When I really love a book, I tend to either read it quickly or slowly. In the case of Dane Ortlund’s excellent Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers, I have been reading it very slowly. I’ve spent multiple days reading some of the chapters because I find the book so rich and nourishing and worthy of contemplation. I find I’ve underlined most sentences on a number of pages! I would highly recommend this book to any follower... Read more
I was interviewed earlier last week on Seth Gruber’s podcast UnAborted. Seth has a big heart for the unborn and is passionate about equipping Christians and pro-life advocates to make a gracious, winsome, and persuasive case of their prolife beliefs in the public square. Watch or listen to our conversation, which includes some stories I haven’t shared before in an interview, about my family’s prolife history, Frank Peretti, and the Lovejoy abortion clinic in Portland, which recently closed after 50 years: Our ministry received... Read more
First and foremost, I look forward to being with Jesus, my Lord and Savior and best friend. To be in His presence, to listen to Him and walk with Him…nothing could be better than that. To look into Jesus’ eyes will be to see what we’ve always longed to see: the person who made us and for whom we were made. And we’ll see Him in the place He made for us and for which we were made. Seeing God will be like seeing... Read more
I love this four-minute video from Russell Moore answering the question, “Why should Christians speak with kindness?” I think this message is more important right now than at any other point in my lifetime: Here are some quotes from it: “The people who are most angry with us right now may well be our future brothers and sisters in Christ.” “We speak with kindness not because we’re afraid of our opponents, not because we’re afraid of our enemies, but because we are... Read more
Not long ago a reader shared a profound comment in reply to a post on my Facebook page. This is one of the most powerful stories we’ve received from readers of the Heaven book: We—very suddenly and unexpectedly—lost our 16-year-old son on 10/6. He was the fourth of our five children. I have struggled mightily with the “whys”, and life very much feels akin to a marathon swim in an ocean of pain. I do believe that God knows what is best. It... Read more
How to handle sin in a God-honoring way isn’t often clearly addressed in the church. So what steps should I take in order to deal with sin? First, I must admit my sin to myself. I need to call sin what it is: sin, not just a mistake or a little slip. I must quit rationalizing and making excuses. Jesus died for our sins, not our excuses for our sins. Second, I must confess my sin to God. Since He... Read more
Scripture says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Only by exercising self-control and being on alert can we expect to resist the enemy’s plan to lead us into sin. Satan “scouts us out” and knows only too well the chinks in the armor of every Christian. His aim is deadly, he excels at tailor-made temptations, and it is at our points of greatest vulnerability that he will attack. But we shouldn’t forget that “the one... Read more
A few years ago when we were both speaking at an apologetics conference, I had the privilege of meeting Christopher Yuan, who is an author, speaker, and instructor at Moody Bible Institute. I read a lot of books, and Christopher Yuan’s Holy Sexuality and the Gospel: Sex, Desire, and Relationships Shaped by God’s Grand Story is on the shortlist of most important books I’ve read in the last decade. Christopher is that rare individual who has personally grappled with issues related to homosexuality... Read more
“What is the matter with the world?” Martyn Lloyd-Jones asked. “Why . . . war and all this unhappiness and turmoil and discord amongst men? . . . There is only one answer to these questions—sin. Nothing else; it is just sin.” Addiction provides a picture of all sin patterns. At first, the happiness it causes seems to outweigh the misery. But eventually the periods of misery increase while the periods of happiness fade. This is called the law of... Read more
In some circles, the abundant life Jesus promised His followers has been confused with material wealth. Prosperity theology says that God’s plan is always for us to be wealthy—and to spend our money primarily on ourselves. Jesus, who didn’t even have a place to lay His head and who owned nothing but a robe and sandals (Matthew 8:20), clearly didn’t live a money- and possessions-centered life. Surely that’s not what He wants for us either. So how can we explain... Read more
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