church, the memory of the French Reformer John Calvin has been subjected to various distortions that amount to urban legends.
This Day in History: C. S. Lewis Is Born
On this day in history, the most significant Christian apologist of the twentieth century was born at home in Belfast, Ireland.
Teaching Your Kids Gratitude in the Media Age
Media doesn’t create a sense of entitlement—a sense of “I deserve”—but it fuels that belief by holding in front of our eyes what others have and do.
4 Prayers to Pray in Gratitude
Turn to the Lord in gratitude with help from Scripture and these prayers of the saints.
Podcast: Complementarianism Is Not about Competency (John Piper)
John Piper discusses complementarianism, with both personal and practical implications, and how we should think about it in the #MeToo era.
How to Develop a Heart of Thanksgiving
Focusing on what I don’t have or what I can’t do is a common detriment to practicing biblical hospitality.
Our faith and all that flows from it in the Christian life is due to the Spirit, who renews us in the image of God and transforms us into Christ.
How to Pray for the Global Church
In praying for the global church, start by remembering that there is just one church of Jesus Christ.
In spite of C. S. Lewis’s fame, several myths have attached themselves to him which might give an unbalanced view of the man who wrote the Chronicles of Narnia.
10 Things You Should Know about Inaugurated Eschatology
Traditionally eschatology consists of the return of Christ, the resurrection, the final judgment, heaven, and hell. Here's what else you should know.
To Lead Others, Become a Disciple
A disciple of Jesus follows in Jesus’s steps, doing as Jesus taught and lived. But it means more than that.
5 Steps for Maximizing Time with Unbelievers
We interact with family in a host of mundane activities that seem disconnected from eternity—but they are most certainly not.
10 Things You Should Know about Demons and Satan
Jesus came into the world as the incarnate Son of God to accomplish more than one thing and defeating the devil by tasting death was among them.
How the Bible’s Irony Combats the Prosperity Gospel
Since our life is to be like Christ’s, our life must include suffering of some kind so that God’s spiritual strength can be exhibited in our physical weakness.
Will You Be Faithful Even if It Costs You?
When it looks like we’re facing defeat or failure, we’re often tempted to take things into our own hands.
Does God Ever Give Christians Over to Their Idols?
When we’re committed to something else that doesn’t have the Spirit of God, we become as spiritually inanimate as that thing to which we are committed. We need the Lord to break through.
Why You Should Read This Obscure Old Book about Pastoral Ministry
Every pastor faces that tension of cultivating a rich inner-life, focusing on the spiritual aspect of calling, without neglecting the mundane responsibilities of ministry.
How Angels and Demons Intersect with the Christian Life
What does Scripture have to say about angels and demons and what role do they play in the world today?
How to Find True Fulfillment in Marriage
The nature of the divine glory can sustain a marriage. We can marvel at its multifaceted radiance and rejoice at the very down-to-earth assistance it affords husbands and wives.
Pray your pastor would love God, and you, so much that he would be willing to disappoint you for God’s glory.
Podcast: Are Angels and Demons Still Active Today?
What does the Bible really teach about angels, demons, and Satan, and what have we implicitly adopted from culture?
10 Things You Should Know about Angels
What does the Bible have to say about angels and what have we incorrectly adopted from a worldly perspective on spiritual beings?
Hospitality Starts with Your Family
Hospitality towards others then becomes a natural outworking or extension of what we are already practicing within our own homes.
History: Stranger than Fiction
Discovering church history is like going through the wardrobe into Narnia and discovering there’s a whole world back there just waiting to be explored.
Podcast: Is Evangelicalism out of Touch with Church History? (Gavin Ortlund)
Have Protestant Evangelicals lost our connection to church history? How can we embrace our heritage and appreciate how to learn from past Christians?
How to Help Others Understand and Apply the Bible
Helping others understand the Bible and apply it to their lives is a great privilege and a great responsibility.
Infographic: How Is Your Prayer Life?
We recently asked over 14,000 people about the state of their prayers lives and gathered some stats about established habits as well as some common pain points.
What is the best way Protestants today should look back on the Reformation? Should we think of it more like a happy birth or an ugly divorce?
4 Prayers to Pray through Spiritual Darkness
Turn to the Lord in prayer and in his word during times of despair and discouragement. He is near and read to defend, protect, and preserve those he loves.
You Are Being Changed for the Good of the Church
When we join Jesus, we join his family and his mission. When Jesus Christ is Lord, he integrates disciples into a missional church family.
Podcast: What Do Protestant Evangelicals and Roman Catholics Disagree About? (Michael Reeves)
Michael Reeves discusses what the Protestant Reformation was really all about and whether or not is it still relevant today.
Guard against These 4 Dangers When Doing Historical Theology
Theological retrieval can be very beneficial, but it can also go wrong. It may also be useful to briefly articulate several potential dangers.
Herman Bavinck for the 21st Century
Cory C. Brock, James Eglinton, N. Gray Sutanto
When Bavinck lived in the early twentieth century, he believed there was “a disharmony between our thinking and feeling, between our willing and acting” and “a discord between religion and culture, between science and life.”
How and When Kids Learn Theology
Kids really learn theology when it moves from being information in their heads to truth in their lives.
The Battle of Accepting Our Limits
This gospel meditation explores the idea of being worried and confused with the Christian life, offering an invitation to turn to God when life doesn't make sense.
We Desperately Need What We Reject
There is a disharmony between our thinking and feeling, between our willing and acting. There is a discord between religion and culture, between science and life.
Podcast: Common Misconceptions about the Trinity (Fred Sanders)
Fred Sanders explains why the doctrine of the Trinity is essential to the gospel, highlights why Trinitarian analogies are of limited value, and responds to the charge that three-in-one is inherently illogical.
This gospel meditation by Paul David Tripp encourages us to turn to Christ in our hardships, taking even our most difficult moments to him.
This gospel meditation by Paul David Tripp laments the effects of sin’s curse on the world.
Christ Is a Light for the Lost
This gospel meditation by Paul David Tripp expresses a burden to share the light of Christ with those who may be unaware of his presence.
How to Find Yourself in the Psalms
I love the psalms because we find ourselves, but even more significantly, we find our Lord in the psalms.
This gospel meditation by Paul David Tripp contrasts the broken cities of this world with the restored one to come.
You Are in Constant Communication with the Lord
If you are a true believer in Jesus, you are in constant communication with your Lord in some way—either vocally or in your heart.
This gospel meditation by Paul David Tripp explores the idea of elusive rest and our ultimate hope in the life to come.
3 Goals of Pastoral Counseling
We need to rely on the gospel like this throughout our lives. Remember, Christ is both the means and the goal of counseling.
My Heart Cries Out: A 6-Day Devotional
Over the course of six days, watch videos and read Scripture and gospel meditations written by Paul David Tripp, adapted from My Heart Cries Out: Gospel Meditations for Everyday Life.
Emblems of the Infinite King: An 8-Day Reading Plan
Over the course of eight days, explore the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith with Bible passages and readings adapted from Emblems of the Infinite King by J. Ryan Lister.
Podcast: Prayer as an Invitation, Not an Obligation (John Onwuchekwa)
In this episode, John Onwuchekwa discusses how prayer can deepen our relationship with God instead of being a source of guilt.
How Professors Can Integrate Faith and Learning
Christian scholars must demonstrate a deep humility before a sovereign God before they can learn anything.
How to Pray in Times of Physical Pain
Father in heaven, in spite of all our uncertainties and all our embattled anxieties and all our discomfort, we say, great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.
7 Important Lessons about Masculinity
Godly leadership doesn’t give us the right to lord our authority over others; it means that it is our glory to die first.
The Right Way to Ask for Prayer
God did not create us to be self-protective, so being so will eventually lead to misery rather than safety.
Discipleship Is Never Anti-Intellectual
The journey into faithful Christian learning in a liberal arts context involves the daring venture of whole-life discipleship in response to the Great Commandment.
Podcast: C. S. Lewis on Truth, Beauty, and the Human Heart (Joe Rigney)
Joe Rigney explores the legacy of one of the most beloved Christian thinkers and writers of the 20th century.
Union with Christ When You Don’t Fit In
Jesus was excluded by all and abandoned by his friends in a time of need so that we could always be welcomed into relationship.
Help! I’m Still Single and It Feels Like Life Is Passing Me By
Life has not passed you by. It’s not going to. If you are in Christ, your life has only just begun.
What Did Jesus Teach about Evangelism?
When we look at Jesus’s life and ministry we also see that he was the greatest evangelist. In his earthly ministry he was the light of the world, the one who always lived in a way that was pleasing to his Father.
10 Things You Should Know about The Pilgrim’s Progress
The classic tale of The Pilgrim’s Progress has been popular with readers through the ages because it is rooted in the truths of the Bible.
Podcast: Can Christians Lose Their Salvation? (Dennis Johnson)
Dennis Johnson discusses Hebrews 6:4–6, one of the New Testament's most famous—and debated—warning passages.
Are Your Pleasures Worth More than Your Soul?
God is labouring to bring you back from sin and from Satan unto himself. Open the door of your hearts and the King of glory shall enter in.
Introducing the ESV New Christian’s Bible
A new edition created to help the new Bible reader orient to the foundational building blocks of the Christian life revealed in God's word.
4 Ways You Can Swim against the Cultural Tide
Want to stand out as a Christian? Foster diligence, honesty, self-control, concern for others, and integrity.
Podcast: How to Intentionally Disciple Your Kids (Lindsey Carlson)
Lindsey Carlson discusses what it looks like for parents to thoughtfully disciple teenagers during a pivotal point in their lives.
The Pros and Cons of a Global Economy
The global economy can be a little frustrating because globalization and the global economy are terms that mean different things to different people.
Why Church Planting Can’t Be Church Franchising
I have seen empires come and go, but never have I seen anything so radical and pervasive as the gospel of the kingdom.
Help! I Don’t Know What to Do with My Retirement
Retirement should not all be free unscheduled time, nor is it time to focus on ourselves, our comfort and happiness.
One of the most prominent burdens felt by society and church in the early 20th Century was the plight of orphans.
How Hudson Taylor Shocked People out of Indifference about Missions
Hudson Taylor was committed to proclaim the gospel to people who were passing into eternity without hope and without God.
When we make a home for others, we are often doing small and unseen work humanly speaking, but the meaning behind the work is never small.
Are You Frustrated by Others’ Spiritual Immaturity?
The Holy Spirit guarantees that he is at work. He will continue to be at work until it is completed on the day of Christ Jesus.
5 Ways to Ensure Our Souls Aren’t Strangled by Screens
The biggest deception of our digital age may be the lie that says we can be omnicompetent, omni-informed, and omnipresent.
How Often Do You Examine Your Fruit?
Examine your life. Is there fruit? How would you describe your growth in godliness?
Podcast: The Unlikely Legacy of Jonathan Edwards (Dane Ortlund)
Dane Ortlund looks back on the life and theology of famed pastor-theologian, Jonathan Edwards, gleaning wisdom that we can learn from him nearly 300 years later.
Is It Right for Christians to Think the World Is Not Our Home?
There really are two kingdoms that are competing within the gospels. There is the kingdom that is ruled by Satan and there is the kingdom that is ruled by Jesus.
7 Passages to Read about God’s Protection
God is an ever-present help in trouble. Read from Scripture these truths about God's nearness to those who call upon his name.
What to Do When Life Messes with Our Plans
Carolyn Mahaney, Nicole Mahaney Whitacre
We can do the next thing because we know that God orders the seasons of our lives. Even the most difficult ones.
Jonathan Edward’s Response to Spiritual Arrogance
Jonathan Edwards was stirred by his congregation’s spiritual pride, apathy, and confused notions about true religion, alongside misunderstanding about genuine spiritual life.
The Christian Life Is about Wakefulness
The Spirit of Christ burns in our hearts, awakening us to the presence and activity of Jesus Christ. Sleeper, awake!
How the Lord’s Prayer Affected September 11, 2001
The pattern for prayer that Jesus has given to you and to me exists so that we may discover peace and contentment, hope and forgiveness, truth and assurance.
3 Misconceptions about Christian Growth
For the Christian to grow in a healthy way, we must clarify what growth is and is not.
Podcast: God’s Sovereignty, Pastoral Burnout, and Racism (John Piper)
John Piper discusses God's sovereignty, pastoral burnout, and the sin of racism.
Do We Play Any Role in Our Sanctification?
God is the one who enables us to do the good works he has called us to do.
10 Things You Should Know about People with Disabilities
When we find ourselves weak, broken, disabled, we find that God shows up in unexpected ways.
Why Study the Books of Jonah, Micah, and Nahum?
Each book of the Bible has something unique, something distinct, to teach us about God, about ourselves, and about the meaning of life.
How to Pray in the Wake of Hurricane Dorian
Natural disasters can be a doorway for spiritual questions and eternal decisions. We can do more than just watch and marvel.
When Studying the Bible, Don’t Follow Your Heart
We speak often in the church about how Christianity is a religion of the heart. It is right to speak of Christianity in this way, but not exclusively in this way.
The Economy’s 3 Essential Ingredients
Economists are looking at things that people have to make trade-off decisions about. That includes material resources, time, and relationships.
Woman: You Will Become What You Behold
If we spend our time gazing only on lesser things, we will become like them, measuring our years in terms of human glory.
Podcast: Were the First Christians Socialists? (Greg Forster)
How should believers think about the global economy and what practical difference should our beliefs make in the way that we spend and live?
Life Is a Battle; Dress Appropriately
You don’t put your armor on once the battle starts, you wear your armor so you’re ready when the battle begins.
How to Study the Bible: A 5-Day Plan with Jen Wilkin
As Christians, we believe the Bible is the very word of God, and it’s pivotal that we spend time knowing and loving him through it.
With a Christian perspective, we can see the economy as a social web that God has created for people to serve each other with their work.
A Teen’s Argument for the Bible’s Truthfulness
Christianity isn’t a religious system that collapses if you think about it too hard. The truth can stand up to the toughest questions.
Human beings—as image-bearers of the God who made the world—are responsible to take care of the world and to use their time, talent, and treasure in everything they do for the Lord.
Why Land Is More than Real Estate
After the resurrection of Jesus, God sends the Holy Spirit, who fills not just Israel, but the whole earth with his glory.
The devil is a very real, very powerful opponent, far too powerful for us to take on in our own strength.
5 Myths about the Armor of God
There are not two separate classes of Christians: Christian soldiers and Christian civilians. There are only prepared and unprepared Christian soldiers.
4 Ways to Go Deeper in the Psalms
From the psalms we see that God works in and through our emotions to draw us closer to him and to mature us spiritually.
The Christian Life Is Not Interrupted by Death
The New Testament answers the question about whether Christians at the point of death are in heaven with the comfort that they are “away from the body and at home with the Lord.”
Can Christians Know the Timing of Christ’s Second Coming? (1 Thessalonians 5)
Many wish to know when Jesus will return to establish his kingdom fully. Even the disciples asked this very question .
5 Tips for Helping Your Teens Study the Bible
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see growth right away. It might take months and it might even take years, but keep being faithful to your calling as parents.
Is the world so broken that God will abandon it, and we will need to find a home elsewhere?
10 Things You Should Know about the New Heavens and the New Earth
God will have the final victory over what God has made. It will not be discarded but rescued.
Why the Physical Earth Matters to God
When we fail to value creation, we fail to honor the God who made and sustains it.
Podcast: The Truth about Satan and Demons (Iain Duguid)
What does the Bible really teaches us about the devil and how can we avoid overestimating or underestimating his impact on the world?
A Christian’s Perspective on Economic Downturn
Discipling people for the new economy is a major challenge. But our gospel is big enough, and our God is strong enough.
How to Pray in Spiritual Warfare
To fight the good fight, we need to be in constant contact with God, and the means by which we stay in contact is by prayer.
The Economy Is about More than Money
The economy is a system of choices we make about all of our resources. Every choice we make is an economic choice.
The Difference between Legalism and Discipline
Paul hated legalism but he enjoined discipline upon all of his followers for the purpose of godliness.
The Passionate Plea of Preaching
Alistair Begg, Sinclair B. Ferguson
There is a vast difference between simply conveying information to people, which can be cold and ineffectual, and true preaching and witness.
Is There a Difference between Pastors and Elders? (1 Timothy 3)
Besides having good character, what qualifications must one meet in order to oversee others in the church?
Podcast: What It Takes to Persevere as a Pastor (John MacArthur)
Seasoned pastor, John MacArthur, reflects on what it takes for a pastor to persevere through the challenges of a long and faithful ministry.
Men: Pursue Others Like Jesus Pursues You
All the biblical stories of the Lord moving toward people are stories of grace. Grace is God’s moving toward us in Christ.
Busting the Myth of Human Omnipotence
God’s power is at work within us. It is at work helping us to overcome sin and to grasp the extent of his love for us.
Podcast: The Heart of the Abortion Debate (Scott Klusendorf)
Scott Klusendorf discusses abortion and the current state of the pro-life movement, highlighting the biggest mistakes pro-life people make and responding to common pro-choice arguments.
Men: Don’t Neglect These 4 Key Spiritual Disciplines
Godliness requires discipline. Here are four categories to commit to growing in.
The Importance of Books in Christian History
From ancient times, books have had a profound and mysterious power to move us. We find this in every culture and in every time period.
Are Grace and Works Compatible?
If you really have experienced the grace of God and you are in fellowship with him, your heart will desire to discipline itself for the purpose of godliness.
Training Our Kids in a Culture That Affirms Transgenderism
We must tell the truth about what the Bible teaches about gender. Among other things, the Bible is clear that there is a normative connection between biological sex and gender identity.
How to Pray When You’re Feeling Apathetic about Your Faith
If we take apathy seriously, as does God, we will be better equipped to recognize it when it threatens, avoid it, or at least escape from it earlier.
If we have stripped ourselves bare of all besetting sins and every hindrance, and have begun to run with perseverance our race, we are then given the focus that guarantees our finishing well.
4 Guiding Principles for Cultivating Friendship
It may be true that you are too busy for friends. But that doesn’t mean you should be. We always make time for what we treasure.
Podcast: What We Often Get Wrong about Our Emotions (J. Alasdair Groves)
In this episode, Alasdair Groves discusses what the Bible teaches about our emotions and how Christians should think about and deal with the full range of them.
Help! I’m Feeling Spiritually Listless
What do we do when we feel spiritually listless? First of all, don’t be surprised.
5 Tips for Being Disciplined without Being Legalistic
God is not counting our failures against us, and we are not building a treasury of merit with our successes. We are simply trying to live a disciplined life that pleases our loving Father.
An Open Letter to the Child Facing End-of-Life Decisions for a Parent
How can you make rational medical decisions while flailing in grief? Even if you know your parent’s wishes, the burdens can feel too heavy.
Why Godly Discipline Is about Learning to Fail Better
We're sinners and are not striving for perfection, but aiming to please God.
J. I. Packer’s Thoughts on Holiness
Repentance begins with a recognition of the multitude of ways in which our thinking and attitude and belief system are contrary to what is revealed in Scripture.
Podcast: Why Church History Matters (Justin Taylor)
Justin Taylor reflects on the immense importance of church history, highlighting why it’s important to make time for it alongside our study of the Bible.
Pregnancy and the Gospel: A 5-Day Devotional
In this devotional, Gloria Furman brings Scriptural light on the topics of pregnancy, child-birth, and motherhood.
When you’re talking about discipline for the purpose of godliness, it’s with an eye on the Lord Jesus Christ as the one who enables godliness.
5 Myths about End-of-Life Care
Few things halt conversation as quickly as the topic of death, yet the stewardship of our God-given lives matters until the very end.
Who Is the Man of Lawlessness? (2 Thessalonians 2)
The man of lawlessness seeks to make himself the central person of worship, beyond any other religious objects or personages in his day.
