Dear Friends, Life is not always easy. Things come our way that inflict pain and wound the heart. Sickness can steal away our energy and strength for a time – though it is more difficult when it is chronic. My father was diagnosed with Rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 43 and struggled with its effects until he passed away at 85 – being told close to that time that his physical body was like that of a 110-year-old. Being in constant pain earned him the occasional nick-name, “Grumpy Grampy.” I could understand why. Pain is no fun. I’m not the easiest to be around when I’m in constant pain either. And as John Owen once pointed out, “It is not the intensity of the trial, but its longevity, that eats away at our resolve.” Therefore, if you are struggling in this area (or know someone who is), today I offer you some helpful words from Charles Spurgeon. Yet, it helps to point out he was not giving advice as one who did not himself struggle. He battled much of his life with depressi
Dear Friends, One of my professors (Jerry Bridges) once let us listen to a cassette tape recording (2001) of best-selling Christian authors at a Christian Booksellers Conference. They were asked the question: “What is the Gospel?” The answers given by every one of the best-selling authors who were interviewed varied from lacking at best, to tongue-tied and scrambling for an answer, to completely heretical. Yet, the Gospel is the one message every believer should know through and through, since everything in the Christian life flows out of the Gospel! Therefore, today, I pass along some insights or descriptions of the Gospel that are very much “spot on” and in line with the biblical Gospel, because to the extent that we get the Gospel wrong, we weaken it’s saving and life-transforming power and can lead people astray. If the Gospel (the one given in the New Testament) “IS the power of God for the salvation of all who believe” a different Gospel (Galatians 1:6-7) does not carry