Leaving Beyond – Grounded In Scripture

Written by: April J. Buchanan

Many men will entice and invite you into their sin, or into the approval and acceptance of their sin, urging you to agree with them in their offense against a holy God. Christian, you will not only be tempted by your own fleshly desires, but often by those you love who ask you to affirm what God hates.

In such moments, your love will be questioned, your loyalty will be challenged, and you will be forced to choose.

Many comfort themselves with delusions, imagining that they can claim salvation for their loved ones while ignoring the clear necessity of repentance and faith and that salvation is the work of God. They attempt to suppress reality, not by submitting to the truth of Scripture, but by reshaping it according to their desires. Where the Gospel is needed, it is often replaced with a powerless message, and reduced to “Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” while sin is left unaddressed and the call to repentance is absent. In this way, consciences are soothed and false converts are made. This has consequences for your own soul, for truth cannot be compromised without consequence.

Likewise, there are those who do not see danger coming from another direction, as some men appear sound in doctrine. Their teaching, when examined, seems faithful, and their lives outwardly appear ordered and upright, yet they fall and when they do it reveals what was hidden.

False teachers lead many astray because they speak what men desire to hear, and Scripture exposes them plainly. Their teaching does not withstand the test of the Word, and when they fall in their private lives it is not surprising because it is the inevitable fruit of error. Yet many in the pews love them and love what they say, and they love the lies they have embraced as truth, so they restore such men to positions for which they were never qualified because they have accumulated for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires as written in 2 Timothy 4:3.

It is not so among those who are governed by the authority of Scripture, for when a man who is truly sound in doctrine falls he is not protected by sentiment nor excused by reputation. He is treated as a fallen brother, he is removed from office, and he is placed under church discipline, while the care of his soul becomes the priority along with the care of his family, the church, and any affected by his sin, and this is love as it is defined by God.

And yet, dear saint, when those you love who remain outside of Christ go so far in their sin as to call it good and invite you to do the same, the matter becomes deeply personal, and they may say that if you do not affirm them then you do not love them.

You must choose in that moment whether you will obey God and love them with the truth, whether you will call sin what God calls it and proclaim the Gospel, or whether you will compromise where God does not.

Love is not defined by affirmation, but love is obedience to God, and it is expressed in truth rather than in the denial of it.

What are you being pressured to call good that God calls evil, and how can you proclaim the Gospel to someone whose conscience you have helped to quiet in their rebellion? If sin is no longer sin, then what gospel remains for you to proclaim? What are you doing to your own soul when you suppress the truth and seek to win them by means you call love but God calls rebellion? You do not want them to walk out of your life, so you quiet their conscience by affirming their sin and seek to win them by pragmatic means that God finds offensive. You seek to bring an enemy in without calling their sin sin and declaring the command of the holy and righteous God that they must repent and believe on the Lord Jesus. You wrestle with this in your mind and your heart is rent. You cannot compromise or distort truth without consequence.

Dear saint, a brother recently recounted a question he asked a dying brother who was a faithful pastor and a fellow pilgrim, and he asked him, “How is it with your soul?”

That question is full of love because it searches without accusation, presses beyond appearances, and reaches into the inner man, calling him to consider his standing before God, and it is not a legal demand but a gracious summons to self-examination as Scripture commands in 2 Corinthians 13:5.

For the faithful saint it stirs praise and turns the heart toward the kindness of God, His providence, His sustaining grace, and His sovereign power at work within, and for the struggling saint it opens the door to speak honestly, to bring hidden burdens into the light, and to find that grace is indeed sufficient.

It is a question that does not condemn but clarifies, and it does not wound without purpose but exposes in order to heal, directing the soul back to the ordinary means of grace, to the Word, to prayer, and to the fellowship of the saints where God strengthens and sustains His people.

Dear saint, do not let men, even those you love, draw you into calling evil good or good evil, and while you may love them, pray for them, and speak truth to them, you must not join them in their rebellion against God because to do so harms your own soul and weakens your testimony of the Gospel before them.