Podcast: The Rewarding Risks of Church Membership (Thabiti Anyabwile)
Thabiti Anyabwile reflects on the value and benefits of local church membership, showing what the Bible really teaches about the idea of formal membership.
The Danger of Neglecting Lament in the Local Church
Lament is a rich but untapped reservoir of God’s grace, and there is a danger in neglecting lament in the church.
Help! I’m Feeling Stressed about Finances
As members of our families, God calls us to love and serve one another, and, as members of the Household of God, to practice stewardship over the gifts God has given us.
4 Prayers to Pray for the Lost
We can call on the Lord on behalf of those who don't know him—for he knows and cares for them.
Learning Money Management from Jesus
We need to teach much more clearly and with far greater boldness the biblical message that we will have to give an account to God, and that the choices we make today have eternal consequences.
The Journey of Following Jesus Isn’t Always Smooth
Dying and rising is the pattern not only of Jesus’s life, but of our lives—of our everyday moments.
The Sabbath: A 5-Day Devotional
What does it mean to take a Sabbath? Does this Old Testament law even practically apply today?
We come into this world as a danger to ourselves. We are naturally more discontented than contented.
10 Things You Should Know about Communion with Christ
Before we can have communion (or fellowship) with Christ, we must first be in a right relationship with him. That relationship can only come from our being in union with Christ.
Norman Geisler (1932–2019) on the Truth about Truth
Norman L. Geisler, Frank Turek
Norman Geisler (1932–2019) distinguishes here between contrary beliefs and the absoluteness of truth.
Don’t Try to Make the Bible Say More (or Less) than It Does
To the degree that sin remains within us, we all seek to find in the Bible what we want it to say rather than what it actually does say.
Podcast: How to Date Your Wife (Justin Buzzard)
Justin Buzzard offers advice for husbands eager to love and serve their wives on a daily basis.
Paul Miller’s Story of Learning to Love
Paul Miller shares his story of learning to love by discovering the pattern of Jesus’s life.
10 Things You Should Know about the J-Curve
Like the letter “J,” Jesus’s life descends through his incarnation and then death, and then upward into his resurrection and exaltation.
When human beings are delivered through pregnancy and birth pain, there is more going on than biological processes and physiological mechanics.
Over the next 15 days, read through John’s first letter to the church alongside explanatory passages adapted from ESV Expository Commentary: Hebrews–Revelation (Volume 12).
Podcast: A Trauma Surgeon’s Guide to Modern Medicine and the End of Life (Kathryn Butler, MD)
Kathryn Butler, MD shares from her experiences working as a trauma surgeon in an ICU and offers biblical wisdom for walking alongside loved ones at the end of life.
Help! I Don’t Know How to Bring My Faith to Work
Like all working people, Christians must deal with deadlines, difficult people, and office politics. How should a Christian approach life at work?
A Movie So Good It Will Ruin You—Would You Watch It?
Do we have the ability to keep ourselves from entertainment unto death?
4 Ways to Read the Bible for Personal Application
Your whole Bible “applies personally.” This Lord is your God; this history is your history; these people are your people; this Savior has brought you in to participate in who he is and what he does.
Is leisure something we really need? As Christians, we perhaps struggle with the concept, but it is vitally important.
Podcast: Verses That Changed My Life (John Piper)
John Piper reflects on key verses that have had a huge impact on his life and helped him grasp the connection between our joy and God’s glory.
The Promises of God: A 7-Day Devotional
We are to treat a promise of God as reality, as someone treats a check. We are to take the promise and endorse it with our own name by personally receiving it as true.
You Were Designed for Spirituality
Justin L. McLendon, Christopher W. Morgan
Humans are created good and blessed beyond measure, being made in God’s image, with an unhindered relationship with God, and with freedom.
3 Barriers to Spiritual Growth Faced by Teens Today
Christian teenagers attempting to grow in godliness tend to face a series of unique challenges.
Why Your Parents' Limitations Aren’t Limiting
Limits force you to come to grips with both your humanity and your sin nature by showing you that you are not God, but you sure want to be.
David Powlison’s Answer to the Question “Why Me?”
David Powlison (1949–2019) reminds us that God does not offer advice and perspective from afar; he steps into our suffering.
How Charles Spurgeon Learned to Preach through a Broken Heart
When the heart is overwhelmed, it’s one thing to survive adversity; it is something entirely different to continue preaching Sunday after Sunday, month after month.
When ‘I Don’t Know’ Is a Good Answer and When It’s Not
It’s vital that everyday Christians are speaking into nuanced cultural issues from a biblical perspective.
Think about it: a woman’s sphere of influence today is far more diverse and extensive than ever before.
Are Pastors Free to Accumulate Wealth?
Few people acknowledge the narratives that drive the assumptions that provide our framework for how we relate to money.
4 Prayers to Pray when You’re Repentant
Turn to God and his Word and the prayers of the saints when your heart cries out to the Lord in repentance.
The true woman does not compartmentalize domesticity, nor does she reduce it to a set of behaviors.
Podcast: The False Messages Facing Women Today (Lydia Brownback)
What messages are Christian women hearing and imbibing from culture, and what does the Bible have to say?
What Parents Can Learn from Children’s Books
In many respects, and certainly in spiritual matters, we are all weak and inadequate, and we need to face it.
4 Prayers to Pray When You’re Anxious
Read four prayers from church history along with passages from Scripture, and be encouraged to know the Lord hears you.
4 Prayers to Pray when You’re Sorrowed
Turn to the Word of God and the prayers of the saints when your heart is saddened and in need of the gospel’s hope.
7 Tips for Starting to Learn Biblical Greek
This advice is purposed not to make things easier, but to make the process more realistic, and more pleasant.
Why the Apologist Must Also Play Offense
Apologetics does not just entail defense. It also involves offense, the positive task of constructing a case for Christianity.
Podcast: Why You Probably Need a Digital Detox (Tony Reinke)
Tony Reinke reflects on how to do a digital detox, why we should be careful with our social media habits, and what the massive success of the new Avengers film can teach us about our media saturated world.
Discard Christianity, Discard Human Equality
Saying that the Bible undermines the idea of human equality is a bit like saying that England undermines the English language.
2 Principles for Formulating Advance Directives
There are two important things to think about when equipping those you love how to act on your behalf.
In the rare moments when we catch broad attention from our social media presence—whether through our images or tweets or memes—we become the star.
15 Ways to Honor Christ as Women
As “true” Christian women, we consecrate ourselves to fulfill his calling and purposes for our lives.
Of course, there is not a real “Mother of the Year” award, but we talk about it as we would a lighthearted joke. The reality, though, is that every mother fails to image God perfectly in her mothering.
Christianity was a multiracial, multiethnic, multicultural movement from the beginning.
Why You Need Faith to See God’s Glory
The supreme spectacle of the cross brings a cosmic collision with the spectacles of this world. And we’re in the middle.
Opening Windows to Christ’s Kingdom
More than forty years have passed since I first traveled across the world and what drives me now are the glimpses of glory I get as I follow my King in the power of His rising.
An Open Letter to the Pastor about Embracing Weakness
The Lord, in his love and mercy, shows us that we are weak, and he often does it through affliction. But it is a certain sign of his love.
6 Keys to a Rewarding Digital Detox
Our screens project images to us that are more attractive than our real lives, and that’s all by design. Lured in, we escape into our screens, get hooked, and find it difficult to escape.
Podcast: Is Singleness Superior to Marriage? (Sam Allberry)
Culture often idolizes romance and intimacy. In this episode of The Crossway Podcast, Sam Allberry offers insight on the value and unique gifts of singleness.
4 Principles for Making Critical End-of-Life Decisions
There are four key principles that arise from Christian bioethics that can practically help us when we are in emotional turmoil.
How Faith in Christ Alters Our Perspective on Death
There are two main points in which Christian faith should differentiate how we approach end-of-life care.
Revival Is a Corporate Blessing
Revival is a work of the Spirit, it is extraordinary, and it comes to a group of people.
Who Needs Dogma when Stigma Will Do?
Sliding into liberalism is when you no longer take the time or make the effort to define your terms.
Podcast: Is Christianity on the Decline? (Rebecca McLaughlin)
Secular culture often takes issue with various beliefs held by conservative Christians. In this episode, Rebecca McLaughlin responds to two of the most common.
4 Reasons We Neglect the Resurrection
The cross is the basis by which we can be forgiven. Because the cross is literally crucial, it sometimes overshadows the resurrection.
By the Spirit, We See the Cross
The bold and clear preaching of the cross materializes the spectacle of the cross before a congregation, for those with the faith to see it.
The cross of Christ was more than a victory for Christ alone. It was a triumph in which we, too, can participate.
Does Doctrine Matter for the Everyday Christian?
Does the doctrine of justification make a difference in the way that we live the Christian life?
How to Study Scripture Theologically
Doing theology is a process that involves both study and personal spirituality. And these are not two separate activities.
Suffering with a Christian Worldview
The question we must always ask of suffering is this: What could possibly be worth it? Jesus’s flabbergasting claim is that he is.
Podcast: How to Read the Old Testament in a Christ-Centered Way (Bryan Chapell)
The Old Testament can feel confusing and intimidating. In this episode, we hear from Bryan Chapell about how reading it with an eye on the gospel helps us understand it better.
Beware of This Blindspot in the Christian Life
Why do some Christians—maybe why do many Christians—fail to experience a good life in the present?
2 Heated Cultural Debates the Bible Addresses
If we read the Bible carefully, we find that all of our modern cultural debates are addressed there.
Why We Need Systematic Theology
Joel R. Beeke, Paul M. Smalley
Why do we need systematic theology? How we answer the question depends a lot on what we think theology is.
God is interested in character far more than possessions. His intention is that our work becomes an integral part of the process of character development.
How Lament Can Help with Racial Reconciliation
When we don't know what to say, lament can become a really helpful language to use.
Why It’s Both Possible and Impossible to Know God
Joel R. Beeke, Paul M. Smalley
It is possible to know God because God has made himself known. Our knowledge of God is real but never exhaustive.
Podcast: Parenting in Light of the Gospel (Paul Tripp)
Paul Tripp shares how raising children often exposes the idols of our own hearts—and gives us the opportunity to rely on the power of Christ.
6 Reasons Christians Need to Learn to Lament
For hurting people, knowing that this expression of grief is a biblical and a God-given category can be a watershed moment.
Pastor, Don’t Quit—Learn to Lament
In order to stem the tide of weariness and burn-out, pastors should learn how to lament.
A Word for the Discouraged Christian
The Apostle Paul remembered who he was in Christ. He remembered that beating within him is none other than Christ himself—the indwelling Christ with all his resources of power and love and joy.
Podcast: How to Study the Bible (Jen Wilkin)
In this episode of The Crossway Podcast, we chat with Jen Wilkin about the importance of developing a habit of Bible study in various seasons of life.
2 Reasons We Don’t Know How to Lament
The notion that lament isn't familiar is actually an indictment of the state of the American church.
Learning to Lament: A 5-Day Devotional
Explore how the psalms of lament and the book of Lamentations give voice to our pain and invite us to grieve, struggle, and tap into the rich reservoir of God's grace and mercy.
Did Jesus Ever Complain to God?
Many Christians don't have a category for complaint—what it means to humbly and biblically take our sorrows to the Lord.
4 Steps to Engaging with Your Emotions
J. Alasdair Groves, Winston T. Smith
When you engage something, you move closer and explore it, preparing yourself to deal with whatever you uncover.
Help! It Feels Like God Is Far Away in My Suffering
Lament is the biblical language for people who feel like God is distant.
What about the window of time in between forgiveness of past sins and assurance of future heaven?
No one sets out to learn lament. But once you find it, you're so thankful because there's grace that God can give you when the dark clouds of hardship and pain roll into your life.
The Secret to Resolving Conflict
The Song of Songs does give us some guides for navigating marital conflict.
How to Embrace Your Emotions without Being Ruled by Them
Emotions can seem as unpredictable as the wind—apparently beyond your control. But we don’t have to live at the mercy of our emotions.
The Question at the Heart of Christianity
Central to our faith is the answer to this question: How is one right with God?
Losing your temper means you’ve placed anger in the saddle and you are now galloping along at its command.
The Modern Challenge to the Doctrine of Justification
In the 21st Century, though, we not only continue to face that challenge that the Reformers had with the Roman Catholic Church but also a bigger task.
The Goal of Submission in Marriage
Wives bend toward the nourishment and the leadership of their husbands—they are turning themselves toward what is for their good.
How to Pray When You’re Struggling to Understand the Bible
Prayer is the means by which we implore the Holy Spirit to take up residence in our study time.
Will the Unsaved Suffer Eternal Judgment? (2 Thessalonians 1)
Salvation comes by grace through faith to believers, who consequently display their faith as they continue to trust in Jesus, heedless of suffering and persecution in this life.
The Prayers of Jesus: A 5-Day Devotional
Jesus’s ministry on earth as a human was marked by a devotion to prayer. Through his prayer life, we see what it means to truly depend on God.
Does Singleness Require a Special Calling?
Many Christians have taken “the gift of singleness” to mean some special capacity to cope with it. But there are a number of problems with this way of thinking.
If Jesus Is God, Why Did He Pray?
Many theologians over the course of church history have wrestled with this question. The answer to this question is relatively simple.
5 Pieces of Advice for Discussing Gender Roles with Other Christians
We won’t be able to say everything in one conversation, and we certainly won’t say everything perfectly.
Glenn Harrington: Be Truthful, Not Original
In this six-minute documentary of artist Glenn Harrington, learn what inspires his paintings and how he interprets God's creative power in the natural world.
Intimacy with Christ Is for Men and Women
The Song of Songs gives us permission to have a very intimate, affectionate relationship with Jesus.
What Good Self-Esteem Can’t Do For You
Having self-esteem doesn't solve all of our problems, because underneath it, we know our weaknesses and we know our sin.
Never Forget: You Need What Your Kids Need
It’s helpful for our kids to hear that they’re not alone in their struggles and that you're not perfect either—but Jesus is.
Don’t Fall for This Misconception about Singleness
The church is family to all of those without brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters.
We need to think of the blessings, to all concerned, of biblically responsible discipling when we are reminded of the pitfalls associated with unbiblical discipling relationships.
An Open Letter to the Church on Singleness
Let’s not neglect what Scripture has to say about singleness. It may well surprise us. It will certainly bless us.
3 Ways Christians Are Sanctified
There are three primary agents in the character formation or sanctification of a Christian—ways that God uses to change us.
What the Bible Says about Women’s Physical Strength
Women's bodies are weaker because God made their bodies to be weaker than men’s bodies and that's what Peter's talking about in 1 Peter 3.
The Problem with Manufactured Femininity
There is no ideal standard of a woman that we are supposed to achieve apart from the virtues found in Christ himself.
Why It’s Surprisingly Easy to Reward Disobedience
Reward the behaviors you want and don’t reward the behaviors you don’t want.
As a help to the faith of his people, God has appointed signs within his covenants with human beings.
The Song of Songs: A 7-Day Devotional
Through this video devotional, beging to grasp God’s vision for love and marriage by working through the Song of Songs.
If we’re after true and lasting change, we must pray that the Lord work out our sanctification by his Spirit
One great temptation of singleness is an unrelenting self-focus. We need to be reminded to look outside of our circumstances and ourselves.
Cultural Singleness vs. Christian Singleness
What Christians mean by singleness is often very different to what our secular friends mean by singleness.
5 Myths about the Song of Songs
While the Song of Songs is for lovers, it applies not just to human relationships but also in our soul’s relationship to God.
To Be a Woman Is to Be Fully Human
Being a woman means being human. And this is good news.
Admitting Imperfections and Turning Them for Love
In spite of having such a privileged role in the early church, Paul did not try to pull rank by hiding his weaknesses or his sins.
How to Pray When You Hate Your Job
May we cultivate the presence of Jesus in our workplaces and see the thorns and thistles of our work in light of the glory that is to come.
7 Tips for Keeping Your Cool When Your Kids Misbehave
Jesus came to make it possible for all kinds of people, including angry parents, to be changed into people who yield their expectations to God in service to others, specifically their children.
The Remedy to Self-Condemnation
We’re called to leave the past behind, but that doesn’t mean that the scars of painful things are gone.
Why Should We Disciple Younger Women?
Disciple-making is helping others to see Christ for what he is
How Idolizing Comfort Can Lull Us into Spiritual Sleep
We’re all comfort junkies and we crave it from the minute we get up until the minute we go to bed.
The Importance of Preaching the Theology of Suffering
Preach to your people a theology of suffering that places all our trials in the hands and will of a loving Father.
The Apostle Paul: A 5-Day Devotional
Over the next five days, learn more about the apostle and be encouraged to imitate his example of unwavering confidence in God's grace and love toward others.
8 Real-Life Questions about Children and Discipline
You might feel overwhelmed by the amount of parenting advice that exists. Take a breath. Break the goal down into small steps, and take one step at a time.
Our value comes from God and he has good purposes for every role and circumstance he puts us in.
This Day In History: The Death of Charles Spurgeon
It was January 31, 1892, and after twenty-four years of ill health, the ‘Prince of Preachers’ went to be with the Lord, aged just fifty-seven.
We should admit up front that there are some decent reasons a person might have for being an atheist.
The Common Calling of All Women
Am I faithfully obeying God as his child by meeting the genuine needs of others, or am I pursuing self-actualization, self-fulfillment, or selfish ambition apart from him?
Turning High Thoughts to the Help of the Lowly
Paul loved God and people. His love for God summoned him ever higher into God’s revealed glory, and his love for people summoned him alongside ordinary folks.
We have much to learn from the apostle who had the ability to be blunt and corrective while striving toward peace with others in kindness.
Why Our Feelings ≠ Knowing God’s Will
Feelings are not meant to be our guide. That's the role of God's Word in our lives.
The Key to Not Grumbling in Suffering
It seems to me that suffering without grumbling is one of the world's rarities.
Don’t Waste Your Life: A 5-Day Devotional
Beyond the legacy that you’ll leave for your family, what gospel difference will your life have made in the world?
One Thing You Might Not Know about Charles Spurgeon
Spurgeon possessed an ability to use humor from the pulpit and in his life as a weapon.
A lot of misinformation exists related to abortion. Here are 5 common myths that many people—pro-choice and pro-life alike—often believe.
An Open Letter to the Timid Evangelist
Only the Spirit can give life. But recognizing the Spirit’s role should thrill our hearts with hope.
3 Important Questions for the Church about the Lord’s Supper
The Lord’ Supper is an ordinance of remembrance, and recipients must turn their minds to the cross as they approach the Table.
Self-care has become a thing. The trend got traction by appealing to necessity—you can’t care for others if you don’t first care for yourself.
5 Myths about Complementarianism
Andreas J. Köstenberger, Margaret Elizabeth Köstenberger
Complementarian interpretation of Scripture holds that God’s creation purpose for man and woman entails equality of individual value but also distinct roles.
How to Stop Thinking about What People Think of You
Self-consciousness is really bondage to the question What do people think of me?
An Open Letter to the Student at the Start of a New Semester
How do we faithfully approach a new semester as Christian students? How do we steward our studies well and honor Christ?
How Biblical Doctrine Makes Us Beautiful
The Reformation was intimately tied to beauty, goodness, and human flourishing because the Reformers were seeing—through Scripture—God’s glory shine.
Why Pastors (and All of Us) Should Read the Puritans
Reading the Puritans can contribute to our growth, holiness, and conviction of the need to stay close to the Lord.
What Did Jesus Teach about Money?
We keep telling ourselves that the next thing will be what satisfies us, but it never does.
What’s Your Ambition’s Agenda?
God’s glorious agenda for our ambition, like his glorious gospel, begins not with what we achieve but with who we are.
Does Baptism Save? (1 Peter 3)
God uses the water of baptism to save us—only in that it links us to Christ and his victory and promises.
