If you have ever visited Wittenberg, Germany and have taken the time to tour its famous Castle Church, you may have made the same observation I did: The best part of the building is its doors. Castle Church is, of course, the spot where Martin Luther chose to post his Ninety-Five Theses. Centuries later, King Frederick William IV chose to commemorate the event by commissioning a beautiful set of bronze doors inscribed with Luther’s words. And, though they’ve been refurbished in the years between, they hang there still as the city’s foremost landmark.

Any tour of the cathedral begins with the doors. Once the tourists have gazed at them for a time, snapped the requisite photographs, and heard how Luther inadvertently sparked what we now know as the Protestant Reformation, the tour leads inside. And the inside is rather uninteresting by comparison. There are a few sculptures high up on the columns and a number of graves embedded in the floor, including Luther’s. But in most ways it is just another of Europe’s innumerable cathedrals without much to distinguish it from all the others.
I don’t know about you, but I consider it a disappointment when the doors to a building are the best part of the building. Likewise, it’s a disappointment when the opening scene of a film goes unsurpassed by any that follow over the next two hours, and a disappointment when the opening strains of an oratorio are the composer’s best. Handel was no fool when he made the “Hallelujah” chorus Messiah’s forty-fourth movement rather than its first.
This life can be pretty good at times. By God’s grace, we experience many pleasures and many joys. This world is full of delights and we honor God when we acknowledge them, experience them, and express gratitude for them. “Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun,” says Solomon metaphorically. “So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all” (Ecclesiastes 11:7–8a). We honor God when we marvel at a sunrise, when we savor a cup of coffee, when we raise our hands in worship, when we fall into bed with the husband or wife of our youth.
But even as we acknowledge all this, we must also acknowledge that this world is not Wittenberg and the Christian gospel is not Castle Church. The doors are not the best part. Rather, the pleasures of this life are nothing more than the the foyer, the atrium, the entranceway to much greater joys beyond. After all, no joy here is untouched by at least some measure of sorrow and no pleasure here is unattended by at least some element of pain. None of our pleasures are pure and unadulterated, but all are in some way clouded, all in some way alloyed. Every pleasure that fulfills some longing simply exposes another.
There is freedom in understanding and admitting this, for it means we can enjoy our pleasures as they are instead of being disappointed that they are not all we might wish them to be. We can enjoy them even though they are incomplete, even though they inevitably leave us ultimately unsatisfied. We can enjoy them as pleasures that gesture us toward greater pleasures to come. And we can understand that, when compared to the glory that will someday be ours, they are but the plain and unadorned doors that open into a splendid palace that is far beyond all we have ever imagined.

God does not distribute his gifts equally among all his children. Rather, to some he gives much and to others he gives little. Some are given great opportunities while others are given minimal opportunities, and some are given massive wealth while others are given paltry wealth or even straight-out poverty. Some have towering intellects while others are well below average, and some are able to receive a world-class education while others are able to receive no education at all. God, in his sovereignty, determines all of this.
The God who distributes his gifts unequally evaluates us fairly. He evaluates us on the basis of what he has given to us, not what he has given to another. To the one who has been given much, God expects much while to the one who has been given less, God expects less. The one whom God has created to be simple-minded is not expected to write great works or preach great sermons. The one who has been given little wealth is not expected to fund great institutions or support great missionary ventures. Rather, we are each to be faithful with what God has given to us so that the impoverished widow who gives two pennies receives the same commendation as the rich man who gives billions. I am convinced eternity will show that some of the people who honored God most fully by making the best of their gifts were all the while entirely unnoticed by the likes of you and me.
I was recently considering God’s gifts and pondering this: I have known Christians who have great gifts but low faithfulness. God has given them much and it is apparent that they are making little of it. They are five-talent people who in that great accounting may be explaining to God how they took all five—or four, at least—and hid them in the ground. “Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours” (Matthew 25:24-25).
I have also known men who have few gifts but great faithfulness. God has given them little and it is apparent that they are making much of it. They are one-talent people who in that great accounting may be explaining to God how they faithfully invested that small amount and doubled it. “Master, you delivered to me one talent; here, I have made one talent more” (25:20).
Some have been given great wealth but cling to it tightly while others have been given little wealth but spread it around plentifully. Some live in great mansions but rarely open their doors while others live in tiny homes but extend hospitality with generosity. Some have great natural speaking ability but prepare sermons lazily while others are shy and hesitant but apply themselves diligently. In other words, some make little of much and others make much of little.
It would be strange and probably thoughtless for any of us to approach another person and share our belief that they are among the ones to whom God has given little. Yet pondering all of this makes me want to raise a cheer for them—for those who know themselves to be of few gifts but great faithfulness. It makes me want to commend the ones who know God has not given to them as much as he may have given to others but who have received what he has assigned to them with contentment and who have determined that they will make the absolute most of it. It makes me want to say a “well done” to those who have decided that instead of resenting what God has not given them they will embrace what he has given them, and steward it with faithfulness. For these are the ones who please him, who honor him, and who magnify his name.

Good morning. Grace and peace to you.

There is a great batch of Kindle deals to work through today. The highlight might be Alex DiPrima’s Spurgeon: A Life which is brand new and a fraction of its usual list price. Besides that, there’s a collection of books for women and a good selection for scholars.

As Black Friday approaches, remember that I’ve got a collection of Kindle books and a separate collection of print books from various booksellers that I’m adding to day by day.

I really appreciate what J. V. Fesko says here about confessionalism and fundamentalism (and the superiority of the former over the latter).

This is a situation we all run into from time to time, isn’t it? “When someone senses that we have goodwill and respect for them, it enables them to lower their defenses and really hear what we are saying. Sincere kindness can therefore help us make progress in a disagreement. It helps unmake caricatures and promote understanding of what the other side is saying. Someone once said, in the context of preaching, that ‘unless love is felt, the message is not heard.’ So it is in our conversations.”

Looking for faith-inspired Christmas gifts for your loved ones (or yourself)? A great place to start is the Christmas Gift Guide from 21Five, Canada’s gospel-centered Christian bookstore. Explore hundreds of unique Christian books and products for everyone on your list! (Sponsored)

I take this as a helpful reminder that even while we continue to value apologetic instructions and tactics, there is also great value in personal testimony.

This is a perennial question, isn’t it? Kevin DeYoung answers it well.

Aaron talks about some unexpected evidence that he is growing as a Christian.

Wyatt is right that sexual ethics stand or fall upon our doctrine of God. He uses a recent book to illustrate the point.

Some critics will be well-intentioned while others will be bent on destruction; some will be attempting to do the right thing (even if in a ham-fisted way) while others will be attempting to wreak havoc. Yet the prideful and troubling temptation can be to treat them all the same. 

God’s providence is like God’s nature. Among the stars there are no haphazard movements. The sun never rises late. No star sets too early. So in providence, everything comes in its set time. God’s clock is never a second slow.
—J.R. Miller