Compromise is never without consequence, and love for the brethren is not mere sentiment but is walking in the truth as written in 3 John 1:4, and it is a concern for their souls which may at times be expressed in something as simple and as profound as asking, “How is it with their soul?”

You need not ask it of every man nor use it carelessly, yet the question itself is full of love and searches the heart, and you must consider whether you are willing to let it search your own.

May it lead you again to the beauty and glory of God in salvation, and may it return your heart to His grace and power at work within you, and where neglect of His appointed means is revealed, may it stir you to return to them faithfully and with joy. And if in any way you have compromised and it is not well with your soul, dear saint, repent and find grace for your soul.

Written by: April J. Buchanan

There are many things we might imagine when we say, “I cannot imagine anything worse than…” yet it can be said with confidence that nothing is worse than living, grieving, and dying without hope. When men live without hope they make perilous and erratic choices. When they grieve without hope they search for comfort in places that cannot sustain them. When they face death without hope they cling desperately to whatever promise might quiet the fear that rises within them.

Many attempt to soothe their own hearts with false hope. They look for comfort in bottomless pleasure, in distraction, or in the vanity of their own thoughts. Yet these are only futile attempts to silence a truth that continually confronts them. Man grasps for anything that will quiet the knowledge that death stands before him and that he cannot overcome it.

There is hope in life, in grief, and even in death, but there is only one true hope. That hope is not found in a bottle, in a sunset, or in one final attempt at romance that promises meaning but cannot sustain it. Hope is found in a Person and in the work that only He could accomplish on behalf of sinners such as you and me. Christ alone is the hope of the world. Christ alone is the hope of every lost soul.

Hope is not that men will avoid death. Hope is not that they will grow old beside those they love. Hope is not that they will gain success, security, or promotion. A man may obtain all these things and still die without hope. Hope is Christ.

Some men live surrounded by pleasure and never experience the grief that others carry daily. Yet such a man may die without hope. Another man may live his entire life under the heavy weight of sorrow and also die without hope. Yet there are those who live with hope even in the midst of grief. By the grace of God they carry a sorrow that is real and often deep, especially when they remember those who died without Christ. At the same time they cling to the promise that all who die in Christ will be raised to life in Him.

Our hope is not that all who die will be raised to life in Christ. When men speak this way they comfort themselves with false assurances and proclaim a false and fatal gospel. The resurrection unto life belongs only to those who are united to Christ. Yet when truth prevails even over our deepest grief, love compels us to proclaim the Gospel that alone has the power to save.

Our greatest concern is not that men feel comfortable or live happily for a time. Our greatest concern is that they know Christ. He alone is the true hope of every man who hears the Gospel and responds in repentance and faith through the regenerating work of God. Once dead in sin, the sinner is made alive in Christ and given the hope that death itself cannot destroy.

There is no hope in life or death apart from Christ alone. You may comfort a man with lies for a moment, but only Christ can give him true hope. If you would give men hope then proclaim Christ and pray to the God who is sovereign in salvation. Ask Him to grant grace, life, and salvation to those who hear.

Their grief may not disappear entirely, yet those who know Christ are able to live truly when He is their hope and salvation. Many men grieve. Many men live. Many live, grieve, and die without hope. The grave itself does not grant eternal life. The Gospel is for today because men who live today will soon die just as they have lived, either with Christ or without Him.

Tell them the truth and leave the results to God. Do not be cold, callous, or indifferent. We cannot save anyone, but we must examine ourselves if our hearts grow silent in the proclamation of the Gospel. A man who truly knows the hope that is in Christ cannot remain unmoved when others live without it.

The man who believes he must compromise the Gospel in order to win someone reveals that he has little confidence in the power of God to save. He has forgotten the efficacy of Christ’s work, the power of the Spirit who applies it, and the sufficiency of the message God has entrusted to His people. Obedience requires faith in the God who saves and faithfulness in proclaiming the Gospel He has given.

