The wrath of God gets a bad rep. Not because His wrath is somehow deficient or immoral, but because humans don’t like talking about hard things. We hear one sentence about God’s wrath and we’re preaching fear-mongering. Here’s the issue, though: we need to talk about the wrath of God. It’s too important to ignore. … Continue reading Why We Need to Talk About God’s Wrath
When Jesus told us to love our neighbor as ourselves in Mark 12:31 (and other places), he didn’t mean your literal neighbor. He wasn’t saying, “You need to love those who live next to you, but you can hate those outside your demographic.” Jesus’s call to love our neighbor is a call to love everyone. … Continue reading Loving Across the Ideological Fence
“He that has learned to feel his sins…has learned the two hardest and greatest lessons in Christianity.” (J.I. Packer) We don’t like to talk about our sins. Even as those in Christ—where we know and believe all our sin has been forgiven—we still feel a sense of shame, of regret, of awkwardness when talking about … Continue reading Feeling our Sins
Become a patron of my blog for as little as $3/month and you will receive a free copy of my book Gospel Smugness! Sign up: https://www.patreon.com/theologyandlife?fan_landing=true
Think for a moment. Have you ever encountered someone who is what people call a Yes man? This person is, simply put, a people pleaser. He or she is not interested in anything else other than affirming you—or anybody else for that matter. They only make you feel good about yourself and never criticize or … Continue reading “Love” Without Truth
Friends, in case you didn’t know already, I have written a book. It’s entitled Gospel Smugness: Displaying Christlike Character in Evangelism. As a first-time, self-published author I thought it has performed decent up to this point—almost a year since its release. However, as you may know as well, I have written a second book. The … Continue reading Gospel Smugness
“If you truly are sorry,” Brandt Jean said to his brother’s murderer, “I know I can speak for myself, I forgive you.” Forgiving is incredibly difficult because holding a grudge is far too easy. It’s more natural for us to hold a grudge, to let our anger boil over and become bitter. But God has … Continue reading Learning to Forgive
I don’t know how you feel about the puritans, but I love them. Here is a beauty of a paragraph from Puritan John Owen’s Communion with God: Christ is the merciful high priest over the house of God, by whom we have access to the throne of grace. By Christ we have access and acceptance … Continue reading Beam of the Father’s Love
Can we lose our salvation? This is the question many Christians ask. It’s always important to ask tough questions in order that we may be well-rounded believers, but the question has a firm, biblical answer: No. This question divides the church. It is not a primary doctrine of the faith—that is, you don’t have to … Continue reading 3 Reasons You Can’t Lose Your Salvation
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6) We all search for wisdom. It’s a universal pursuit and, in many cases, we look for it from the wrong source. As Christians, we’ve … Continue reading A Treasure Trove of Wisdom
Theology & Life 