This week the blog is sponsored by Ligonier Ministries. Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research have partnered to find out what Canadians believe about God.

For the first time ever, The State of Theology survey reveals what people throughout Canada think about core teachings of the Christian faith. This survey takes the nation’s theological temperature—both outside and inside the church. The goal? To diagnose prominent errors and to prescribe the cure: the clear teaching of sound doctrine.

The Results

This survey reveals some positive findings regarding the beliefs of Canadian evangelicals. At the same time, there is much evidence that evangelicals hold unbiblical beliefs and embrace theological contradictions.
Many Canadian evangelicals affirm the authority of Scripture. Yet at the same time:

• Nearly three out of four believe that people are born innocent in God’s eyes.
• Two-thirds think of the Holy Spirit as a force rather than a personal being.
• Almost half believe that Jesus was just a great teacher—but not God.

Time to Recover the Essentials

Decline is not inevitable, and confusion is not our only option in Canada. While the survey results are sobering, they show why clear, faithful Bible teaching is needed now more than ever.

Ligonier Ministries exists to support the church in helping to reverse these problematic trends by equipping Christians with trusted theological materials. To that end, The State of Theology seeks to equip God’s people with insights for discipleship in your community.

Respond to the Results: Free Study Guide

Gather a group from your church or community to discuss the significance of these results from the State of Theology Canada survey with the free digital study guide, found at the bottom of the webpage. Each section includes discussion questions and biblical insights to guide your conversations.

Engage with the Canadian State of Theology Survey:

• View the key findings.
• Explore the complete survey results.
• Take The State of Theology survey to compare your responses.
• Create a private group survey for friends or members of your church.

John MacArthur’s death felt momentous. Though illness had caused his public ministry to decline in the years before he died, he was still a larger-than-life figure in the church, and in some ways his passing felt like the handing of a baton from one generation to the next. There is no doubt that his legacy will far outlast him, and rightly so.

In the days following MacArthur’s death, I read many articles and obituaries. I saw many X and Facebook posts that reflected on his legacy, and I glimpsed many photos and memes that did the same. One of the recurring themes was the welcome he must have received in heaven—a hero’s welcome for a man so many of us regarded as a hero on earth. Some of those who admired him seemed to have imagined that the bells of heaven rang a little louder as he was welcomed in, that the crowds gathered a little tighter, and that the cheers rose a little higher. The Lord doesn’t tell us a whole lot about what it is like to enter heaven, but the way these people imagined it, there must have been a special stir in that moment.

I think I have made it clear through the years that I have a great deal of respect for John MacArthur, so what follows needs to be taken in that light. I mean to honor him in this article. With that in mind, here is what I think we should consider: is it possible that John MacArthur’s arrival in heaven did not make an unusually large ripple? Is it possible that the day he arrived, the bells rang just as loud for many others? Is it possible that the way we think about his reception shows that we don’t think very well about heaven?

John MacArthur was a man of many and varied gifts. When God distributed talents, there is little doubt that where some received two or one, MacArthur got the full five (see Matthew 25:14-30). He received God’s gifts, fostered them, and maximized them. He had talent, drive, intellect, and charisma in great measure, and he made good on it all. Whenever I was in a room with him, I was struck that every person looked to him to lead, even when he wasn’t ostensibly in charge. He had that bearing, that experience, that history of accomplishment, that je ne sais quoi. He was an impressive individual and I’m thankful to have known the man and the legend who was John MacArthur.

But it’s important to remind ourselves that God’s Kingdom is utterly upside down. It is so different from how we naturally imagine it and so different from any kingdom we would ever create. It’s the kind of Kingdom in which the ones who are considered the least on earth are considered the greatest in heaven. In that light, if there are heroes’ welcomes to be had in heaven, I suspect they are most often for people who were the least noticed on earth, rather than the most noticed.

Why? Because God distributes accolades and awards that are in proportion to what he has entrusted to each individual. To the one to whom much is given, much is required, and it is often these people who become widely known, since the “much” they have been given propels them into the public eye. Yet visibility is not a necessary mark of faithfulness, or even a particularly accurate one. There are many faithful people entrusted with great gifts who labor in obscurity, and many entrusted with small gifts who labor in complete anonymity. Both may be every bit as faithful as the ones whose names we know, or even more so. It was the poor widow with just two copper coins whom Jesus praised, not the wealthy or powerful who undoubtedly gave far more and received many more plaudits from others.

When we imagine that the most visible Christians on earth receive the most joyous welcome in heaven, we may be proving that our thinking has been more shaped by the kingdom of this world than by the Kingdom of Heaven, and that we have transposed the values of this kingdom onto the next. We may be assuming that the most faithful people are the most widely known, or that what constitutes celebrity on earth is in any way relevant in heaven. Our sentimentality may expose inaccurate theology.

I did not know John MacArthur all that well, but I think I knew him well enough to be certain that he could not have cared less whether he was in the headlines of the Celestial Daily on July 14, 2025, or whether his name appeared ten or twenty pages in. Whether or not great hosts gathered to laud him for his faithfulness, I am certain his sole concern was to meet only one man there and to hear that man’s words of welcome and affirmation: Well done, good and faithful servant. I am convinced he heard those words and is still basking in the joy of the one who spoke them.

Good morning. Grace and peace to you. I found it almost shocking to realize that today is the 15th and that we are already halfway through June! That’s a good thing, though, because we are rapidly approaching a time of much-needed family vacation.

I have often heard of free will, but I have never seen it! I have met with will and plenty of it, but it has either been led captive by sin or held in blessed bonds of Grace.

—C.H. Spurgeon

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In my weekly Works & Wonders column, I combine a brief devotional with other interesting and uplifting bits and pieces I gleaned throughout the week. I hope you enjoy this week’s collection! It includes:

1. Devotional: Bowing the Knee or Shaking the Fist
2. 39 Years to Translate the Bible
3. And Can It Be
4. No Idea What a Trillion Is
5. Landsat
6. World Cup Covers

1.

