One of the best ways to view a diamond is to put it against a dark background and shine a bright light on it from the side. The contrast reveals the wonder of the stone in all its perfection. So too with the cross. The dark backdrop of the cost to Jesus, contrasted with the light of the blessings we enjoy, reveals the wonder and glory of the cross. May these Easter contrasts fill our hearts with gratitude and our mouths with praise.... continue reading
How should today’s parents be thinking when it comes to digital technology, especially smartphones? ... continue reading
What should we feel about Easter?
It’s a question I grappled with as I read through the gospel passion narratives preparing to write a book for children.... continue reading
Ministry post-mortems tell us so much, but it would be great if we could see the falls coming. But can’t we?... continue reading
The following piece is an extract from 5 Things to Pray for Your Kids by Melissa Kruger. In the book Melissa suggests fresh, biblical ideas to help you pray for tots, teens and all ages between. Today we wanted to give you a sneak peek at what the book looks like. This chapter uses psalm 121 to help you pray for God's care of your child... ... continue reading
One of the greatest dangers for studious Christians is loving the study of God more than God himself. We love books. We love to love God with our minds. Yes and amen. So did the Apostle Paul; he asks Timothy to bring his cloak and his books (2 Timothy 4:13). God commands us to love him with our minds (Matthew 22:36–37).... continue reading
Calvinism is a beautiful thing—when we Calvinists don’t ruin it.
For too long Calvinism has been linked to arrogant, fiery, and argumentative Calvinists who seem like the only cure for their cruelty is time in a steel cage. Diagnosis? A Cage-Stage Calvinist.... continue reading
No passage in recent times has come under such intense study as this one. The intensity of the study and the plethora of books and articles are indicative not of the difficulties in the text so much as of the desire to understand it in the light of present social changes.... continue reading
Churches across the world are filled with beautiful crosses. There are crosses of coloured glass in stained-glass windows. There are crosses of shaped brass, perhaps even studded with jewels, flanked by candles on communion tables. Some Christians wearing intricate crosses of twisted silver around their necks. The cross of Jesus is so central to our faith that it is perhaps no surprise to find Christians wanting to honour it in this kind of way.... continue reading
Brothers, hold the five points of Calvinist doctrine, but don’t hold them as babbling questions.
What you have received of God, do not learn in order to fight with it, and to make contention and strife, and to divide the church of God, and rail against the people of the Most High, as some do. But, on the contrary, love one another as brothers and sisters, and hold the truth in love, and seek after the unity of the Spirit and the perfect bond of charity.... continue reading
