What he worships is not the only thing that separates an idolater from a true worshiper.
I really think that we can participate in “Christian worship” in an idolatrous way. In prayer, in praise, the character of the God we turn toward alters the character of our worship. If that God is one shorn of all [...]

Posted in Idolatry, Prayer, Time, Worship 3 Comments »

“For they [the believers in Macedonia and Achaia and "everywhere"] themselves report concerning us [Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy] the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, [...]

Posted in 1 Thessalonians, Idolatry, Worship No Comments »

A remarkable thing I have discovered about writing: it works best when I don’t plan on it. What I mean is that when I sit down in my chair, with a tweed suit and a writerly smudge on my thumb, for the purpose of re-enacting the Great Literary Act–then I am unusually open to the [...]

Posted in Holiness, Psalms, Worship No Comments »

The following is an article I wrote for the Dordt Diamond. I felt that it was worth posting to a wider audience as well, because I am really encouraged by the things it says about at least some of the Dordt student community.

Equipping the saints takes on a new meaning in former Dordt-student Dea Lieu’s [...]

Posted in Dordt College, Missions, Worship 1 Comment »

I used to ask myself what persecuted, or down-and-out, or depressed Christians had to hope for. Sure, heaven. That is big. But the difficulty with heaven, pace the “Christian Children’s Literature” I had read, full of pious heroines, and little boys who died from being hit by carriages while helping old women across streets and [...]

Posted in Heaven, Psalms, Worship 6 Comments »

To you, O Lord, I call;
my rock, be not deaf to me,
lest, if you be silent to me,
I become like those who go down to the pit.
Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy,
when I cry to you for help,
when I lift up my hands
toward your most holy sanctuary.
Our rock speaks. This is the difference [...]

Posted in God, Time, Worship No Comments »

From The Valley of Vision:
O Maker and Upholder of all things,
Day and night are thine; they are also mine from thee–
The night to ride me of the cares of the day,
to refresh my weary body,
to renew my natural strength;
the day to summon me to new activities,
to give me opportunity to glorify thee,
to serve my generation,
to [...]

Posted in Lord's Day Quotes, Worship No Comments »

He then meditates upon the benefits which he received from God, and thereby stirs himself up to thanksgiving. [italics mine] — John Calvin, Commentary on Psalm 16
As I prepare my heart for worship this morning, I am struck by verse 6 of Psalm 16–chiefly because I didn’t know what it meant. “The lines,” announces David, [...]

Posted in Lord's Day Quotes, Psalms, Worship No Comments »