They had very nearly succeeded in completely shutting up Guilt and Shameful with their worship appeasements and Pleasure’s satisfaction and encouragement (he, along with Willling, is one of the most influential citizens of Mansheart). But the truth was that the residents of the fair city had been deceived and were unaware of their origins. They thought they owed their allegiance…
Author: <span>Matthew Johnson</span>
There once was a small city situated in a lush countryside whose citizens lived a simple yet comfortable existence. They mostly did whatever they desired, and no one really ever thought twice about it. A powerful, forceful tyrant ruled over them. He was not. kind and generous, but the people never lacked for food or earthly delights; so for generations,…
Proverbs 19:11 describes the practice of overlooking a personal offense as a virtuous thing. We often consider exacting our justice upon one who has wronged us as best path toward self-satisfaction. This character quality of being able to overlook an offense is no small thing. Our inability to overlook an offense and to become bitter or angry when we feel…
The greatest threat to true brotherhood and Christian unity as desired by Jesus, and described by the Apostle Paul in Romans 14, is personal pride that causes us to elevate our personal opinions and “right to be right” above the unity found in Jesus Christ. “Only by pride comes contention,” says the poet in the Book of Proverbs. Pride within…
The efforts and prayers of my week reach a fevered pitch every Sunday morning around 11:20 am. I enjoy prayers, Bible reading, and music with my spiritual siblings prior to that time; but as 11:30 approaches, my heart beats faster, my palms get sweaty, my internal prayers become more excited and often terror grips me. You would think that I…
In the previous essay, I posited that immature people have certain characteristics that are hurtful to healthy Christian growth. I pointed out that all who are believers in Christ are a work in progress, but that God’s goal in sanctification is to present every man mature in Christ. God is doing a work in each saint’s heart and mind and…
As regenerated children of God, we understand that our chief end or ultimate purpose is to glorify God and (by?) enjoying him forever. But how we do that could be described as our chief duty (or “delight” if the word “duty” carries too much baggage for you). Our chief duty then is given by Jesus when he said that the…
It has been a while since I have had the chance to write a blog post. This text has been rolling around in my mind for some time (having recently taught through Jude), but I have not had the chance to formulate and type my thoughts. In Romans 16:16 Paul urges the Brothers in the church to watch out for…
Many Baptist, church-going adults remember attending Sunday School as a child fondly. The quaint little classroom with the blackboard; Miss “Mumford” and her cool little flannel-graphs whose characters never seemed to face the correct way; the little offering basket where we put in our nickles and dimes; and of course, singing those short children’s songs that sought to take profound…
Tim Challies (avid blogger and Christian author) recently interviewed Dr. Russel Moore about the value of reading fiction. I have always enjoyed some fiction (historical fiction sometimes irritates me, but that is just my tastes I suppose). In this portion of the interview, Dr. Moore writes some interesting thoughts about the value of fiction for the Christian and makes some…