Resources on Sanctification
“O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart . . . who swears to his own hurt and does not change.” Psalm 15:1-2,4 David asks, “O Lord, who shall dwell on your holy hill?” (Psalm 15:1) A momentous question! Like David, you should want to know what kind of person stands under God’s favor and in his holy presence. The answer to David’s question includes this heart-piercing declaration: He “who swears to his own hurt and does not change” (Psalm 15:4). Let the words sink in. A godly man keeps his word not only when honoring a commitment when it’s advantageous, but also when it’s costly. The godly understand…
Read MoreTomorrow is Sunday – the Lord’s Day, the Christian sabbath. The Puritans called it the Market Day of the Soul. The Lord calls his beloved congregation to assemble, and places before them treasures from the overflowing storehouse of his grace. Before them he sets a rich feast as the word of God is preached and believed. Just how important is the Word of God to the faith of his people? John Calvin insists that “faith needs the Word as much as fruit needs the living root of a tree.”* Without the Word, faith withers. With the Word, faith flourishes as God displays his mighty power to save and sanctify and sustain. Your faith needs the Word. So, eagerly anticipate tomorrow.…
Read MoreYou shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Exodus 20:4 You shall not covet. Exodus 20:17 Put to death . . . covetousness, which is idolatry. Colossians 3:5 Whenever we give to a person, idea, or object the worship, devotion, and obedience that belong to God alone we make that person, idea, or object our functional god, our idol. We give our heart to a God-substitute. The Puritan Thomas Watson exposes the heart of idolatry: “To love any thing more than God, is to make it a god.”* Covetousness is one of those idols…
Read MoreYou shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:3 For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. Isaiah 54:5 I love wedding days. No other days are like them. Promises made, tokens of love exchanged, and two lives changed forever. With two words the bride gives herself away. She looks into her husband’s face as the minister asks: “Will you take him as your husband and live together as God has ordained? Will you love him . . . and, forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?” “I will,” she promises.…
Read MoreMegan Hill, Contentment: Seeing God’s Goodness. P&R Publishing, 2018 Full disclosure: my evaluation of Megan Hill’s Contentment is hardly unbiased. I have long admired both her and her family. In the early 1990s, her Dad welcomed me to the New England Reformed Fellowship. Megan’s writing talent is exceptional, a valuable gift to God’s church. For years I have read with profit her mother-daughter blog, Sunday Women, and her other posts at Christianity Today and The Gospel Coalition. Megan is also the author of Praying Together: The Priority and Privilege of Prayer in Our Homes, Communities, and Churches. When I moved to the Jackson area in 2014, Megan and her husband, Rob, warmly welcomed me to their church and home. Biases…
Read More“The present form of this world is passing away.” 1 Corinthians 7:31 The Smartest Guys in the Room chronicles the fall of corporate giant Enron. In one revealing scene, the company’s CEO, Jeffrey Skilling, is contemplating resigning. The years of criminal misconduct, lying, and falsifying financial records have caught up with him and his company. Stock princes plummet. Disaster looms, and he knows it. Into his office walks Ken Lay, Enron’s chairman of the board. What pressing issue is on his mind? In his hands are fabric swatches for the company’s new $45 million corporate jet. Which does the CEO prefer?* There’s a lesson here: Don’t be consumed by the trivial when you are surrounded by issues of monumental consequence.…
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