How Education Can Bring Renewal to the Church
When disciplined learning tells the Christian story in a fresh way, history has shown that vibrant expressions of faith result.
Do Christians Fast Because Food and Drink Are Bad?
There are a number of things that God has given Christians as disciplines for our pilgrim condition in this world.
7 Things We Can Learn from the Puritans
We need more of the Puritan focus on the Word of God.
New Year, New Mercies: A 15-Day Devotional with Paul David Tripp
When “behavior modification” or feel-good aphorisms aren’t enough to make you new, learn to trust in God’s goodness, rely on his grace, and live for his glory each and every day.
For Christians, the start of a new year arrives with reminders afresh of the glorious promises that God has made to his people through the Bible.
Rich communities can be harder to reach because wealth and comfort tend to make people think that they’re invincible.
Why Modern Christians Should Obey the 10 Commandments
Jesus didn’t set the Ten Commandments aside. He fulfilled them.
5 Tips for Starting a Bible Study
The Holy Spirit must always lead us into God’s truth, so pray for his help to help you lead a study of his Word.
3 Threats to Deep Relationships
What makes deep relationships so uncommon and challenging today?
Andreas J. Köstenberger, Alexander E. Stewart
The Bible is God’s story, recounting the Creator’s involvement with his creation.
My Master wants room! Room for him! Room for him! I, his herald, cry aloud, Room for the Savior! Room!
2 Things Pastors Can Learn from Spurgeon’s Preaching
One of Spurgeon's great strengths is that he would always seek preach Christ to people where they were at and to their needs.
God’s Passion for God at Christmas
The deepest reason why we live for the glory of God is that God acts for the glory of God.
An Open Letter to the Depressed Christian at Christmas
In the midst of a tough season, learn ways to carefully navigate the holidays while also contributing to your long-term healing.
The Church’s Most Powerful Witness to the World
God is using the power of the church’s shared witness in remarkable ways all over the world.
A Single Word to Sum Up Christmas
God’s response to our rebellion was to give us himself. He is the great redeeming, transforming gift. He is the rescue.
The doctrine of the Trinity is for everybody who is saved by Jesus.
The (Anti-Christian) Moral Absolutes of Our Culture
We live in a time of high moral obligation. The question is who gets to determine what those obligations are?
Are Christians Free to Enjoy the Things of Earth?
There are two dangers that we can fall into with the things of earth: idolatry and ingratitude.
What Makes Charles Spurgeon Relevant Today?
Spurgeon's ministry was marked by his constant looking to Christ for his salvation.
10 Verses that Have Been Central to Wayne Grudem’s Life
After being presented with a collection of essays in his honor, Wayne Grudem reflects on the verses that have impacted his life and ministry.
Christian Sufferer, Your Lord Is Near
I can’t think of anything that is more powerfully comforting than these words: I will never leave you or forsake you.
The Counterintuitive Nature of Authority
Authority can be dangerous. But, if used rightly, it can also be a blessing.
We must train ourselves to slow down and recognize the greatest need we have is met in Christ’s coming.
Why You’ll Never Be Free Until You Start Obeying God
Biblical freedom doesn't mean doing what we want to do, but what we ought to do.
2 Little-Known Facts about C. S. Lewis
Readers of C. S. Lewis may be quite surprised to discover that the man behind the pen was a bit different than how he may be perceived through his writing.
Why You Can’t Have Justification without Sanctification
Justification should not be abstracted from the person of Christ.
You need to understand that there are two parts of the Christmas story, and you need both parts to make proper sense out of the whole story.
Why Your Sermons Should Address Believers and Unbelievers
Preachers should aim to capture the attention and inspire the affection of both unbelievers and believers.
The Present Hope of the Gospel
It is life-changing to know and believe that Jesus came so that we would have all that we need to live as he intended right now.
4 Simple (Yet Profound) Things to Remember This Thanksgiving
The great privilege of man is to receive everything that God gives, and then to enjoy it and to enjoy him in it.
3 Words of Counsel to Sufferers
Be aware that you're always preaching to yourself some kind of gospel.
2 Dangers In Doing the Lord’s Work
Doing the Lord’s work in our own way is betrayal. It is a stab in the Lord’s back.
Do We Still Need the 10 Commandments?
There are many people inside the church—and especially outside the church—who would say the Ten Commandments are irrelevant or antiquated.
Is the Church the Answer to Poverty?
The church is the answer to real, deep poverty because it is the gospel that reconciles us to God and takes away our shame.
Adoption Isn't Charity—It's War
We believe Jesus in heavenly things—our adoption in Christ; so we follow him in earthly things—the adoption of children.
Legalism: 5 Questions to Ask Yourself
Legalism is the tendency to regard as divine law things that God has neither required nor forbidden in Scripture.
5 Reasons to Obey the 10 Commandments
God gave the commandments that they might be obeyed—not to earn salvation but because of who we are, who God is in himself, who he is to us, where we are, and what he has done.
5 Ways to Use the ‘ESV Story of Redemption Bible’
Use these five features of the ‘ESV Story of Redemption Bible’ to learn how God has brought salvation to mankind throughout human history.
Are Love and Authority Mutually Exclusive?
But authority in creation and authority and redemption actually work together—for good.
Start Early: Teaching Your Kids the 10 Commandments
There have been three items that have formed the backbone of the church’s catechesis: the Apostle’s Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments.
God is transforming the city into a place that he intends to live in forever with his people
Christian: Are You Imbibing Our Culture’s View of Love?
With culture and history both shaping our definitions, where are we learning love from?
The Self-Forgetfulness of Real Love
This universe of self-love is collapsing in on itself. It’s like a black hole that shrinks itself into a smaller and smaller space.
Remember that God is good even outside of the gifts he often graciously bestows to his children.
Justification: The Heart of the Reformation
The issue at the heart of the Reformation was without a doubt the question of justification.
2 Essential Doctrines of the Reformation
Works have no value before a perfectly holy God. Instead, place your faith in Jesus alone.
Why the Reformation Isn't Over
We need to be constantly searching in God's word to see how further reformation needs to work itself out in our lives.
10 Things You Should Know about Poetry
We should all learn the language of poetry. Here are ten reasons why.
How Embracing Our Depravity Helps Us Suffer Well
Becoming bitter prevents healing, creates hardened hearts, and creates distance in our relationship with God.
Gospel Hope for Suffering: A 5-Day Devotional with Paul David Tripp
In this five-day video devotional learn how to trust God more deeply—even through circumstances you wouldn’t choose for yourself.
What Does It Really Mean to Take the Lord’s Name in Vain?
The Old Testament identifies several ways in which the third commandment can be violated.
10 Things You Should Know about the Ten Commandments
The way to find moral instruction is not by listening to your gut but by listening to God.
10 Things You Should Know about Studying the Bible
We study the Bible because it is God’s word to the world. We want to hear him.
The Greatest Promise in the Bible
What we see in Eden is God preparing a home that he intended to dwell in with his holy people.
How Do You Pursue Neighbors Who Continually Avoid Your Invitation?
Here are a couple of barriers you can remove to make people feel loved and welcomed.
How Suffering Crushes Our Unrealistic Expectations
Our expectation is that tomorrow will be just the same as today was, but this world is not operating the way that God intended for it to operate.
What C. S. Lewis Believed about Hell
When the wrath of God is poured out, God gives us over to our desires and we become less and less human.
How Can You Show Radical Hospitality as an Introvert?
What is most lacking in this Christian world is not the need for more extroverts, but the need for more discernment.
In all the areas of theology where Calvin made his most distinguishing contributions, we see the exaltation of the work of the Spirit driving his analysis.
Can Christians Lose Their Salvation? (Hebrews 6)
We must respond to the terrifying possibility of irreversible apostasy and the comforting evidence of God’s heart-transforming, love-producing grace
Suffering is so real, so physical, so emotional, and so life-dominating that it’s hard to think of anything but the present moment of pain.
4 Traps to Avoid When You Suffer
How we respond to suffering shapes our experiences with suffering.
Paul Tripp’s Story of Unexpected Suffering
Four years ago, Paul David Tripp entered the hospital with what he thought was a minor issue and began a journey with pain and suffering for which he felt completely unprepared.
No human marriage, no matter how good, can bear the weight of our expectations.
Be the Teen God’s Calling You to Be
There’s only one way for teens to find purpose, meaning, and joy. Only one message that has the power to change the life of a teenager.
The fact that you have a cesspool of sin down in your heart doesn’t mean you should camp down there because that’s precisely what God is trying to lead you out of.
How Suffering Reveals Your True Self
When the thing you have been trusting is laid to waste, you don’t suffer just the loss of that thing; you also suffer the loss of the identity and security that it provided.
3 Privileges of Intimacy with the Father
As God's children, we inherit God’s glorious new world. But more than that, we inherit God himself.
Why Do We Sometimes Feel Empty?
Perhaps you have come to see your emptiness as your biggest problem. That’s not how God sees it.
2 Reasons Christians Lose Their Joy (And What to Do about It)
How did you become a Christian? Was it after you got your life sorted out?
Are Authority and Submission Inherently Flawed?
Lewis uses the Great Dance as a way of talking about the patterning, ordering, structuring, and interlocking of reality.
The Biggest Detriment to Longevity in Ministry
The call to pastoral ministry is unlike anything else you're going to do in life. What's the key to staying the course?
3 Battles Your Teen Faces Every Day
Teens must stand up against the untruths they hear from culture and from within themselves.
9 Ways the New Earth Will Be More Glorious than Eden
When we enter this Eden 2.0, we’ll begin to experience all that God has intended for his people all along.
This Day in History: John Calvin Returns to Geneva
We can learn three important lessons from this episode in history.
Finding the Good Life: A 5-Day Video Devotional
In this 5-day video devotional, Nancy Guthrie answers the question, “What is the good life?”
How Being Honest about Death Brings Hope
We live with more detachment from death than in any other time and place in history.
You Are More Than Your Twitter Bio
What does the way you introduce yourself say about how you see yourself, about where you find the source of your identity?
How Prayer Exposes the Illusion of Control
Prayer reminds us of who we are and who God is.
What Is Our True Comfort in Life and Death?
If you want both comfort in life and death, start by recognizing the truth about the world and about yourself.
The Fundamental Decision We All Must Face
You can either put God at the center of the universe in your heart or you can put yourself or something else there.
Follow the Second Adam into True Rest
There is an unending, eternal rest that God established himself and that we have always been meant to enter into with him.
One Big Reason the Church Doesn't Pray
Are we living as if we can accomplish things on our own, or are we praying to God like we know we can't?
Memento Mori: What It Means and Why It Matters
When we see death as an unshakeable reality, it has the ability shed perspective on life in the meantime.
10 Things You Should Know about the Garden of Eden
From the very beginning, Eden was not meant to be static; it was headed somewhere.
How Is the Church Doing at Caring for One Another?
Are we caring for one another the way the Bible instructs us to do so?
What Happens When We Forget We’ll Die
If we see our lives through the truth about death, then Jesus’s promises begin to take on an entirely different tone for us.
A Biblical Argument for Self-Defense
What did Jesus mean when he instructed his followers to turn the other cheek? Does that mean we're never to self-defend?
What someone shouldn’t immediately offer to the couple struggling with infertility is a set of solutions to the problem.
An Open Letter to Those Living for Tomorrow
Remember death so you can remember Jesus.
Seminary can by no means teach a minister everything he needs to know, but it puts strong tools in his box to set him up for a lifetime of learning and growing in the Lord.
5 Things to Consider When Confronting a Friend
Sin becomes public in three different ways: someone confesses it, we see it, or we are told about it. Here are some ways to enter into the discussion.
3 Pieces of Advice for Teens about to Start High School
In the long run, your friends have an enormous influence on you, so you need the right kinds of friends.
What's So Wrong with a Little White Lie?
I believe God will always give an alternative by which we can do what is right in his sight.
The Fruits of Suffering in the Life of John Bunyan
In 1655, when the matter of his soul was settled, John Bunyan was asked to exhort the church, and suddenly a great preacher was discovered.
The Danger of Wrongful Comparison
The knowledge of God and the knowledge of self always go hand in hand. There is no true knowledge of self apart from the knowledge of God.
Why Christians Should Study Ethics
Questions of right and wrong aren't always straightforward for people today.
2 Simple (Yet Profound) Questions to Ask Someone at Church This Sunday
What does it look like to strike up an intentional conversation aimed at deepening our relationships?
Why It's Destructive to Deny God's Sovereignty in Suffering
To deny God's control over suffering actually severs the root of our comfort when facing tragedy.
Why Healing Requires More Than Self Help
We seek healing as if we have the power (and right) to obtain it, whereas it is our very weakness and lack of valid claim to such a cure which are defining characteristics of our illness.
Students: Don't Let Your Head Get Ahead of Your Heart This Semester
David Mathis, Jonathan Parnell
Seminary is dangerous. Its gospel fragrance proves life-giving to many. But for others—far too many others—its aroma can lead to death.
3 Pieces of Advice for Responding to Miscarriage
Miscarriage can be an acutely painful experience. Yet it teaches those who experience it—and the church as a whole—to lean into the Lord's care.
Why It Matters How We Treat Unborn Children
How serious is it in God’s sight to intentionally cause the death of an unborn child?
Truth That Transforms the Teen Years
The teenage years have been hijacked—by pleasure, pressure, entertainment, and distraction. But there is one truth that has the power to totally change the life of a teenager: the gospel.
Don’t Let Go of God’s Sovereignty over Your Worst
God did and does have something to do with your tragedy. I know this sounds like a cruel statement, but stay with me. There is hope in the end.
12 Truths for Depressed and Anxious Christians
Richard Baxter, Michael S. Lundy
Be sure that a theological error is not the root of your distress. Especially have a solid understanding of the covenant of grace and the riches of mercy revealed in Christ.
The Day My Worst Nightmare Came True
Four years ago, Cameron Cole came face-to-face with his worst nightmare. The one thing that he hoped and prayed would never happen, did happen.
Why the Study of Ethics Matters for Everyday Christians
Why should we study ethics from a biblical perspective? Why should we collect and summarize the Bible’s teaching in a systematic way?
A Sufferer’s Great Resource in Tragedy
In the early days, the pain and sorrow of losing my son were so intense that I could not focus on anything beyond daily survival. But hope prevailed.
An Open Letter to the Parent Who Has Lost a Child
As a parent whose child died four and a half years ago, I want to offer you two hopeful words about that wound in your heart that never will fully heal on this side of eternity.
5 Myths about Counseling and the Church
We come to Jesus as people in need, and we continue in Jesus as people in need.
Pastor: Equip Your People to Counsel Each Other
The leadership of the church has been commissioned to equip the congregation in caring for each other’s souls.
Do Christians Ever Need to Choose the Lesser Sin?
The notion that we sometimes have to choose the lesser sin is a dangerous and deeply harmful idea for the Christian life.
34 Ethical Issues All Christians Should Know
What does the whole Bible teach us about which acts, attitudes, and personal character traits receive God’s approval, and which do not?
5 Inspiring Stories about Evangelism
Hear stories from 5 women God is using right now to take the good news to those who need to meet the Savior.
Depression can be quite as fiery a trial as any other. The good news is that God does indeed hear the cry of the afflicted.
An Open Letter to Those Who Feel Unqualified to Offer Counsel
The Lord specializes in using people who feel weak in themselves, and your sense of inadequacy will probably protect you.
The maker of the universe is not far off—he is nearby. Realizing this is a huge first step in trading anxiety for patience.
10 Things You Should Know about Christian Ethics
What is Christian ethics and what role should it play in the life of a believer?
A Brief Biblical Theology of Friendship
In the beginning, we walked with God in friendship. Then we walked away. But now, God is befriending us again.
Lessons from 7 of History's Greatest Theologians
Access nearly five hours of free video content exploring key teachings on the Christian life from seven of church history’s greatest theologians.
Are the Old Testament’s Moral Laws Still Binding on Us Today?
Even if the Mosaic covenant no longer has binding force on us today, we still need to realize that the Old Testament is a valuable source of ethical wisdom.
Why Study the Book of Numbers?
It is one of the great ironies of Scripture that the generation that saw God’s works most vividly became the epitome of those who refuse to believe him.
The Gospel Is about More (But Not Less) Than Your Personal Salvation
We are not just individually liberated from death, hell, and the Devil—the whole of creation is on an exodus journey as well.
You can be in community with any number of people, but not actually have any true friends.
Now we follow Jesus far from home, but one great and glorious day we shall follow Jesus home.
An Open Letter to the Man Struggling to Form Deep Friendships
It can be difficult for men to find the time and energy to invest in deep relationships with other men. But it’s worth it.
10 Things You Should Know about Infertility
Infertility is a more common experience than some realize affecting 7–10% of couples.
6 Ingredients of True Friendship
What essential ingredients do we mix together to make true friendship?
Is It OK to Call God My Friend?
Jesus is—and will always be—our king. And yet, it’s also true that our king has invited us to be his friends.
Opening Doors to Faith at Work
Happy Khambule, Kathleen Nielson
God places us in particular professions and callings so as to be his witnesses, spread like salt and light in the world.
Why Sin Wasn’t Humanity’s First Problem
It’s not good to be alone. Why? Because God made us for friendship.
Fighting Fear When It Comes to Sharing Your Faith
It's time to confront our fears about sharing the gospel.
The Most Important Thing Parents Can Do This Summer
Being faithful to the ABC’s of Christian living can have such a profound evangelistic impact upon your children.
Here are five myths about evangelism that may lead us to neglect an important facet of the Christian life.
8 Things to Remember When Teaching Kids Theology
Theology, taught well, must inevitably result in doxology—and we shouldn’t be satisfied with less just because we’re teaching children.
Resist the urge to see simple memory as the goal. Learning the text “by heart” is secondary; taking the text to heart is primary.
Some people have good friendships, some don’t. Friendship—true friendship—requires intentionality and even skill.
6 Attitudes We Need When Studying the Bible
It is a great blessing that God has revealed himself and that we have access to that revelation and Bibles in our own language.
The Church’s Central Role in the Coming of the Kingdom of God
It’s not to the government, nor to any king or pope or any other ruler, but rather to the church that the keys of the kingdom of God are given.
How Culture Can Warp Our View of God's Love
Because of the way that our culture tends to think of love, being told God loves you can fail to land on us with the beauty and significance that it should.
4 Things Dads Should Teach Their Kids about Money
Your kids need more than practical tips for managing their money. They need theology.
As fathers, it’s important to remember that the gospel is eschatological—it is our hope not merely in this age, but also in the age to come.
2 Big Barriers to Christian Hospitality
Too often, we're not honest with one another about where we hurt, how we struggle, and what we need.
Why Study the Books of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi?
God sent the prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi to speak powerful words of challenge and comfort to his world-weary people, words which are just as relevant and powerful for Christians today.
The Kind of Love That Marks a Christian
Why does the Great Commandment instruct us to love God first, others second? Because this is the order in which God himself loves.
Why Christian Mission Must Focus on Evangelism
The gospel of Jesus Christ, by its very nature, refuses to be bottled up. It must be shared.
You’re Needed, No Matter What Life-Season You’re In
Without trying to be somebody you're not, think about how you can be hospitable to those around you in your current season of life.
What Freedom from Sin Looks Like in This Life
It’s natural to feel frustrated that you’re still staring down the same habits of sin in your life.
This Day in History: The Death of Hudson Taylor
Today marks the 113th anniversary of the death of Hudson Taylor, missionary to China. His legacy of faithfulness lives on.
Gospel-Centered Help for Fathers
Leading your family well can become a daunting task, particularly if you misunderstand the role of fatherhood as God intended it.
Money will either bless you or curse you. It will be a tool in the hands of a God of grace, or it will be a doorway to bad and dangerous things.
How Is Love of Money a Root of Evil?
The root system of the love of money runs deeper and wider through the soil of the human heart than we tend to think.