Sometimes a believer’s love grows cold because he has looked too long at the wickedness of men and too little at the glory of God. When this happens his faith weakens and his hope grows dim. The problem is not with God and it is not with His Gospel. The problem lies within the one who has lost sight of Him.

Look again to Christ and fix your gaze upon Him. Do not allow your love to grow cold, your faith to wither, or your hope to sink in discouragement. When we lose sight of Christ we place ourselves in a far more dangerous condition than those who simply reject the message we proclaim.

Return and look again to Him. In Christ alone are found your hope, your love, your strength, and your life. Go forward not in your own strength but in the strength that He provides, trusting the God who saves and proclaiming the Gospel He has entrusted to you.

Grace be with you.

Written by: April J. Buchanan

Burden not another with your unfulfilled longings that arise from your own disobedience, your apathy toward God’s means of grace, and your neglect of the encouragement and strength found only in Him. Do not act as the pagan, the insolent unbeliever, or the hardened reviler of holy things.

Recognize your weakness for what it is. It flows from a heart deprived and neglected through your own sinfulness.

You are not weak because you need something from the world or from another. You are not weak because you faithfully attend to your soul, partake of the good things of God, and grow weary in doing good.

You are weak because you have neglected the greater things. If you continue in such neglect, you shall either prove that you were never saved at all or you shall be among the most miserable and pitiable of saints who reach the end with nothing to lay before their King and no fruit, no reward, and no testimony of faithful devotion.

Your life, dear saint, is meant to bring glory to God. As you find in Him all your delight, your life becomes a display of His grace at work within you and draws men to see and praise Him.

Be not as one who seeks merely to make it for his own sake and cares nothing for the glory of God. How shall a man stand before such grace and say that he was saved by grace yet cared nothing for the means of grace God provided and sought only to escape judgment for himself?

How shall he say that he cared not to grow in the image of Christ and cared not for the salvation of men? Such a confession would reveal a heart unmoved by the grace it claims to possess.

False teachers labor with great zeal to evangelize souls to hell, and pagans pursue their filth and abominations with eagerness and delight. Yet many who profess Christ show less devotion to Him who has granted them grace sufficient for all their needs.

They despise such grace by neglecting it and then complain of the miseries that follow their own neglect. They seek only to make it to the end for their own sake and care little for the glory of the One who saved them.

Are you saved at all, and do you bear the marks of a child of God? Be warned, for your miserable soul may have deceived you.

You think you stand, yet you must beware not only that you fall but that you never stood at all.

Written by: April J. Buchanan

Can we remain apathetic toward false teaching and false teachers? What effect does the truth have upon the church? Are we apathetic about being trained by error, or are we intentional about being trained in the truth?

(1 Timothy) False teachers had come into the church of Ephesus. Paul left Timothy at Ephesus to deal with these problems. Some of the most beautiful instruction, providing profound contrast, is seen in this letter. This contrast, not as to be compared with other Scriptures, is present internally throughout the letter itself.

One enters the letter understanding that Paul had left Timothy in Ephesus for the purpose of bringing order by means of the truth to a church that had allowed false teachers to come in, just as Paul had previously warned them would happen.

If we read this letter honestly, we cannot escape the reality that the Word of God rightly taught and rightly lived is the answer to disorder and a light against every false doctrine. It exposes doctrinal error and it exposes practical error, bringing order both in teaching and in living.

Many approach Scripture seeking to make practical changes to their lives so that they may live what they consider a good life. Yet they care little for true godly living, which can only come by means of the truth rightly taught, rightly believed, worked in the heart, and therefore producing godliness.

We are not changed by adopting outward forms of religion, but by the truth dwelling in the heart and mind and by being trained by it.

