I am very excited about Todd Wilson’s excellent new book, Real Christian: Bearing the Marks of Authentic Faith. Todd and I go way back, having studied together under John Piper at The Bethlehem Institute back in our early days of seminary. Todd has a PhD from the University of Cambridge and is now senior pastor at […]
Can You Love Yourself Too Much?
The answer is no. Absolutely not. The issue is not how much you love yourself. The issue is how much you love yourself in comparison to God. Jonathan Edwards discusses this in great detail in his excellent work Charity and Its Fruits. He writes: I do not suppose it can be said of any, that their love of their […]
3 Characteristics of Gospel-Driven Christians
From my book, What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done: Known by their love, and also sound in theology. Both/and, not either/or. Engaged in their communities and workplaces and working for the good of others, not retreating to the hills to grow wheat until Jesus comes. Not afraid of culture, but not […]
One-Way Love, and Are Christians Still Totally Depraved?
I’ve dipped into Tullian Tchividjian’s new book One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World a bit, and have really enjoyed it. It is so clear and understandable. For example, in the last chapter he has a great discussion of the question “Are Christians totally depraved?” The answer is that we need to make some […]
Why There is No Comparing Ourselves to One Another in the Kingdom
The reason is that the work God enables you to do for him is a gift. A gift to you, first of all. This is why it makes no sense to compare. Why would we begrudge that God did not give us a gift intended for another? It wouldn’t fit. It would be like giving […]
The Character of a Christian Develops in Proportion to His or Her Faith
Sinclair Ferguson’s observations here from John Owen on the Christian Life are full of incredible insight. The quotes are from Owen: Every Christian lives by faith. The Christian character is not recognized by the degree of faith, but by its presence. The growth of character will, however, inevitably be related to and dependent on the […]
What is Pride? (And What is Humility?)
I find these definitions from CJ Mahaney’s book Humility very helpful: Humility: Honestly assessing ourselves in light of God’s holiness and our sinfulness. Pride: Aspiring to the state and position of God and refusing to acknowledge our dependence on him.
Christians Should Not be Boring
In Creed or Chaos?, Dorothy Sayers has a chapter where she points out that most people outside the church would have listed the most important Christian virtues something like this: “respectability; childishness; mental timidity; dullness; sentimentality; censoriousness; and depression of the spirits.” In other words, many thought that Christians were dull, judgmental, and lacking passion. […]