Christian Living

George Swinnock, The Fading of the Flesh and the Flourishing of Faith , ed. J. Stephen Yulie (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2009). 170pp. When it comes to old books, I am a purist. Ordinarily, something is lost along the way in translations or abridgments. However, as a pastor, I have...
I have the privilege of ministering mainly to saints in their golden years. So as I preach through Leviticus 19, I am eager to reach verse 32 and lead my fellow greener brethren in reverencing our senior saints with these words: Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the...
Churches (as communities of professing Christians) are meant to be safe places. But all too often this has not been the case. Revelations of widespread abuse in many churches has seriously damaged the reputation and trustworthiness of the church as a whole before the watching world. It could be...
In this brief essay, I’d like to take a moment and introduce you to a sermon by Archibald Alexander entitled “Nature and Means of Growth in Grace” and commend it to your reading and spiritual profit. When we look at the life and legacy that men such as Alexander have left for us, we are quickly...
Small children play at a park. A boy’s voice breaks into the festivity with a wildly unpopular declaration, “We can only play soccer on the field, not around the playground equipment!” The game stops by the swing set. Outraged to the bone, every child on the playground knows the drill...
I'll start with a confession; I love John Bunyan's, The Pilgrim's Progress . I have read it frequently since the late 90s. But I'm afraid that not everyone shares my love. For some, the allegory is a turnoff. Bunyan does justify his method in his apologetic poem at the beginning - but who reads the...
For those of us who love the truths of Reformed theology, and look up to our heroes of the Reformation, there can be a tendency and even a weakness that assumes that profound truths and rich doctrine will always be expressed in dense and complex language. If we are not careful, we can admire those...
For over three centuries Christians have delighted in Pilgrim’s Progress , the spiritual allegory of the journey of Christian from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. This literary work has become a classic in the truest sense, treasured both for its literary qualities and its spiritual...
The salient portion of the Obergefell v . Hodges ruling reads, “The Court now holds that same-sex couples may exercise the fundamental right to marry. No longer may this liberty be denied to them” (22-23). [1] In other words, and as you by now know, same sex marriage has become a civil right in the...
In our prior article , we raised a number of pressing questions that could lead us to conclude that the only certainty is uncertainty! Yet in the midst of relentless questions, gnawing ambiguities, and the cacophony of voices offering inconclusive and unsatisfactory answers, we turn elsewhere. We...