The Faithful Christian a blog of The Lighthouse Ministries

Long ago, Augustine of Hippo pointed out that the desire of every human heart is to experience a love that is transcendent. Regrettably for us today, however, I don’t think there’s any word in the English language that’s been more stripped of the depth of its meaning than the word  love . Due to the shallow romanticism of secular culture, we tend to view the love of God in the same way popular music, art, and literature view love. Yet the Bible says God’s love is far different—and greater. First John 4:7-11 gives us this classic statement with respect to the love of God: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love…. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his only Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Here the Apostle grounds his...

Darkness to Light Ronald Reagan’s tomb features this phrase: “I know in my heart that man is good, that what is right will always eventually triumph, and there is purpose and worth to each and every life.”  We all want to believe that man is good. I suspect that most people do, anyway. Perhaps if the scales of justice weighed one person against another, some would surely be weighed and measured as good. Plenty of people with whom I’ve shared the gospel have thought so. They’ve tried to convince me that they are good people and that I needed to talk to the bad people. Yet, those of us well versed in the depravity of the heart know better. We know that none of us, not even one, is good, not even a little bit.  But after recently studying a passage from Ephesians, it struck me that I don’t always live out this knowledge. Even after following Christ for about 17 years, I still whitewash my own depravity. I often imagine myself a decent fellow, the type of ...

The term  Christian hedonism  may sound like an oxymoron at first. After all, if “hedonism” is the pursuit of  pleasure , then how can it be Christian? But, as John Piper points out, pleasure  per se  is not anti-God. Pleasure, in one sense, is a gauge of how much importance we place on what we value. Piper coined the term  Christian hedonism  as a provocative way to express a timeless truth: God is not glorified in us as He ought to be when He is not our greatest joy. Or to put it positively, in the words of Piper, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” Underlying the truth of Christian hedonism is the idea that God has designed each of us with an innate desire to pursue happiness. The problem is not that we seek pleasure; the problem is that we seek pleasure apart from God. In the Bible God does not condemn people for seeking happiness but for seeking it in ways that ignore, neglect, or rebel against Him ( Jeremiah 2:13...

In some churches, it is a word that conjures up images of an angry and capricious God who acts arbitrarily to save some, but consigns most sinners, including deceased infants, to eternal Hell. For many professing Christians, it is the mother of all swear words. Let the pastor breathe it in the presence of the deacon board and he risks firing, fisticuffs or worse. A God who chooses is anti-American, anti-democracy. It bespeaks a long-faced, puritanical religion, a doctrinal novelty invented by a maniacal 16th-century minister whose progeny manufactured a theological “-ism” that has plunged countless souls into a godless eternity. In other churches, it is a cherished word that describes a beloved doctrine, one that bestows comfort and unshakable confidence that not one maverick molecule, not one rebel subatomic particle exists outside of God’s loving providential control, even in the matter of salvation. Want to start a lively conversation? Then utter the word: predest...

Jesus spoke this parable to show what the kingdom of heaven will be like when the end of the age comes. In the parable, the king sends his servants out to gather the wedding guests to the wedding feast. But those invited refused to come, some because they were too busy with their own worldly pursuits and some because they were positively hostile toward the king. So the king commands his servants to go out and invite anyone they find, and many come and fill the wedding hall. But the king sees one man without wedding clothes, and he sends him away. Jesus concludes by saying that many are called/invited to the kingdom, but only those who have been “chosen” and have received Christ will come. Those who try to come without the covering of the blood of Christ for their sins are inadequately clothed and will be sent into “outer darkness,” (v. 13) i.e., hell.  Many people hear the call of God which comes through His revelation of Himself through two things—the creation and the conscie...

No one was present as observer when life began, and neither model of origins can be reproduced in laboratory experiments. There is much evidence that Creation is a correct understanding of origins, but the belief that Creation took place in six literal days is based primarily on Scripture. Here are some evidence from Scripture to support this view: 1) The Hebrew word "yom" The Hebrew word for day,  yom,  as in English, is used both for a literal, twenty-four-hour day and also for an indefinite period of time, such as in the expression “ For the day of the  Lord  is at hand ” (Joel 1:15). However, the word,  yom,  always means a twenty-four-hour literal day when it is used with a numeral—day one, day two, first day, second day, etc. There are no exceptions to this rule. In the Genesis Creation account,  yom  is used with a numeral, indicating that it intends the reader to understand that these are literal days of twenty-four hours. 2)...

The origin of Christmas is presented beautifully in the well-known  biblical account of Luke : "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came up...