I find myself meditating on the words of Paul to Timothy where he says, “Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all” (1 Timothy 4:15). I am reminded also of the words in Luke 13:24: “Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”

We enter not by our own righteousness but by the righteousness of Christ. Confuse not the intent here. Justification and progressive sanctification must be clearly distinguished and firmly held in mind. When this distinction is understood, the pursuit of sanctification becomes all the more beautiful as we strive to enter and as we understand the danger of false teaching to the soul, to our sanctification, to our training in godliness, and to our faithfulness to God.

In every way the truth must not be minimized or set alongside what is false. One corrupts while the other purifies.

Paul sent Timothy to expose error, to proclaim the truth, to be trained by it himself, and to demonstrate it both in teaching and in practice. The truth unifies, purifies, sanctifies, and builds up according to God’s power at work in those who are His.

False teachers cannot be allowed to continue their work among God’s people. They must be exposed. Their doctrine must be exposed.

When God sends a man into a church, He does so with the truth, and it will have a powerful sanctifying effect. The truth produces order, unity, holiness, and godliness, and men must be trained by it, those in the pulpit and those in the pew.

If we are not discerning, we are probably already deceived or soon will be. We cannot carry within us the truth and be made alive by the Spirit and yet remain indifferent when that which is contrary to the Spirit of God and to His Word is present among much of what is called the church today.

Neither can we live contrary to the Spirit and the truth and have no real conviction that causes us to repent of our own sinfulness, sloth, and apathy toward disorder, false teaching, and false practices in the church. Nor we can remain apathetic toward our own sinfulness. The truth exposes it all.

When the truth is set plainly before us, we reveal ourselves either enemies of it or those humbled by it and willing to be trained by it.

The truth divides. Yet the truth also produces order, unity, and godliness among those who are truly children of God.

Enemies of the truth cling to their false doctrines and false teachers. They reject the truth and all that it produces. They have what they desire. They send away those who warn them by means of the truth. They will have no part in it.

Is my life trained by the truth? Do I love it?

How beautiful the words of this letter are to the heart of those who love the truth. How dissatisfying these same words are to those who desire not to be governed by God’s Word but instead desire new teachings and their own personal words. Such men love false teachers who promise new things.

One cannot read this letter (1 Timothy) honestly and fail to see the beauty of what God’s Word produces and how it is resisted by ungodly men.

The truth produces order, unity, and godliness.

Written by: April J. Buchanan

You’re at dinner with your spouse and you notice someone approaching your table. They walk with intention, smiling yet appearing somewhat nervous. You think maybe you are supposed to know them and you try to place them, but nothing comes to mind. You consider that perhaps they only appear to be coming your direction and will turn before they reach you. You are wrong.

They approach your table and, propelled by both nervousness and purpose, they begin immediately.

“Hi. I just want to be obedient to the Lord, and while I was trying to eat I just couldn’t because God just kept dealing with my heart about you. So I had to come over here. I just felt like God wanted me to come tell you…”

What do you do?

They have singled you out. They present it sincerely. Even if God has not spoken to them, they appear fully convinced that He has. Should you drop your guard and hear them out? Or should your discernment be immediately engaged?

The word they share may seem to speak directly to your heart and situation. It feels personal. You feel seen. You feel understood. That is precisely why it can be so persuasive. It subtly trains you to believe that God is giving new, personal revelation just for you.

But this does not leave you neutral. It slowly draws you away from churches that trust in the sufficiency of Scripture and cultivates in you a desire for private words from God. It is not just about that moment or that message. It is about forming an appetite for what lies beyond Scripture.

Notice how these “words” often function. They are typically vague, emotionally resonant, and broadly applicable. In a room of one hundred people, the same message would likely land with the overwhelming majority. That is not impressive. It is intentional.

Many who practice this have been trained to do exactly that. They are taught to offer encouraging but general words, to identify common wounds, and to speak in ways that feel deeply personal while remaining safely subjective. Promises are made on God’s behalf that are broad enough to require the listener’s own personal interpretation.

They often step forward because they have been taught that spiritually mature believers should be hearing God speak constantly. They hear stories of those considered especially “anointed” who regularly deliver words in uncomfortable situations and are praised for their bold obedience. Wanting the same affirmation, they move forward in what they believe is faith.

