Christian Living
Christian Living
Christian Living
Reasons for reading the Bible
So what reason could there be to read the Bible? Well, praise God, there are some very good reasons for reading this long, challenging book. Let me mention just three of them. Read because It Is God’s Word First, we need to understand that the Bible is not irrelevant. In...
Christian Living
God’s promises in Christ while encountering affliction
Here are a few guidelines that the Puritans provide us with for using God’s promises in Christ while encountering affliction: 1. Choose some verses that speak of Christ’s assurance of His presence and protection in trials and meditate on them so that you will not be at a loss for...
Christian Living
The Benefits of Meditation
The Puritans devoted scores of pages to the benefits, excellence, usefulness, advantages, or improvements of meditation. Here are some of those benefits: Meditation helps us focus on the triune God, to love and to enjoy Him in all His persons (1 John 4:8)—intellectually, spiritually, aesthetically. Meditation helps increase knowledge of...
Christian Living
Are We Hindering Our Children?
When the Lord saw His disciples rebuke those who were bringing young children to Him, He was “much displeased” and issued a strong double command: “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not” (Mark 10:14). Parents have a duty to bring their children to Christ, and...
Christian Living
Instill Truth
Proverbs 23:22–23 says, “Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old. Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.” Solomon borrows imagery from the marketplace: parents are selling wares to their children. He urges the parents to...
Christian Living
A Big God—A Large Life
If you are not yet a follower of Christ, Satan comes to you and says, “Don’t be a Christian! If you become a Christian, your life will be restricted; you’ll be in a small world.” But the opposite is true. When I came to the end of my enlistment in...
Christian Living
Fear God, and keep his commandments
Fear God, and keep his commandments. — ECCLESIASTES 12:13b Most of the time when we hear the word “fear” we think of being very afraid of something. But that is not what fear means here. To fear God means to love and respect God. Love and respect for God is...
Christian Living
Catechetical Evangelism
Like the Reformers, the Puritans were catechists. They believed that pulpit messages should be reinforced by personalized ministry through catechesis —the instruction in the doctrines of Scripture using catechisms. Puritan catechizing was evangelistic in several ways: First, scores of Puritans reached out evangelistically to children and young people by writing...
Christian Living
The Puritan Evangelist
The Puritan evangelist brought to his work a unique inward disposition or frame of mind and soul. Commitment to godliness lay at the heart of the Puritan vision. Thomas Brooks wrote, “A preacher’s life should be a commentary upon his doctrine; his practice should be the counterpane [counterpart] of his...
