Jesus never promised me a World Series championship. He never promised that my children would always succeed or that life would go according to plan. He promised something better.

What Israel’s story makes painfully obvious is that following the Lord is a lifelong lesson in “I believe, but help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).

When Dostoevsky died on February 9, 1881, he left behind novels that refuse to flatter the reader or simplify the human condition.

Fight the Power! In this episode, we learn from pastor and theologian Helmut Thielecke about the gods we worship, the God that encounters us, and what technology actually does to us. What do Satan’s temptations teach us about Jesus, God’s Word, piety, and making sense of mystery? Is Christianity supposed to be a sensible religion? What kind of “opium” does the evil one offer us to lead us away from the Truth? What is distinctive about the worshippers of the God of power? What happens when technology becomes a means of power rather than merely a tool? What does God’s fight for the world look like, and how does it conclude?

Merry Christmas, Christ has spoken, and his verdict stands.

On this, the birthday of Martin Luther, I will pause to thank God for his birth.

The testimony of the Word assures us that God isn’t waiting for us at the top of the stairs, with arms folded and brows furrowed.

We can lay down our sledgehammers of moralistic performance, which aren’t effective anyway, and we can trust that we are his and his life is ours.

Christian spirituality is not a flight from the world, but a deep dive into its brokenness.

For those with faith in Christ, there is always a happy ending.

One might say that the first statement of the Reformation was that a saint never stops repenting.

This is the first installment in the 1517 articles series, “What Makes a Saint?”