Category: Tim Challies

Yesterday Abby and Nathan welcomed their first child into the world: Finnegan Safir Nicholas Elfarrah. Because they live just minutes away, Aileen and I were able to be there shortly after his birth to rejoice with them and to meet our first grandchild. We are thrilled beyond measure. And he is cute beyond belief. They chose the name Finnegan mostly because they just plain liked it. As for Safir, Nathan’s family is Middle Eastern and culturally the child’s grandfather gets naming rights. Nate’s dad deferred the first name and took the second, going with Safir. Nicholas is, of course, Abby’s tribute to her brother. Little Finn came in at just over 7 pounds and is healthy and well. While I know grandparents don’t always get to pick what they are going to be called (that usually seems to fall to the oldest grandchild) I hope to be “opa.” I am not Dutch but grew up in Dutch churches and surrounded by a Dutch community and “opa” is a form of tribute to the wonderful grandfathers I saw in those years. I always wanted an opa and now hope to be a good one. As I write these words it strikes me that I began this website shortly after Abby was born and a good part of my motive was to share photos and updates about her and her brother for the benefit of my family. I remember sharing news of Michaela’s birth here the day she was born. Now all these years later, even though…See AlsoWeekend A La Carte (May 25)A Summertime Family Update (And Guess Who’s Going To Be a Grandfather!)O Little Child of Salem

What pleases God? What delights his heart? And what displeases God? What grieves his heart? If asked, I think most of us would assume that if we ever grieve the heart of God it will be through denying the gospel or committing a grave moral scandal. Or if we do so as a local church, it will be by compromising to the culture or apostatizing altogether.See AlsoCould I Be One of the Bad Guys?Are You a Lover of Good?Prayer That Pleases God

Motives matter, even (or perhaps especially) when it comes to something as very good as studying the Bible. The best motive for reading the Bible is to be transformed by it. For this to happen, we must approach our reading and studying with both confidence and humility, asking God to transform us through his Word. Many skeptics read the Bible for a very different purpose—so they can attack it or undermine it, so they can disprove it or mock it. They prove that great knowledge of the Bible may actually lead them farther from God, all because their motives have been wrong. But even Christians can read the Bible for ignoble purposes, perhaps so they can content themselves that they have more knowledge of it than someone else, or perhaps so they can feel like they have crossed off that box on their daily list of tasks. Martyn Lloyd-Jones once said, “It is a good thing to be a student of the Word, but only in order to be a practiser and experiencer of the Word.” He reminds us that our efforts in the Word should always be leading toward wisdom, which is living a life that is fully pleasing to God. It is good to be a student of the Bible, but only if we are studying for the right reason—to practice and experience it in our daily lives.See AlsoBreadth and DepthThe Most Remarkable CharacteristicTheology-ology

In many churches, it is standard practice to have Christians take some kind of a spiritual gift inventory. Through a series of questions that probe an individual’s interests, passions, and successes, these tests claim to help people discover the ways the Holy Spirit has gifted them to better love and serve his people.See AlsoConfronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the ChurchSearching for the Spiritual GiftsThe Gift of Spiritual Discernment (Part 2)