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Can God Really Be Happy?
Do you think of God as mainly happy or mad?How you think about God will effect how you relate to him. If he’s mainly disappointed, you’ll avoid him because of shame and insecurity. If he’s too busy,...
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The New Calvinism and the New Community
Last week I gave the “Gaffin Lecture on Theology, Culture, and Mission” at Westminster Seminary. This was a high honor because of the esteem I have both for Richard Gaffin and the school. Gaffin’s...
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Ten Thousand Things We Can’t See
“The nearness of God is my good,” says the psalmist.Though the wicked prosper, though evil carries on, though the circumstances of God’s people are bleak, everything makes sense in God’s presence...
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The Wintry Soul: Four Lessons from Suffering
Seasons of suffering in life are as sure as March snow flurries in Minnesota. And such climate shifts test trust, materialize maturity, and make us long for spring.In the not so distant past, God let a...
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How to Get Your Mind Back on Track
How are you feeling? What’s on your mind?These are very important questions, not just polite conversation starters. They’re questions we should ask ourselves (and others) frequently because they tell...
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‘Divergent’ Lesson in Human Depravity
It’s rare to find a major motion picture that shows humanity, as a whole, to be this bad.Not only was it human evil that nearly destroyed the world in some great war, but now it is human depravity that...
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Three Tips on Being a Friend of Sinners
Jesus was accused of being a friend of sinners. That was the word on the street in first-century Palestine.The precise phrase — “friend of sinners” — is mentioned twice in the Gospels, in Matthew 11:19...
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We Are Made for Praise
At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,...
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Fake Papers, Chastened Pride
I wonder which is stronger: the desire for erotic pleasure or the desire to avoid ridicule? Which is stronger: the craving of the body for sexual pleasure, or the craving of the ego for notable praise?...
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How to Fill Your Life with Joy
Seriously pursue joy in the face of Jesus Christ. That’s what Matt Chandler says is the main lesson he’s learned along the slow, dirt path of sanctification. There’s no silver bullet, he explains, to...
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World Vision: Adultery No, Homosexual Practice Yes
Christianity Today reports that “World Vision’s American branch will no longer require its more than 1,100 employees to restrict their sexual activity to marriage between one man and one woman.” World...
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Doctrine Matters for Deeds of Mercy
Good works never just happen. How we treat others is always determined by what we think about God, by who he is and what he’s done.Whether implicit or explicit, this is fundamentally the case. It’s not...
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Warm Yourself at the Fires of Meditation
We were made to meditate. God designed us with the capacity to pause and ponder. He means for us to not just hear him, but to reflect on what he says.It is a distinctively human trait to stop and...
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When the Bible Is Hard to Understand
Years ago Noel Piper recommended a way to read the Bible that helped her, and, as I eventually discovered, helped me as well. She introduced a strategy that turned Bible reading from duty to delight:I...
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Seven Things That Transform Suffering
I can’t carry my plate to the table.Last month I could do it easily. But with post-polio, things deteriorate rapidly. Every week, I face new challenges, discover things I can no longer do, give up more...
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How to Teach Your Kids About the Nations
My kids are young.They are young and impressionable, which is why my husband and I have chosen to start teaching them about the nations now. Their curiosity actually began well before we pulled out the...
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How to Overcome Temptation
Meet Ben Stuart. He leads Breakaway, a campus ministry at Texas A&M University. Over the past decade, Ben has taught the Bible every week to thousands of students in the throes of college life,...
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The Folly of What Noah Preached
Paul wrote, “the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). In Noah, we have an Old Testament illustration of...
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Why God Loves People Who Hate Each Other
The church is filled with lots of dangerously different people.There are rich and poor, old and young, male and female. We have families with fifteen children and fifty-year-old unmarrieds. There are...
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How Do You Prepare for Sunday?
A couple weeks ago, my wife and I went out to eat on a date. On a whim, we decided to go see a movie as well. Just like that. No preparation, we just decided and went. The lack of preparation had...
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