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I read comments from someone who thought they had the gift of discernment and lamented that no one talks much about this spiritual gift. I agree that it’s often avoided. This might be in part because it is a sensitive subject to address with those who feel they have this gift.

Sometimes we make the foolish assumption that our heavenly Father has no right to insist that we trust Him unless He makes His infinite wisdom completely understandable to us. But if God offered us constant explanations for the circumstances we face, our lives would not be free or normal, and would not allow for faith or trust.

Back in the 1970s when I was a brand-new Christian, it was popular for people to ask questions like, “Can God create a stone so heavy that He cannot lift it? If not, then He is not all powerful, and if so, He is not all powerful. Therefore, if it is impossible, that contradicts Scripture.” To some it seemed convincing, but it was just a ridiculous self-contradiction that proved nothing at all.

Like countless others, I was greatly saddened by the murder of 31-year-old Charlie Kirk, the founder and president of Turning Point USA, a few days ago. My prayers have been with his family and friends and church. Many of us have wept for their pain and suffering, and wept for our country as well.

Life in this world—the way it is now and the way we are now—can be difficult, can’t it? It’s easy to become burdened, discouraged, depressed, or even traumatized when you suffer the loss of a loved one, when your health is failing, or when your dreams—your family, career, or lifelong ambitions—have crumbled.

If we don’t fear God, we have good reason to be afraid of other things. You fear God when you come to grips with the fact that He is in charge, and you are not. As Spurgeon put it, He is the sovereign help of our souls.

In this article, Tim Barnett with Stand to Reason answers the claim that being prolife is just “pro-forced birth.” He writes, “Abortion advocates are brilliant at playing word games. Using clever rhetorical moves, they are able to make protecting preborn children look bad and killing preborn children look good.”

Back in 2009, I was asked to be on a panel on Heaven and Hell at a book conference. When I asked who else would be on the panel, they mentioned J. I. Packer, and my response was, “I will do it as long as I can sit next to Dr. Packer.” (The organizers kindly accommodated my request!)

In my last blog, I shared six false expectations that can diminish our happiness. So what truths should raise our expectations of happiness? Here are seven worth focusing on.

Most people intuitively know that our expectations profoundly affect our life experiences. Yet even as believers, we simultaneously expect too much and too little. We need to discover what we should expect less of and what merits higher expectations.

One day all Heaven will attend the ultimate wedding, and we will be Christ's bride (see Revelation 19:7-9). However, I do envision that people who’ve had important roles in each other’s lives will continue to be friends—and that would include a lot of people who’ve been married.

When I was answering a question about animals and the New Earth, a comment was said about cats. I have to shake my head at this often-repeated joke, because I’ve been in three different churches where the pastor said from the pulpit that he thinks all dogs go to Heaven, but not cats. It’s good for laughs, but not funny to people who love their cats.

I came across this photo last week and was reminded of the great time Nanci and I had back in 2007 at the Desiring God National Conference in Minneapolis. With John MacArthur’s recent passing, most of the people in this picture are now in Christ’s presence.

Sometimes we have an anti-works mentality, which is unfortunate since immediately after saying we are not saved by our works, God tells us “we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works” (Ephesians 2:8-10).