Bowing the Knee or Shaking the Fist

R.C. Sproul makes a bold claim: “Men and women who refuse to acknowledge God’s existence do so, in the final analysis, because it is contrary to their manner of living. They do not want to bow to the moral claims of a Holy God on their lives.” He insists that those people who utterly reject the existence of God—not just any god, but the God of the Bible—do not do so ultimately on the basis of insufficient proof or inadequate arguments (even if that is their insistence), but on the basis of moral rebellion. They ultimately reject God because to admit his existence would be to admit his being, and to admit his being would be to admit his right to rule over them. If God exists as a personal and present being, then they live in a world fashioned according to his mind and governed according to his law. And they, like all of us, prefer to be a law unto themselves. Rather than bowing the knee, they shake the fist; rather than praising his name, they deny his existence. Rather than submitting to God, they elevate themselves to rule over God. They reject the one who made them and the one who is so willing to save them.

2.

39 Years to Translate the Bible

Christianity Today reports on a people group in Papua New Guinea who just recently received the first New Testaments translated into their language—a language that has just 3,800 people who speak it. What dedication to take the project to completion! Next up, of course, is the Old Testament.

Dozens of bare-chested men in leafy sashes and wreaths dance in formation down the road in Lossu 1, a village in New Ireland, Papua New Guinea. They wave colorful leaves in time to their song and make their way toward the village church. Women follow in traditional, brightly colored meri blouses with fresh leaves tied around their foreheads. Other villagers walk behind them, their cellphones held high to capture video of the historic Notsi New Testament dedication. It’s June 25, 2025—114 years since the gospel first came to the Notsi (pronounced NO-chee) ethnic group.

“What did you come here for?” a young man asks in Notsi to the parade leaders.

“We come to give you the Good News,” Bible translators Kevin and Gertrude Nicholas reply as church leaders carry a wooden ark holding a newly printed Notsi New Testament with a red cover embossed with the words Inesaait Mamainaang Laa Sin Notsi—The Good News Going to the Notsi.

Read 39 Years to Translate the Bible into a Language of 3,800 People. ( Gift Link)

3.

And Can It Be

I always try to give you something to sing along to, and this week it’s The Village Chapel’s rendition of “And Can It Be.” It’s a well-known hymn, of course, and probably one of the greatest of all times. What makes this version of it special, at least in my view, is the arrangement. I think they do an especially good job of arranging and leading it. It’s a joy to sing along on a Sunday morning!

4.

No Idea What a Trillion Is

I find it a bit funny when I read older books and encounter an author who speaks with awe of someone who has become a millionaire. While that was once a great feat, today it describes a vast number of people. In fact, most of us have been told that we need to be millionaires just to retire in comfort someday. Meanwhile, we now drop numbers like “billion” and “trillion” without really understanding what those terms mean and how much they differ from a “mere” million. (Remember, a billion is a thousand millions, and a trillion is a thousand billions.)

The Wall Street Journal put together a series of neat visualizations to try to help us wrap our minds around it. The timing was obviously meant to coincide with Elon Musk becoming history’s first trillionaire. ( Gift Link)

Bonus: I asked Claude to help me understand the difference between millions, billions, and trillions. Here are a couple of its best attempts:

5.

Landsat

Landsat is a NASA initiative that “provides the longest continuous space-based record of Earth’s land in existence. Landsat data are essential for making informed decisions about our planet’s resources and environment.” Of greater interest to Works & Wonders, Landsat freely shares stunning images of the planet taken from space. You can find and download many examples on the Landsat Multimedia page.

6.

World Cup Covers

In honor of the World Cup, Sports Illustrated hired artists from each of the 48 competing countries to “create an illustration that captures the cultural heartbeat of soccer in your country.” They would then create a cover suited to each one of the nations. The result is really interesting, even for someone like me who isn’t into soccer/football. Here’s how SI explains the project:

Sports Illustrated’s World Cup preview covers through the years have featured some of the biggest names in soccer: Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappé. But last fall, when we started making plans for the cover of this issue, creative director Stephen Skalocky had an idea: What if we tried something a little more … democratic? Yes, the World Cup is all about superstars. But the true joy of the tournament stems from the ways it brings communities and cultures together every four years. Soccer (or football, or fútbol) is the global game. It also carries a localized resonance in nearly every country on the map. This World Cup, with its expanded 48-team field, would directly touch more communities than ever before. What if we celebrated that local spirit rather than a few transcendent personalities?

You can see the results at 48 Countries, 48 Covers. Note that clicking the covers will show you that team’s ranking and describe their changes and challenges.

There is a lot I miss from the days when our children were young. High on the list is family devotions. Nick once described our family as having a “Spartan-like commitment” to them, though I remember as much failure as success and as many misses as hits. Still, there’s no doubt that over the 26 years we had children in the home, they were a staple practice for our family. I have fond memories of gathering around the living room or around the table to read a small portion of the Bible, discuss it, and then pray together. There was no better way to begin or end the day, depending on whether at that time we did them in the morning or evening.

One struggle we often encountered, though, was keeping our devotions fresh. It is never wrong to simply read Scripture, but sometimes we found it helpful to supplement with other material. And while it has come far too late to be helpful to us, Ian Duguid’s The Lord Saves Me is exactly the kind of resource we would have gladly used. 

The Lord Saves Me offers 40 devotions on the Psalms. Each devotion is just a couple of pages long and written at just the right level for children aged somewhere between toddlers and teens. There is also a prayer included with each devotion and, uniquely, the author’s own translation of the Psalm written for a young readership, which perhaps makes it a bit more like a paraphrase. The devotions themselves are casual in tone but serious in content—an appropriate pairing for the subject matter. Most of the key Psalms are included: 1, 8, 19, 23, 32, 73, 139, and so on. 

Here’s a small sample based on Psalm 84:

Have you ever gone on a vacation to visit a very special place? Trips like that can be fun—so much fun that we want to stay on vacation forever! Can you think of somewhere you would like to stay forever? 

