This week the blog is sponsored by The Gospel Coalition. You’re Not Crazy is a practical guide designed to help weary leaders renew their love for ministry by equipping them to build a gospel-centered culture into every aspect of their churches. They remind us that while we’re quick to assert what the gospel says, we’re often too slow to admit what the gospel should do for our churches: reflect Christ’s beauty through a godly, grace-filled culture. Visit the TGC store to purchase this encouraging guide that will help church leaders like you to build a culture of honesty, honor, Christ-filled preaching, and gentle leadership in your church. 

Like many people, I use an app to keep track of my health. I make notes of my sleep quality, weight, exercise, and (if I’m really being diligent) my caloric intake. I can see all this at a glance and measure the trends from week to week. It’s been useful. I live with Crohn’s disease, and these metrics give me a basic sense of how I’m doing. The trouble is, of course, all those metrics I need to track for Crohn’s could be going well but I could still be seriously unwell. After all, there’s more than one way to be sick.
The same is true of our churches. I’ve had the great privilege of being in theologically careful churches the whole of my Christian life. I don’t take this for granted. At each of these churches, the Bible’s authority drove our ministries and teaching. In each case, the congregations were encouraged to listen to preaching with their Bibles open and to make certain what was taught lined up with what is in the text. Teachers were always open to correction, and I continue to rejoice in the blessing of the many years I sat under their faithful exposition.
But there’s more than one way to be unhealthy. In 1 Timothy 5:8, Paul wrote, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives . . . he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” In that line, Paul makes a declaration I missed for many years. I’d always seen denying the faith as a theological failure, but here we see it’s also possible to deny the faith by what we do (or fail to do). It’s possible for someone who has never strayed theologically to deny the faith practically by failing to embody it.
We humans are culture-creators. How we are with each other always takes on a particular relational dynamic, shared personality, or noticeable tone. It’s true of friendship groups, workplaces, families, and churches. We shape one another in many complex ways, and a resulting culture always emerges. The question is, How fully does a church’s culture align with its doctrine? That’s why Ray Ortlund and I wrote the book You’re Not Crazy: Gospel Sanity for Weary Churches.
We’re longing for the beauty of Christ to shape every aspect of our churches—not only the content of our teaching but also the quality and flavor of our relationships. We believe that the culture of our churches, empowered by the doctrine of our churches, can make the presence of the risen Jesus a felt reality in this generation. Our hope is that this book can be the app that helps you track and improve your church’s cultural health, that it will be a catalyst for faithfulness so that the truth of Christ shapes your creeds and sermons and the beauty of Christ adorns your life together. When this is true, we believe our churches will be a prophetic presence in today’s world.
Find out more about You’re Not Crazy: Gospel Sanity for Weary Churches in the TGC store.

There are few things I love more than a good sunrise. There are few things I love more than waking up before dawn, driving to one of the parks or beaches along the shores of Lake Ontario, and watching the sun rise over the waters. Some of the richest and most beautiful displays of God’s artistry are painted across the sky in those few moments just before and just after the sun rises beyond the far horizon. It never fails to awe, never fails to delight, never fails to inspire.

One of my favorite spots is on the edge of a conservation area a few minutes from my home. After cutting through some dark forest and walking along several boardwalks, I arrive at a rocky beach. Following the shore for some time, I come to the mouth of a small creek that empties into Lake Ontario. The lake is before me, swampy marshland behind me, this little creek beside me. I have only ever had the place to myself and have only ever seen the sun rise beautifully from this spot. I set up my tripod and camera. I sit and wait to see what God will do.
I have enjoyed some beautiful moments here. I have watched the mist rise as swans paddle their way between myself and the sun, their form perfectly silhouetted against the bright yellows and oranges of the dawn. I have had herons land just feet away and stand stock-still before me, little otters skitter past, diving birds splash into the water all around.
This little conservation area is one of the few truly beautiful spots in an area of bland, boring suburbia. It is an oasis of beauty in the midst of the endless sprawl of the Greater Toronto Area. It is my own little paradise in an ocean of ugliness.
And it strikes me as being a little parable for myself and every other Christian. Each of us is deeply and terribly flawed, each of us entering our spiritual lives utterly given over to sin. Over the course of our lives the Lord does remarkable things within us. By his Spirit he enables us to put sin to death and come alive to righteousness, to strip off the garments of the old man and to begin to don the garments of the new one. By his Spirit he increasingly and wonderfully conforms us to the image of Jesus Christ.
But while God truly does substantial things within us, we remain as close to the image of Christ as this little conservation area is to paradise. We genuinely do make progress, yet always know that many decades of struggle in this life will be but baby steps compared to the mighty leap we will experience when we are finally perfected in the moment of death. The best of us take great strides in perhaps one or two areas—in humility or sympathy, in patience or gentleness. But the best of us still have such great flaws, such tragic imperfections, and will take them with us to the grave. The best of us are like these few acres of natural beauty in the midst of a city chock-full of suburban sprawl and industrial ugliness.
But there is one who perfectly mastered the art of living a true, beautiful, and perfect life. There is one who lived free from flaws and imperfections. There is one to whom we look as an example for living now and as a promise of how we shall live when we are finally called home, finally perfected, finally enabled to be all we can be in Him. There is one who shows us what it will be to live in the coming paradise.

You’ve got just a couple of days left to save 80% on a giant list of great commentaries from some of the most important series. There’s also a giant list of other books from Eerdmans that will go off sale on December 31. I also added a substantial list of standard Kindle deals both today and yesterday.
My gratitude goes to TMAI for sponsoring the blog this week. TMAI is one of those organizations I’ve seen in action all over the world! They are asking you to help them make an impact in 2024 and beyond.

Sarah tells about the New Year’s resolution she is adopting next year. She also encourages you to consider the same one.

Keith Mathison: “Rather than hate that lost person because he or she is doing what any biblically informed Christian should expect a totally depraved sinner to do, namely sin, we should pray for them. Show them the compassion and love of Christ. Tell them that life is not meaningless. Tell them that with Christ, there is light at the end of the tunnel, eternal light. We cannot simply assume that a lost person is a lost cause.”

I found this a really helpful video on getting over anxiety triggers. Kudos to CCEF for creating excellent video content like this.

Stephie shares what she calls a “psalm of collective lament.” Consider it an adaptation of several biblical laments.

Kevin explains that “as one year ends and a new one begins, I can’t help but ask two questions to myself, ‘Will Jesus Christ return in 2024?’”

John Piper has counsel for those whose Bible reading feels a mite flat.

Here is a great promise about the extent of God’s forgiveness. God blots out our transgressions so he can forget our sins. He deliberately erases from his accounts every record of what we have done wrong.

Prayer delights God’s ear; it melts his heart; and opens his hand. God cannot deny a praying soul.
—Thomas Watson