“Remember those...who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.” (Hebrews 13:3)
Lord have mercy on your people harassed and driven from their homes in eastern India. Grant them protection and relief. That is what I would want for my body.
In the meantime, Lord, grant them to entrust their souls to a faithful Creator, and to not return evil for evil.
Titus 3 speaks a timely word during election season. Paul charges Titus,
Remind [the people] to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. (verses 1-2)
God doesn't send his church into the political fray with a strut and an open mouth but with gentleness and courtesy—with a readiness to do good, to avoid quarrels, and to speak evil of no one.
Why gentleness and courtesy? Why such an unexpected posture? Paul follows with his reason:
For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions…
Sometimes a strong rebuke is in order. The sin we see in the lives of those we love and lead is so serious that we must respond with intensity. This is the loving way to handle egregious departures from the truth.
But more often the sin is subtler, and the best way to respond is the path of an affirming challenge.
The occasional strong rebuke has biblical precedent. When Peter opposed Jesus’ path to the cross, the Savior responded with a passionate reprimand: “Get behind me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:23).
And when Paul received word that his Galatian converts were trading trust in God’s grace for self-reliance, love prompted him to respond with severity. Their erro…
Soren Kierkegaard said, “When the age loses the tragic, it gains despair.”
This sounds profoundly right.
The elements of life that make tragedy possible are the same as the ones that fight off despair. For tragedy to be real there has to be something hugely precious, and there has to be the capacity to feel a great emotion. When these are both present, tragedy can happen.
Despair is the horrible blankness that settles over us when nothing is seen as precious anymore and there is no capacity to feel it anyway.
As great as our tragedy may be, if we feel it to the full, it is a sign that the weapons against despair are still in place.
Often the gifts of God come in strang…
Our ninth grandchild was born on Friday: Morrow John Piper. The day was filled with evidences of God’s tenderness to us. So I ask with the psalmist, “What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me?”
The psalmist answers, “I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord” (Psalms 116:12-13).
The fact of the call defines the meaning of the cup. The cup is lifted for another filling. More, Lord, more! Show your inexhaustible Self! Which is to say, God will be most glorified in Morrow and me if we keep calling on him as the only all-satisfying Treasure of our lives.
So my “return” to the Lord for this child is to purpose that every day, while I hav…
Joseph Bottum, an editor at First Things, recently published an article called “The Death of Protestant America.” Here are a few of his observations that give meaning to the title.
As a Christian, when you experience a painful providence like an illness or a rebellious child or a broken marriage or a financial hardship or persecution, do you ever wonder if God is punishing you for some sin you committed?
If you do, there is some very good news from the letter to the Hebrews.
The original readers of this letter had been experiencing persecution and affliction for some time. They were tired, discouraged, and confused—why was God allowing such hardships? And some were doubting.
So after some doctrinal clarifications and some firm exhortations and a few sober warnings (so they could examine if their faith was real) the author of the letter brought home a ver…
From Rousseau to the Tom and Jerry Cartoons, Wheaton English Professor, Alan Jacobs, traces a “cultural history” of Original Sin, the name of his recent 304 page book. The most auspicious and provocative lines in Matt Jenson’s review in Books and Culture are these:
Original sin’s deniers like to claim that the doctrine does bad things, or at least discourages us from doing good things. It deals death. So they tell us. But over and over in Jacobs’ account, we meet well-intentioned characters, only to find their happier, gentler anthropologies turning sour, leading to (or at least abetting) anarchy, eugenics, despair. Perhaps the greatest irony in this history is the discovery th…
Lee Grady, the editor of Charisma, one of the main charismatic magazines, has written a lament and critique of the Lakeland “revival” which is now in a tailspin over the leader's announced separation from his wife. Grady’s summons to pray for the church and our nation is right, and among his commendable questions and observations are these:
What should Christians, especially those who are non-sports fans, make of the Olympics?
Everything in the material universe points to something of significance in the non-material realm. By saying so, I am not trying to diminish the significance of the physical universe per se. God has ordained meaning and significance there, too. Jesus ascended bodily to heaven. Meanwhile, the material creation points to things not seen with physical eyes, but with spiritual eyes.
The Bible is bursting with numerous examples of material objects employed as metaphors. Mustard seeds point to faith. Rocks struck in the wilderness point to Jesus who is our sacrificial lamb. Manna points to nourishment…