Every year, Israelites went on a trip to Jerusalem to worship God. It was a long, hard, dangerous journey. The Israelites even traveled through a place they called the Valley of Tears. But the writers of this psalm knew God could protect his people and make them strong as they walked to his temple. God could even take their tears and turn them into pools of water, helping many plants to grow.

To give you a gauge for the size, that excerpt is about 20% of the total length of the devotional. As for the Psalm, the author’s translation begins like this:

I really love your house,
Lord of Armies:
I wish I could always be
in the palace of the Lord! My whole self cries out
to the living God.
Even birds find homes in his house,
and swallows make nests by your altars,
where they can hatch their chicks,
Lord of Armies,
my King and my God.

Overall, it’s a great little book that will make an ideal family devotional. As I said, I would have used it in my family and therefore commend it to yours.

May the Lord be with you and bless you today. Here’s a reminder of what happens around here over the weekend. Tomorrow I’ll have Weekend A La Carte, which focuses on thought-provoking long-form articles and think pieces. On Sunday, I’ll have Works & Wonders, which offers content that is interesting, upbeat, and just right for Sunday morning.

The Funnies

My friend Chris Martin maintains a Substack called The Funnies, and every Saturday he shares a few fun and silly things he found on the Internet—something I see as a modern equivalent to the comics pages that used to be in every newspaper. I asked him to share a couple with you.

In the same way that playing matchbox cars on the front lawn loses its attractiveness when we’re invited to spend the afternoon at a NASCAR race, sin loses its appeal as we allow ourselves to be re-enchanted time and time again with the unsurpassable beauty of Jesus.

—Dane Ortlund

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Welcome to A La Carte, where I help you break free from the algorithm by carefully curating news, articles, and information that is of interest to people just like you.

The hour is coming when we shall be astonished to think what mere trifles were once capable of discouraging us.

—John Newton

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Many aspects of the Christian faith perplex me. Many aspects cut hard against the way I naturally think the world ought to work. If the Lord had charged me with helping him to design the Christian faith, I would undoubtedly have suggested he do many things differently. I would have been wrong, of course, but I am self-assured enough that I probably would still have argued my point.

Let me offer an example. One of the aspects of the Christian faith that I find particularly perplexing is the freedom God gives his people to obey him in different or even opposite ways, so that one person’s obedience is another person’s disobedience. Even as two people take the same action, one might be obeying him and the other disobeying him.

For example, the person who believes it is wrong to eat meat that has been sacrificed to an idol honors God when he refuses it and dishonors God when he eats it. Yet the person who believes it is acceptable to eat meat that has been sacrificed to an idol dishonors God when he refuses it and honors God when he eats it. Two people can take opposite actions and both honor the Lord as they do so. (See Romans 14)

Similarly, the one who is convinced from Scripture that God requires him to baptize the children of believers honors God when he baptizes those babies and dishonors him when he refuses. Yet the one who is convinced from Scripture that God requires him to baptize only professed believers honors God when he declines to baptize infants and dishonors him if he shrugs his shoulders and baptizes them anyway. The same is true for those who believe the Lord calls his people to sing only Psalms or to sing only without the use of instrumentation. The same is true when it comes to using or not using wine in the Lord’s Supper, celebrating or not celebrating holy days, and so on. 

If I had been in charge of designing and codifying the Christian faith, I would have created something like a systematic theology, except that I would have put Grudem to shame by making it a hundred times longer. It would account for every context, answer every question, and address every eventuality. It would plainly state exactly what Christians are to believe in every possible matter and precisely how Christians are to behave in every possible situation. It would be exhaustive, and undoubtedly exhausting. Through its innumerable volumes, it would press Christians to be exactly the same, assuming that the more Christians look like one another in their convictions and practice, the more they look like Jesus. I would gauge my success as a codifier by the degree of uniformity I saw in the church, whether in matters great or small, critical or mundane. 

But that is not the book God has given us, and here’s what I find so surprising about the Christian faith: To conform to Christ, we do not need to conform to one another. In fact, to truly conform to Christ, we must not conform to one another in every way. Why not? Because God means for his people to reflect some degree of variety, and that variety is related to culture, conscience, and a host of other factors. We are to live the Christian faith in light of the setting we inhabit, in light of our theological understanding, and in light of the development of our conscience, not someone else’s. And this means that what is sinful to one person may be God-honoring to another, and vice versa.

Yet it’s important to state that God is no relativist. In each of these matters there is an objective truth and error or right and wrong. God either intends for babies to be baptized or intends baptism for those who profess faith. It can’t be both, because the positions contradict one another. Either God permits the use of instrumentation in worship or he does not, and again, it can’t be both, for while God may permit both A and B, he cannot permit both A and not-A.

And yet, God allows us to live and worship in ways that are different from one another, provided we draw our convictions from Scripture and carefully tend and heed a Spirit-informed conscience. The upshot is this: You can conform to Christ even if you do not conform to me, and I can conform to Christ even if I do not conform to you. We can both conform to Christ even as we do not conform to one another. It’s perplexing, but it’s true. It’s perplexing, but it must be good, because this is how God tells us we honor one another and, in that way, honor him.

Good morning. Today’s A La Carte has articles on prayer, bringing your whole self to work, selfless service, and more. You’ll also find some interesting news headlines down toward the bottom. I hope you enjoy it all!

The man who has once fallen under strong temptation, and has been mercifully lifted up by the divine arm, should not only walk more carefully; he should use his experience for the warning of others.

—Theodore Cuyler

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The God of love and peace be with you today, my friends. Thanks for reading today’s A La Carte!

It’s not His way to give more light on the future than we need for action in the present.

—J.I. Packer

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This week, the blog is sponsored by Missionary.com, and this article was written by Mark Dever. Dever will be joining John Piper, Kevin DeYoung, Michael Reeves, and many others at this year’s Missionary Conference in Dallas-Fort Worth. Registration is now open.

