Here’s the question: will we hold onto the status quo or will we make room for Jesus and join the wedding celebration?

We are all—everyone us—diagnosed with a sickness unto death. And the sinners and tax collectors he sat among saw it. They saw their sickness. So they welcomed the Physician. But the Pharisees didn’t.

In this world, abuse of power comes as no surprise. That’s why when Jesus comes, his use of power is so surprising. With all the power in the universe, he uses it to lay down his life as a ransom for many.

Genesis 12:1 shows us what happens when God speaks to a man. Before God speaks, deadness and darkness; after God speaks, life abundant. Abram’s redemption—like every believer’s—began with God speaking. No one comes to saving faith apart from God’s effective call.

At 9:00 AM last Friday, I signed the closing papers on the house my wife and I owned for nearly eleven years. Immediately after, we signed the papers to purchase our next home.

It’s too easy for us to misunderstand the heart of God. From the beginning, the enemy has come with his damning question, “Did God really say…?” Since Adam and Eve answered, “No,” it’s been a disaster for the rest of us. When God comes, telling of his great love, we think, “Eh, maybe. Did he really say that, though?”

Why is suffering, like taxes, so ubiquitous? Joshua Chatraw and Mark Allen take up that question in their book Apologetics at the Cross: An Introduction for Christian Witness. They ask, “Does the Bible give an apologetic for our suffering?” Their simple answer is “Yes.”

At the end of the year, I look back with gratitude that God gave us the gift of language, the ability to write, and for all the writers who labored over every word to give the world a treasure.

Here’s what I read in 2018 in chronological order. First, the best. Then, the rest.

God moves in two directions: toward himself in holiness and toward his people in righteousness.