God’s goodness to you includes his empowering presence to make you more like Jesus. That is indeed the good that every Christian wants, walking by the Spirit.
Author Archives: John Clayton
Trials Teach
Trials teach. They teach us to honor and glorify God. They teach us to walk humbly before him.
And they teach us to rejoice in God’s provision. Let us be faithful to listen.
Peace with, for, and of God
Are we really supposed to pray about everything? Don’t divorce this word from the context. Contextually, “everything” means: If it is a matter that tempts you to worry, that makes you anxious, then it must be a matter of prayer. Pray about these things.
Ordinary Providence
When considering the pain and suffering of this life, many people make one of two assumptions about God. He is either good but not all powerful, or he is powerful but not all good.
Lawless Deeds, Definite Plan
Sometimes, do the circumstances of life make you wonder: Is God really in control? Perhaps doctrinally you know better, but do your thoughts and actions tell differently? Do you wonder sometimes: If God is good, and if “for those who love God all things work together for good” (Rom. 8:28), then do bad things mean that God has lost control? Is he merely a spectator, watching as events unfold? Or, does he wait to respond or react as necessary?
The Gospel of Resurrection
In Christ, paradise lost becomes paradise regained. And in Christ’s final act of subordination, he will submit the kingdom to God, that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit may be “all in all.” As Calvin summarizes, “all things will be brought back to God, as their beginning and end.”
Made to Worship
The world is searching for significance, and at this time for an affirmation that there is more to life than mere survival. Let us not point them to the idols of our culture but instead let us point them to Christ. For, only in Christ are we redeemed to do precisely what we were made to do: glorify and enjoy God forever.
The Bond of Peace
In other words, maintaining peace in the local church is not a cause to fight for but an act of worshipful service to our Triune God. As we live out our faith in Christ in the local church “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,” the “unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” is revealed.
Rejoice in the Lord Always
The term joy is often misunderstood by modern Christians because of the way it is defined and used in our culture today. Joy is often considered a synonym for happiness, which in modern use is understood as more sentimental than substantive.
Love Shines Through
It is as practical as the commandments in Leviticus and as beautiful as the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord. And when we as the church love one another as Christ loved us, that love shines through to the world, awaiting a fitting response. May the world watch and see and say: “Certainly these are the followers of Christ, they have been with Jesus.”[8]
Planter, Pastor, Preacher 