Seminary, Obedience, and Spiritual Maturity
I recently came across a portion of a John Piper sermon that I thought would be helpful for seminary students (like myself) to ponder. The excerpt is taken from a sermon entitled, By This Time You Ought to be Teachers based on Hebrews 5:11-14. According to this text, spiritual maturity does not take place by [...]
Why I am Pursuing a Ph.D. (2)
You can read part 1 here. 2. To grow in my ability to research and write for the good of Christ’s Church. I praise God for books! Clear, well-written, thoughtful, carefully-researched, biblically-saturated books have been one of the primary means by which God has grown and strengthened my walk with Christ. I want to serve [...]
The Theologian’s Character: More Wisdom From John Frame
I just completed John Frame’s The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God. The book is a wealth of theological and spiritual insight and I highly recommend it. It now resides on my desk, ready for its most valuable contents to be recorded onto my laptop. The following quote, I believe, places all theological labor in [...]
Spiritual Maturity and Doctrinal Debate
I am currently working my way through John Frame’s excellent book on theological method, The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God. It has been helpful in many ways. In particular is Frame’s section on “cognitive rest” and how genuine growth in our knowledge of God comes by way of spiritual maturity and growth in sanctification. [...]
The Difference Between Immoral People, Moral People, and Genuine Christians
“As we saw in both Edwards and C.S. Lewis, immoral people don’t want to obey, so they don’t; moral people don’t want to obey, but they do; Christians want to obey.” – Dane Ortland, A New Inner Relish, 173
A Tough Means of Grace: Profiting from the Rebukes of Others (2)
As we saw in the last post (Part 1), the path to wisdom is paved with the hard yet precious stones of reproof. Yet our ability to profitably accept rebuke and correction is not something we stir up by sheer will power, nor is it something that “just happens.” There are five vital steps we [...]
A Tough Means of Grace: Profiting from the Rebukes of Others (1)
Our ability to consistently receive correction, admonishment, and rebuke from others is a quality essential to our making enduring progress in our spiritual lives. There are no two ways around this truth: either we will readily receive correction and enjoy the fruits of godly wisdom, or we will entrench ourselves against reproof and gradually, but [...]
Thinking About Leaving Your Church? Don’t Be So Hasty
Here is a good word from Wayne Grudem that confronts our desire for the “perfect church:” Of course, if we are to work for the purity of the church, especially in the local church of which we are a part, we must recognize that this is a process, and that any church of which we [...]
Piper on Pressure and Productivity
A quote has been firmly wedged in my mind since I finished John Piper’s Brothers we are not Professionals that I thought I would share with you. It has been tremendously helpful to me as I have let it simmer in my heart over the past few days. In the chapter, Brothers, Read Christian Biography, [...]
Beware of False Maturity: A Stinging Quote from Jonathan Edwards
I have been reading Jonathan Edwards’ Religious Affections for two years now. It has taken this long because 1) I think a book like this requires slow, patient, thoughtful reading, and 2) I am only able to read it occasionally because I have a stack of other reading to complete for school. It is no [...]
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