In heaven every single time you paint with yellow and blue you get green. But that doesn’t always happen on earth. This side of the new heaven and new earth, Psalm 1 isn’t like a painting formula. It’s a general principle. It’s an echo of heaven. It’s the way that things are supposed to be.... Continue Reading

The perpetual state of double-mindedness is at odds with the Christian faith. These are two different realms, so to speak, that never intersect. In short, double-mindedness is sin, and sin that needs to be put to death quickly, lest the genuineness of our faith is tested and found altogether absent. It is here that the... Continue Reading

None of us, if we are honest, does not experience the critique of the Bible. We are chastened for our greed, our lust, our pride, our envy. If we are sensitive, we ought to feel the prick of our consciences as we consider what the Bible has to say about gossip and injustice, about the... Continue Reading

Hoping in Christ and clinging to His Word, and walking with Him by grace, believers don’t forget Him but remember Him—and this not only unto themselves; they remember Him to their children. This is the great purpose behind the use of confession and catechisms: that we ourselves would remember Him, and that we would teach... Continue Reading

Christ exercises great prudence to make a sinner righteous, yet that righteousness is not in themselves, neither does it depend on their own keeping. In His prudent dealing, He sends forth ministers to preach, and dispense heavenly mysteries, and yet keeps the seal in His own hand. Paul may plant and Apollos water, but God... Continue Reading

Things are not right. Untold crowds protest. But in Psalm 130 we hear the perfect outcry that can, and must, arise from every heart. In this Song of Ascents we lift up our heads to Jesus Christ. We wait for him, more than the watchman waits for the morning.    The year 2020 will be remembered, so far,... Continue Reading

Here is a sobering thought that ought to humble us: God will receive glory either through our soft hearts or our hard hearts. Again and again in the Exodus narrative, God reminds Israel and Egypt that he is sovereign over the events and even Pharaoh’s heart, and it is all for his glory. Before the... Continue Reading

What we need more than anything is to marinate more deeply in the truth of God’s word, to let those unbelieving thoughts be driven out by reality. Because what God says is reality, and we cannot and should not want to opt out of it. God says, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,... Continue Reading

Our Lord is forbidding here the flippant, profane, or careless use of oaths in everyday speech in that culture, such oaths were often employed for deceptive purposes. Those doing that would swear by “heaven,” “earth,” “Jerusalem,” or their own “heads” (vv. 34-36), not by God. In this they hoped to avoid divine judgment for their... Continue Reading

We were dead (not just sick, not just dying) in our sins. We were helpless apart from the saving work of Christ. He came not to save the righteous, but to save sinners – even the chief of sinners. So why do we bristle so much at this notion? The short answer is that we probably... Continue Reading