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?”
Articles on The Christian Life
2465 results found
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
What someone shouldn’t immediately offer to the couple struggling with infertility is a set of solutions to the problem.
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.
When the Gospel Transforms Your Christmas Expectations
Stephen Altrogge reflects on how he can be content at Christmastime.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A really intriguing thing, which goes against the notion of expressive individualism, is the fact that we live in shared stories.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
Why All Christians Should Expect Trouble
The longer you live in this fallen world, the more kinds of trouble you face.
Why are so many people so unhappy in so many different circumstances?
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.