In our church, we have a service review every Sunday night where we get the staff and interns together and try to go over the core seminar classes, the Sunday school classes, the morning service, the evening service, the prayers, the hymns and service, the sermons. We’re trying to model four things: giving godly criticism, giving godly encouragement, receiving godly criticism, and receiving godly encouragement.

I think the most advanced test is receiving godly encouragement, to not to be confused by it. Especially when it comes to the powerful important topic of sharing the gospel with those who’ve never heard, we tend to idolize success, apparent success. We know that the Great Commission will succeed (Revelation 5 & 7). There is no doubt. What His word is purposed to do, it’ll bring about. The question that I want us to consider is: how will this happen? What will success in the Great Commission look like? 

Here are six counsels for you to think of, note down, and meditate on.

1. Question Current Norms

First, let’s learn to patiently question current norms. For example, the other day I was lovingly told by a dear Christian brother that our goal in the Great Commission is to make disciples. Making disciples is certainly good, it is certainly commanded, but we have to be very careful. We need to look at the apparent agreement we have and ask a few questions. I think it’s sometimes harder for us to remain faithful through half-truths presented as the whole truth, as J. I. Packer used to warn us about, than it is for us to deal with complete untruths. 

I remember what John Owen said once: “I would rather meet a hundred devils roaring than one smiling.” I think I know what he means – when somebody seems to agree with you and yet events expose the fact that they really don’t. We need God’s help, His Spirit to help us see the truth, to discern. My friend deployed the phrase “making disciples” in distinction from and possibly in opposition to planting good churches. But what I understand from the witness of the New Testament, from what the men who heard the Great Commission did in Acts, what they wrote about, is that they were planting churches in order to obey the Lord Jesus’s Commission. 

2. Define Terms

Another way to be faithful stewards of this gospel going forward around the world is to define our terms. Now, I have found by personal experience that this exercise is not the way for you to become popular. It is seen by some as the nerds crashing the jocks’ party. The jocks know what they’re doing, they don’t want to waste time defining it. But I would suggest that a little time spent in definition can bear lots of fruit. There are plenty of good examples of words I’ve seen used significantly differently than we might assume. Words like gospel, Christian, church, missions, conversion, elder, conversion, and others.

Do you assume when somebody else says they “affirm the gospel,” that they mean what you mean by it? I remember once being in a group of pastors gathered from around the country and different denominations to settle some issues on the doctrine of the church. After a morning’s conversation, I went up to the guy who was leading it and I said, “You know, I think it would probably be a good thing if we would just define the word gospel.” And he kind of laughed at me and said, “Well, we don’t need to do it. We all agree on that.” I said, “If we all agree on it, it won’t take long.”

So after the break, he invited us to go up to the whiteboard. Immediately, as soon as someone wrote down a weak starting point, the criticism started. In about five minutes, it was like we were at the Tower of Babel. That was on “the gospel” with a room full of seminary presidents, denominational leaders, bishops, and pastors all calling themselves evangelical. 

Brothers and sisters, define your terms. Make sure you know what you’re talking about.

3. Make Distinctions

Let me suggest, especially in terms of missions, that we distinguish long-term work from short term work.

I say that with real appreciation for short-term work. Our church regularly has short-term mission trips going out. But endeavors that don’t result in sound healthy reproducing churches are generally supplementary. There’s nothing wrong with that. But we believe work that results in healthy multiplying churches is something we need to be able to discuss clearly and distinctly without meaning any offense to others. Matt Rhode’s book No Shortcut to Success offers some useful guidance in that area.

Some methodologists have made distinctions like this seem insignificant. Charles Van Engen, in his 1996 volume Missions on the Way, wrote that “to confess with one’s mouth and believe in one’s heart that Jesus is Lord—that is all there is. Nothing else really matters. All else is to be held lightly. Everything else is negotiable.” That sounds good to modern American evangelicals, but if we want to be sensitive to the revelation God has given of Himself in His word, we’ll find there are many things that are not essential for salvation, but that might be essential for us to be able to have a church together or to go on a missions trip, like Paul and Barnabas found out when they wanted to take Mark. These aren’t unimportant matters. They’re not essential for salvation, but they’re still significant. 

This kind of “essentialism,” the belief that all that matters is what’s essential for salvation, is actually a small island that’s always making itself smaller until it shrinks and vanishes. You defend what God has in His word. What He has revealed, He has a reason for revealing. 

4. Listen to the End of the Great Commission

Resolve to listen to the end of the Great Commission, the sort of “lost dimension” of the Great Commission. 

In Matthew 28, you see the alls: We tend to concentrate on the “all nations.” It’s a great thing to concentrate on, but we don’t know the other alls as much: “all authority,” “observe all that I’ve commanded you,” and “I am with you always.” I want you to notice that “always to the end of the age” seems to presume that the work we’re to be involved in is work that is not of a passing nature. The work of seeing churches established will endure until Christ returns.

The quality of the work is related to the goal of the work. What we want to see in our own churches, is what we ought to desire in our missions. When somebody buys a house owned by a builder who built it for himself, that’s a good sign. The buyer knows the house will be well-built. That’s what we want our churches to be like. That’s what we want for the churches that we establish. We want them to be solid and well-built. 

Brothers and sisters, human strategies are often fads. They come and they go. God’s evangelism plan is the local church. If we can see what the New Testament teaches us about the local church, we’ll know that it’s the love that we have for one another – that interior work of the church – that is used by God’s Spirit evangelistically. That’s how the world will know Christ. The world will know that you are mighty disciples by the love you have for one another (John 13:34–35). Sometimes we see the fruit and sometimes we don’t. Know that as you share the gospel with your kids who don’t seem to respond to it, at least right now. Know that when you’re sharing the gospel with friends or neighbors who seem unresponsive. Charles Bridges said, “The seed may lie under the clods till we lie there, and then spring up.” We like immediately visible results, but God has a different timetable. God will sometimes use us, call us home, and then keep the work going with others. We need to trust him with that, and establish our churches toward that end.

