Noël’s birthday was on December 27. My last day as Lead Pastor for Preaching is today, December 31.

I’ve been in this role at Bethlehem for thirty-two and a half years today. Remarkably, Noël turned 65 and has thus spent exactly half her life at Bethlehem (32.5 years).

This prompted a poem for her birthday. It is part of the overflow of thankfulness I am feeling these days. God has been good to me. In my wife. In my church. Very good.

                    Not Halves

The happy day that you were born, was I
In some real way born too? Since we would mesh
One day in marriage, was I already you? Was my
Life yours and your life mine? Was our one flesh
     Already made, if only in …

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Indomitable joy in Jesus in the very midst of suffering and sorrow — this is what the world needs from the church.

As tempting as it may be to figure things differently, what the world does not need from the services of the gathered church is chipper, frisky, high-spirited chatter designed to make people feel lighthearted and playful and bouncy. And the world does not need believers who are morose, gloomy, sullen, and dark, bringing with them a heavy atmosphere of solemnity.

No, what the world needs from the church, in her gathered services and in key moments of her scattered life, is the flavor of “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing,” as the apostle Paul says it in 2 Corinthians 6:10. …

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Treat this year-end like the end of your life. Then be ecstatic that you get to start a new life tomorrow.

For some of us, not only is the year ending, but so is a life-ministry. When the clock tolls midnight I will hand off the senior leadership of Bethlehem to Jason Meyer (with overwhelming gratefulness for God’s goodness). I’ll be on staff until March 31, 2013, but effectively, this season of leadership is over.

So not only do I get to start a new life tomorrow (as it were), I get to start a new era of life (as it is).

Here is what I am preaching to myself, and to you too, if you want to listen in: Long, effective ministries and lives can end very badly. Don’t let it happen. Finish in …

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'Tis now the season to get strategic. With the New Year on the horizon, many of us are beginning to consider the logistics of our devotional lives for 2013. Bible-reading plans, book lists, prayer guides — these are tactical means of grace that we strive to set in order. It is like we look across the foggy battlefield of the coming year and pencil down our plan, our steps. Remember faith is a fight. And reading and praying are essentials, not trends.

But for all this planning, let us remember the battle isn't only in our hearts. Bible reading and prayer aren't merely about personal piety. There is a world out there — a real world full of real people in need of real hope. We must not let our…

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Some posts meet our readers in especially powerful or timely ways. We strive to provide God-glorifying, heart-stirring, church-building content every day, but we realize that some prove more memorable than others. With that in mind, here are the 25 most accessed posts from the Desiring God blog in 2012 to remind you of some of our highlights from the last year.

Many were touched by the story of Ian and Larissa. Others happily wandered into Chesterton’s elfland or Tolkien’s shire. Our posts for mothers and about parenting have been as popular as any. Some turned here before the election in deciding whether to vote or not, and how they should pray. More recently, thousands were comforted and…

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Let the record show that we did not set out in 2012 to write more often about sports at Desiring God than previous years.

But as we’ve looked back on the last year, we noticed an uptick in our engagement with “the world of sports.” This trend doesn’t represent any new commitment on our part for the years ahead. It does, however, represent our great goal to see Jesus honored “in all things.” It’s the “supremacy of God in all things” part of our mission that keeps leading us here and elsewhere. We want to see Jesus honored and enjoyed in life and death, and in every nook and cranny of our existence — including sports and athletics.

The Cardinals and LinSanity

After doing some digging, i…

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The holiday season is notoriously busy. But there are often quiet moments at Christmas to slow our lives down for worship. The classic Nativity figurines and all the classic Nativity paintings capture this divine silence. In the presence of the infant God-man, our response is speechless adoration.

As quickly as the Christmas season arrives, however, the quiet moment passes away for another year. Trees and decorations and lights are taken down, and the silent night is exchanged for the hectic new year. It was during those post-holiday transitions that Francis Schaeffer began wondering about the shepherds who ran to see the Christ child (Luke 2:8–21). What did they go back to? How were they …

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“…when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away” (1 Corinthians 13:10).

Another year is passing away. Thank God. Not only for the massive amounts of unquantifiable grace we have received from him, but also because we are one year closer to the passing away of this partial age and all of its incumbent sorrow and weariness.

“When the perfect comes.” Those inspired words stir up deep longings for a time we have never known and yet desperately want.

Paul may have been talking about spiritual gifts when he used that phrase in 1 Corinthians 13, but we know because of Romans Eight that “the partial” means so much more. Right now even the best things are not what they should be. And…

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Dear Friends,

I want to share with you this request from John Piper.

If you've been helped by our message and want to support our work, would you please consider making a donation before December 31? To date (12/30), we have received $493,635 of the $745,000 that we need in order to meet our end-of-year financial goal.

We love the work that God has called us to, and it's your partnership that enables it to happen. Please join us in earnest and expectant prayer that God would continue to powerfully change lives for His glory through the ministry of Desiring God.

Scott Anderson
Executive Director

(Watch the full-length video about the small beginnings of desiringGod.org)

As this year ends, the question I am asking is: Where was God when so many good things happened this past year?

How can God be a God of justice, yet allow so much good to happen to people who dishonor him by disbelieving in him, or giving lip service to his existence, or paying no more attention to him than the carpet in their den, or rejecting the kingship of his Son, or scorning his word, or preferring a hundred pleasures before him?

How can God be righteous and do so much good to us who are so unrighteous?

Where was God in 2012?

• Where was God when nine million planes landed safely in the United States?
• Where was God when the world revolved around the sun so accurately that it …

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