Devotional Life
In Matthew 11:28–30, Jesus offers this invitation to any who would respond to his call: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest [ἀναπαύσω / reficiam]. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls [ἀνάπαυσιν/ […]
“Apply yourself day and night to reading the Scriptures. Sleep should overtake you while your book is in your hand, and the sacred page will welcome your nodding head like a pillow.” —Jerome *** The Why and How of Lectio Divina The canonical Christian Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments, is not only the […]
Prayers of confession or repentance in the corporate setting teach us that we are called to repentance daily, even in our private settings. The Agnus Dei, the “Lamb of God” anthem, is a highly memorable prayer of praise perfectly suited to those devoted to Holy Communion. The Kyrie Eleison (“Lord, have mercy”) is an ancient […]
A phenomenon that continues throughout evangelicalism is the juxtaposing of unaided, private, individual prayer with liturgical prayer, as if the two related like oil and water. The former is seen as lively, earnest, and Holy Spirit-prompted, whereas the latter is frequently depicted as dead, perfunctory, and contrived. Wherever this contrasts exists, “free, from the heart” […]
One of the difficulties of reading the Bible is the Bible itself. Not only new believers, but old ones as well, often find it tough slogging to pick up the book at Genesis and wind up at Revelation without giving up somewhere in between. The Protestant Reformers never said that the Bible is an easy […]
Dallas Willard, the late professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, authored numerous books, including Knowing Christ Today: Why We Can Trust Spiritual Knowledge (HarperCollins, 2009), The Great Omission: Rediscovering Jesus’ Essential Teachings on Discipleship (HarperCollins, 2006), and Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ (NavPress, 2002). […]
Luther and Calvin have a lot to teach us about heady doctrines like justification and election. We have to look elsewhere, though, when it comes to the brass tacks of Christian living. Any real engagement with the Reformers' work, however, dispels this widespread misunderstanding. They knew nothing of the modern dichotomy between doctrine and life; […]
Prayer is a feature of all world religions and also those of a more homespun variety. This is because human beings are made in the image of God and have some awareness of being indebted and accountable to some higher being or power. Pagan petitions for aid and thanksgiving for help are recorded in the […]
"Hold Fast the Faith: A Devotional Commentary on the Westminster Confession of 1647" by Matthew Everhard
There are many reasons to commend Pastor Matthew Everhard's Hold Fast the Faith: A Devotional Commentary on the Westminster Confession of 1647. There are already many commentaries on the Westminster Confession, so to write one for use in devotions makes it an intriguing contribution. His vision came to life, and we may now benefit from […]
I recently moved (for the fifth time in two years) into a new apartment. My longsuffering brother, Mark, helped me schlep all fifteen of my book boxes. He's a good kid, but his appreciation for the literary arts is tragically underdeveloped. He was scanning my shelves when he stopped and pointed at The Brothers Karamazov. […]
Ben Franklin’s oft-repeated motto, “Remember that time is money,” stands in need of a serious twentieth-century upgrade. Today, text is money. Intellectual property rights are the new cash cow, not the time clock. It’s a shame Jesus didn’t have a financial advisor to counsel him on such matters. If only he would have trademarked John […]
In his Phaedrus, Plato claimed that the spoken word was more powerful than the written word. Presence and gravitas could be conveyed through speech. Print, on the other hand, muted one's rhetoric. The great philosopher intended this as a blanket statement, true with respect to all persons. Plato's observation was prophetic, with regard to the […]
Once upon a time, but not so long ago, people had to smuggle Bibles and Christian literature into Eastern Europe and what was then the Soviet Union; border guards would ask travelers if they possessed any “guns, drugs, pornography, or Bibles”; and entire villages shared one copy of Holy Scripture, carefully tearing out pages and […]
"Ancient Christian Devotional: A Year of Weekly Readings", Thomas C. Oden, General Editor
If I had my time again, I would probably have spent it studying patristic or medieval theologians. The reason? Reformed theology, at least as developed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, drank deep at the wells of the early fathers and the greats of the Middle Ages; and, ironically, to understand Reformation theology one really […]