5. Fund the Good Stuff

This is a simple one but an important one. Let’s fund the good stuff. 

Pastors, I need you to get involved with your church missions committee. I need you to get involved with your church missions budget. Please take some of the theological acumen that you bring from your study of God’s word to your sermons and apply it to the missions work that you support too. Have you seen what the people who you’re giving your dollars to are actually doing? Have you weighed up and evaluated not merely their own personal sacrifices, but what it is specifically they’re doing on the field? You should be leading and encouraging your elders to do exactly that. Encourage them to be the main leaders in searching out good missions to be able to get behind with your money and your emphasis and your leadership. 

In our church we spend money on sending our pastors to visit our missionaries. It’s very useful (Acts 15:36). But at the same time, in our church, we’ve found spending money to advance the gospel is, frankly, a challenge. I’ve been wrestling with Romans 10:14: “How then will they call on him and whom they have not believed and how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And now how are they to hear without someone preaching and how is someone to preach unless they are sent?” And I’ve had to ask, as Capitol Hill Baptist Church, do we send people to preach to those who’ve never heard? Well, yes, in terms of individuals. But, in terms of reaching an unreached language? No, I’ve been there for 30 years, and I’m not sure we’ve directly sent anyone to do that, and I’m not proud of it.

Pray for us, as a church, that we would see the missions work that we are involved with prosper, and that we would recover a concern for, and an ability to reach unreached languages. And I would likewise challenge you to look at your own church’s mission’s budget. See what you’re supporting. If we want to send, we have to spend.

6. Treasure Personal Obedience

Teach your congregation to esteem, even to treasure, personal obedience, even small obedience. 

“And he said, with what can we compare the kingdom of God or what parables shall we use for it? It’s like a grain of mustard seed, which when sewn on the ground is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sewn, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” (Mark 4:30).

The contrast between the smallness of the seed and the largeness of the plant is striking. The point is not simply that the kingdom of God will be great. Everybody knew the kingdom of God would be great. The surprise is that the kingdom of God could appear insignificant. 

Even so, it appeared at the time to be an exceedingly insignificant movement composed of an itinerant rabbi and a varying band of hangers-on, hardly a movement to shake the world, let alone to shape it. Surely there must be some more obvious means of growing a kingdom – the media, the academy, the military, the marketplace, politics, or multiplying disciple making movements. But Jesus already faced that temptation at the beginning of his earthly ministry. Satan had said, worship me and I’ll give you all the nations of the earth. Instead, Jesus looked over that small band of disciples and said, I’ll take them instead. Surely we can sympathize with the incredulity of the disciples. Surely if we wanted some way to affect the world, we could find something more powerful than preaching, than sowing seed.

Any seed looks insignificant the day you plant it, but then it grows and how it grows. And this seed, the word of God, is particularly prolific. This parable was to cause the disciples to look to the future when they could imagine it being the largest plant, and to reinterpret the present in light of that future. When we do this, we begin to see what God is doing, not only with you and me, but with all creation. You begin to want to be a part of it. Pastors, teach your people this. Teach them to treasure the small specific obedience that will shape the ultimate gospel victory.

The Will and Wisdom to Send and Go

In 1857, from Prince Edward Island in Canada, came young George Gordon with his young wife, Ellen, to take the gospel message to the island people of the South Pacific. They landed on the island of Erromango, an island already well known for producing some of the first missionary martyrs. Gordon spent time learning their language. He shared his medical skills and established a good reputation for the new religion that he brought. He established a school for the people. He gave most of his time to translating the Bible into the language of the people. He felt that this was the longest lasting service he could render the people of Erromango. Though threatened and repeatedly told to leave the island, Gordon resolved that to do great things a man must live as though he never had to die. 

After four years of living there, on May the 20th, 1861, George Gordon was murdered, and then mere minutes later, his wife Ellen was as well.  When the news of the martyrdom reached George’s aged and sightless mother, she cried out “my son, my son,” and she wept. He had a younger brother, James. James was studying for the ministry. When the news came to him, he was plowing on the family farm. He immediately sent in an application to the mission board. He asked that he might be sent to take his brother’s place in Erromango and preach the message of forgiveness and love to his brother’s murderers. He knew that even his brother’s death had not ended God’s plan for the gospel to go to the Erromangans. 

In fact, James did see the fruit of the gospel on Erromango. But in the strange providence of God, James too was martyred there. News of the martyrdom reached Canada, and at first they were afraid to tell his mother. But when the story of her second son’s death was told to her, she quietly exclaimed, “I wish that I had another boy to send, that the heathen may receive salvation.” 

Friends, I would say that Mrs. Gordon’s gospel resolve matched her sons. She was as willing to give as they were to go. May God give our churches today that kind of willingness, that kind of wisdom to do so as well.

Note: This was originally posted here.

I don’t know exactly when it happened, but at some point we all began to talk about “content.” Together we began to refer to the massive deluge of articles, podcasts, videos, and other media being uploaded to the internet as “content” and to the ones who make it as “content creators.” And you don’t need me to tell you that these days we are drowning in content. In fact, we are creating so much of it that it becomes almost impossible to quantify or to wrap our minds around what the numbers mean. I’ve heard it said that we are creating nearly 500 million terabytes of data per day, but that figure means little to me. Whatever the actual number is, and whatever it means, it is accelerating rapidly so that 90% of the data humanity has ever created has been created in just the past couple of years. The trends suggest the pace will increase exponentially in the years ahead.

When it comes to the content Christians create and consume, I often find myself dividing it into two categories. Admittedly, the categories are artificial, sometimes difficult to assign, and occasionally overlap, but I find them useful nonetheless. I divide it into content that exists primarily to serve others and content that exists primarily to serve the one who created it. I think it’s helpful to distinguish between the two and then to be mindful of the kind we tend to consume the most.

