Category: Informing the Reforming

Blog can be found on:

www.challies.com

Brief Biography

Proper introductions begin with names, so let me tell you how to pronounce mine. It’s pronounced CHALL-eez and rhymes with “valleys” and “rallies.” It’s quite simple, really, but is almost always the first question I’m asked.

I am a Christian, a husband to Aileen and a father to three children aged 10 to 16. I worship and serve as an elder at Grace Fellowship Church in Toronto, Ontario. I am a book reviewer, co-founder of Cruciform Press, and have written five books:

The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment (Crossway, 2007)
Sexual Detox: A Guide For Guys Who Are Sick of Porn (Cruciform Press, 2010)
The Next Story: Life and Faith After the Digital Explosion (Zondervan, 2011)
Do More Better: A Practical Guide to Productivity (Cruciform Press, 2015)
Visual Theology: Seeing and Understanding the Truth About God (Zondervan, 2016)

I began this web site in 2002 and have been writing here daily since 2003. It is my place to think out loud and in public while also sharing some of the interesting things I’ve discovered in my online travels.

By micoots

Letters to the Editor (Parents, Protection, Aging, and More)

It has been too long since I’ve shared a selection of letters to the editor. Here, then, are a few that have come my way in recent weeks.

Letters on Do Children Have a Financial Obligation Toward Their Parents?
I appreciated your article and feel convicted, as I have in-laws that were frugal, and had the foresight to prepare for their retirement, while my parents were not. I have had conversations with them to consider their future more seriously, only to face argument and hurt feelings. I woul..

By micoots

God Hates Evil Thoughts

We are more than our thoughts and more than our desires, but we are certainly not less. What fills our minds and forms our dreams tells us who we really are, what we really long for, whom we really serve. Evil thoughts and evil desires reveal a deep captivity to sin and evil. This should concern us, for God assures us he has a deep loathing for evil thoughts. He has a deep loathing for those who think evil thoughts. We have already seen that God hates idolatry, sexual immorality, injustice, hypo..

By micoots

Is Genesis History?

It’s not an easy time to be a six-day creationist. For some time now, the weight of conviction within the Evangelical world has swung toward views that demand an old earth. While few Christians are full-out theistic evolutionists, more and more believers hold to an ancient universe with all the complications that come with it: the interpretation of the word “day” as used in the creation account, the necessity of admitting death before the fall, and the reality that in so many ways the early chap..

By micoots

A La Carte (February 3)

Every day I comb through hundreds of Kindle book deals, most of which are utter junk, looking for the few that may be of interest. Today’s Kindle deals include just a few titles, but you may find them interesting.

Leading Your Family in God’s Two Gardens
There is lots to ponder and apply in this article from J.D. Greear: “An inheritance is what you leave behind for future generations. So when a church thinks about what they are ‘leaving behind’ for their city, they shouldn’t be thinking of mini..

By micoots

How Much Entertainment Is Too Much?

We must be the most entertained generation in all of human history. We take entertainment as our inalienable right. If we work hard during the day, we assume we have earned a few hours of amusement at night. Actually, we can’t even make it through the day without at least a few distractions—a couple of web sites in the morning, some quick YouTube videos at lunch, sports radio on the drive home. The evening hours are for Netflix, of course, and for video games, coloring books, or the occasional m..

By micoots

A La Carte (February 2)

Today’s Kindle deals include a couple of family devotional books, as well as one by John MacArthur.

Did Old Testament Men Treat Their Wives Like Property?
Amy Hall: “Every once in a while, I’ll hear someone throw out the idea that men in the Old Testament treated their wives like property as if it’s an obvious, accepted fact. I’m not convinced it’s true.”

To Be A Diaper Changer
Nick Batzig engages an important idea: “One doesn’t have to look far these days to see how ready the better part of y..

By micoots

Final Call (February 1)

Welcome to Final Call, a brief, hand-picked selection of news, articles, videos, and curiosities from the Internet and beyond.

Second Opinion
I recently reviewed Greg Koukl’s book The Story of Reality. So, too, did David Steele, whose reviews I always enjoy. Here is what he says about it: “The Story of Reality is a very important book. This book should be devoured again and again by Christian people. And this book should be gifted to people who have yet embraced the Story. Koukl writes with an ..

By micoots

7 False Teachers in the Church Today

The history of Christ’s church is inseparable from the history of Satan’s attempts to destroy her. While difficult challenges have arisen from outside the church, the most dangerous have always been from within. For from within arise the false teachers, the peddlers of error who masquerade as teachers of truth. False teachers take on many forms, custom-crafted to times, cultures, and contexts. Here are seven of them you will find carrying out their deceptive, destructive work in the church today..

By micoots

False Teachers and Deadly Doctrines

For the past few years, lists of Christian bestsellers have been topped by a book claiming fresh revelation from Jesus Christ. Before that, they were overrun by books describing people’s purported visits to heaven. And before the heaven tourism fad, there was the best-selling novel that reframed the doctrine of the Trinity. Meanwhile, the largest church in America is led by a man whose platitudes are indistinguishable from fortune cookies. But it’s not just authors and church leaders who are swe..

By micoots

Kindness that Comes Too Late

I have always been glad that there was one person who brought out her alabaster jar and anointed the Lord before his burial. Most people would have waited. They would have kept the jar sealed until after his death. Only then, when his body was torn and cold, would they have broken it open to anoint him. But this one woman did not wait. She opened the jar while he could still enjoy its scent, and while his worn and weary feet could still be refreshed.

You don’t have to read between the lines to ..