10 Things You Should Know about Money
Money is an accurate window on what is truly important to us.
This Day in History: The Death of John Calvin
The struggles of his Calvin’s life tested his faith. At the heart of his faith was the confidence that for the sake of Jesus, God was his loving heavenly Father.
Our culture's understanding of freedom says when you break from the oppression of an external force, then you’re free to be who you want to be.
Why It’s Easier to Show Regular (Not Sporadic) Hospitality
It’s much easier for me to practice daily hospitality than it would be monthly because I don’t have to do something different.
The Problem with the Self-Help Movement
Sanctification demonstrates that right actions work their way out from the inside and not the other way around.
Sanctification: An Often Painfully Slow Process
We have sin patterns that we battle for years, and we can have the sense that we're getting any better at this re-imaging thing.
10 Things You Should Know about God’s Communicable Attributes
God's communicable attributes show us how to reflect God as Christ did.
Hospitality: What It Is and What It's Not
Hospitality, biblically speaking, means love of the stranger. What hospitality is not is fellowship.
The Gospel Is Good News for Mothers
What we say and write reveals what we place our hope in. Our words are the overflow of what is going on in our hearts.
Hospitality is not a gift unto itself, but a means through which other spiritual gifts are displayed: mercy, serving, giving, and evangelizing.
Do You Struggle to Discern God’s Will?
Thinking about the will of God is asking a secondary question when there’s a primary question that we need to ask first.
The Better Question Believers Should Ask about God’s Will
For the believer wanting to know God’s will for her life, the first question to pose is not “What should I do?” but “Who should I be?”
How the Gospel Speaks to Motherhood
The gospel has a practical effect on every aspect of life, including the way you raise and shepherd your children.
Yoda and Our Search for Wisdom
The reason we have a hard time talking about wisdom is that we have a very misguided notion of what it is.
The Lord's Prayer—a simple prayer which Jesus taught his disciples—can also show us how to talk with God in prayer.
Help for Humanly Impossible Acts
The languishing come to drink at the fountain of God’s life-giving word. That too is worship. It magnifies the necessity and desirableness of God.
Why Hospitality Is for All Christians
Radically ordinary hospitality—those who live it see strangers as neighbors and neighbors as family of God.
10 Things You Should Know about C. S. Lewis
Lewis is a master of the soul. He understands the human heart, in all its deceitfulness and grandeur, both in its good design and in its twisted corruption.
5 Lessons I’ve Learned from Martyn Lloyd-Jones’s Preaching
I owe more to the ministry of Martyn Lloyd-Jones than I can put into words.
C.S. Lewis and the Role of the Physical Body in Prayer
Prayer, whether it is confession, supplication, thanksgiving, or adoration, always involves a surrender, an embracing of God’s ever-present presence.
A Word to Parents at Their Breaking Point
It can be helpful to manage your expectations of what normal life can and should be, and recognize that the season you’re in is intensely difficult in a particular way and that it won’t always be that way.
Ours is not a time of great respect for authority. For most people, including many evangelical Christians, personal freedom and liberty are avidly pursued virtues.
The Beauty of God’s Hierarchical World
Lewis insists on something that is radically out of step with the modern world.
How to Turn Weeping into Witnessing
We can’t jump straight to It’s alright. God will be good. We can be sure he will, but that’s probably not where we should start.
What We Think We're Entitled to in the 21st Century
We realized just how much we had assumed we would have, how many things we believed were almost rights of ours.
Practical Tips to Prepare for the End of Life
As we’re coming to the end of life, it’s very important to make practical decisions about how and where we want to depart.
This Day in History: The Execution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
At the break of dawn on April 9, 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged. As they prepared him for his death, he preached a final sermon.
How Radically Ordinary Hospitality Changed Rosaria Butterfield’s Life
Rosaria Butterfield invites us into her home to show us how God can use “radical, ordinary hospitality” to bring the gospel to our lost friends and neighbors.
10 Things You Should Know about Christian Hospitality
Hospitality is not always easy or comfortable, but it is worth it. Learn why.
On May 3rd, across the country, countless will gather to come before the Lord for the National Day of Prayer.
An Open Letter to the Hesitant Host
Are you busy? Are you important? Do you work on a tight schedule? Are your boundaries well-fortified?
5 Ways to Use an ‘ESV Scripture Journal’
Journaling can be a great way to actively engage with Scripture. Learn five ways to use our new journaling edition to enrich your time in God's Word.
There are lots of people who are never really confronted by the wretchedness of their own hearts.
How Parenting Kids with Special Needs Shifts Your Reality
In a sense, our story was really one of reconsidering every aspect of our lives.
How C. S. Lewis Awakened John Piper to the ‘Realness’ of Life
Lewis made me more alive to beauty. He put my soul on notice that there are daily wonders that will waken worship if I open my eyes.
10 Things You Should Know about the Cross
The cross is not only where our sin is paid for, where the devil is conquered, but the shape of Christianity.
How to Go from Fearful to Forgiven
Isaiah 53 has to be the best news for sinners, and that's all of us.
21 Key Christian Figures You Should Know
We stand on the shoulders of the saints who have gone before, exemplifying how to live and love God faithfully.
4 Reasons Why We Need Biblical Theology
To read the Bible faithfully, we need the proper tools. The discipline of biblical theology is one of those helpful tools.
8 Theses on Christians and Twitter
This month, Twitter celebrates its 12th anniversary. Short, pithy, snarky statements are the currency of Twitter, but, how should Christians engage?
The very rhythms of the world are a pointer to what it means to be part of the created order as a human being.
Can Media Be Effective for Christ?
If contemporary Christians wish to transmit a meaningful gospel to a world awash in meaningless media, then they have a dual dilemma to confront before they can hope to proceed successfully.
How to Die for the Glory of God
Coming to the end of life can be very self-centered and that’s antithetical to the gospel. When I die, I want my life to reflect the gospel.
How Suffering Can Be Our Teacher
There’s no way you’re ever going to learn endurance without having to keep on going through something hard that doesn’t go away.
Is God Far Away When He Feels Far Away?
Scripture captures both the subjective experience of being internally broken and the external experience of having something objectively hard circumstances.
The question for each of us is: What is the one thing that is keeping me from giving everything to the kingdom of God?
An Open Letter to the Suffering Christian
Jesus is a most sympathetic friend, fellow sufferer, and Savior. He has walked a hard road and he understands.
What the Grand Canyon Teaches Us about Ourselves
Ninety-nine years ago today, Grand Canyon National Park was established after President Woodrow Wilson signed a Congressional act. Learn the invaluable lesson John Piper thinks this national landmark can teach.
A Common Misconception about Suffering
A frequent misconception about suffering often recurs in Christian circles. It says: “You are suffering because God is trying to teach you something.”
How God Changes Hearts for His Glory
As Spurgeon saw it, the new birth of a Christian has to be a work of pure divine grace: the sinful human heart is impotent, unwilling, and wholly unworthy.
Did You Know That Charles Spurgeon Struggled with Depression?
It comes as a surprise to some that Charles Spurgeon had a lifelong battle with depression. It shouldn’t be a surprise, of course: being full of life in a fallen world must mean distress, and Spurgeon’s life was indeed full of physical and mental pain.
Remembering Christ’s Power in Weakness in the Life of Billy Graham (1918-2018)
Billy Graham died today, after a faithful and Spirit-led life and ministry. We celebrate his legacy, and his weakness through which God to move so powerfully.
What Should I Do When I'm Bearing Unbearable Suffering?
In the midst of pain and suffering, we must preach truth to ourselves rather than listening to the lies in our own heads.
Loneliness: A 5-Day Devotional
Single or married, young or old, man or woman—everyone experiences loneliness at various times and to varying degrees. No one is exempt.
10 Things You Should Know about Charles Spurgeon
Charles Spurgeon was known as the 'Prince of Preachers.' Learn more about the life and ministry of this influential theologian and preacher.
10 Things You Should Know about B. B. Warfield
Warfield was a towering theological figure at the turn of the twentieth century.
10 Things You Should Know about Love
We often say “love” when we mean sexual intimacy, or romantic love. But real love is far bigger than that.
Watch Out for Functional Atheism
In the midst of storms in your life, have you forgotten who Jesus is?
Embracing God in Your Trials: A 7-Day Devotional
A 7-day video devotional on ESV.org aimed at helping you run to God in the midst of trials and suffering.
Why I Believe God Is Sovereign over Suffering
Scripture is not silent when it comes to the question of God's sovereignty in our suffering.
Don't Miss What God Is Teaching You in Your Pain
God works through our weakness to bring glory to his name and make it absolutely clear that it's him who's at work.
5 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Studying the Bible
Reading God's Word is encouraging, life-giving, convicting, and guiding. But, our habits can also be misguided.
The Best News Ever for Our Sexual Struggles
What does God give us to face our inevitable struggles and sufferings? The resoundingly glorious answer of Romans 8 is that he gives us the only thing that can truly provide the rescue, wisdom, and strength we need.
A Message to the Christian Battling Sexual Sin
We can't blame our environment for our struggles. The root of our wrong thinking about sex is not cultural, it's our own hearts.
10 Things You Should Know about Suffering
Suffering is not outside of God's control and he has a purpose for it.
6 Lessons from Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen's classic novel, Pride and Prejudice contains some poignant lessons for Christians. Learn more about how her characters can point us to the Gospel.
10 Things You Should Know about Sex
God created and has good purposes for sex in the context of marriage, and we don't always view it rightly.
Will Your Phone Dominate Your Life in 2018?
As another new year begins, let's examine our habits, including our relationships to social media and our phones.
You Are Complete When God Is Yours
Dwell in the light of your Lord, and let your soul be always delighted by his love.
Do We Live in a Post-Christian Society?
Our society may not be a happy Christian one, but that leaves the gospel room to speak, stand, and save.
Cultivating Habits of Grace: A 5-Day Devotional
Start this 5 day video devotional on 3 life-giving habits that can act as channels of God's grace in your life.
Jesus has come to inaugurate that peace among God’s people and to unveil the true joy of Christmas.
Are You Far from God This Christmas?
The Christmas story is a story of God making himself available, making himself near. And, so it's a story for everyone who feels distant from God.
A Word to Those Who Are Lonely This Christmas
Human beings weren't created to be lonely. We were created for intimate relationship with God and intimate relationships with one another.
What is more wonderful than to be able to put your head on the pillow knowing that if you die during the night it doesn’t matter, that you will go to heaven and wake up there as a child of God?
3 Things We Often Forget about the Christmas Story
Three words that sum up what we’ve tended to miss about the Christmas story are sacrifice, honesty, and glory.
Andreas J. Köstenberger, Alexander E. Stewart
Christians know that Christmas is all about Jesus (or at least it once was all about Jesus), and we want it to be all about Jesus again.
Signs You Are on the Pathway from Stressed to Depressed
God has a purpose for even our most difficult seasons. He offers hope and eternal perspective in the midst of them.
Why You'll Never Grieve Well without Hope
To grieve well is to have a growing sense of confidence and rest that God's promises of resurrection, centered in the resurrected Jesus, are really true.
Jonathan Edwards gives us longings for God and for holiness that are more satisfying than even our best joys currently are.
How Not to Share the Gospel at Christmas
Christmas is a wonderful opportunity to share the hope of Christ with people in your life—both in word and deed.
G.K. Chesterton said that "life is as bright as diamond and as brittle as a window pane." Our lives and health are beautiful but fragile, and we need to cherish them.
Why We Don't Have to Hide Our Pain from God
Like a child going to a parent, we don't have to clean up our spiritual act to pour out our hearts to God.
What to Do When People Don't Sympathize with Your Suffering
In the midst of your heaviest grief, those around you will likely return to life as normal long before you can. Be realistic about people and their ability to enter into your suffering, to stay, and to remember.
Finding God in My Loneliness This Christmas
In other words, loneliness is an indicator that something is missing, and that something is found only in Jesus Christ.
Face It: You're Going to Die . . . and Then Rise
The church bears witness to a watching world. What does it mean to die well, and place our hope in the resurrection?
10 Things You Should Know about Jonathan Edwards
In both the academic and pastoral realm, Edwards’s God-centered worldview is recognized as biblical in nature, shaping hearts and minds toward the pursuit of God’s glory in all things.
Why the Gospel Requires Undivided Attention
The gospel of Jesus Christ, the message of the book of Hebrews, calls upon the world to give earnest heed to what it has to say.
How Psalm 73 Speaks to the Christian Experience
A goal for all of us is to be able to say Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth I desire besides you.
It is within a man’s private life, in those “unseen hours,” where his character is most laid bare.
How Much Control Do You Have Over Your Health?
There's much that we can do to have influence over our health, but in reality, we have no control at all.
4 Truths About Christian Giving
How are we to think about and manage our money? How can we use it for ministry?
Beware the Idol of Busyness at Christmas
We must be careful to guard the true meaning of Christmas, keeping it from becoming about busyness and bondage to creation.
How to Eat with Gratitude This Thanksgiving
The created world finds its meaning when people, created in God’s image, use it with a mind that knows God and a heart that believes in and thanks God.
Food played an important role in the life of Jesus and continues to be an ingredient in our enjoyment of God's goodness.
The Connection between Thankfulness and Joy
Joy is fostered in us as we come together as God’s people, with God at the center.
10 Things You Should Know about Adoption
Adoption reflects the gospel to a watching world. Learn more about the process and purpose of adoption.
How to Center Your Family on Christ During the Holidays
How can you always point your children and family to the spiritual significance of this time of year?
4 Ways to Strengthen Your Marriage This Christmas Season
Be intentional to focus on the gospel this Christmas. Here are some suggestions for how to do this in your marriage this year.
A New Advent Devotional by Paul David Tripp
We all love the sights, sounds, colors, and tastes of the season, but are we loving Christmas for all the wrong reasons?
This 7-day Bible reading plan was designed to help you find the peace that God offers to us in his Word.
Use this prayer as a guide as you lead your family at the table or as spend time in personal prayer this Thanksgiving.
Help! I Have a Problem with My Pastor
Don't let your pastor be the only thing that connects you to your church.
Caregiving Is a Stewardship of Grace
It is easy to focus on physical needs in desperate times, but by God’s grace, remember there are spiritual issues, too.
10 Things You Should Know about Martin Luther
Here are ten things you should know about Martin Luther, the great leader of the Protestant Reformation.
How Rumination Falls Short of Meditation
Carolyn Mahaney, Nicole Mahaney Whitacre
When we fix our attention on God’s standard we will begin to feel peace and hope.
Why the Christian Faith Is Fundamentally . . . Uncomfortable
The very nature of Christian faith is uncomfortable—especially in today's world.
Did Jesus Possess Faith and Hope?
Christ had to have trust in his Father, hope in his Father’s promises, and love for his Father.
Putting Emotions in Their Place
Carolyn Mahaney, Nicole Mahaney Whitacre
Though our faculties were corrupted by sin, all are being restored, and Christ makes peace between our minds, wills, and emotions.
An Open Letter to Those Suffering from Depression
Although you feel hopeless and helpless, I want to assure you that there is hope and there is help.
Why Your Emotions Are a Good Thing
Carolyn Mahaney, Nicole Mahaney Whitacre
God didn’t redeem us, body and soul, only for us to leave emotions out of the Christian life.
8 Short Questions about Faith, Hope, and Love
The whole Christian life, in terms of our living in response to God and his new work in us, springs from faith, hope, and love. Everything we do as Christians relates to these three virtues.
What’s So Important about Faith, Hope, and Love?
Faith, hope, and love have been referred to as the three divine sisters. We can think of them as three beautiful sisters joined together, hand-in-hand, swirling around as in a dance.
5 Tips for Managing Your Emotions
Carolyn Mahaney, Nicole Mahaney Whitacre
How do we handle our feelings? How do we fix them when they are broken? How do we keep our emotions from taking control of our lives?
Suffering: A 7-Day Reading Plan
This 7-day Bible reading plan was created to help you draw encouragement from God's Word in the midst of suffering—leading to hope in the gospel through the power of the Spirit.
Can We Have Jesus without the Church?
Being in fellowship with a church is integral to participating as a part of the body of Christ.
Be Inspired by the Lives of Key Reformation Figures
Be inspired by the lives and ministries of 5 key historical figures whom God used to bring reformation to the church.
An Open Letter to the Weary Pastor
The gospel gives hope and encouragement to weary pastors—hope and encouragement that cannot be found anywhere else.
Why Listening to a Podcast Is Not a Substitute for Going to Church
Going to a church has many benefits. If you are physically able to attend a church, you should make it a priority.
3 Reasons to Make Systematic Theology Part of Your Bible Study
What systematic theology offers is a way of surveying the essential content of the entire Bible.
7 Good Reasons to Leave a Church
Illegitimate reasons for leaving a church abound, but there are circumstances when it is right to make the painful decision to leave.
What Does God Think of My Pain?
While Christians are never promised immunity from suffering, they are promised a purpose in the midst of it.
Why You Should Make Time to Read the Bible . . . Even When You’re Busy
We make time for many things. But none is so important as the life-giving Word of God.
5 Benefits to Reading Entire Books of the Bible in One Sitting
Read whole letters written by the apostle Paul in one sitting without distraction.
What Is the Ultimate Goal of Sexual Renewal?
Depending on the particular struggle we face, the Lord knows how to renew us sexually in exactly the ways we most need.
An Open Letter to Those Nonchalant about Their Sexual Sin
Are you living in sexual sin and darkness? Find motivation and hope for lasting change.
An Open Letter to Those Debilitated by Their Sexual Sin
If you feel debilitated by a past of sexual sin or by the ongoing presence of temptation, hear these words of comfort and encouragement.
Sanctification is a process that lasts a lifetime—it follows no formula or schedule. God's grace sustains us to grow as we simply point in the right direction.
7 Back-to-School Prayers for Students
Students: as you head back to school, don't forget to prepare and recalibrate your hearts for the days ahead through intentional prayer.
Is Sexual Renewal a Simple or Complex Process?
The journey to sexual renewal is a complex but worthwhile battle.
Why Restoration from Victimization Is Possible
God's Word is neither shy about topics of sexual victimization nor simplistic when it comes to solutions. Restoration is possible!
How to Engage Emotionally with the Bible
Emotions are not a bad thing, but they must arise from accurate thoughts about the truths of Scripture.
A Category You Won't Find in the Bible: The Churchless Christian
The New Testament apostles can't conceive of anything called a Christian that's not connected to Christ's body.
Christian, What Are You Watching?
For most Americans, media is the omnipresent backdrop of life. We generally give no more thought to it than we do to the air we breathe. But give thought to it we must.
An Open Letter to Those Caring for a Loved One with Dementia
Taking responsibility for the care of a person suffering from any stage of dementia can be one of the greatest challenges of life. But there are not only challenges. There are also opportunities.
Why You Should Stop Pretending You'll Live Forever
Living in light of our death reorients us to our limitations as creatures and helps us see God’s good gifts right in front of us—enabling us to live wisely, freely, and generously.
Did You Know that the Bible Commands Us to Eat, Drink, and Be Merry?
God made the world good. And no amount of being a Christian ever changes the fact that God put you in a physical world with hands and food and drink and culture and relationships and beauty.
As a stay-at-home mom, it can be really hard to think about balance in the work of the home because we don’t have a boss.
The Best Reason to Read the Bible
A lot of people think that the reason they are to study the Bible is so that they can know the Bible well. But when we study the Bible, we always should be coming to an increasing knowledge of God not just the Bible.
3 Signs You're Idolizing Your Home
It can be hard to discern whether or not we're idolizing our work in the home. Unfortunately, the reality is that we often do. But there are a few questions we can ask ourselves that may help.
10 Things You Should Know about Dementia
A medical doctor shares 10 things you should know about dementia, offering advice and encouragement for everyone affected.
No More Going through the Motions
There are plenty of men who know their names and their occupations and yet don’t really know who they are at the core of their being. Therefore, they have no real sense of purpose in life.
