There are books you read when life is tidy, and then there are books you read when everything is slipping through your fingers. Bradley Gray’s Finding God in the Darkness belongs firmly in the second category. Gray doesn't offer a divine PowerPoint presentation or a 5-step plan to "fix" your pain. Instead, he dismantles the exhausting lie that we have to decode our suffering to survive it. Tracing our ache from the ruins of Genesis 3 to the silence of Job, Gray reminds us th

Main Reading: Ecclesiastes 7:14-19 v. 14 — “In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.” In the last section of verses, The Preacher advised us to avoid having selective memories about the past—don’t romanticize what it used to be like…or else you will foolishly ask: “how come things aren’t as good as they used to be?” And, now, The Preacher s

Did Jesus die only for the elect, or for everyone? Hebrews 2:9 says Christ “tasted death for everyone,” and that statement creates a major challenge for Limited Atonement. When read alongside Leviticus, the Day of Atonement, and the Old Testament’s global horizon, Hebrews presents a larger view of the cross than many assume.

Can I just say it? This section of Ecclesiastes seems disconnected and jumbled together. Some might even call it contradictory with other parts of the book. But, I think, that might actually be the point…the preacher speaks in a way that frustrates the foolish but will cause the wise to seek understanding. So, let’s be the kind of people who want to get to the bottom of this book of biblical wisdom and start figuring this thing out. v. 1 — “A good name is better than precious

In 1 Timothy 2, Paul ties the cross to prayer, urging believers to pray for all people because God desires all to be saved and Christ gave Himself as a ransom for all. This article explores what that means for prayer, evangelism, and the scope of Christ’s atonement—especially in light of the claim that Jesus died only for the elect.

Main Reading: Ecclesiastes 6:1-12 v. 1-2 — “There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil” Remember when chapter 5 ended with that warm, tender, fuzzy phrase about being “occupied with joy”? Well, I hope you weren’t expecting tha

[To see this article's related YouTube video, click here ]. Conversations about Calvinism online often seem like cage matches. There’s an unspoken rule that if you disagree with someone, you probably despise them too. But that’s not where I’m at, nor is it where I want to be. My distaste for someone’s distortion of Scripture does not mean I dislike who they are or everything they say. Just because someone believes in a Calvinistic form of predestination, “once saved, always s

Main Reading: Ecclesiastes 5:8-20 v. 8-9 — “If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields.” In this life, which can so often feel meaningless, you can’t count on much…Almost nothing is guaranteed. But nothing is off the table e

What does 1 John 2:2 mean? This verse says Christ is the propitiation not only for our sins but for the sins of the whole world. A closer look at one of the most debated passages in the limited atonement discussion.

Main Reading: Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 So far, in Ecclesiastes, we’ve been to the courtroom—where justice ought to be… We’ve been to the marketplace—where honest work should take place…and now we’re going to the temple—where people are supposed to gather and worship God. But Solomon, the Preacher & narrator, sees that true worship is rare and hypocrisy is the norm . Many people come and go in and out of the temple, “praising God,” praying, sacrificing, and making vows, but man

Main Reading: Ecclesiastes 4:7-16 In Ecclesiastes, we’ve been analyzing the sad state of affairs of life under the Sun. But the author does not want to inspire you to envy or hate those around you because of these difficulties. In this section, he’ll actually show you why the frustrations and worries of this world should encourage you to work with and for your neighbors; serving and helping them as you navigate life. He’ll show you how and why human beings are not meant to be

Main Reading: Ecclesiastes 4:1-6 Well, if there’s one thing you learn by skimming through Ecclesiastes, it’s that—if you want to—you can see the bad in everything…and that’s partially because everything is bad. All is vanity…meaningless…purposeless. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the things you’d expect to have meaning often have a bad one! Last time, Solomon’s big statement was: “in the place of justice, there was wickedness!” This time around, he sees a few more travesti

Main Reading: Galatians 2:17-21 If you know me, you know I have a lot of Bibles. But I only own one Bible-carrying case....It was a gift from my girlfriend, and it came personalized with my name and favorite Bible verse on it. In this article, we’ll cover that verse which sits atop the cover of my grey NET cloth over board bible; Galatians 2:20. I hope that, maybe, this fun fact will fuel your interest…Maybe, now, you’ll want to see why I would choose that verse over the t

Main Reading: Galatians 2:15-16 “We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified” In the last article, I focused on this little word: “justification.” It’s primarily a legal word. A verdict. A declaration

Main Reading: Galatians 2:15-16 If you walked up to 10 people and asked them “are you going to Heaven and why?” what do you think most of them would say?“I’ve tried to be a decent person.” “I go to church.” “I’m better than some people, and I hope that’s enough.” Thankfully, the Bible doesn’t leave that question up in the air…And that’s exactly what we’ll be talking about in this passage. v. 15-16 “We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a p

Main Reading: Galatians 2:11-14 “But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel

Main Reading: Galatians 2:1-10 “Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. Yet because of false brothers secretly

Main Reading: Galatians 1:11-24 “For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the tradi

Main Reading: Galatians 1:6-10 “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gos

Main Reading: Galatians 1:1-5 “Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” There’s no room to doubt who w