Written in 2011 by Doug Plank and Bob Kauflin of Sovereign Grace Music, Show Us Christ focuses on the power of Christ as revealed in the word of God to save sinners.

This morning during my prayer time, I picked up my copy of “The Valley of Vision,” a collection of prayers and devotions from the Puritans. I use this little book as a daily aid in my private prayer time, orienting me toward the glory of God and my own sinfulness.

We’re in the season of hope, but it doesn’t feel like it. This year, collectively, we’ve been through the wringer. Individually, each of us has had unique struggles brought about by the pandemic. In such times, we can find ourselves losing sight of what ought to be the enduring motivation for the Christian in hard times: The goodness of God.

You’re probably inundated with “Top Books of 2020” lists on the Christian Blogosphere right now. To add to the mix, here is mine. Not all of these books were published in 2020, but I was able to finally read them this year. For some, they were long overdue. You won’t go wrong by adding any of these works to your last-minute Christmas gift list.

Whether farming, blacksmithing, cobbling, or woodworking, men and women worked hard to develop certain skills that met a community need and provided a living for their families. These were people of craft; people of trade. As I’ll parse out later, my working definition of craftsmanship is working hard to create good things for the glory of God.

You don’t need me to tell you that we are living in destabilized times. Chaos abounds in the streets and in government from the top to the bottom. One look through a Twitter timeline shows forth our society’s outrage. The secular worldview that permeates current culture brings to bear the logical end of that secularism: mass chaos and confusion.

Theology brings baggage to conversations because often those who employ theological words and ideals have not had the proper goal in mind. A recovery of the goal of theology would help to bring back the glory of the word and the pursuit of theology itself. 

The focus of this short article is to advocate for a recovery of the doctrine of biblical sufficiency. The sufficiency of Scripture is the doctrine that says that the Bible contains sufficient information to determine how we are to live as Christians and what we are to believe. 

Let us now take a look at Jesus’s proposed solution for the Ephesian saints: Remember, repent, and do the deeds you did at first.

The Ephesians loved good doctrine, but became insulated, and ceased bearing light into the world. They ceased loving God and neighbor. Jesus commands them to repent and return to their first love: The love of God that fueled their love for the world which results in evangelism.

True teaching identifies Jesus as the biblical, prophesied Messiah, while false teaching dangerously denies Jesus as Messiah. False teaching subtly pulls on threads that unravel the whole tapestry of Christian theology.

The entire film functions as a commentary on the intense power of nostalgia. Gil believes that if he can only get back to the 1920s Paris literary scene, his life would be better. Adriana believes that everything was better during the Belle Epoque, while those in the Belle Epoque wanted to get back to the Renaissance. Nostalgia can be a powerful master, but an empty pursuit. We believe that perceived periods of great advance—whether it be technological, art, literature— are just that: great periods.