Why Do I Struggle to Read the Bible Consistently?
Sometimes we think of Bible reading as a duty, rather than a grand invitation to encounter the living God by opening the pages of Scripture, reading it, seeing him, and understanding more of who he is and how we should follow him.
Jesus says to tell all nations the good news, but we haven’t. Jesus calls people to be fishers of men, but we prefer to watch. Peter says to always be ready to give a reason for the hope that we have, but we are not.
No More Hiding behind the Past
The Bible has a lot to teach us when it comes to thinking about our pasts. Whatever your situation may be, it is no surprise to God. Our challenge is to not allow the past to control our walk with God in the present.
How Can I Teach My Kids to Help at Home?
We want to raise our children to see themselves as contributors to society, and whether they work inside the home or work outside the home, we want them to see that work is not about pay, it's about contribution.
Love the Neighbors Living in Your Own Home
Our neighbors are the people who are in closest proximity to us. They're not always in the house next to us or the homeless shelter across town. Often, they're sleeping in the next room over.
Learning to Accept Help from Others (Especially Your Husband)
Accepting help means you're acknowledging that you are not God. God doesn't need help from anyone, but you, as a human being, need a whole lot of help to get things done.
What to Do When Singleness Lasts Longer than You Expected
We tend to define our life based on our perception of our progress. Am I where I thought I would be at this age? Are my dreams more or less real today? Unfortunately, our plans and dreams can become idols.
Why the Book of Psalms Is for You
The Psalms were written for ordinary Christians leading ordinary lives—lives marked by depression, discouragement, despair, frustration, or maybe even numbness toward God or anger toward others.
5 Tips for Maximizing Your Singleness
A season of singleness is not the minor leagues of marriage. It has the potential to be a unique period of undivided devotion to Christ and undistracted ministry to others.
Create a Plan to Date Your Wife
There is no one right way to do this. Every marriage is different. Every wife is different. You need to create an annual plan that’s unique to the dream God has given you for your marriage and your wife.
We live with a God who has many, many, many ways of meeting us, and it's good to become aware of them all.
The Problem of Nice and the Promise of New
When it comes to how we think about conversion, it’s crucial to get both our doctrine and our practices right. Churches should believe that God makes people radically new, not just nice, through conversion.
10 Things You Should Know about Dating
Instead of making marriage your mission, make it God’s global cause and the advance of the gospel where you are, and look for someone pursuing the same.
10 Things You Should Know about Being Single
God made you and me for far more than marriage. If we miss this, we risk wasting our lives running in wrong directions, pursuing pitiful dreams, and serving tiny gods.
10 Things You Should Know about Reading the Bible
The Bible is a story, not simply a collection of religious sayings or an anthology of various people’s religious experiences. The Bible tells us the true story of the world, the way things truly are and should be.
Men, Are You Showing Signs of Burnout?
Recent statistics have shown that 77% of Americans have symptoms—physical symptoms—associated with stress. Then there are emotional symptoms . . .
4 Questions You Should Ask When Reading the Bible
What we get out of the Bible largely depends on the kinds of questions we ask when reading the text. But how do we know what are the right questions to ask?
What Is Burnout and Why Is It So Dangerous?
Burnout is physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual exhaustion and breakdown. It is usually caused by living at too fast a pace, for too long, doing too much.
Why You Shouldn’t Read Isaiah Like You Read Romans
All believers should seek to learn how to read and understand the biblical prophets on their own. They are a different kind of literature from Romans, as much so as comics differ from the front page of a newspaper.
An Open Letter to Those Apathetic about Their Sanctification
A professional counselor speaks to Christian who are unmotivated to continually seek God and serve others.
An Open Letter to Those Frustrated by Their Progress in Sanctification
A professional counselor encourages believers who are experiencing doubt that God is still with them and working in their lives.
4 Cultural Factors That Contribute to Our Epidemic of Burnout
Diligence and discernment are necessary to combat these 4 cultural factors that contribute to burnout.
A Simple Way to Think about Sanctification
Walking with and becoming like our Savior are two important dimensions of sanctification.
The Professionalization of the Home
With the work of the home being increasingly outsourced and professionalized, it can feel unglamorous. But the home isn't about compensation or perfection—it's about people.
You should never stop pursuing your wife. Here are twenty ideas to help your marriage flourish.
How God Saved David Powlison from Destroying Himself
Counselor David Powlison shares his testimony of how God softened his heart and brought him to repentance and faith.
Why Stay-at-Home Moms Don't Need to Be Embarrassed
God values all work that's done in his name and in service of others, so you don't need to be embarrassed about your at-home work.
Advice for Singles Who Feel Lonely
Place your relationship status in God's hands and find freedom from worry and loneliness.
Face Your Doubt . . . and Then Fight It
Don't succumb to guilt if you are doubting; instead, combat your doubt with specific truth.
Help—I Want to Be a Stay-at-Home Mom but Can't
Whether stay-at-home mom or career woman, where God has you now is his good design for you.
The value of our work doesn't depend on what compensation we receive or don't receive, but on the love we offer in service to our neighbor.
Godly growth and change happens through 5 influences and circumstances: God, Scripture, wise people, suffering, and you.
A Friend Who Will Never Fail You
We can be assured of Christ's love for us because he gave his life to save us. He is a trustworthy friend.
The Vicious Cycle of Idolatry and Loneliness
Escape from difficult circumstances can easily turn into idolatry and unhealthy coping mechanisms. But God always provides a way out.
How Stress Undermines Our Relationships
Burnout takes a toll on men's personal relationships and support system, leaving them vulnerable to sin.
How Work in the Home Reflects God
As Christians serve and care for those around them, they are acting as God's hands and feet in the world.
Don't Go through Life Overcome with Guilt
The Psalms give us language to pray to God when we are guilty and seeking forgiveness.
Is There a Silver Bullet of Sanctification?
Sanctification isn't a one-size-fits-all process—God guides different people in different ways.
Is Any Love Greater Than a Mother's Love?
Not even the love of a mother for her children can compare to the love of God.
What to Do with Mom Guilt on Mother's Day
If you struggle with guilt over your parenting, consider that God does not require perfection from you.
3 Things to Remember When You're Feeling Anxious
Anxiety is an understandable part of life. God reassures us that we need not worry and can bring our fears to him in prayer.
Why Pursuing Sanctification Is More Than Just Remembering Justification
There are many truths in Scripture that speak to the process of sanctification.
When Did You Realize You Were an Imperfect Pastor?
Recognition of pastoral imperfections and flaws comes with experience and reflection on past ministry.
Spiritual Blessing: More than Just a Nice Feeling
God's blessings are more than just polite sayings or false promises—we have assurance of these blessings from the the Holy Spirit.
Am I Sinning When I'm Not Content?
God is in control of every part of life—from the mundane to the significant. Discontentment is questioning the wisdom and sovereignty of his plans.
Counsel for Those Experiencing Loneliness Not by Choice
Jesus is a available to everyone, even those who feel isolated, excluded, and rejected.
9 Passages to Read on National Day of Prayer
Nine verses to meditate on during National Day of Prayer.
Casting off the old self and walking in love is only possible through God's work in us as new creation.
How At-Home Work Is for Everyone
The work of the home and service of others involves the whole family.
The Discipline of Devotion Resources
Choruses and Scripture Songs Praise Psalms Especially Appropriate for Personal Worship Hymns for Personal Adoration and Praise
The Discipline of Purity Resources
Setting Captives Free X3 Watch Covenant Eyes
The Discipline of the Mind Resources
Online Bibles ESV.org YouVersion Bible Apps ESV: iOS | Android | Windows Olive Tree: iOS | Android | Windows YouVersion: iOS | Android | Windows | Blackberry Fighter Verses: iOS | Android Bible Memory Verses: …
The Discipline of the Tongue Resources
68 Select Proverbs Regarding the Use of the Tongue 1. Proverbs 10:11 The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. 2. Proverbs 10:18 The one …
Complaining about God vs. Complaining to God
There is a difference between complaining about God and complaining to God. He wants us to trust him with our anxieties and burdens.
Why You'll Never Be Content without God
Since God is able to be completely content in himself, we are able to find contentment in him as well. We will never find true contentment with God.
Infographic: How Is Your Phone Changing You?
We surveyed 7,000 people about their phone usage habits—learn more about their answers in this infographic.
The means of grace—the Bible, prayer, and fellowship—are regular channels by which we can experience God's grace.
Disciplines of a Godly Young Man Resources
Discipline Is Everything in the Christian Life Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. (Hebrews 12:1) Will we enter the gymnasium of divine discipline? Will we strip away the things …
Are You Experiencing FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)?
Because of Christ's assurance of salvation to all believers, we don't need to fear missing out on eternity.
What Does Gospel Fluency Look Like in Action?
Listen and pay attention—the Lord will give you the right words to bring the gospel to a non-Believer in a way that meets their needs and fulfills their longings.
How Can We Know We'll Go to Heaven?
Hell is our default destination, but because Jesus Christ took our sin upon himself on the cross, we can have assurance that we will go to heaven.
A Sneak Peek at 'The New City Catechism' with Tim Keller
Tim Keller explains the value of catechesis and shares a sneak peek at ‘The New City Catechism.’
10 Things You Should Know about Catechesis
What is catechesis? Here are 10 facts you should know.
3 Reasons We're Addicted to Digital Distraction
Author Tony Reinke explains how we use digital distractions to escape people, situations, and thoughts that make us uncomfortable.
How the Resurrection Changes Everything
Jesus death an resurrection changed everything, and it has the power to change us.
7 Passages to Read on Good Friday
Meditate on Good Friday by reading these 7 powerful Bible passages.
Christ's resurrection is more than just a historical event—it is good news about eternal life!
Listening is one of the most important aspects of evangelism. Speak Jesus into the needs of everyone you share the gospel with.
10 Things You Should Know about Your Smartphone
How much do you really think about your smartphone? Here are 10 things you should know.
Why Believing That God Is Sovereign Makes All the Difference
God's sovereignty applies to our everyday lives because it assures us that he working in every circumstance.
Why Devotional Bible Reading Is Good Bible Reading
The purpose of reading the Bible devotionally is to commune with God and grow closer to him.
The Key to Happiness Is More Stuff . . . Right?
Our contentment is unshakeable when it is rooted in our unchanging God.
How to Stay in Ministry Over the Long Haul
It's important for those in ministry to establish checks and balances in their lives to prevent burnout.
Why You Don't Need to Live Confused, Accused, and Defeated
The truth of the gospel frees us from the power of guilt and condemnation.
3 Ways Teens Can Stay Rooted in God's Word
It's hard for teens to stay in the Word, but it's easier if they make a plan, set aside a specific time, and read with someone else.
Why It Matters That Jesus Is Better Than Everything
Introducing people to Jesus involves showing them how Jesus meets their needs better than anything else.
Why the Church Needs Teens and Teens Need the Church
Because they are a part of the body of Christ, teens should be included in the active community of the church.
Is Your Check Engine Light On?
Are you experiencing any warning signs of burnout? This articles tells you what signs to look for.
10 Things You Should Know about Teenagers
Do teenagers confuse you? This article shares 10 things you should know about them.
4 Pieces of Advice for Stressed Out Christians
Take the necessary steps to communicate about and treat your burnout. These 4 steps will help you begin to heal.
Parents, Disciple Your Teens (While There's Still Time)
Teens need discipleship, and parents are some of the best disciplers.
There are three important factors that will help pastors combat burnout: hardness, honesty, and humility.
A Plea for Holistic Christianity
The best way to prevent burnout is to strive for holistic Christianity: spiritual, mental, relational, and physical health.
Learning to Live a Grace-Paced Life: An Interview with David Murray
Justin Taylor sits down with David Murray to discuss his new book.
Why You Should Go to Bed Early Tonight
Sleep is a gift from God. It’s one of his most wonderful gifts to us—when we receive it as he intended us to receive it.
Beware These 4 Common Threats to Your Contentment
Culture is like a big magnet, it’s pulling on us and around us.
J. I. Packer on One of the Most Urgent Needs in the Church Today
Catechesis—from a Greek word meaning "instruction by mouth"— is a historic teaching method of giving Christians the language with which to articulate the basic tenets of faith.
How the Gospel Transforms the Teen Years
To live a life transformed by the gospel means that everything in life changes.
How the Bible's Message Impacts Daily Life
Knowing the whole message of the Bible should be transformative.
What Tom Brady Can Teach Us about Contentment
He made it to the top and thought “There’s got to be more than this.”
Maybe in every story is a thread that the human heart that can’t give up the belief that one day, true love will come along.
We are often tempted to find contentment in our circumstances: If things were only going better, then I would be happy.
How Jesus Viewed and Valued Women
Jesus’s regard for women was much different from that of his contemporaries.
The Difference between Gospel-ish and Gospel Fluency
To become truly gospel fluent is to be able to listen to somebody well enough to hear the real longing or hurts that they're dealing with.
If We Were Created for God's Glory, Is God Merely Using Us?
Life is wasted when we do not live for the glory of God. All of life, all for his glory.
What Happens after Death (and before Resurrection)
The Bible assures us that we already have eternal life here on earth and that cannot be interrupted.
How the Gospel Is Like a New Language
In many ways the gospel is like a new language—it takes time.
A person is gospel fluent when the gospel becomes their "mother tongue."
10 Disciplines of a Godly Pastor
As we sweat out the disciplines of a godly pastor, remember, with Paul, what energizes us to live them out.
How Community Helps When Battling Loneliness
Church relationships, fellowship with other believers, and being involved in a local church are crucial.
Clothed in Christ and Unashamed
Body shame is the feeling that your body with its imperfections is something of which to be ashamed—something you wish you could hide or change.
Single or married, young or old, man or woman—everyone experiences loneliness at various times and to varying degrees.
3 Doctrines We Can't Afford to Neglect
If you talk about a doctrine that needs to be recovered, you have to start with the doctrine of Scripture.
Why You Should Seek God When You Feel Lonely
When we fellowship with the Lord, we will find a new security, a new peace, and a new confidence in the Lord and in just getting through life.
3 Practical Ways to Cultivate Gospel Fluency
It's important to speak the gospel in a community who can speak it back or reflect on what they're hearing.
Why We Need to Be More Than Nice
God's not calling you to be a nice person only—he's calling you to be a Gospel-proclaiming person.
A New Generation of African-American Christians
The church needs the light of the truth that is the glorious and biblical doctrines recovered during the Reformation.
How to Overcome Fear in Sharing the Gospel
God is the one who does the work of saving people, not us.
It is our achievements that make us; our lack of achievement leaves us wondering who we really are.
Carolyn Mahaney, Nicole Mahaney Whitacre
We don’t have to accept our culture’s ever-changing and ever-more-tyrannical definition of beauty.
3 Things We Must Believe about God’s Word
In Psalm 119 we see at least three essential, irreducible characteristics we should believe about God’s word.
Afraid of the Dark? Come into the Light
For a variety of reasons, whether single or married, nighttime for many is a daily chore to simply get through.
Is There Any Purpose in Our Loneliness?
We were originally created by God, alone. The reason God created in this way is so that we will find our all in him.
How to Be Fluent in the Gospel
We live in a day and age where people are asking questions, but often we don’t have the answers.
Lydia Brownback Discusses the Largely Undiscussed Topic of Loneliness
In this video, Justin Taylor sits down with Lydia Brownback to discuss her new book, Finding God in My Loneliness.
Why All Christians Can (and Should) Share the Gospel
Opportunities abound for sharing our faith. Things are happening all around us that cause people to ask religious questions.
7 Tips for Sharing the Gospel with Teens
Before teens can actually explain the gospel, they must first know it themselves. Then they must know how to articulate it.
Why We Should Not Fear Satan and Demons
John MacArthur, Richard Mayhue
How can one know which concepts about Satan and demons are biblically accurate and which are not?
Though God’s loving disposition toward us was settled at the cross, our feelings and circumstances often shake our confidence in who God is for us.
What God Starts, He Always Finishes
As New Testament passages abundantly emphasize, God is faithful to sustain and establish us in our relationship with Jesus.
Compromise on Marriage, Lose the Gospel
Who Created Marriage? We must not compromise on same-sex marriage. If we had invented marriage, we could reinvent it—there would be no problem with that. We could make it whatever we wanted it to be. …
How Scripture Empowers Personal Holiness
God wants Christians to share his holiness and to present themselves as slaves of righteousness, which will result in holiness.
Why Jam-Packed Schedules Can Be Dangerous
It’s safe to say that on a typical day for most of us, our responsibilities, requirements, and ambitions add up to more than we can handle, whether we admit this or not.
We all need help and we are all helpers—that’s part of being human.
Vocation: My Choosing or God's Calling?
One aspect of the doctrine of vocation flies in the face of every self-help book and occupational seminar, every conversation about “your plans,” and every agonizing bout of decision-making.
Connecting Worship on Sunday to Work on Monday
Many of us are misguided when it comes to how my work connects to the Christian faith.
How to Love God and Your Neighbor through Your Work
Four New Testament passages provide a cross section of the New Testament’s teaching on how to love God through our work.
How to Flourish in a Fallen World
When the man and woman sinned against God, they were expelled from his presence, driven out of Eden.
Work in the New Heavens and New Earth
This side of the sin at the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, our work is ruined by all manner of afflictions moral, physical, emotional, and mental.
How Are Your New Year's Resolutions Going?
How are your New Year's resolutions going? Still going strong? Or is your resolve beginning to waver? Have some of those fine ideals already fallen by the wayside?
8 Tips for Engaging with Your Bible Artistically
God invites us to meditate on his Word (Ps. 1:2). Art journaling is one of many ways to study and reflect on Scripture.
8 Tips for Taking Good Sermon Notes
Consider using these eight tips, and use a notebook or the margins of your ESV Journaling Bible to record thoughts and sermon notes.
Recommit to Bible Reading in 2017
Adopting habits and regimens may appear to provide some stability in out-of-control situations, but without Christ, our feet falter on shifting sand.
8 Tips For Engaging with Your Bible Devotionally
Reading the Bible devotionally is about engaging with the text at the heart level.
8 Tips for Studying God's Word
Learn some practical tips for engaging with and getting the most out of your time in God's living, active Word.
Sexual ethics, and a high standard of sexual integrity, are so vital. It is vital because it isn't just a petty taboo.
The Christian life, the church, our faith are not about us, they’re about him—his plan, his kingdom, his glory.
5 Resources to Help You Start the New Year Off Right
The beginning of a new year is a great chance to find fresh reading material to both challenge and encourage you in your walk with Christ.
10 Questions to Ask at the Start of a New Year
Even those most faithful to God occasionally need to pause and think about the direction of their lives.
Give Up on Your Own Self-Righteousness
There is a difference between a person in whom disappointment leads to self-reformation and someone in whom grief leads to heartfelt confession. We often confuse the two.
Experiencing Gospel Transformation in 2017
Paul teaches that the very resurrection life of Christ dwells in those who have been united to this risen Lord.
Why You Should Read John Owen Next Year
What Owen offers is not quick relief, but long-term, deep growth in grace that can make strong, healthy trees where there was once a fragile sapling.
5 Questions That Steal or Seal Your Hope
It is quite clear that your view of God will inescapably shape your perspective on your circumstances. In this way your theology is like a lens through which you examine life.
Grace: The Dominant Note of Christmas
God the Son, who is God, and who is with God, came to reveal God in a way he had never been revealed before.
While many know D. A. Carson for his mind and his impressive scholarly writings, fewer have an intimate acquaintance with the heart that produces those works.
10 Things You Should Know about the Incarnation
The Son, who is in eternal relation to the Father and Spirit, willingly humbled himself and chose to assume a human nature in obedience to his Father and for our salvation (Phil. 2:6-8).
10 Things You Should Know about Christmas
The primary purpose for observing Christmas is remembering Jesus’s birth.
