English-speaking Christians, we have a vast array of hymns available to us, and we each have our list of favorites. In my assessment, the best hymns are those that are universal and timeless, speaking to all Christians in all times, places, and situations. They are firmly grounded in Scripture and drawn out of, or toward, the gospel of Jesus Christ. And they are inevitably coupled to a great melody. Here are my picks for the ten greatest hymns of all-time. Apart from the first, they are in no particular order. And Can It Be? by Charles Wesley. I begin with what I consider the greatest hymn by the greatest hymn-writer. Wesley’s “And Can It Be?” simply delights in the goodness of God while marveling at his saving grace. It captures every Christian’s experience of wandering, of...

I’ve got three kids: a five-year-old girl, three-year-old boy, and a one-year-old girl. They are in the sweet spot of life where they crave attention and affection. First thing in the morning or as soon as that front door opens at five o’clock in the afternoon, they flock to me. These moments give me delight and joy, and I know to make the most of them. I served as a youth pastor for a number of years. During that time I heard a common refrain from teens: “I’m not sure my parents like me anymore or ever did.” Upon exploring these doubts with students, I discovered that many felt like their parents chased after idols of career, comfort, and cash. Some had divorced parents and felt like those parent fought over who had to take the kids that week rather than who got to take them. These studen...

As we come to celebrate another Labor Day, it may be beneficial for us to step back for a moment and consider what Scripture has to say about the rhythm of work and rest—i.e. the cyclical configuration by which all the events of our lives occur. Learning the theology of work and rest is one of the greatest challenges of our own day. Many of us have adopted faulty views of work, and therefore have faulty views of rest. We are commanded to do all the work that needs to be accomplished every week in the six days that follow, and lead up to, the glorious day of rest. Then we are commanded to rest. This rhythm of work and rest is both a creational and a new-creational (i.e. redemptive) ordinance. The suffix to the 4th commandment in Exodus 20:11 and Deuteronomy 5:15 teaches us this. God command...

Social media can bring out the worst in us. We can post our immediate thoughts with a sense of minimal accountability. Facebook in particular is a public venting forum for all our least carefully considered thoughts. This feature of social media is on sad display in these days following the tragic situation in Ferguson, MO. It is not my purpose to write about the death of Michael Brown. The mere thought fills me with fear and trembling. Rather, I simply wish to make an appeal that we put down our weapons, cover our mouths, and for a moment simply grieve over the fact that our nation is still so divided over race. It is doubly grievous that Christians are so clearly divided. The level of certainty that some are displaying concerning what happened that awful night in Ferguson is remarkable. ...

“Are you sure about that?” This was the remark a very conservative professor made to me, over lunch, during my freshman year of college. He was responding to a flippant and hyper-spiritualized comment I made, something I was want to do in those heady days when I knew everything there was to know about the Bible and about the world. These were the days before I got married, before I had children, before I pastored. In other words, I thought I knew everything, but I really knew nothing. The comment I made was about the death of a comedian. I said something callous like, “Can you imagine a life spent making people laugh? What a waste!” Yeah, I really said that. Thankfully my conservative professor at my conservative Bible college offered this subtle, but pointed rebuke. I thought about this c...

The recent scandal over Thai surrogate baby Gammy involves just about every ethical question when it comes to children—surrogacy, abortion, selective termination of children with Down syndrome, and child abuse. No wonder the story has drawn an international audience, and Christians should not miss the opportunity to speak in defense of vulnerable and helpless children. The story first hit the news over a week ago when the Thai surrogate mother, Pattaramon, claimed that the biological parents, the Farnells, had left Gammy behind because he had Down syndrome but took his twin sister back to Australia. Since surrogacy was illegal in Australia, the Farnells resorted to Thailand and had paid Pattaramon about $15,000 to be the surrogate mother. Friends and family responded on behalf of the Farne...

It’s that time of year again.  Yellow buses practice their circuitous routes, stores brim with school supplies, and teachers adorn their rooms with inviting bulletin boards and welcoming smiles.  Back to school is officially upon us. I ended the summer reading through the Psalms and Proverbs.  As I drank in the wisdom of these two books, certain passages in particular have encouraged and directed my hopes for my children as they head back to school.  These verses have shaped my prayers and given words to the longings of my heart. As my children spend less time in my presence, I am thankful that I can bring all my concerns and cares before the Lord in prayer. Lord, I pray that my children would understand their need for Jesus and rejoice in the good news of the Gospel. B...

I’m in the middle of a move and, well, it isn’t the most fun I’ve ever had. Don’t get me wrong; I’m excited about where we’re moving to. Lord willing, in a couple weeks I’ll transplant my family to England so I can do graduate work at a university I’ve long dreamed of studying at. And it’s a stunning privilege to even have the choice to move somewhere, as opposed to being forced to move by oppression or deprivation. Still, for the moment, we’re stuck in between. We left our home in Louisville a couple weeks ago, and we’re staying with family for another couple weeks before setting out. At this stage, then, the move has been all undoing, all negation. We removed our home from the apartment it occupied, leaving only the faintest traces of a life. In the manner of a cleaning, we worked our wa...

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Gen. 1:26) What It Means to “Have Dominion” Over Creation One reason Christians have been particularly weak in dealing with ecological issues and the deterioration of the natural environment is a misunderstanding of what it means to “have dominion” over creation. Dominion does not mean destruction, but responsibility. It is important to avoid flawed convictions about the right and power of humankind in relation to the rest of the natural world. Francis Schaeffer elaborates: Fallen man has dominion over nature, but he uses it wrongly. The ...

The “celebrity pastor” is now a thing. Maybe it’s always been a thing (1 Cor. 1:10-17), but over the past few years it has become a source of concern and consternation for many. On the one hand I do see a problem, and on the other hand I can’t help but feel that some speak against popular preachers out of a sense of jealousy. I do not think that a pastor whose “platform” is large, influence is broad, and following is numerous is a celebrity pastor. At least, not in a bad way. The real problem is leadership that loses sight of the glory of Christ and focuses on the glory of man. Or, at least one man. But Celebrity Pastors do not simply build themselves. They are built with the help of fans. It’s not wrong or idolatrous to get a photo with a person y...

There’s a line in To Kill a Mocking Bird; “You can choose your friends, but you sho’ can’t choose your family.” The point being, we can’t run away from our responsibilities to our families. You can choose to stop being friends with someone. But you can’t choose to stop being related to someone. That observation is tremendously important when it comes to how Christians should think about the church. It’s important because the church is a family. That’s not just a sentimental way of describing how much you love your local church. It is a profound, radical truth that changes everything. When told that his mother and brothers were asking for him, Jesus responded by saying “whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” (Matt 12:50). In Matthew 17, Jesus ...

Image Credit: Patch Adams 8/12/2014, Time.com Recently a friend and I were talking about a third friend who is facing undiagnosed, yet very obvious, mental illness. Our mutual friend, “Bob” (real identity hidden), refuses to see a doctor. He thinks everyone in his world has a hidden agenda to harm him. In speaking to my friend, I said, “You know what Bob really needs? He needs a doctor like Patch Adams—one who can disarm him with laughter, win his trust, and then give him the treatment he needs.” Raising the name of fictitious doctor immediately pointed us to Robin Williams, the actor who brought his humorous ways to the screen role of a mental patient turned physician. Less than a week later, the world heard the tragic news of Williams’s death. We wonder to ourselves how someone who seeme...