Some content is created to make other people’s lives better. I trust you find such content day by day as you click the links in my daily A La Carte feature, where I carefully curate articles by other writers that share wisdom to help you live more nobly, columns that explain current events to inform your mind, videos that help you marvel at God’s creation, songs that give expression to your heart, and so on. We are blessed to have so many writers, filmmakers, musicians, and others who express their gifts by creating such content and making it available, often completely free. I trust you also find such content in the articles I write, for that is very much my passion.

Yet there is another kind of content, and it is created not so much to serve others as to serve the one who makes it. A ready example is the classic BuzzFeed-style article that is created to be almost irresistible, but is also completely insipid. It does nothing to help you, bless you, or make your life better, but it does do a lot to help the organization that wrote it. Another example is the endless videos on YouTube that are simply responses to other videos—content that perpetuates a cycle of vapidity that brings nothing good to those who watch it. YouTubers manufacture outrageous situations so others will create response videos that, in turn, generate more response videos. None of this brings any benefit to the ones who watch them, but they do bring subscriptions and sponsorship fees to the ones who create them. The content exists to benefit its creators.

In the Christian world, it is in this category that you may find self-styled experts in discernment who write articles or create videos that are essentially clickbait meant to lead you to view ads. You may find writers or YouTubers who respond and react to every possible situation and controversy, regardless of whether they understand it or have anything useful to say about it. Though they claim to function like reporters, they are more like gossip columnists. They don’t serve you, the viewer. They don’t make your faith stronger, your heart braver, or your life better. They just funnel power and money from the content consumers to the content creators, often through content sponsors.

When you become aware of these categories of content, you can begin to ask yourself questions like these: Does this content exist to make my life better? Does it give me a sharper mind? Does it give me a stronger faith? Does it give me a deeper love for Christ, his people, and the lost? In short, is it clear that this content was created by a Christian who is eager to serve and bless other Christians?

Or, negatively, you can ask yourself questions like these: Can I only understand this content if I watch and read previous content? Does it appear to exist primarily for the purpose of perpetuating more like it? Do the title and thumbnail deceptively overpromise and underdeliver? In short, does it seem likely that this content was created to leverage the attention of Christians in a way that primarily benefits the one who created it?

I do not mean to indicate that everything we read or watch has to be of great spiritual benefit. We are free to enjoy entertainment, though obviously all things must be enjoyed in appropriate moderation. Yet we are inundated with content today and need to be disciplined in what we give our attention to. When we consume content, we are tacitly supporting the ones who created it, giving credence to their efforts, and training the algorithm so it provides more of that content not only to us, but to people like us. There are consequences to what we read, watch, click, listen to, and consume. Hence, it is wise for us to continually apply a filter like this: Does this content exist to bless me, or does it exist primarily to serve the one who created it? The more of our attention we give to content that falls into the first category and the less we give to the latter, the better off we will all be.

Good morning. Grace and peace to you. I trust you enjoyed your weekend and are looking forward to serving the Lord through another week. In case you didn’t check in yesterday, I thought the Works & Wonders compilation was a good one. Where else would you find Ferrari, cheese curds, and Covenanters together?

My Books

Every now and again I like to introduce one of my books, in case you aren’t familiar with them. Today it’s Visual Theology. I had already been working with various graphic designers to create infographics when Josh Byers and I decided to team up for a book that would combine words with visuals. We made it our goal to teach doctrines in a fresh, beautiful, and informative way. It could only have worked with an artist as talented as Josh is. (Amazon)

One grain of faith is better than a gallon of tears. A drop of genuine repentance is more precious than a torrent of weeping.

—Charles Spurgeon

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In my weekly Works & Wonders column, I combine a brief devotional with other interesting and uplifting bits and pieces I gleaned throughout the week. I hope you enjoy this week’s collection! It includes:

1. Devotional: The Wonder and Beauty of It
2. Older and Rarer
3. His Love
4. Ferrari Luce
5. The Covenanter Story
6. Curds
7. The Pilot Who Sacrificed His Life

1.

The Wonder and Beauty of It

In ancient times, God made this promise to his people: “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 29:13-14). Though that was a promise made to a specific people in a specific context, it powerfully displays God’s tender heart. God turns away none of those who come to him with empty hands and a broken heart, none of those who come to him with a humble sincerity. Later, Jesus said, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37). He tells us that the people who are loved by God will inevitably come to God, find acceptance, and be held safe forever in his unbreakable grip. What’s more, God waits patiently, for it is not his will “that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). The reason God gives us knowledge of his being is so we can respond to the wonder and beauty of it, so he can save us by his mercy and grace. No wonder we love to join with our fellow believers to praise him Sunday by Sunday!

2.

Older and Rarer

This is a fun story from the Washington Post. It tells of a couple of relic hunters who were searching a farm field in Virginia, hoping to find artifacts from the American Civil War. Much to their surprise, they actually discovered artifacts from the Revolutionary War.

Crabtree and Lagasse had stumbled onto a find rarer than any Union bullet or Confederate belt buckle: evidence of a French encampment from the Revolutionary War. On this sloping cornfield that has changed little since 1782, French soldiers who helped defeat the British at Yorktown rested on their way to rejoin Gen. George Washington in New York.

No other encampment of the French march across a country they helped create has been thoroughly documented in Virginia, historians said, and only one in Connecticut has been fully surveyed and excavated.

That must be the dream of every treasure hunter, right? They set out to find one thing and found something even better!

Read: They searched for Civil War artifacts. What they found was older and rarer.

3.

His Love

Skye Peterson released a new album last week. A couple of the tracks stood out to me, but I especially appreciate “His Love.” It’s got a great sound and a great theme, so what more could you want?

4.

Ferrari Luce

So listen, I’m not defending the purchase of a Ferrari. However, I think we are free to appreciate luxury products as works of art. They are, after all, created by some of the greatest designers and are built out of some of the greatest materials, so they can achieve some of the greatest results. There’s beauty in that! Ferrari recently unveiled their newest model, which is also their first EV. It was designed by Jony Ive, who worked at Apple for years and who played a key role in designing the iPhone and many other products.