This poignant account of a man’s ruin and restoration dramatically reveals a gospel story of God’s mercy toward those who have stood against him.
2 Responses to the World's Brokenness
If you mourn the fallenness of your world rather than curse its difficulties, you know that grace has visited you
Life is a war for glory. Even those of us who have rested in Jesus to bring an end to our battle for glory still fight skirmishes in which we feel our reputations are at risk.
Out of chaos, Christ came. In spite of, and out of, the pandemonium, Christ came.
We live in a world that has trivialized God, having reduced him to human proportions.
A Momentary Affliction in Light of Eternity
All Christians, especially those who are suffering, should be daydreaming about eternity on a regular basis.
Building a Culture of Spiritually Intentional Relationships
Most Active Does Not Equal Most Fruitful Could it be that the most active members of your congregation are the least fruitful? Consider for a moment: in God’s sight, not all activity carries equal value. …
Christmas is about the coming of Christ into the world.
Finding Rest in a Restless World
It’s easy to settle for a subhuman life. Despite all our efforts, achievements, and success, many of us discover each night that our hearts don’t rest.
How Advent Teaches Us to Wait Well
The hardest thing about waiting is not knowing when it’s going to end, if it is going to end.
There is no doubt about it—the Bible is a big-picture book that calls us to big-picture living.
Thankfulness doesn’t come naturally, yet it is an important part of life.
Are you content with what you have—with your calling in life, your marital status, your income bracket, your home?
Preface to the Theologians on the Christian Life Series
Series Preface Some might call us spoiled. We live in an era of significant and substantial resources for Christians on living the Christian life. We have ready access to books, DVD series, online material, seminars—all …
Giving Thanks Is Better Together
Thanksgiving is not simply a thank-you card, sealed in an envelope and intended only for the eyes of the divine addressee. Thanksgiving is an open, public declaration.
Paul Tripp's Daily Thanksgiving Devotional
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12
How to Pray in Times of Trouble
When we cannot articulate our prayer requests to God, the Holy Spirit understands our groanings and translates them into intelligible prayers that God the Father can understand and will answer.
How Gospel-Identity Enables Gospel-Behavior
The gospel changes not only the way God deals with us, but the way we deal with each other.
Creative Ways to Use Tracts This Christmas
Short gospel tracts are a great way to succinctly present the true story of Christmas to a world longing for deep and enduring peace.
Why We Desperately Need the Body of Christ
Why do I need the daily intervention of the body of Christ? The answer is as simple as it is humbling.
Family Worship 101 with Don Whitney
Crossway is pleased to announce the launch of Family Worship 101 with Don Whitney, a free, 5-day email course .
Why Your Physical Body Matters
For the Christian, his or her body has been made a sacred location of God’s redemptive presence in the world.
Identity and Imitation: Getting First Things First
Why is grace so important to the chemistry of the heart from which godly lives emerge?
Talking about Heaven with a Grieving Person
What do you do when that’s the way everyone is talking about someone who has died, but you’re not sure that you ever saw any genuine relationship with Christ?
How to Be Most Safe and Most Strong
The gospel works in all of Scripture to teaches us that our primary goal is to enable God’s people to love him more.
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
We don’t need more information. We need God’s revelation.
Practical Suggestions for Cultivating Communion with God
We were made by God to find our greatest joy in fellowship and communion with God.
Why I Wrote a Book about Helping the Hurting
While my physical pain and emotional stress is difficult, it doesn't just affect me—it affects all of the people around me.
As the election season nears its end, we are left wondering how to process it all, and what the Bible has to say in times like these.
When you see the message of grace unfolding in the Bible a pattern emerges. God is gracious to us, and then expects us to respond.
What Can I Give to a Grieving Person?
What can we give as a gift to someone who is going through grief—something that we can do for them that would be really helpful?
Zack Eswine explains how Ezekiel 18 provides a summary of the gospel in the Old Testament.
A Surprisingly Unhelpful Promise for a Hurting Friend
For many of us, asking for help goes against every fiber of our being.
What Is Hurtful about Playing the Comparison Game?
Unless you are Jesus, it almost never helps to tell someone that you know exactly what they’re going through.
What Not to Say to a Grieving Person
Here are three things that grieving people wish no one would ever say to them again.
How to Hope in God When Life Gets Hard
Simply knowing the end of the story gives us hope in our present circumstances.
Can We Ever Emphasize Grace Too Much?
t’s not gracious to reveal to God’s people the safe path that the law is without it also being a reflection of God’s character and care.
Reconciling the Reality of Hell and the Grace of God
We can’t scare people into heaven. Our union with Christ is not simply a self-serving choice to walk streets of gold rather than be cast into a lake of fire.
How to Respond to Hurtful Comments When You're Grieving
So you’re grieving and someone has said something to you that, instead of being helpful like they’d hoped it would be and like you would have wanted it to be, was actually hurtful. What are you going to do with that?
Advice for Those Helping the Hurting
The biggest piece of advice I have for caregivers is that it’s okay to grieve your loss in someone else’s pain.
How We Can Best Pray for Our Hurting Friends
Rather than just telling people you're praying for them, pray aloud for them in their presence.
For every generation, how we live and what goals we pursue depends a great deal on why we think we are here and where we think we are going.
Men, we will never get anywhere in life without discipline, and doubly so in spiritual matters.
Should I "Like" a Social Media Post about Grief?
By liking a post about grief, you are letting the writer that they are not alone.
10 Disciplines of a Godly Woman
Discipline seems like a hard word, but discipline is your lifeline, something that you learn to embrace and thank God for as you grow in him.
Justification is not just a doctrinal or church doctrine. It is a deeply personal doctrine.
Health and salvation, for three good reasons, have much in common.
What to Say to a Grieving Person
Sometimes it can be hard to know what to say to someone who is grieving. Yet there are helpful words we can give to people who are suffering—words that will actually help and encourage in the midst of grief.
7 Practical Things You Can Do for People Who Are Grieving
There are simple ways that we can demonstrate a deep sensitivity to the pain of grieving people.
Body Image, Health Care, and the Incarnation
When God chose to come to the world embodied in Jesus Christ, he accepted life with all of its limitations.
How the Love of God Helps Us Walk in Holiness
The testimony of Scripture is clear: if we want to walk in the way of holiness, the love of God is indispensable to our progress.
10 Things You Should Know about Grieving People
People who are grieving don’t expect that you are going to say something that will make everything okay.
How Does God's Love in Christ Relate to Islam?
How do we bear faithful witness to the love of God in Christ to our Muslim friends?
Nancy Guthrie's Story of Hope in the Midst of Grief
When Nancy Guthrie's daughter, Hope, was born, she quickly learned that something was wrong. Doctors informed her and her husband, David, that all of the little things that weren't quite right with Hope were evidence …
Why You’ll Never Be Ready for All of Life’s Troubles
God may give me way more than I can handle—and I think that’s normal.
What Is the Best Question to Ask a Hurting Friend?
There are lots of good questions to ask someone who is hurting, but I think one of the best questions is this: "How are you doing today?"
Learning to Endure Life's Troubles Like Jesus
Whatever trouble you are facing, there is somebody that you can relate to in the Bible.
Nancy Guthrie's Story of Hope in the Midst of Grief
When Nancy Guthrie's daughter, Hope, was born, she quickly learned that something was wrong. Doctors informed her and her husband, David, that all of the little things that weren't quite right with Hope were evidence …
Nancy Guthrie's Story of Hope in the Midst of Grief
When Nancy Guthrie's daughter, Hope, was born, she quickly learned that something was wrong. Doctors informed her and her husband, David, that all of the little things that weren't quite right with Hope were evidence …
Nancy Guthrie's Story of Hope in the Midst of Grief
When Nancy Guthrie's daughter, Hope, was born, she quickly learned that something was wrong. Doctors informed her and her husband, David, that all of the little things that weren't quite right with Hope were evidence …
Chasing Certainty in an Uncertain World
If we experience repeated successes after we fall, success becomes routine.
Why All Christians Should Expect Trouble
The longer you live in this fallen world, the more kinds of trouble you face.
10 Things You Should Know about Persecution
After telling his followers about his forthcoming death and resurrection, Jesus told them that they were to follow him by taking up their cross.
Hurtful Ways to “Help” the Hurting
No one wants another treatment, ointment, acupuncture reference or a diet that is 100% guaranteed to heal them.
Can I Serve God Better Unmarried?
The whole duty and calling of every human being who has ever lived is to love God with heart, mind, soul, and strength.
Practical Help for Times of Trouble
The things that have helped me in times of trouble are the ordinary things that God talks about in his Word.
What Difference Does God Make on Monday Mornings?
God does his sustaining work through the actions of human beings.
How to Comfort the Grieving: Click the “Like” Button
These days, people are more comfortable sharing grief online and are perhaps more comfortable receiving expressions of caring that way too.
The Cure to Our Frustration in Caring for the Hurting
Let's discuss the emotions we often feel when caring for the hurting.
What Grieving People Wish You Knew
Four things grieving people wish we knew about grief to help us confidently interact and helpfully take action.
What to Do When It Feels Like God Is against You
When you’re facing times of trouble and it feels like God is against you, there are two important things to do.
Dave Furman's Story: Finding Help in Suffering
In this video, Dave Furman, author of Being There: How to Love Those Who Are Hurting, shares his story of debilitating need, resilient care, and finding the help that only God can supply.
When Trouble Comes: Phil Ryken’s Personal Testimony
A year or two ago, Phil Ryken went through a season of deep spiritual discouragement; some would probably call it depression.
10 Ways Not to Help a Hurting Friend
There are ways to care for the hurting that look helpful on the surface, but in the end may only add to the pain.
How to Face the Death of Someone You Love
We’ve all experienced the desolation of being left in one way or another.
What Those Who Care for the Hurting Need Most
This book is not for one who is necessarily suffering physical trauma or depression. Instead, it is a book for everyone.
How to Love Those Who Care for the Hurting
We recently ook a survey of almost 15,000 people on the topic of caring for those who are suffering. Here's what we found.
How Reliable Is Your Conscience?
Martin Luther believed that maintaining a good conscience was worth going to prison for and even dying for.
10 Things You Should Know about Union with Christ
In the New Testament we find literally hundreds of references to the believer’s union with Christ.
The glorious good news of Jesus is that you and I can change. Part of the problem is we often try to change in the wrong way.
Loving God in Marriage or Singleness
I guess being married or not married, being in a relationship or not—is a really, really big deal.
When God's Timing Is Not Our Own
Often our schedule and God's seem out of sync. He often acts earlier than we had expected, or later than we had hoped.
6 Truths that Will Lead You to True Joy
God made us to magnify his greatness—the way telescopes magnify stars.
An Interview with Philip Ryken
Justin Taylor sits down with Philip Ryken to discuss his new book.
The Unexpected Outcome of Self-Sufficiency
Do you ascribe something to yourself that is only true about God?
10 Things You Should Know about the Bible’s Teaching on Men and Women
Andreas J. Köstenberger, Margaret Elizabeth Köstenberger
Maleness and femaleness are creational, not contractual. They are divinely instituted rather than socially defined.
The Christian Faith of Jane Austen
Learn more about how Jane Austen's faith went from sympathetic to genuine.
Take Up Your Cross: Live a Balanced Life
Living a balanced life does not mean doing everything in moderation; rather, it means being obedient in every area of life.
Why You Don’t Need to Be a Super Saint to Be a Spiritual Mother
Spiritual mothering may involve mentoring and coaching, but it is broader.
How Women Can Disciple Younger Women
How should you disciple younger women? Keep the gospel in mind.
A Brief Word to J. I. Packer on His 90th Birthday
As I reflect on who J. I. Packer is and what he has meant to me personally, several things come quickly to mind.
Why Work in the Home Matters to God
The first thing we need to understand regarding why stay at home work matters to God is that God created us for work.
How to Prioritize Family Prayer as a Leader
We must proactively pursue the priority of prayer in the home and somehow make the time for it.
What I Learned While Waiting for My Spouse
I spent many years of my life wanting to be married. Sometimes I didn't know if I’d ever get married.
5 Tips for Being a Faithful (and Not Just Busy) Mom
Only God is God, so only God gets his to-do list done at the end of the day.
What Jonathan Edwards's Daughter Can Teach Us about Friendship
Our culture is not one that provides great encouragement for the nurture and development of deep, long-lasting, satisfying friendships.
God’s Grand Plan for Motherhood
God has created and equipped women to nurture the life he creates—both biological and spiritual.
How to Keep Corporate Prayer Focused
We want to avoid the various negative experiences many of us have faced in corporate prayer.
When the eternal Son of God became flesh and dwelt among us, he crossed an infinite chasm.
How to Pray When You’re Feeling Shame
Here are three things to pray for when you’re feeling ashamed.
How to Comfort the Comfortless
Involvement in someone’s pain gives a dimension to a relationship that nothing else is able to do.
How a Busy Mom Can Stay Consistent in the Word
Here are some steps you can take to stay consistent in the Word.
What It Means To Be a Missional Mother
Our responsibilities may have shifted, but our role in the kingdom remains unchanged.
Do You Have What It Takes to Wait Well for a Lifetime?
You feel that you simply don’t have what it takes to wait well for a lifetime. You know what? You don’t.
Why Spontaneous Prayer and Planned Prayer Are Both Important
Praying about something right in the moment reminds us of our dependence, but planned prayer has its place, too.
How to Fight Chronological Snobbery
C. S. Lewis saw and wrote about a suffocating enslavement to the beautiful myth of progress.
How to Fight the Power of Shame
To fight the power of shame, you have to do what is most counterintuitive.
Why should we endeavor to obey Christ comprehensively? Why should we serve him in every area of life?
10 Things You Should Know about Shame
Talking about shame allows the light of the gospel to begin to free God's people from its dark grip.
10 Things You Should Know about Pastoral Counseling
If God has given you his Word and his Spirit dwells within you, there is much more you can do than you probably realize.
10 Things You Should Know about Apologetics
Apologetics is a means to an end: a means of helping people to live for Jesus.
Why I Wrote a Book about God's Incommunicable Attributes
Most of us have some familiarity with the attributes of God, but we probably haven't spent a lot of time contemplating those things.
Why Our Limits Are a Good Thing
Every boundary that he places in our lives—every limit that he gives us—is for our flourishing.
Tracts are meant to be informal or conversational—easily comprehended and relational in style.
5 Ways to Use Your ESV Journaling Bible
Here are a few suggestions for how to use an ESV Journaling Bible to enrich your study of God’s Word.
Motherhood Is for the Faint of Heart
You may have read on a greeting card somewhere that motherhood is not for the faint of heart. Don't believe it.
God wants me to learn how to wait so that I can wait well, even if my waiting continues for the rest of my life.
10 Things You Should Know about the Imagination
Matthew P. Ristuccia, Gene Edward Veith Jr.
We use our imaginations all the time, whether we are daydreaming, planning, remembering, or meditating.
Discontentment Says Something about You, Not Your Circumstances
Our own complaints are not caused by our outward circumstances; rather, they reveal the inward condition of our hearts.
Finding God's Grace While Waiting for a Prodigal
By God’s grace, waiting on a prodigal can actually strengthen your faith.
Why the Doctrine of the Trinity Is Crucial for the Christian Life
Matthew Barrett, Michael A. G. Haykin
The Trinity is a doctrine that is to be not only believed but also experienced by the believer.
Can we really be strong through our weaknesses?
Let's pray. How many times have you been privileged to say or hear those words?
12 Principles for Disagreeing with Other Christians
When it comes to resolving conflict: there are two groups: the weak in faith and the strong in faith.
10 Things You Should Know about Corporate Prayer
We tend to think of prayer as primarily a solitary and private activity, but the Bible tells a different story.
10 Things You Should Know about J. I. Packer
Over the course of his life, J. I. Packer became one of the most famous and influential evangelical leaders of his time.
Why You Shouldn't Ignore Your Conscience
Your conscience can function like a moral version of your nervous system.
Living an Others-Oriented Life
Being a disciple of Jesus means orienting our lives toward others, just as Jesus did.
It happens sooner or later in every relationship: someone will let you down.
If the fear of public speaking is the general population’s greatest fear, fear of praying publicly may be its Christian equivalent.
10 Things You Should Know about Francis Schaeffer
The conviction that the Bible held basic answers for basic question would characterize his life and work.
Is Complementarianism Oppressive to Women?
Exegetical support for why we believe Scripture teaches that headship includes primary leadership, which is the responsibility of the man.
10 Things You Should Know about Sexual Assault
If you were the victim of sexual assault, you were sinned against. Despite all the pain, healing can happen and there is hope.
An Interview with Donald Whitney
In this video, Justin Taylor sits down with Donald Whitney to discuss his new book, Family Worship.
How to Stay Holy When Under Pressure
Daniel and his three friends faced extreme pressure during their captivity in Babylon.
Since the Bible is the Word of the all-powerful God, we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that it is active and accomplishes much.
The Conversion and Execution of Tokichi Ishii
An example of the power of God’s word to awaken well-grounded faith, even if the believer does not know how to describe what has happened.
10 Things to Remember When Reading the Bible
At the heart of the Bible is the gospel, the good news that Christ has come and has lived and died and has risen from the dead, and now lives to intercede for us.
My view of the Bible was always a view through the Bible.
An Interview with Mitch Stokes
In this video, Justin Taylor sits down with Mitch Stokes to discuss his new book.
Will You Be a Lifelong Learner?
For Christians, the stakes are even higher for cultivating holy curiosity and the mindset of a lifelong learner.
4 Essentials for Finishing Well
As we think of the endurance of the saints, of enduring to the end and finishing well, there is no better example in Scripture than that of the apostle Paul.
An Interview with David Mathis
In this video, Justin Taylor sits down with David Mathis to discuss his new book.
What Modern Atheists Could Learn from David Hume
One of the most important things that modern atheists can learn from David Hume is the limitations of sense perception and reason.
My Breakthrough in Scripture Memory
Maybe the breakthrough could come with some simple change in perspective. What if Scripture memory really was about today?
Never Severed from God, Not Even for an Instant
Through Jesus, that is, by the death of Christ, a redeemed believer’s death is not a penalty but a falling asleep.
The Red Herring of Bible Application
A red herring is something that distracts, whether intentionally or not, from the real purpose and goal.
Cultivating Habits of Grace with David Mathis
For many of us, the "spiritual disciplines" are little more than a list of things we aren't doing but feel like we should be doing.
Cultivating Habits of Grace: Day 5
Day 5: Recap In this final video, David Mathis recaps our journey thus far, offering a few parting tips aimed at helping you cultivate sustainable, life-giving habits of grace that connect you to God's grace …
Cultivating Habits of Grace: Day 4
Day 4: Belong to God's Body In this video, David Mathis explains the third means of grace: belonging to God's body, the church. He looks at the word fellowship, explaining what it really means in …
Cultivating Habits of Grace: Day 3
Day 3: Have God's Ear In this video, David Mathis looks at the second means of grace: having God's ear in prayer. He then explains 3 different types of prayer and a helpful approach to …
Cultivating Habits of Grace: Day 2
Day 2: Hear God's Voice In this video, David Mathis explains the first means of grace: hearing God's voice. He then explores a few practical habits that we can cultivate aimed at helping us stay …
Cultivating Habits of Grace: Day 1
Day 1: It's All About Grace In this first video, David Mathis shares three important discoveries he made in his Christian life that undergird this study and are helpful to mention right at the very …
God designed you with the capacity to pause and ponder. He means for you not just to hear him, but to reflect on what he says.
3 Beautiful Words: “I Don’t Know”
Knowing that you don’t know is half the battle, and any good education will result in a humbling awareness of how little you know.
How to Commune with Christ on a Crazy Day
How should you think about, and engage in the “spiritual disciplines” when God’s good, but often inconvenient, sovereignty has you reeling?
