Category: Daily Disciplines

Help! I put a Bible verse on my wall but I still sin!

Most likely the title has never crossed your mind as a thought before. But many Christians–myself included–have put up Bible verses on printouts and taped them to their mirrors, or written on index cards and posted them near their beds, or gotten verses artistically lettered and framed for their desks or living room wall pictures or castle hall tapestries. The Word of God plays such a central role in the Christian life it is appropriately honored when visibly depicted where we spend the majority of our time. Since the Bible plays such a transformative role in our thoughts, desires, words, and actions, it is only natural that people try to remind themselves of what God has told them by strategically placing God’s Words where they will be regularly, even unconsciously, read. This post is not a critique of that practice.

Continue reading “Help! I put a Bible verse on my wall but I still sin!” →

Trusting God When Life is Easy

The biographies of pioneering missionaries, or puritans resisting the English kings, or reformers facing heresy trials, or other heroes of the faith often impress us with great displays of trust in God. These heroes proclaimed the gospel to people about to kill them for it, preached when they’d be thrown in jail for doing so, and relied constantly on God for provision. Perhaps we see great trust as well in fellow church members—those fighting cancer, those with very sick family members, those who end up in severe financial trouble, those who go through great trouble with unbelieving family, and others. While many people go through various difficult trials and have to rely on God, some Christians experience mostly good providences to us, and that their “trials”—finals weeks and annoying people at work—hardly count. How then can such a person trust God? Continue reading “Trusting God When Life is Easy” →

Why Should I Read a Biography?

The majority of my readers will think that they are busy.  That’s the world we live in these days; everyone keeps themselves very busy, moving constantly from activity to activity.  In all this craziness, then, when I or someone else recommends a book to you about a person who died several hundred years ago that you’ve never heard of before or haven’t really thought about ever, you ask, “Why should I take the time to read this book?  Why should I read a biography?”  Today I’m going to try to answer that question!  Biographies, particularly Christian ones, benefit you by providing examples, challenging your life, honoring those to whom honor is due, and illustrating the gospel. Continue reading “Why Should I Read a Biography?” →

What to Do When You’re Learning Nothing from the Sermon

Unlike you, my dear reader, I am not perfect.  And in my imperfection, I struggle greatly to have humility.  As one excellent example of my lack of humility, I sometimes subconsciously assume that I know everything, which is a gross extrapolation of the fact that I know a lot of things.  Having grown up in the church, I tend to be particularly familiar with the Bible and theology.  I’ve heard countless sermons over the years.  And some passages get preached a lot–the book of Philippians, various passages in Romans, Hebrews 11 and 12, 1 Thessalonians 4, anything in Ephesians, accounts of the crucifixion of Christ, etc.  Just as necessity is the mother of invention, so too is abundance the progenitor of complacency, and familiarity the father of contempt.  Having heard these passages before, I could probably give a fifteen minute sermon myself on many of these passages with no preparation.  I am familiar with the doctrines contained therein.  I struggle, therefore, when I hear yet another sermon with theology that I already know and passages I just heard preached last month.  I struggle to humbly submit to God’s teaching through the preacher.  I’d rather let my mind think about food or politics or gaming or girl(s) or literally anything but the sermon.  You, my dear reader, are of course perfect and do not struggle as I do.  I do not expect you to sympathize with what follows below, but I do hope you’ll at least be amused by my attempt to address my personal weaknesses. Continue reading “What to Do When You’re Learning Nothing from the Sermon” →

Perverting the Means of Grace

Here is one of the largest issues in the Christian life: How do you handle your personal sin?  Or in one particular, how do you react when you fall?  Do we attempt to make up for sin by subsequent good actions, for example Bible reading and confessional prayer?  While it is quite clear that these actions do follow from a mourning of sin (1 John 1:9 essentially commands the believer to confess sins to God), in my mind I can confuse these actions as somehow atoning for my sin, somehow erasing and balancing out my past actions, somehow zeroing out debt owed to God.  It is exactly this trap that the people of Judah fell into during the last years before the Babylonian captivity.  Let us consider the historical record. Continue reading “Perverting the Means of Grace” →

Is It a Sin to Skip Daily Bible Reading?

No.  But I guess you want me to elaborate. 

The idea for this post came in a small group I was co-leading.  Trying to explain that idolatry does not require having a physical idol, I constructed a hypothetical situation in which a boy idolized getting into a grad school.  When I asked, “Given how competitive it is to apply, what do you think he should do?”  Many of them said things like, “Kill the other applicants!”  I should have known better.  I’ve never been a part of a small group that would not respond that way.  Once it was clear that a better answer was, “Study really hard,” I started mentioning things that our boy would omit by idolizing studying.  He wouldn’t go to church.  He wouldn’t help his parents with household chores when asked.  He didn’t have time for his friends, regardless of their needs.  All because he was constantly studying.  However, with each additional crime I listed, one guy (let’s call him Fitzgerald) in the group was unconvinced our boy was in sin.  Instead of wasting time trying to explain why certain things were sinful, I just added other things to the list until I finally stumbled upon, “He doesn’t read his Bible, because he’s too busy studying.”  Fitzgerald exclaimed, “Oh!  That’s bad!”  Which raises an interesting question: is it indeed a sin to skip Bible reading? Continue reading “Is It a Sin to Skip Daily Bible Reading?” →

You Should Read the Old Testament

The following is very slightly adapted from a devotional given by the author at a college group event.

I think you, as a Christian, should be reading the Old Testament.  I’ve heard the objections.  They’re stupid.  Let me tell you why. Continue reading “You Should Read the Old Testament” →