Tag: Christian Spirituality
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Gospel Wakefulness
One of the more helpful works I have read concerning gospel-centered Christianity is Jared Wilson‘s Gospel Wakefulness. Perhaps most insightful to me was Jared’s point that gospel-centeredness can be explained but cannot be taught. In other words, it requires a grace of the holy spirit. I do not think this realization moves gospel-centeredness into a…
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Two Contents, Two Realities
Francis Schaeffer said: “there are four things which are absolutely necessary if we as Christians are going to meet the need of our age and the overwhelming pressure we are increasingly facing.” These four things are two contents and two realities: The First Content: Sound Doctrine The Second Content: Honest Answers to Honest Questions The First…
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Appropriating the Justifying Work of Christ
Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives. Many have so light an apprehension of God’s holiness and of the extent and guilt of their sin, that consciously they see little need for justification. Below the surface, however, they are deeply guilt-ridden…
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My Spiritual EKG
“How are you doing, Spiritually?” That is an important question. The Great Physician, by both direct and indirect statements in his Word, repeatedly encourages us to examine our hearts. But while many may be aware that it ought to be our regular practice to take a Spiritual pulse, I suspect that relatively few know how to read…
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Gospel-Centered Lives
From time to time I am asked by some in our church what I mean when I repeatedly declare that we are – and we must be – a Gospel-Centered Church. I think it may be the hyphen that confuses people. To be “something”-centered is simply to focus on the relation an individual or a church…
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Building a Bridge to Puritan Days
In Building a Bridge to the 18th Century, author Neil Postman suggests that in many ways we have not so much advanced, as a culture, as we have drifted over the years. Postman seems to believe we would do well to return to and reconnect with our philosophical roots and rebuild upon them. I might say…
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7 Maxims of Repentance
Jesus said: “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” (Luke 26.46-47) Seemingly few recognize that repentance is part of the message of the Great Commission. But that is…
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10 Gospel-centered Questions
Here are 10 questions to ask yourself – and maybe those few closest to you – that help uncover rivals of Christ as the functional savior of your heart: What are you desiring more than anything else? What do you find yourself day dreaming or fantasizing about? What lies are you subtly believing that…
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Ecstasy & Delight
Ecstasy and delight are essential to the believer’s soul and they promote sanctification. We were not meant to live without spiritual exhilaration, and the Christian who goes for a long time without the experience of heart-warming will soon find himself tempted to have his emotions satisfied from earthly things and not, as he ought, from…
