’Tis the season to be jolly—right? Just because we sing it and say it doesn’t necessarily make it true. The joy of Christmas—something that comes so naturally when we are children—can feel increasingly unattainable as we grow older. As we face more hardships and go through darker trials, our joy can grow dull. What can …

What are you grieving this Christmas? What makes you anxious as you approach the year’s end? Christmas may be a time of joy, but the gaps in our joy become all the clearer for that. In your discomfort and pain, where do you look for solace?  During a dark period of political oppression, Simeon awaited …

“God wants you to be happy!” I sometimes wonder if those of us in the Reformed world view such statements with mild suspicion. He desires us to be holy, sure. He wants us to walk in the truth, of course. But happy? At best, it’s a low-priority side benefit. Yet the angels announced the coming …

Christmas can be a difficult time of year for married couples. You face financial pressures, packed calendars, divergent expectations—not to mention time with your in-laws. Amid the chaos, you may feel like you have no time to nurture your relationship with your spouse. But I want to cast the Christmas season in a different light. …

Few of us would associate God’s love displayed at Christmas with war. But the Christmas story entwines these themes. The incarnate God, Jesus Christ, was and is the fulfillment of the ancient military promise of God recorded in Genesis 3:15. Just after the fall of Adam and Eve, the Lord God declared the serpent’s future …