But sincerity does not sanctify error.

Whether the word seems to land or not, they are told they have obeyed. The cycle then reinforces itself. What often follows is increasing confidence in subjective impressions, growing dissatisfaction with the ordinary means of grace, and a quiet drift from the sufficiency of God’s written Word.

You already have God’s Word. You do not need vague impressions claiming divine authority. Sometimes the most loving response is to gently but firmly stop the conversation before words are put into God’s mouth that He has not spoken. They may respond by accusing you of having a religious spirit, quenching the Spirit, or whatever they’ve been trained to believe protects them from the truth. You cannot change their reaction. Your stand in the truth may be the irritating pebble in their shoe that God uses to help them test their beliefs objectively rather than subjectively. Perhaps it will be. Perhaps it will not.

We must remain discerning and careful not to entertain the delusions of those deeply deceived. Loving them does not mean affirming their false words. Truth will be offensive to them, but if we truly love them, we will stand firm in it.

Written by: April J. Buchanan

Turn your eyes upon Jesus. How we come to see Him more and more through the unfolding riches by which He has revealed Himself in His Word. Day by day the longing to know Him grows as His Word is opened before us. There He works in our hearts by the Spirit, bringing truth that becomes not only heard but known.

It is an experiential knowledge of Him, though not in the way many pursue fleeting emotional experiences and call them encounters with God. No. Not so. He is far more wonderful than that.

The truth hidden in the heart day by day is never wasted, nor is it a treasure unknown to our own souls. When God so chooses, those riches hidden within the heart, meditated on in the mind, treasured and studied rightly, become more than truths we believe, profess, or contemplate. They become truths known.

Some chase experience at the cost of truth that must first be treasured and, in God’s time, revealed to the heart. Others chase truth only for the academic excitement of being known for their intellect. Neither knows the truth experientially, for only God can take the riches hidden in the heart, meditated on in the mind, and transform the one who delights in Him.

Some want to know about God. Some want to experience God. Few want to know God and be changed by Him.

Scripture reading is not the means to satisfy selfish attempts to accumulate knowledge about God, nor is it a tool for chasing experiences so one might feel close to Him. It is not given so men may gain wealth or obtain whatever they desire from God.

Many come to Scripture without the desire to know God and truly hear Him. They already know what they want Him to say. Others come to learn so they may boast in their knowledge. Yet Scripture makes clear that it is few who come to hear God, to sit at His feet, to listen, to abide, to meditate upon His Word, and to desire that His Word do its work within them.

That truth is humbling. Many do not want it. Some come looking for something quick. Others may spend great amounts of time studying the Bible, yet it never penetrates the heart because their heart was never in it. They devote themselves to study in order to acquire knowledge about God, yet they seek the praise of men rather than the transformation of their own souls.

Many claim to know God. Many say they love God. Many faithfully attend to Scripture reading, prayer, the gathering of the saints, and service. Many have experiences. Many have debates. Few truly know Him.

Debates are not inherently wrong. To love God with the mind is good and must not be neglected. The scholar is not in opposition to God merely because he is a scholar. My words carry no such criticism.

The one who is broken and has been promised a nearness from God formed out of bad theology has their pain exploited. When they have an emotional experience that they now equate with God, they are set on a course to pursue that feeling because they do not want to lose it. They have been deceived and robbed of the true love of God that comes from His Word rightly taught, believed, and worked in the heart by the Spirit in a way no fleeting experience can compare.

Take my words as they are meant and do not read into them subjectively what I have not said.

There is an experiential knowledge of God that may only be known as His Word is rightly taught and as the Spirit works through it in regeneration and sanctification. It is not the foolishness seen in many churches today that draws attention to those who are deceived and makes a mockery of the true work of the Spirit.

His work in the inward man is far more beautiful and far more powerful.

Grace and peace.
Soli Deo Gloria.

