In the meantime

Struggling with doubts about one's salvation is quite commonplace among believers. Indeed, if we are honest, I think many of us would agree that we have asked ourselves the question: "Am I truly saved?"  As a teenager, I had several conversations with my mom about my assurance of salvation. While I don't remember all the details of those often-late-night conversations, I do remember my mom pointing me back to Scripture and reminding me of what God says. Even now as an adult, there are still occasional moments of doubt.   Assured: Discover Grace, Let Go of Guilt, and Rest in Your Salvation by Greg Gilbert is a helpful little discussion about how to deal with these moments of doubt. Its goal is to drive us back to Scripture and remind us of what our salvation truly rests on. Four Sources of Assurance  The majority of the book centers around a discussion of four sources for our assurance: the Gospel of Jesus Christ, God's promises, the Holy Sp...

The ladies' Sunday School class at church just finished going through Women of the Word , by Jen Wilkin.    While I had read it once before, it was a blessing to go through it again! Yes, I am a slow learner and need to have things repeated over and over again . It was an incredibly helpful book for learning how to approach God’s Word for myself in order to clearly understand what it is saying.  In several ways, this book has helped me to put together some pieces of the “Bible study methods” puzzle that before seemed obscure and vague, without a clear fit into the picture. In my understanding of the big picture of how to study the Bible for myself, Women of the Word contributed one significant piece: that piece was a grid for approaching the passage and determining how that affects my life.  This is most easily summed up into three main questions: What does this passage teach me about God?  How does this aspect of God’s character change my view of self?...

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay,   to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.   We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;   always carrying in the body the death of Jesus , so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.  For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.   So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, I believed, and so I spoke, we also believe, and so we also speak,  Knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.   For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of...

A year ago this time we had just found out we were expecting, and twins at that. “Wait! Us? Parents?! Can this be happening??”   The dust from the excitement hardly had time to settle before we found out that something had gone wrong and we had miscarried. That was a year ago. In one sense it feels like it happened so incredibly long ago…almost as if it was only a bad dream.  In another sense, my life has been forever changed by those two little ones that God appointed to live for only a few short weeks.  Sometimes I cannot help but think of what would have been…that they would be close to 4 months old already. What would life be like with two boys, or two girls, or a boy and a girl in our family?  What would we have named them? How would life look like if we were a family of four right now?  And I probably would hardly remember what it feels like to have a normal night of sleep. But thinking of “what could have been's” is utterly futi...

With 2016 almost here,  the New Year provides an opportunity to start new goals for our Bible reading/study routine. Maybe you already have something in mind that you're planning on doing.  That’s great!  However, if you don’t, here are some suggestions: 1. Chronological Reading Plan:       This is the kind of plan I've been using this year and I’ve really enjoyed it (I am dreadfully behind though…)  Reading all of the events of the life of David side-by-side, along with various Psalms mixed in, has made things fit together a lot better in my mind!  Or reading the Major Prophets and all the pronouncements of judgment that are being made makes a lot more sense when they are  side-by-side with events going on in Kings and Chronicles.       The Chronological approach is really helpful in getting a mental grasp on how all the historical events, the Old Testament prophecies, poetic liter...

I just finished reading Taking God at His Word by Kevin DeYoung.  After Isaac finished it, he made the comment that “it would be hypocritical to say ‘that was a good book’ and not proceed to then immerse oneself in the Bible.”  And it is true: This little book elevates the sufficiency, clarity, authority,and necessity of the Bible to such an extent that you cannot miss the point that the Bible is the Word of God and as such, we would do well to make reading it and studying it the ultimate priority in our lives ! DeYoung says, “Only in Scripture do we encounter the fullness of God’s self-disclosure.” (page 116) Furthermore, “…Scripture carries all the weight of divine authority because it comes entirely from divine origination.  And this is true for all Scripture.  Every book, every chapter, every line, every word—all of it is breathed out by God.  Not just the obviously theological parts.  Not just the memorable stuff.  Not just the parts...

“If we learn to read the Bible down (into our hearts), across (the plot line of Scripture), out (to the end of the story), and up(to the glory of God in the face of Christ), we will find that every bit of the Bible is profitable for us.  To affirm the sufficiency of Scripture is not to suggest that the Bible tells us everything we want to know about everything, but it does tell us everything we need to know about what matters most.  Scripture does not give exhaustive information on every subject, but in every subject on which it speaks, it says only what is true.  And in its truth we have enough knowledge to                                                           turn from sin, find a Savior, make good decisions, please God, and get to the root of our deepest problems.”  ( Taking God At His Word , by Kevin DeYoung...