Not surprisingly, Ferrari purists are decrying the design, saying that it looks more like an iPhone than a Ferrari. I see their point. But I think it has a real beauty to it that’s displayed in several ways, not least in the symmetry Ive seems to love. Anyway, give it a look and let me know if I’m wrong. You can see it at the Ferrari site or read this story at The Verge. (I can’t find any photos of it that allow me to share them, but I can share this video.)

5.

The Covenanter Story

Banner of Truth recently released a documentary on the Scottish Covenanters. If you’re not familiar with that term, you can read the appropriate entry in the Encyclopedia Britannica—or just watch the documentary since it’s free on YouTube (though only three of the four parts so far—the other is coming soon). It begins with The Sure-Footed Guthrie, then moves to The Pentland Resistance, and John Brown of Priesthill. If you would like to learn even more about the Covenanters, be sure to look at the descriptions for the different episodes, since they contain an extensive list of resources.

6.

Cheese Curds

Last weekend, my family went to St. Lawrence Market in downtown Toronto. It’s a popular spot in the city where you can find lots of good food and groceries, and, less interestingly, lots of mediocre souvenirs. I went in search of one of my favorite foods—cheese curds. What are cheese curds, you ask? According to Wikipedia, “cheese curds are moist pieces of curdled milk, eaten either alone as a snack, or used in prepared dishes. They are consumed throughout the northern United States and Canada.” They are, of course, an essential ingredient in Canada’s favorite dish, poutine. (And yes, they are essential; you can’t have proper poutine with grated or melted cheese. It must be curd because of the unique texture and high melting point.)

I will admit that the description makes them sound rather unappealing, but I assure you that they are an extraordinary food that wonderfully combines fat, salt, and texture. You know you’re eating a good curd when it squeaks between your teeth. If you happen to live in Canada or the northern United States, then maybe you should grab some and let me know if they are as good as I say they are.

7.

The Pilot Who Sacrificed His Life

It’s amazing that World War II continues to divulge its stories of bravery and sacrifice, like this one, which tells of a brave American pilot who sacrificed his life for others.

You have probably heard of Davy and Natalie Lloyd, even if the names aren’t immediately familiar. In May 2024, you most likely heard the news about two young American missionaries to Haiti who, along with one of their Haitian colleagues, were brutally murdered by one of the many gangs that dominate the country. I suppose it’s more accurate to say they were martyred since their deaths were directly related to their mission to the people of Haiti. Their story is now told and told well in Strong to the End: The Simple Service and Sudden Sacrifice of the Martyrs in Haiti, a biography of the couple written by Davy’s parents, David and Alicia. 

Davy Lloyd was born and raised in Haiti. His parents founded Missions in Haiti in 2000, intending to minister specifically to the nation’s children, which they identified as Haiti’s most pressing need. They raised their own children there as well, including Davy. He professed faith at a young age, was baptized, and eventually set out for Bible college, intending to return to Haiti and continue the work there. He excelled academically, spiritually, and socially and graduated with a determination to “live my life intentionally, in light of eternity.” He was especially motivated by three key biblical truths: Hell is horrible, Jesus is good, and heaven is great. 

Along the way, Davy met a young lady named Natalie, a politician’s daughter from Missouri. She, too, took her faith seriously, and she, too, was considering how to spend her life in the Lord’s service. Soon the two were dating and considering a future together. A missions trip to Haiti sealed the deal—Natalie would marry Davy and together they would serve the nation of Haiti by serving its children. They were married in the summer of 2022 and soon set out for Haiti, not knowing their marriage would last for just 23 months.

Haiti has long been poor and unstable and has long suffered under oppressive governments and ineffective leaders. Into the leadership void have stepped hundreds of gangs that each rule pockets of the country through threats, extortion, and brutal violence. In May 2024, a couple of these gangs set their sights on Missions in Haiti’s House of Compassion, the home for orphaned children, and the compound around it. They attacked in several stages and, by the time they left, had brutally murdered Davy, Natalie, and their colleague Judes, all of whom had preached Christ to the end, seemingly concerned less for their own lives than for the souls of their attackers.

The rest of the family, back in America at the time, learned about much of this in real-time through broken phone calls and sporadic messages. Eventually they received the tragic news that Davy and Natalie had been murdered—and not merely murdered, but tortured to death, and their remains desecrated. The news soon broke across the United States and across the world. CNN and other media outlets reported on the effort to repatriate their remains. And then, just shy of their second anniversary, the couple was memorialized and buried in Neosho, Missouri, together in death as they had been in life.

I cannot imagine how difficult it must have been for Davy’s parents to write this book, but I’m thankful they did. It is good for us to know about those who have suffered and died for the sake of the gospel. It is good for us to learn their stories, to be encouraged by their zeal, and to be moved by their sacrifice. It is good for us to know that there are martyrs today as there have been in every day for the past 2,000 years. I hope many Christians will read this book to learn about a couple whose story deserves to be heard and whose lives were sacrificed for the greatest of all causes. 

As we head into the weekend, I wanted to remind you what’s coming up. Tomorrow I’ll feature some think pieces and long-form content in Weekend A La Carte. On Sunday I’ll share some interesting, uplifting, and encouraging bits and pieces that are meant to help you start the new week well.

Unless we are born of the Spirit of God, unless God sheds His holy love in our hearts, unless He stoops in His grace to change our hearts, we will not love Him.

—R.C. Sproul

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The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you, my friends. If you’re interested in podcasts, be sure to scroll right down today, as there’s a whole list of them down there. Of course, there are lots of good reading recommendations before then.

The appearance of an angel from heaven could add nothing to the certainty of the declarations he has already put into our hands.

