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Dec 4, 2024 | 
thegospelcoalition.org | Brandon Cooper
Christmas is coming, as your kids have undoubtedly reminded you. That means shopping season has arrived—with former forests worth of gift catalogs in the mail. Anything kids could want (and plenty they wouldn’t have known to want) is there for the ordering. We pore over the catalogs, thinking how happy these toys will make our kids; they pore over the same catalogs dreaming of newer, better, and more. It’s easy to be swept along in the commercial spirit of the season.
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Oct 28, 2024 | 
rd.nl | Brandon Cooper
Vaak heb ik het gevoel dat mijn liefde lijkt op een doosje bonbons voor Valentijnsdag. Ik kan de bonbons slechts aan een bepaald aantal mensen uitdelen en dan is het doosje leeg. Hoe kan ik blijven liefhebben in zelfopoffering? Wat zal ons op de been houden, zodat we niet moe worden van het goeddoen, zoals God ons in Galaten 6:9 voorhoudt? In 2 Samuël 9 lezen we een verhaal dat ons doet denken aan de waarheden die we blijvend een warm hart moeten toedragen.
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Sep 13, 2024 | 
thegospelcoalition.org | Brandon Cooper
Editors’ note: Take part in TGC’s Read the Bible initiative, where we’re encouraging Christians and churches to read together through God’s Word in a year. Some wag once quipped, “Ministry would be easy if it weren’t for the people.” I’ve felt that way before, and I’m willing to bet you have too. Some people are difficult, and even the people who aren’t difficult go through hard circumstances that can quickly drain our time and energy. Love costs.
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Jul 1, 2024 | 
thegospelcoalition.org | Brandon Cooper |Dan Doriani |Brett McCracken |Stacy Reaoch
When troubles come, what do we most need? Our instinctive answer is help. When the doctor delivers a difficult diagnosis, we want a treatment plan. When drowning in debt, we crave provision. When our marriage crumbles, we seek counseling. As Christians, we also think about our spiritual needs in times of trouble: we need prayer; we need God to show up in a mighty way. Certainly we do, but that raises questions: What sort of prayer? For that matter, what sort of God?
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May 27, 2024 | 
thegospelcoalition.org | Brandon Cooper |Tim Keller |Edmund P. Clowney |Guy Prentiss Waters
When suffering comes, we invariably ask questions. Why? Why me? Why this? The questions grow more insistent when we compare our suffering to those around us, when the stacks seem so uneven. Why do I experience chronic pain when he’s carefree? Why did my husband walk out when hers loves dotingly? Or, when roles reverse, we ask the same questions with a tinge of survivor’s guilt: What have I done to deserve an intact family when they’ve buried three children?
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Jan 22, 2024 | 
thegospelcoalition.org | Brandon Cooper |Justin Dillehay |Trevin Wax |Joni Eareckson Tada
“This is the most important election of your life.”Or so they keep telling us. During each election cycle, a myriad of op-eds insist the fate of the nation—even the world—hinges on the outcome. Politics has taken on an outsize role in our collective mindset. Advertise on TGCAs religion wanes in the public consciousness, people have turned elsewhere to find purpose, morality, and hope.
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Nov 21, 2023 | 
thegospelcoalition.org | Brandon Cooper |G. K. Beale |Brett McCracken |Greg Lanier
The opening chapter of J. L. Myres’s 1923 classic The Dawn of History reminds us that millions have lived without a sense of history. Many people think things are what they are and that they’ll never change. In their view, there’s no arc of history bending in any direction. To believe otherwise, they say, is delusion and breeds false hope. We only imagine differently because our society remains ingrained in Christianity.
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Jul 25, 2023 | 
thegospelcoalition.org | Greg Phelan |Luke Simmons |Philip Graham Ryken |Brandon Cooper
I’m struggling to transition between university and adult life—things like handling finances and finding energy to do anything after work. You’re not alone. While I don’t know the particular struggles you face, there are some difficulties common to recent grads. The rhythms and routines of life outside of college are distinctly different from those in university. That can create new challenges but also new opportunities.
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Jul 25, 2023 | 
thegospelcoalition.org | Kristin Kellen |Luke Simmons |Philip Graham Ryken |Brandon Cooper
Alan Noble describes an experience many of us have but don’t want to talk about: the struggle to go on living life amid deep suffering. Some of us experience quiet anguish simply from the demands of continuing to exist. That’s not to say all of us, each and every day, have to drag ourselves out of bed to keep moving forward. But we all go through seasons of what Noble calls “mental affliction”: the deep, powerful weight that calls into question life itself and dampens the drive to keep on living.
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Jul 21, 2023 | 
thegospelcoalition.org | Brandon Cooper |Cap Stewart |Luke Simmons |Paige Pippin
Over the past few years, you’ve invested heavily in your unbelieving neighbor’s life. While she’s eager to hang out with you, she’s deeply resistant to Christianity. You invited her to your church’s Christmas Eve service, but she refused. You invited her on Easter. Again, nope. You invited her to bring her children to your Backyard Kids’ Club, but she saw that as brainwashing camp. So when after facing a crisis, she agreed to join you in church this week, you just about fell out of your chair.
