Many people believe the punishment of a crime should not be viewed as a penalty the criminal deserves; it should be understood as rehabilitation that works to cure the criminal. These people believe this way is more humane and will keep people from being treated unjustly. However, it is essential to remember that if you … Continue reading A Gospel Perspective on Rehabilitation in Criminal Justice
The good times are to be expected, and the hard times are surprising and strange. Perhaps that unconscious assumption is causing us grief. In his book Jayber Crow, Wendell Berry describes the “old-timers” in a way that seems lost on many people today. He says: “As much as any of the old-timers, he regarded the Depression … Continue reading Finding Strength in Hard Times
One of the most perplexing questions of the faith is this, “Why doesn’t God just reveal Himself? Why does He require us to believe what we can’t see?” It certainly would seem much easier to be a Christian if we could look up and see Jesus looking down at us. The preparations required to debate … Continue reading Why Does God Require Faith Without Sight?
Standing at my window one day, while the cholera was raging in London, I saw two corpses carried by, followed by one little child, walking alone next to the coffins, with a few neighbors behind. That child was now an orphan. Both parents had been carried off by the pestilence. The sight of that child … Continue reading Spiritual Orphans: Forgetting our Heavenly Father
Some of Scripture’s strongest encouragements come in the middle of some of its darkest passages. 2 Peter 2:1-11 is one such passage. It contains one of the darkest and most foreboding condemnations of false teachers, but Peter wrote it to encourage us. We see this when we get to verse nine, but to truly appreciate … Continue reading Bright Hope on a Dark Canvas
We may say we are fully content with God and that he is all we need, but we all wrestle with certain sinful attitudes and behaviors that communicate otherwise. They are characteristics incompatible with fulfillment in God, but there is hope. The more we grow in Christian contentment, the more these tendencies will lose their … Continue reading 8 Characteristics Incompatible with Christian Contentment
As Jeremiah Burroughs puts it, Christian contentment is a rare jewel. Every believer should strive to possess it, but often, we misunderstand what it is and expect it to do things it will never do. To summarize Burroughs, here are three things Christian contentment does not include. Firstly, Christian contentment does not mean we will … Continue reading 3 Misunderstandings of Christian Contentment
They were gaining on me. Every breath I took was weighed down by the awareness that they were close behind. I had entered at the narrow gate, but somehow, they had managed to follow me onto the path. I could hear their taunts. Every one of their footsteps was like the sound of a war … Continue reading Enemies on the Narrow Road
The fear of God is the essential part of true wisdom. As Solomon has said, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding!” (Proverbs 9:10). Even though this Godly wisdom may be reputed as folly by the ungodly world and considered an indication of a disordered mind, … Continue reading The Difference Between Education and Wisdom
"Strive to enter in at the narrow gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able!" Luke 13:24 This is the only gate which leads to pardon of sin, peace with God, and Heaven. Whoever goes in by this gate, shall be saved. Never, surely, was a gate more needed! Sin … Continue reading A Gate Made for Sinners
The Fight of Faith 