3 Things to Remember about Your (Imperfect) Marriage
What are the essential wisdom perspectives that Scripture gives us that enable us to have realistic expectations for our marriage?
Why Christians Should Encourage Consistent Atheism
times when I actually encourage unbelievers to continue in their error, in fact to do so more.
How to Do Family Worship with Young Kids
Several specific situations commonly prompt questions about the feasibility of family worship.
Why Good Works Are Crucial for the Christian Life
What is required of us to live in this world as citizens worthy of all the wonders and relationships belonging to the next?
Why It's Wrong to Take God's Name in Vain
One of the remarkable things about God is that no one ever named him.
The Surprising Truth about Legalism
The root of legalism is almost as old as Eden, which explains why it is a primary, if not the ultimate, pastoral problem.
Why the Church Is Vitally Important for Every Christian
Mention the church to a group of Christians and you are likely to get a mixed response.
The temptation to forget God is always present. But there is a way to maintain one's devotion to the Lord.
5 Books to Help You Start the New Year Off Right
The temptation to forget God is always present. But there is a way to maintain one's devotion to the Lord.
The problem with all of our desires to change is that they’re not ambitious enough.
Jesus once said that it is very difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Why?
3 Reasons Jesus's Miracles Still Matter Today
The miracles of Jesus were relevant to the people back then. But what about now?
It is impossible that our Divine Lord could have had fellowship with us unless He had given to us from His own abounding wealth and had become poor so as to make us rich.
“He is altogether lovely. This is our beloved, and this is our friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.”
Andreas J. Köstenberger, Alexander E. Stewart
Jesus’s unusual supernatural conception, issuing in the virgin birth, served as a fulfillment of Scripture.
Are we swimming in the mental and emotional universe of what God has told us our future is?
Christmas Is for the Poor and Humble
Without a doubt we could spend our lives searching the literature of the world for a story as beautiful as that of the nativity and never find it.
Is it possible you look at personal holiness like I look at camping? It’s fine for other people.
If Grace Abounds, Why Not Sin?
Paul makes it clear in Romans 6, those who are truly in Christ will not want to keep on sinning.
3 Practical Ways to Love Your Neighbor
In 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 the apostle Paul gets very practical about what brotherly love should look like.
Praying for Fullness this Christmas
Paul prays that we would experience Christ’s fullness—not just know about it, but be filled with it.
How the Gospel Sets Us Free in Everyday Life
The message that the gospel has in terms of freedom for a man’s everyday life is really a counter-intuitive message.
Why It Matters that God Is Our Father
God is our Father at the level of creation and at the level of redemption.
We need to know that we are not in charge and we need to know how to submit to God as the one who is in charge.
Finding Your Identity in Christ
We need to know that we are not in charge and we need to know how to submit to God as the one who is in charge.
3 Ways the Gospel Encourages Weary Men
Freedom from the past, power for the present, and hope for the future.
There’s no guarantee that because we’re in a saving relationship with God through Christ that we’re going to be exempt from darkness.
Why Ordinary People Matter to God
One of the things that I love about the stories in the Bible is how many ordinary people you meet.
What Your Complaining Says about God
One of the things that’s important for us to do for our own sanctification is to ask the question, “Why am I grumbling and complaining about this?”
How to Be a Gospel-Centered Bible Reader
To make sure that you are gospel-centered every day, look for Christ in the Scriptures.
How Reading the Bible Shapes Our Identity
But if every revelation of God is a revelation of myself in relation to God, then all of Scripture is continually in the business of rewiring our self-understanding.
8 Things We Can Learn from Augustine
What does Augustine mean to us now? What is there about his life and work that still speaks to the Christian life today?
The theological doctrine of calling is a rich, rich doctrine all of us should wrestle with and embrace.
Why Men Need to Be Transparent with Each Other
One of the best ways men can encourage each other with the gospel is simply with honesty and transparency.
Resisting the Power of Idolatry
One of the things that has really helped me understand the power of idolatry in our own time and place is, strange to say, the plagues in the book of Exodus.
Why Doctrine and Devotion Must Never Be Separated
The Bible calls men today to lead in their churches and in their homes through both doctrine and devotion.
Our hearts are always captured by something—that’s how God made us.
J. I. Packer: In His Own Words - Transcript
Transcripted by desiringGod.org Part 1: Early Life Leland Ryken: Who is J. I. Packer? Put simply, in the last half of the twentieth century and early part of our own century, J. I. Packer has …
4 Tips for Defending Your Trust in the Bible
Could you explain to someone who is a total skeptic—doesn’t believe in God, Jesus, Jonah, or the big fish—why you think that everything the Bible says is true?
J. I. Packer: In His Own Words
We ask you to join us in thanking God for J. I. Packer—a man who has consistently evidenced a passion for God's glory and a love for God's church.
5 Practical Ways Pastors Can Care for Their Wives
Though a pastor expends much energy and effort on relationships in the church, he shouldn't neglect his most important at-home relationship.
Does the Reformation Still Matter?
We study the Reformation because of what we can learn. We learn of the treasure of the gospel.
How Psalm 145 Saved My Ministry
I can’t tell you how many times in my early days of ministry I questioned if God had really called me into pastoral ministry.
Adapted from Expository Apologetics: Answering Objections with the Power of the Word by Voddie Baucham.
Where There's Hope, There's Life
We humans are hoping creatures; we live very largely on and in our anticipations, things we know are coming and we look forward to.
Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do
Human beings are hardwired for awe. We are worshipers. We are searching for joy, hope, and fulfillment.
4 Principles for Political Engagement as a Christian
When we grasp the important contrast between the earthly and heavenly kingdoms, our hearts will direct our politics differently.
50 Books J. I. Packer Thinks You Should Read
A list of all of the endorsements that J. I. Packer has written for books published by Crossway, with an introduction by Sam Storms.
When the church ceases to treat the Bible as a final standard of spiritual truth and wisdom, it is going to wobble between maintaining its tradition in a changing world and adapting to that world.
4 Exemplary Character Traits of J. I. Packer
Learn just four reasons why Packer has been a faithful steward in the Kingdom.
Celebrating the Life and Ministry of J. I. Packer
J. I. Packer stands as one of the greatest theologians of the twentieth-century.
Women in Crisis and the Gift of God’s Word
Please join us in prayer for the many partners of Crossway who are serving on the frontlines of ministry.
3 Things I've Learned from Carl F. H. Henry
The following three examples are among some of the most quintessentially Henrician lessons I’ve learned.
5 Things to Remember about Worship
Music can be a part of worship, but it was never meant to be the heart of it.
Herman Bavinck: The Man and the Mind
Bavinck wrote theology with the church in mind; he prized evangelical piety; he did not disparage modern learning; he took a genuine interest in the world’s non-Christian religious traditions as important data for Christian theology.
Matthew Barrett, Michael A. G. Haykin
J. I. Packer has argued, we need to read the Puritans, and John Owen especially, because we are spiritual dwarfs by comparison.
David Mathis, Jonathan Parnell
If we Christians were honest with ourselves, we’d think more like John Newton. We would understand that we are weak.
Why All Christians Should Care about Systematic Theology
Peter J. Gentry, Stephen J. Wellum
Biblical theology provides the basis for understanding how texts in one part of the Bible relate to all other texts.
The Bible Is Not an Instruction Manual
The way so many of us treat the Scriptures—as God's "how to" book—doesn't seem quite right when we carefully look at what its own pages say.
4 Things to Remember When Fighting for Faith
How do we maintain our confidence when we are in the heat of the battle and we’re confronted with stuff we’ve never seen or experienced before?
Video: Don Whitney on the Benefit of Praying the Bible
In this video, Justin Taylor sits down with Don Whitney to discuss what it means to pray through God's Word.
How Christianity Transformed Our Understanding of History
According to Herman Bavinck, the very understanding of history itself was transformed by Christianity.
Developing doctrine in the church is one more in a series of improvisations.
Gregg R. Allison, Stephen J. Wellum
In God’s providence, it was to a teaching career that God graciously called John to use his gifts and abilities to serve the larger evangelical church.
What George Mueller Can Teach Us about Prayer
George Mueller (1805–1898) is widely considered one the greatest men of prayer and faith since the days of the New Testament.
Video: 6 Reasons to Pray the Bible
Here are six benefits of praying through the Bible.
How to Stop Praying the Same Old Things about the Same Old Things
“Empty phrases” are ruinous in any area of spirituality, but especially in prayer.
4 Reasons We Must Not Disregard God's Word
God's Word has cut me untold numbers of times since. But each pain, responded to, has brought a fresh, satisfying healing.
Slay the idol of focusing on only what can be seen, lauded, noticed.
6 Soul-Searching Questions from the Book of Hebrews
New converts to Christianity typically have few doubts. But years of living and learning often soften their confidence.
Why All Christians Should Care about Biblical Theology
Biblical theology is crucial for the health of the church because the church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.”
The gentle and quiet spirit of which Peter speaks, calling it “of great worth in God’s sight” (1 Peter 3:4), is the true femininity.
Why I Care about Women's Issues
In an increasingly pro-women society, you can’t even watch the Super Bowl anymore without seeing media campaigns elevating the dignity and worth of women.
An Interview with Courtney Reissig
This is an interview with Courtney Reissig, author of The Accidental Feminist: Restoring Our Delight in God's Good Design.
Video: Joe Thorn on the Most Difficult Season of His Life
Justin Taylor talks with author and pastor Joe Thorn about walking through difficult seasons and finding refuge in the triune God.
Video: Collin Hansen on Identifying Our Blind Spots
Justin Taylor talks with author Collin Hansen about how Christians can view their differences as opportunities to more effectively engage a needy world with the love of Christ.
Our blind spots lead to divisions and disagreements, preventing God’s people from testifying to his grace with one voice.
Following Jesus in the Everyday Stuff of Life
In this video, pastor Jeff Vanderstelt calls us to look beyond the special "church" events that so often dominate our calendars and start focusing on reaching the lost in and through our everyday lives.
Pastor Jeff Vanderstelt explains why it's important to realize that God has called the church to be in community and on mission.
Pastor Jeff Vanderstelt encourages us to remember our baptism—the sign of the new identity that Christians have in Jesus Christ.
Jeff Vanderstelt helps us rethink the way we perceive ourselves, reminding us that our identity as believers is first and foremost in Jesus Christ and what he has done on our behalf.
How Should Christians Share the Gospel with Practicing Homosexuals?
You preach the same gospel that you would preach to someone who is not in the homosexual lifestyle.
What about Scholars Who Deny that the Bible Condemns Homosexual Practice?
It's just not accurate to say that what we are seeing now as expressions of homosexuality were completely unknown to the biblical authors.
Video: Being Disciples of Jesus in the Everyday Stuff of Life
Many Christians have unwittingly embraced the idea that “church” is a once-a-week event rather than a community of Spirit-empowered people.
Fortunately for those of us who are Gentiles, Peter obeyed God, crossing cultural and ethnic barriers with the good news.
Blind Spots Quiz: What's Your Blind Spot?
Learn more about the book | Download a free excerpt
Elyse Fitzpatrick, author of Found in Him: The Joy of the Incarnation and Our Union with Christ, reflects on Philippians 3, encouraging us to cling to our identity in Christ.
It's quite common to believe that the thing we anticipate will provide the relief we seek.
What is my vocation? How do I find one? Or, as the self-help books put it, how do I find the vocation that is right for me?
The Key to Spiritual Stability in the Christian Life
As you prayerfully saturate your mind with God's Word, it begins more and more to control your thinking and behavior.
If you are responding to Jesus and following him, then you are praying.
In Behold the King of Glory, Russ Ramsey presents readers with a carefully researched retelling of the gospel story.
Everyone wants to have a good life. What will make you truly blessed?
Video: Sam Storms on Eternal Security
Sam Storms sits down with Justin Taylor to discuss his new book, Kept for Jesus: What the New Testament Really Teaches about Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Security.
How to Foster a Gospel Culture
Gospel doctrine creates a gospel culture. The doctrine of grace creates a culture of grace.
What am I going to do with the things of earth?
Grace: The Dominant Note of Christmas
God the Son, who is God, and who is with God, came to reveal God in a way he had never been revealed before.
Scripture: The Treasure of the Christian Life
When we immerse ourselves in Edwards's writings, we do not find him speaking of Scripture so much as speaking from it.
10 Benefits of Reading the Bible: Part 2
Part 2 of 10 Benefits of Reading the Bible.
10 Benefits of Reading the Bible: Part 1
Ask God to give you eyes to see the worth of Scripture and to waken in you an unyielding desire for the Word of God.
Take Your Life Off Your Shoulders
God not only forgives your sins and guarantees you a seat in eternity, but welcomes you to a radically new way of living.
Overflowing with Peace and Thanksgiving
When the buckets we carry are full of Christ, our lives are bathed with the peace of God in thanksgiving.
Human Dignity: A First Principle
We are made in the image of Jesus the Messiah. This is real ground of human dignity.
Count Your Blessings . . . Literally
Stephen Altrogge urges us to put all our desires on hold and ponder the great mountain of blessings that we already have.
The Presence of God for the Christian Life
If we know the presence of God as it is expressed across the pages of Christian scripture, it can and will transform the way we understand and live our Christian lives.
As humanity proved incapable of fulfilling God’s purposes from the very beginning, God, in his grace, became present to do what man was unable to do.
Only when we catch a glimpse of this God and his glorious purposes that our lives finally make sense and can truly be purpose driven.
Imagination: Not Just for Kids
Imagination is not just for kids; it’s part of all of us.
Just as much as we Christians take seriously the call to disciple how we think, so we should also take seriously the call to disciple how we imagine.
Keep It Simple Stupid: Martin Luther on the Christian Life
Martin Luther saw clearly that the Christian life is actually distinguished not by elaborate complexity but by its beautiful, simple, accessible Christ.
What’s All This ‘Gospel-Centered’ Talk About?
A gospel-centered life is the only life that can truly be enjoyed, no matter your circumstances.
You Might Be An Idolater If...
We need the Spirit to give us power over our idolatrous desires.
The Grace of Mentors in Pastoral Ministry
We need not only solid teaching and preaching about obedient Christian living, we also need to see holiness in practice.
Why Philosophy Matters for Christians
Philosophy matters for Christians because many of the debates are about the "big questions" of human existence.
You must be willing to do whatever is necessary to position yourself as a tool of redeeming grace.
Elyse Fitzpatrick calls us to remember how what Christ has already done transforms who we are right now.
Doubt can be a stimulus to faith, or an ongoing annoyance in the Christian life, or a fatal blow to someone’s loose commitment to Jesus. It all depends on what we do with our doubts.
The ESV Journaling Bible and the ESV Single Column Journaling Bible were designed especially for those who enjoy the discipline of journaling.
In order to have this unified focus on God and his glory in our lives we must carefully review each area of our lives to see what changes are needed.
5 Lessons from Shakespeare's Hamlet
Leland Ryken compels us to focus on both the content and the form of Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Was Shakespeare a Christian Writer?
Leland Ryken encourages us to look at the Christian elements present in Shakespeare's plays.
Why Christians Should Read Shakespeare
Leland Ryken explains why more Christians should read or view Shakespeare than currently do.
5 Things Jonathan Edwards Teaches Us about the Christian Life
Dane Ortlund talks shares five things Jonathan Edwards teaches us about the Christian life.
James Montgomery Boice writes about the difficulty of relativism.
Bible Q&A - Why Read the Bible Every Day?
Dane Ortlund explains the purpose behind reading the Bible every day.
Humanism: You Will Be Like God
James Montgomery Boice explains the dangers of secular humanism.
Secularism: The Cosmos Is All That Is
Secularism, more than any other single word, aptly describes the mental framework and value structure of the people of our time.
Video: A Word of Encouragement from Jen Wilkin
This video provides a final word of encouragement and advice from Jen Wilkin.
Video: The Picky Eater Approach to Bible Study
We all know it’s important to study God’s Word, but sometimes it’s hard to know where to begin . . . especially when you're feeling a bit lost in the middle of Leviticus.
4 Tips for Memorizing God's Word
Gloria Furman lists 4 tips for memorizing God's word.
Deleting Bible Study from Your Mental Checklist
We don’t need reminders for what we value most.
Video: Jen Wilkin on Staying Motivated in Bible Study
In this video, author and Bible study leader Jen Wilkin offers some advice for staying motivated in our reading of God's Word and explains the limitations of topical Bible studies.
The word of God is more than enough for the people of God to live their lives to the glory of God.
Don't Settle for a "Quiet" Time
Wholehearted devotion to God’s Word is hard to come by when you have lots of people who need your attention plus a smart phone in your pocket.
Reading God's Word When You Don't Want To
Pick God’s Word up not with the burden of guilt or as a call to duty, but because it’s a gift given to you by a God of amazingly tender mercy and grace.
Infographic: 6 Counterproductive Approaches to "Studying the Bible"
The infographic below, drawn from chapter 2 of Jen's book, highlights 6 common—yet ultimately counterproductive—approaches to "studying the Bible" that we all struggle with from time to time.
Video: Kathy Keller on Reading the Bible Every Day
In this video, Kathy Keller encourages us to make time for God's Word each day, even if it's just a few short minutes.
Developing a Plan for Summer Bible Study
As you develop your plan to feed deeply this summer on God’s Word, here are five suggestions to help fill these summer days with spiritual fruit.
Dangerous Bible Study and Puffy Christianity
If all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable, surely there is no such thing as “useless” Bible knowledge. So, why so many warnings that studying the Bible could actually be perilous to our spiritual health?
God Is Sovereign and We Are Responsible
Exploring the theological past can unearth wonderful theological truths that are incredibly helpful for our own growth in grace and enable us to understand all the more how mighty and merciful God truly is.
Why Study the Book of Proverbs?
We don’t want to miss the heart of Proverbs—what God is saying to his people through this unique portion of Scripture.
Christ in All of Scripture - Psalm 105
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
Why Study the Book of Philippians?
Behind the text of Philippians stands a riveting story shared by Paul and the Philippian Christians—what we might call the “fellowship of the cross.”
Isaiah is quite lengthy, but there is great joy to be gained from diligently engaging with it.
The Top Two Ways Dads Can Love Their Kids
As we approach another Father’s Day, Timothy Witmer asks us to reflect with him on the top two ways we can love our children.
Christ in All of Scripture – Isaiah 25
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
Giving should ever express unending gratitude for God’s almost unbelievable grace.
Three Steps to Studying the Bible
The goal in studying the Bible is to find out what the Bible meant, what it means, and how it applies to us.
10 Things You Should Know about Evangelism
10 foundational truths to consider about the biblical call to share the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
Bible Q&A - What Does the Bible Say About Swearing?
Dane Ortlund shares what the Bible says about swearing.
Video: Engaging Our Culture with Joy
In this video, Greg Forster sits down with Justin Taylor to discuss his new book, Joy for the World: How Christianity Lost Its Cultural Influence and Can Begin Rebuilding It.
Christ in All of Scripture - Matthew 26:26-29
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
The Great (American) Commission - Part 3
This is the third post (part 1, part 2) in a 3-part series by Tim Keesee on the role of American missionaries in the 21st century.
The Great (American) Commission - Part 2
This is the second post (part 1, part 3) in a 3-part series by Tim Keesee on the role of American missionaries in the 21st century.
The Great (American) Commission - Part 1
This is the first post ([part 2]http://www.crossway.org/blog/?p=35254), part 3) in a 3-part series by Tim Keesee on the role of American missionaries in the 21st century.
What Did Jesus Teach about the Poor?
If poverty will always exist, does that mean any efforts to alleviate poverty—in our own communities and around the world—are in vain?
What Did Jesus Teach about Violence and Turning the Other Cheek?
J. Daryl Charles, Timothy J. Demy
Does Jesus’s teaching in the sermon on the Mount to “turn the other cheek” and not resist evil require pacifism on the part of Christians?