—John Newton

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Father’s Day is fast approaching and I recently found myself wondering this: What do dads actually want for Father’s Day? I decided to crowdsource the answer, so I attached a form to my website and asked people to let me know. I was thankful that many people tapped out an answer, and today I’m sharing the results.

Time

There is one response that dominated: time with family that is unhurried, undivided, and preferably free from digital interruptions. Some prefer this to be a day out on the lake, others a hike, and still others a backyard barbecue, though since Father’s Day is a Sunday, the ideal day would first include being in church together. Far and away, what dads want most from their children is their presence, even if just for a few uninterrupted hours. 

Some of the responses are quite poignant:

A special day with my family. An entire day. A mountain hike, a picnic with my favorite picnic food, local live music, ending with stargazing and exhaustedly falling into bed. They don’t have to plan it or pay for it. Just be there.

In a similar vein:

Unfettered, unhurried time—time where the usual routines and responsibilities are set aside and absorbed by another. Focused time to spend as you will is a rare jewel in many a father’s life, and a precious thoughtful gift when given deliberately.

And this:

A personal, in-person, lengthy conversation together at a good, quiet restaurant with my wife and with each of my adult children.

A wife writes on behalf of her elderly husband:

Though his days are becoming shorter, they are long, as he’s unable to physically maneuver about as before. They don’t know this, because he doesn’t want to burden anyone. They have enough on their plates. Yet the phone is silent, the visits are few during the year. Just a phone call once a week would bring him much delight and lift his spirits. Doesn’t cost anything but “time” – one of our most valuable gifts. So, no tie or golf balls for dear Dad … maybe check on him more frequently and let him know you’re thinking of him, appreciate him, and love him.

And one more:

As an older father and grandfather, the greatest gift I could receive is to simply spend time with all my children. To have them all in one place, at one time, with no special event attached, just relaxing in our company—together. We will gather on holidays or at funerals and weddings, but we seldom all gather just to hang out, share a meal, etc. I would not want the attention to be on me. It fills my heart to see them interact with one another, laugh, and play with their children and spouses. I know their past. When they were young, I’d wonder and dream of who they would become as they grew up. Watching them interact as adults blesses me with a glimpse into the future. There’s a quiet sense of peace there for me. 

So there it is: At least half of the responses are simply a request for dad to get some time with his favorite people. Closely attached to this is the desire for reconciliation between family members. With many families experiencing struggles and others torn apart, dad would like nothing better than for his family to be together and to get along on Father’s Day.

Recognition

Following time, the next most common desire is recognition. This usually takes the form of meaningful letters. 

A letter telling your dad how important he is and what he’s done that has made a difference in who you are now and who you want to be. Please also tell him in what ways he’s like your Heavenly Father.

Again:

Handwritten notes from my family just being honest about their perspective of me as a father.

Another:

To feel appreciated as a father, though lacking and messing up much!

And one more:

The best gift I can receive is a heartfelt letter from my kids. Something that reflects their appreciation, but includes most importantly their desire to serve and grow closer to Jesus Christ. 

Have you told your father lately how much he means to you? And have you told him how he has helped you become more like Jesus? Forming your thoughts on the matter and writing them out on paper could be a great gift. You could consider combining that with a book or a bag of coffee. Why? Keep reading to find out.

Books

I was not the least bit surprised to see books come in as the most common gift apart from time and recognition. Sometimes this is as simple as “Books!” or “theological books.” Sometimes it is a request for a gift certificate (e.g., Westminster Books or Logos) so dad can get whatever catches his eye.

A few people suggest specific titles, so here they all are: Using Authority Well by Jonathan Leeman; Disciplines of a Godly Man by Kent Hughes; The Letter to the Ephesians by Thomas Schreiner; Daily Doctrine by Kevin DeYoung; The Psalms by Christopher Ash; Galahad and the Grail by Malcolm Guite. (You could also look at my book review section to see if something there might be a good fit.)

Another common request is Bibles, and specific options include a Schuyler Stridon ESV Bible, an ESV Spiral Bound Journaling Bible, and an LSB MacArthur Study Bible. 

Coffee

I was surprised at how many dads would like some good coffee for Father’s Day. From what I can surmise, most of us drink relatively cheap coffee day by day, perhaps especially now that coffee prices have risen substantially over the past couple of years. What a lot of dads would love for Father’s Day is some coffee beans that are a bit of a treat—a splurge that can be justified when it’s a gift rather than mere groceries. So maybe you can go to that local coffee roaster or boutique shop and see what might delight him. My kids once got me a subscription that introduced me to a variety of coffees over a year, and I really enjoyed that.

Time Away from the Kids

While time with family is far and away the greatest desire, there are a few who are eager for time away from the family—a guilt-free day to step away from the busyness of the home to hunt or fish or engage in another favorite activity. I am quite certain these are younger dads who love their wee ones very much, but who would find a lot of joy in a day away to rest and recharge. 

This & That

I received a lot of other ideas:

• A good number of dads would love to go to a professional baseball game, especially if their children come with them.
• Leatherman-style multitools are a surprisingly common request. I guess that makes sense since multitools are the kind of thing people buy as gifts but rarely for themselves. Apart from multitools, just tools in general, though the more tools a man has, the riskier it is to buy him a new one, since he probably either already has it or has decided he doesn’t want it.
• Some older dads would love their kids to pitch in on chores around the house that they can’t do themselves anymore.
• A poignant little cluster of responses expressed that the gift dad wants most is for his children to come to faith in Christ. This is not the kind of gift a person can buy for dad, but perhaps there is a son or daughter out there who has been putting off what they know the Lord is calling them to do, and will do it now to delight dad’s heart on Father’s Day.

Conclusion: Presence over Presents

Overall, the data is more coherent than I thought it would be. The great majority of dads want presence more than they want presents, and the older they get, the more this desire grows. Most younger dads are already around their children all the time, so some of them would appreciate coffee, gadgets, and other things they can’t justify day by day. But as dads get older, their desire becomes simpler and clearer: “Please, let’s just spend time together as a family.”