What do you want? Where are you looking for satisfaction? What do you need to be happy?All of these are different ways of asking "What is life?" And our hearts are revealed by how we answer.The flip side is also revealing: "What is death?" What makes you anxious? What are you afraid of? What's the worst thing that could happen? What tempts you to despair? Your answers to these questions will also ...  Read More

The idols in our modern world are subtle.We’re too sophisticated and civilized to offer sacrifices to small statues or the gods they represent. Sure, we struggle with lust, anger, fear, despair. But we don’t get tripped up by the easy stuff that wreaked havoc in ancient Israel. Right?Actually, idolatry is thriving in our modern age. You don’t have to visit a temple prostitute or a brothel—you can ...  Read More

Why don't we talk much about idols these days? Why do we so easily dismiss a temptation that works so much devastation in the story of God's people?Idolatry is a consuming focus of the Old Testament. The first two commandments direct our love toward God and forbid the worship of anything but God. When Israel draws near to the promised land, Moses repeatedly warns them against idolatry. After they ...  Read More

What kind of person comes to mind when you think of pride? Is it the man who loudly boasts of his achievements in the presence of others? Is it the woman who demands that things be done her way and her way only? Is it the teenager whose speech, dress, and behavior gives no consideration to the feelings of those around him? These examples are some of the more common associations we have when we con...  Read More

“The best prayer I ever prayed had enough sin to damn the whole world.” Have you ever come across this quote? Whether you’ve heard it before or you just read it for the first time, I bet it didn’t make you feel all warm inside. It probably wasn’t like spiritually stopping to smell the roses on a sunny day. The quote is attributed to the puritan John Bunyan, and although it may sound like he was mo...  Read More

Many people reading this will believe that a regular diet of God’s Word is essential for a Christian’s spiritual health. If you have spent any length of time in a faithful church, this comes as no surprise. The Word of God itself is clear on this matter when the apostle Peter says, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation” (1 Peter 2:2). In...  Read More

As we approach the end of another year, many of us look to January 1st like the refresh button on an app. When an app slows down or stops loading, we quickly attempt a refresh so that progress will continue. So it is with a new year. Goals and ambitions begin to decelerate or stop altogether toward the end of November, but there is the hope of January to start anew. With this refresh, however, can...  Read More

Remember the days before GPS?  When you were lost you had to discover where you were on a paper map (gasp!) before you could get where you needed to be.  You had to define your lostness before you could get home.  This is Paul’s goal in the first three chapters of Romans.In Roman's 1:18-32, Paul’s topic is sin.  And while that may sound unpleasant, it’s actually the single most loving topic Paul c...  Read More

I admire the simplicity of the familiar Sunday school song which declares, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” It expresses assurance of Christ’s love on the basis of Scripture’s authority, and this a reality that, in our post-Christian culture, needs to be constantly reaffirmed. But Scripture tells us more than the reality that Jesus loves us, it also tells us how Jesus love...  Read More

When we realize that we have sinned, our next move should be to make a beeline to the Lord in repentance.  But instead, we sometimes (often?) cut ourselves off from the source of help and relief we so desperately need in Christ.  Like Adam and Eve, we deal with our own sin in our own way.  It may not be hiding among the trees or sewing fig leaves together to make loin cloths, but it is just as tro...  Read More

Sometimes God guides us with truths that seem like two sides of a coin, or maybe like guard rails on the right and left that keep us centered.  We’re called to be harmless as doves and wise as serpents (Matt. 10:16).  We’re told to answer a fool according to his folly (Prov. 26:5) and not to answer a fool according to his folly (Prov. 26:4).  A little reflection reveals how this works.  We must be...  Read More

How are we to fight the desire to find satisfaction in something outside of God when the desire is so powerful that it seems insurmountable? Among many other things, we need to be able to tell ourselves the truth about what we are desiring in those moments. In his excellent book, Look and Live, Matt Papa makes a statement that captures this reality: “[God] knows that anything we love more than Him...  Read More