Never Given a Stone

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Psalm 119:81 ESV – “My soul longs for your salvation; I hope in your word.” When we come to the word of God, we come to eat at a table that the Lord himself has prepared for us. He’s laid before us a never-ending feast in the pages of Scripture. It’s a table full of hope where we taste and see his goodness, and the mercy that has pursued us all our lives. We come at his invitation, by his provision, not to simply know more about the Bible, but to know the God of the Bible well, to love him well with our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to obey him well in … [Read more...]

All This and Christ, Too

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Romans 8:32 (ESV): “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” In his devotional Morning and Evening, Charles Spurgeon tells a short story of an old woman who had nothing but a bit of bread and water, but she lifted her hands in blessing and said, “What! All this, and Christ, too?” When we re-frame our circumstances in view of what God has done for us in Christ, everything changes. We have been given the very Son of God, and our hope is secure when it’s placed in the hands of a loving … [Read more...]

What My Daughter Needs to Know

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Recently, I've been having a lot of conversations with friends about daughters and the common challenges that parents of girls often encounter. As I've been considering all of these discussions, four specific thoughts have surfaced about the truths my daughters need communicated to them as they continue to grow. She needs to know God's forgiveness. My daughter needs to hear the hope of the gospel, that Jesus makes her clean and redeems all that is sinful and broken in her. When I'm correcting her and calling her to repentance, she needs to hear that God's posture … [Read more...]

Work for the Lord Christ

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Do you ever find yourself being quick to dismiss your daily work as ordinary and sometimes meaningless? Even if we don’t say it like that out loud, many times, that’s how we think about our work or treat our tasks. It’s really hard to keep in mind that we’re not working for the approval of others because we really do want to find our work rewarding and fulfilling. We want to make an impact, we certainly don’t want all of our efforts to go unseen, and it would be especially helpful if someone would come along and tell us, “I see you and I value what you’re … [Read more...]

Gospel Hope for the Perfectionist

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His shoulders were slumped in a way that I instantly recognized. Seeing him like this always gives me parallel feelings of frustration and compassion. Frustration, because this is a frequent struggle for him. I often selfishly wish he’d just “get it over with” and win this already. But I can also feel compassion, because he’s engaged in a conflict that I understand on a personal level. Perfectionism is a lifelong, ingrained, human-nature battle that I fight, too.   Need a perspective shift Perfectionism manifests itself in various concentrations from one … [Read more...]