Devotionals

Daily readings to encourage your heart and mind in the pursuit of God and his glory.

  • Honoring God’s Holy Name

    Isaiah 8:13

    Fundamentally, revering God as holy means trusting His promises and obeying His commandments. In other words, we must recognize first that He is holy and that we are unholy, and we must rest only in His Son, Christ Jesus, in ...Read More

  • The Third Commandment

    Deuteronomy 5:11

    In a culture such as ours, we easily fall into the trap of speaking of God irreverently. Even preachers can sometimes fail to give the Lord due reverence in their preaching and teaching, which is why they must take care ...Read More

  • Architecture

    1 Kings 6

    When we gather to worship the Lord, it is essential to remember that we are coming into the presence of the most holy Creator who has nonetheless chosen to show great mercy to a particular people in the person of ...Read More

  • The Handmaiden of Theology

    Colossians 3:16

    Not every traditional hymn is good simply because it is old, and not every contemporary song is unfit for worship simply because it is new. There are bad traditional songs, and there are edifying contemporary songs. Our goal in worship ...Read More

  • The Influence of Music

    Psalm 101:1

    Our God is a God of order, so it is no surprise that the music we use to praise Him would reflect some kind of structure. We are not always conscious of the ordering principles in the art that we ...Read More

  • The Eye of the Beholder

    Ecclesiastes 3:11a

    Although the subject is always deeply involved in any encounter with the arts, we must recognize that there is one ultimate standard of beauty—the Lord Himself. Scripture often speaks of the “beauty of the Lord” (Ps. 27:4), and we dare ...Read More

  • Art for Whose Sake?

    Exodus 28

    Whether or not you agree that images have a place in our sanctuaries and church buildings, it is important to be aware of what is being communicated by the design of your church. The walls of our places of worship ...Read More

  • Art in Recent History

    Psalm 27:4

    Beauty and truth go hand in hand. Truth informs the arts so that whatever is beautiful will reflect some truth about God or His creation. The arts inform the truth, for they move us to turn the words of truth ...Read More

  • Images in the Sanctuary?

    Exodus 26:1

    Regardless of one’s position on images in the worship sanctuary, let us all remember that this is an issue over which many good and godly Reformed believers have differed for generations. Consequently, we owe each side respect, and we should ...Read More

  • Images vs. Idols

    2 Kings 18:4–5

    Biblical ethics ultimately address the heart. Images in themselves are indifferent; it is what we do with them that matters. The worship of physical images is a problem in many places, but we tend to be more “sophisticated.” We often ...Read More

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