7 Reasons to Study the Book of Job
Christopher Ash offers seven reasons to study the book of Job.
What Did Jesus Teach about Homosexuality?
In a 2012 article for Slate online, Will Oremus asked a provocative question: Was Jesus a homophobe?
Christ in All of Scripture – Habakkuk 3:16-19
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
10 Things You Should Know about Sound Doctrine
Bobby Jamieson lists ten things we should know about sound doctrine.
Does the Bible Offer Guidance for Contemporary Ethical Issues?
The Bible has much to offer believers as they seek to obey the Lord in every area of life, but it is not always as easy as matching one Bible verse with a problem.
Let's Make Every Sunday Resurrection Sunday
As we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus this Easter, let's resolve to make every Sunday a resurrection Sunday, living in all the good that the resurrection accomplishes for us each day.
Learning Evangelism from G. K. Chesterton and C. S. Lewis
Though we will likely never establish the sort of platform of Chesterton or Lewis, through their examples we may find the kind of confidence that compels us to cross our yard and begin a friendship with that neighbor who has made it clear that they don’t believe in God
What's So Special about John Calvin?
If readers look to Calvin they will find a godly pastor who, with all of his flaws, evades the caricatures and exhibits the sort of piety that we need desperately today.
The Solution to Our Beauty Crisis
The truth of the gospel is the only answer to our beauty crisis.
What Women Wish Men Knew about Beauty
Men who take the time to understand the pressures women face will be able to help them resist the lies from our culture and pursue a biblical vision of beauty.
Misunderstood Christian Classics
The way to get attention and be mainstream in the secular establishment is to debunk what has been accepted as true for centuries.
10 Reasons Joy Brings Christ to Our Culture
How can Christians help their neighbors live more like God wants and resist the decay of our culture?
If a classic is a work that possesses the qualities that I ascribed to it, and if there are good reasons why some of our reading should be reading the classics, then how should we go about our reading of them?
If a classic possesses the qualities that people ascribe to them, we know that we want them in our lives.
What qualities does something possess in order to merit the title classic?
How the Word of God Enables Us to Defeat the Devil
When the powers of darkness are arrayed against you, and aim to destroy your joy forever, nothing is more precious than to have the Word of God ready for the battle.
The Super Bowl and Folk Culture
The event around which we gather shows the erosion of folk culture just as much as it fosters it.
Jesus Loves His Church, So You Should Too
Jesus calls us to this immense personal and corporate challenge. Are you up for it?
Video: The Impetus for A Loving Life
In this video, Paul Miller discusses the impetus for his new book, A Loving Life: In a World of Broken Relationships.
Learning to Love in the Midst of Suffering
Paul E. Miller discusses learning to love in the midst of suffering.
To Be Human, To Read the Bible, To Live
James M. Hamilton Jr. discusses the challenges of being human, bearing the image, striving to know God, to find truth, and to help others find their joy, satisfaction, purpose, meaning, and life in knowing God through his Son, Jesus Christ, by the power of the Spirit.
There's No Such Thing as the "Christmas Spirit"
As has often been pointed out, Christianity is Christ. It all centers around Him, and every doctrine that we have and every idea that we possess is something that comes from Him.
The Christmas Invitation You Can't Ignore
No matter how you feel about holiday parties, you need to know that you have been invited to a very important celebration this Christmas that you don’t want to miss.
Why Do We Need So Many Books on the Gospel?
This post by Dane C. Ortlund was originally published on May 25, 2011. We're reposting it as we celebrate Crossway's 75th anniversary.
Video: What Does It Mean to Be Gospel-Centered?
We recently sat down with some Crossway authors and asked them, *"What does it mean to be gospel-centered?"
Jesus knows that true power only flows through weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.
Social Media Isn't All that Social
Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest, “social” media doesn’t serve to make us any more social at all.
The Gospel in Worship: An Excerpt from 'Rhythms of Grace'
Designed to help Christians think more theologically about the nature of true biblical worship, Rhythms of Grace shows how the gospel is all about worship and worship is all about the gospel.
Video: Francis Schaeffer on the Christian Life
Justin Taylor and Steve Nichols, discuss Dr. Edgar's first visit to L'abri and his resulting relationship with Schaeffer.
One of the hardest people to love is a self-righteous sinner who thinks he has his spiritual act together.
The Gospel and Moving Toward the Lost and Broken
In their book Faithmapping, Daniel Montgomery and Mike Cosper challenge us as we witness to our communities
How Do We Grow in Holiness? (Part 2)
Tim Chester presents seven elements of a reinforced faith.
How Do We Grow in Holiness? (Part 1)
Holiness isn’t a mysterious spiritual state that only an elite few can reach. It’s more than an emotion, or a resolution, or an event.
Why are so many people so unhappy in so many different circumstances?
Video: John Piper on Poetry, Music, and Affections
John Piper encourages the Crossway staff (and you) to cherish language as the sacred gift that it is.
Do Not be Paralyzed by Your Weaknesses
In honor of Reformation Day this week, here's a practical post about "gutsy guilt" in Martin Luther.
Video: Four Ordinary Means of Grace
Kevin DeYoung explains that there are four very ordinary means to pursuing holiness.
Freedom for the Perfectionist (Hayley DiMarco)
The problem with perfectionism is that it comes from a heart that believes that it must be perfect.
Faking Fruit (of the Spirit) - Hayley DiMarco
Can you truly bear fruit if you aren’t abiding?
Video: The Fruitful Wife by Hayley DiMarco
Hayley DiMarco gives a brief overview of her new book, The Fruitful Wife: Cultivating a Love Only God Can Produce.
Why Should We Care About Holiness?
Kevin DeYoung shares his heart and vision behind the new book, The Hole in Our Holiness.
Filthy Rags or Fully Pleasing?
There is no righteousness that makes us right with God except for the righteousness of Christ.
Video: Justin Taylor and Kevin DeYoung Discuss "The Hole in Our Holiness"
Justin Taylor and Kevin DeYoung, author of The Hole in Our Holiness discuss the topic of holiness.
How to Handle Conflict: Part 3
How does God want us to handle our desires that grow into demands? A simple alliterated outline provides a plan: recognize, repent, refocus, and replace.
Conflict: When Desires Become Demands
What are the kinds of things—perhaps good things in and of themselves—that can rule our hearts?
Conflict is inevitable, so how will we handle it?
Video: Disability and the Gospel
"Why do we in the evangelical church in the West demand that everyone be “normal” and look the same? Why do we as a culture try so hard (and succeed so well!) at hiding people …
Discipleship 101: How to Disciple a New Believer
Discipleship involves a lot, but one of the most important things you can do with a new believer is read the Bible with them–teaching them how to read, understand, respond to, and apply God’s Word.
Wise Women Know How to Think, Feel, and Want (Part 3)
Our desires—the things we want—tend to govern our lives and our choices. For that reason, it is important that our desires get formed in a biblical mold.
Wise Women Know How to Think, Feel, and Want (Part 2)
Just consider the roller-coaster ride of emotions we can experience in the course of a single week (or, for some of us, a single day): anger, love, frustration, joy, sorrow, annoyance, irritation, fear, anxiety, peace, satisfaction, exultation, discouragement, happiness, fulfillment, dissatisfaction, anticipation.
Wise Women Know How to Think, Feel, and Want (Part 1)
God created us as thinking and feeling creatures, and therefore both are part of being made in his image, therefore both thoughts and feelings are vital components of true faith.
That Idol That You Love Doesn't Love You Back
Everyone has to live for something and if that something isn’t the one true God, it will be a false God–an idol.
Do You Take Your Irritability Seriously?
We should take our irritability much more seriously, because it is the very opposite of love.
Trust Your Savior, Not Your Efforts
When we trust Jesus, we displace rules from the center of our discipleship and replace it with his gospel
Before we address fighting sin, it is worthwhile to point out that the victory over sin has already been won in Christ.
Before we can fight our sin, we must know what sins are currently present in our lives
If we are honest, our real image is nowhere near as attractive as we want it to be.
Struggling with All His Energy
We don't have to change our children's hearts, we can instead trust in Him to work through us in their lives.
How Does the Trinity Practically Apply to Your Life Today?
Michael LeFebvre, Philip Graham Ryken
The Trinity is undoubtedly one of the most mysterious Christian doctrines.
7 Steps to Walking the Spiritual Walk
Here are 7 suggestions that will fuel a passion for the things of the Spirit and further educate how to live a life directed by him.
Gerald Hiestand, Jay S. Thomas
God asks us to control not only our sexual activity but our sexual desire as well, arousing it only within the context of marriage.
Treasured Words on the Altar of the Urgent
If we're honest with ourselves, often, in the craziness of life, instead of treasuring and applying more Scripture to a heart that needs it we shy away from time in the Word.
Praying in Response to God's Word
We have a conversation when we hear God speak to us in the Bible and then we speak to him in prayer.
So You Think You Can Understand God's Word...
While it is good to have motivation and strategies in place for reading and meditating on God's Word, they cannot be what we ultimately rely on.
The Book That Is Essential for Knowing God
You must somehow hear the Bible’s message—whether by reading it yourself or hearing someone else read or explain it—in order to become a Christian.
Scriptural meditation can be woven into our busy schedules—while waiting for a ride, at lunch, mowing the lawn, jogging, and even lying awake at night.
What Does Scripture Actually Accomplish?
Sometimes it's hard to nail down what reading God's Word is actually supposed to accomplish.
The root of idolatry is pride.
The Idolatry of Spiritual Laziness
We can (and should) command repentance from sin, but it is grace that enables repentance and belief that accompanies it.
Christin Ditchfield discusses Calvin from Calvin & Hobbes in relation to Christmas.
An Indirect Approach to Evangelism
Jerram Barrs offers additional insight on the challenge of sharing the gospel during the holiday season that may be helpful as you interact with close friends and family.
From Success To Significance?: A Vocational Paradigm
This beckoning to more fully embrace lives of significance touches us deeply as image bearers of the one true God.
Leaders are life-long learners and one of the best ways that we can know of to keep learning is to keep reading.
Grateful for Experiencing Grace
Grace is not an impersonal force or a divine quality to be studied only in the abstract.
Gospel Community: Imaging God to One Another
In Disciple: Getting Your Identity from Jesus, author Bill Clem explains that Christian communities serve as witnesses to show what the kingdom of God is supposed to look like.
What We Can Learn from Reading Jonathan Edwards
Sean Michael Lucas shares his new book, God's Grand Design: The Theological Vision of Jonathan Edwards.
Is God opposed to prosperity? Where is the line between being grateful for the gifts he's given us and idolatry?
From the very beginning of Scripture we see that the one true God is not a couch potato God, nor did he create a couch potato world.
Caring for a Loved One with Cancer: Be Prepared to Help for the Long Haul
It is not unusual for visits, calls, and offers of help for those battling cancer to taper off after a couple weeks.
Work Matters: More But Not Less Than a Carpenter
It is all too easy for us to overlook the fact that Jesus knew what it meant to get up and go to work every day.
Caring for a Loved One with Cancer: Make the First Move and Speak Wisely
Some people withdraw from their loved ones who have cancer because they don’t know what to say or because it stirs up painful memories or because it’s too painful to face.
Caring for a Loved One with Cancer: Don't Forget About the Kids
Perhaps the greatest gift you can give to a parent struggling with a serious illness is choosing to focus on the children.
Four Temptations: How Internet Habits Can Cripple Book Reading
Tony Reinke presents four temptations that interfere with reading books.
How Do You Prioritize What You Read?
Having a clear purpose for why you read will ensure that the few books you choose will be the books most likely to benefit your life.
We Need Gospel Community, not a Behavior Modification Program
It is dangerous and tempting to change behavior without also changing heart and mind.
Francis Chan: "Knowledge is essential, but not sufficient."
Your brilliance is worthless if you’re not building up your brother—and even worse if you’re destroying him with your knowledge.
Douglas Sean O'Donnell exposes Job's under-the-surface theological foundations that made him hold up under duress.
Wisdom for Dealing with End of Life Issues from a Hospice Nurse's Perspective (Part 2)
Part two of an interview with Deborah Howard on her book, Sunsets: Reflections for Life’s Final Journey.
Wisdom for Dealing with End of Life Issues from a Hospice Nurse's Perspective
Crossway interviews Deborah Howard on Sunsets: Reflections for Life’s Final Journey.
Three Purposes of God in Your Suffering
We know that suffering is a result of sin and a fallen world, but that usually feels inadequate when we're in anguish.
Can we simply say “no” whenever we are tempted?
The Bored Life Isn’t Worth Living
If the American Medical Association were to label boredom a disease, we would have to declare an epidemic.
Brian S. Borgman explains why emotions should not be discounted in our faith.
3 Characteristics of a Christian Response to Sin
The story of the prodigal son is an incredible illustration of sin, repentance, and forgiveness. Through the character of the son, the parable reveals three things that should characterize a Christian's response to his sin.
Cutting the Nerve of Complaining
Most of our complaining stems from a faulty sense of entitlement.
Do You Get Excited About Evangelism?
We need to find ways preach the good news in ways that inspire amazement.
The Spiritual Marathon: Two Sides of Perseverance
In the book of Jude, we find two realities about perseverance that we must keep in tension if we are to persevere in faith.
Scripture gives us five criteria by which you can evaluate faith.
4 Gospel Truths to Remember on Monday Morning
What's the connection between faith in God and your Monday-morning struggles? Identifying and remembering these four liberating truths about God will help.
The paradox of evangelism is that when we remember that evangelism is impossible, we are more likely to evangelize.
Giving Your Life to Christ & the Truth of the Gospel
Doctrine is not just for professors and pastors; it is the truth of the gospel for which every Christian must be concerned.
Human Obedience VS. Passive Righteousness
Elyse Fitzpatrick, Jessica Thompson
What's the difference between human obedience and passive righteousness? And how does this affect the way we train our kids?
Tim Chester explains how his book, You Can Change, unfolds.
You Might Be an Idolator If...
Where is the line between a healthy enjoyment and an idol?
Interview with Tim Chester: Eating with a Mission
Crossway interviews Tim Chester on his newest book, A Meal with Jesus.
Jesus' Death Should Lead to Your Own Daily Dying
The death of Jesus is not just what cleanses you of guilt, but it is also the means by which you experience transformation.
What Does "Raised for Our Justification" Mean?
Is Jesus's Resurrection and Our Justification Linked? Romans 4:25 reads "[Jesus] was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification". The Greek behind our English word for could mean either “because of” or …
Joe Thorn on the Practice of Preaching to Ourselves
Crossway asks Joe Thorn various questions related to the practice of preaching to ourselves.
If we’re going to defeat the sin of discontentment, we need to be able to spot its lies.
How Sharing a Meal Can Show Grace
Tim Chester shares how sharing a meal can show grace.
Eating, Drinking, and Doing Ministry
Eating and drinking were so important to the mission of Jesus because they were a sign of his friendship with tax collectors, sinners, and others scorned by others.
The object of our love can always be detected in our behavior.
The Three Stages of Temptation
Temptation is typically gradual. There's more going on behind the scenes before one gives in to full-blown sin. Russell Moore explains the three stages of temptation.
The nature of temptation is not random. There is strategy, purpose, and power involved.
Fighting for Personal Sanctification
Living for the Lord is tremendously difficult at times. Owen Strachan gives three exhortations to keep in mind as you strive for personal holiness.
Serving ourselves hinders our effectiveness and skews our priorities as Christians.
Answering End of Life Questions
John Dunlop shares some strategies for a successful end of life answering questions and addressing fears that people may have along the journey.
Do We Spend More Time Correcting or Affirming in Relationships?
What does it look like to restore a pattern of affirmation to a relationship?
John Piper lists why we should affirm others.
Justin S. Holcomb, Lindsey A. Holcomb
Justin and Lindsey Holcomb speak about the difference between self-help and gospel healing.
Facing the Painful Side of Redemption
Which is more painful? To live without hope or to catch a glimpse of hope only to have it disappear?
The Transition from Centripetal Worship to Centrifugal Worship
Continued from part 1 of Makoto Fujimura's chapel address at Crossway on January 21, 2011.
Demolishing the Walls of Your Comfort Zone in Practicing Hospitality
In a recent interview, Pat Ennis challenges readers to demolish the walls of their comfort zone and to be counter-cultural even within their own communities to be intentionally hospitable.
When the Gospel Transforms Your Christmas Expectations
Stephen Altrogge reflects on how he can be content at Christmastime.
How Can an Athlete Cultivate Humility?
C. J. Mahaney reflects on how humility impacts an athlete.
What are some sure signs of misdirected priorities in sports?
Finding Biblical Contentment as a Widow
Is it possible for a widow find authentic contentment?
Prepared to Give a Reason for Your Faith
The main task of an apologist, which on some level is every Christian, has been to defend the core doctrines of the faith both within and outside of the church.
Apologetics for the Twenty-First Century
In Louis Markos' book, Apologetics for the Twenty-First Century, he divides the book into two main parts.
Living in God's Two Kingdoms - A Vision of Christianity and Culture
In his new book Living in God's Two Kingdoms, David VanDrunen suggests an alternative "two kingdoms" model for cultural engagement.
Sproul on the Foolishness of Elevating a Spiritual Gift
In R. C. Sproul's St. Andrew's commentary on Romans, he warns readers not to be jealous of other people's spiritual gifts or elevate our gifts over the gifts of others. "During my forty-plus years of …
Warfield—A Model and Challenge to Christians
Fred Zaspel shares what he has learned most from Warfield and how that has challenged him.
When Our Ambitions Are Delayed...
How we live when ambitions are delayed significantly shapes who we become. God uses the wait to teach us to walk in a manner worthy of our calling.
How does a biblical role model in Proverbs 31 demonstrate that women have been made in the image of God?
The Singlemindedness of Purity
A double-minded woman is two-minded; she is divided between two ways of thinking, and, as a result, she is ruled by competing options.
Purposefully Structuring Our Free Time in a Way That Glorifies God
Too often, we give lip service to seeking first the kingdom, while our lives demonstrate pagan preoccupations.
Making Jesus the Lord of our Free Time
The way we spend our free time reveals what we believe about God.
Dave Kraft lists a few steps that will help us on the road to identifying our purpose.
Discouraged When Your Efforts Don't Produce Real Change?
Our rituals might change our behavior for a while, but they can’t change our hearts.
When Christians Misunderstand Christians
Sam Storms draws on Paul's interaction with the church in 2 Corinthians 1:12-2:4 to provide some wisdom that we can apply as we seek to grow in godly communication.
Justin Taylor Interviews Nancy Guthrie on the Topic of Suffering
Justin Taylor Interview: Nancy Guthrie from Crossway on Vimeo.
Trevin Wax's Challenge to the Church, to Us
Do our hopes and dreams look the same as the world's? Do we claim Jesus is Lord, and then relentlessly pursue a bigger paycheck, a bigger house, a better job, or more leisure?
Trusting When We Don't Understand, Believing When We Can't See
The question that haunts most people who experience significant suffering and loss—is, “why?”
The Promise of Full Healing Here and Now: Kindness or Cruelty?
The day is coming when our God Who Heals will consummate his kingdom where there will be no more sickness.
Must We Be Hurt Deeply to Be Used Significantly?
We want our grand abilities and keen insights to make us usable to God, not our broken hearts and crippling weaknesses.
Learning to Understand the Real God
Nancy Guthries shares how Abraham Kuyper captures the modern mind-set and experience of doing battle with the God we've created in our own mind.
God's Purpose and Provision in Suffering
Nancy Guthrie is editor of Be Still My Soul: Embracing God's Purpose and Provision in Suffering. Included in this compilation are these thoughts from Jonathan Edwards, never more true or more needed than now.
In the Darkness Before the Light
We simply can’t appreciate the light unless we’ve allowed ourselves to sit a bit in the darkness.
Just because we assent to the truth that God is our rock does not mean we fully believe that truth.