The Bible exhorts us to give thanks always and for everything. Gratitude is a perennial obligation for creatures, and especially for blood-bought creatures. Thus, it’s a gift of common grace that our culture continues to block out a specific time of the year to encourage gratitude. And on this Thanksgiving weekend, I find myself filled […]
Over the years I have collected lapel pins. I have pins that point to theological institutions, the United States Military, academic credentials, and even one that tips a hat to the local police department where I live. I like a nicely done pin and believe it looks good on a suit jacket. Bethlehem College & […]
Bethlehem Seminary in Yaoundé, Cameroon is a church-based extension site of Bethlehem College & Seminary. Dieudonné Tamfu (class of 2009), is the Director of the extension site where he is also serving as a full-time professor. For a seminary to be truly church-based, it needs to be in close association with a church or a […]
My favorite verse in the Bible is Romans 11:36: “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” Several years ago I asked one of my friends to design that passage so that I could display it on canvas over the fireplace in our home. This […]
It’s easy to say “Praise the Lord!” in times of peace and plenty but more challenging when life is painful and perplexing. Psalm 113 provides us with fertile soil in which fresh praise can flower. “Praise” is the theme of Psalm 113 (the word occurs five times in nine verses). This psalm expresses when and […]
Why should we love God? This seemingly impertinent question is answered by the American theologian Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758). Edwards defined a truly virtuous person as exemplifying benevolence to all or displaying “consent, propensity, and union of heart to Being in general, which is immediately exercised in a general goodwill” (540).[1] In other words, to be […]
This past August, my two older boys and I decided to join another family to backpack in the Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming. For my ten- and twelve-year-old boys, this would be the first time that they did real backpack camping—we would be carrying all our gear and food for several days. We had an […]
Sometimes, the Bible forbids one thing and demands something else in its stead. None of this, and only that. None of what? And instead of it, only what? Here is an example from Paul in Ephesians 4:29. None of this: corrupting talk. And only what? Only such as is good for building up, as fits […]
We live in an age of agitation. If there’s one constant in our day, it’s that everyone is restless, anxious, on edge, and stirred up. This restless anxiety and agitation is significantly influenced by voices. And while it’s fashionable and easy to lament the voices that stir us up to anger and desire and agitation, […]
One of the important weekly events at Bethlehem occurs when we gather together for chapel. Recently my friend, Dr. Jared Compton, spoke from our fall chapel text, John 15, which says, “remain in me.” Jared called us to know who we are in Christ. This knowledge of who we are is gained and maintained by […]