I wrote the following letter to a new born child who was adopted by a family in our church. The parents feared that as the child grew and came to realize it was adopted it might view this as a stigma rather than a blessing. Perhaps they would ques...

Byron YawnThere are two great threads in the Bible: Law and Gospel. The Law is threat, judgment, demand, obligation and condemnation. The Gospel is promise, mercy, grace and redemption. In the first we are required to do but cannot. In the latter ...

Shame is a demoralizing emotion. It’s an indiscriminate sort of internal bully. No person, regardless of their relative confidence or station in life, is exempted from its ridicule. There is no route home where shame is not waiting for you. It can...

Statistics show that anxiety (in various levels) affects about 18 percent of adults in the United States. That averages out to about 40 million people. No other emotional disorder even comes close anxiety’s reach. In 2010 forty six million prescri...

Books that simultaneously challenge my perspectives and comfort my soul don’t come around every day. The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert has recently done this in my life. This book traces Rosaria Butterfield' story of redemption and chroni...

Our Father is continually watching over us with a holy and righteous gaze. What does He see? Adopted children who have received His unmerited acceptance and unconditional love. A powerful love that transforms His beloved into the likeness of His S...

It seems unnatural to separate how we feel with what we know as it relates to our assurance of salvation. For many, the pursuit of assurance has been primarily a task of evaluating feelings, actions, and emotions. While this method seems sufficient and natural, it will inevitably demonstrate itself ineffective against the overwhelming faithlessness that we are so prone to have. But, as we will see below, making the separation between the grounds for our salvation (the objective reality) and the evidence of our salvation (the subjective reality) is the only way a Christian can find true peace.

The Law and the Gospel are not the same thing. If you confuse them you lose the Gospel and end up with self-justification.

Is our Gospel Law and our Law Gospel?

How acceptable are our good works? We all have bad days, but on our best days what does the Father think of our obedience? Is He only concerned with sincerity of heart? Does He approve of those who give their best effort? The answer: Scripture tel...