Hope sanctifies, grace sustains, and the faithful walk of the believer is the work of God from beginning to end.

Written by: April J. Buchanan

Hope sanctifies and hope purifies. One whose hope is from the Lord and in the Lord has every confidence. He who lets his heart wander and stumbles in the way causes his own assurance to waver. He who keeps his heart steadfast on the Lord does not do so by his own wisdom, his own strength, or his own ability. His desire, power, and every ability he has is given him by God. Let no man who walks steadfast and faithful boast in his ability, his strength, his love for God, or his desire to please God, for all he has is grace and that grace is given freely by God. He walks steadfast and faithful and he desires to do so because of grace.

When he walks contrary he does so by his own power, by desires that are contrary to that which God has given him. His wrestling against such desires of his sinful flesh is that of grace, for he knew not such power to overcome before as he knows now.

Boast much and boast often, but always with the right object. Christ alone. For no man ever raised himself from his pitiful and wretched state or set himself on the course of life, peace, hope, love, truth, light, and salvation by any will, desire, or effort of his own. It is all of grace.

Today if you walk faithfully and please the Lord, praise Him for His grace. Today if you stumble, repent and rise a bit bruised and with marks that remind you of your weakness and His strength, and praise Him for His grace. As you set your eyes upon Him and partake of His ordinary means of grace, praise Him, for you dear saint were never meant to walk alone. His grace saved you. His grace sustains you. His grace will bring you safely home. It is all of grace.

Abuse not grace and call your walk faithful and your salvation true. Walk by faith according to the grace of God at work in you. Let not grace be that which you presume upon while knowing nothing of its regenerating and sanctifying work. Many dead men presume upon grace and know nothing of its power. They neither boast in it nor are made alive by it. They are dead, deceived, and presume upon its riches while knowing nothing of its life.

You dear saint know its author, its originator, its riches, its power, and its humbling effect. You know it, and when you stumble you grieve having sinned against such grace. You know you cannot earn it and do not deserve it, though your heart has been changed by it and is being changed by it.

Continue steadfast and faithful. In the day whereby you may stumble, rest not there. Arise immediately, repent, throw off the thoughts that beset you, acquaint yourself with the riches of grace, adorn your life with it, partake of its ordinary means, and think rightly of its beauty. See clearly every threat against its power at work in you.

Let the grace of God work in you and let hope set within you a joy, a peace, and a love for the One whom you shall soon behold. Let hope have its sanctifying work in you as your heart increasingly longs for that which lies ahead. Let faithfulness adorn all your abilities, those grace given abilities, such as God may be glorified even in the quiet work which your hands find to do for His good pleasure.

You do it not for man, though many say this and mean it not. Let your hands find to do that which most glorifies your Lord in the ordinary everyday faithfulness of works seen by God alone. Do it all for His glory, for what else might there be if it is all of grace?

Let your heart abide in Him and in His Word, His grace having its perfect work in you. Then what your hands find to do comes forth from a mind set on the Lord, a heart shaped by truth and grace, and hands finding to do all as unto Him. Let your words be few and faithful, adorned by grace.

Grace upon grace, amazing grace.

Movements demand momentum. The church requires faithfulness. Movements chase influence. The church proclaims Christ.

Written by: April J. Buchanan

Many in the church today are dissatisfied with simply being the church, the ekklesia, the called-out ones, the bride of Christ. They want to be part of something bigger, something the world takes notice of. Increasingly, many identify themselves not with religion but with a movement.

Yet Scripture uses the word religion in both positive and negative ways. Religion itself is not the problem. Scripture distinguishes between true religion and false religion. What it does not do is redefine Christ’s bride as a movement.

So why are so many enticed by the language of movement? Why are so many repulsed by the language of religion? And why are so many dissatisfied with being the church?

There are many contributors. Over time, erosive teachings and practices have caused the church to forget who she is. She has been told that in order to win the world she must change her language, her image, her methods, and even her message. Yet her greatest threats have not come from outside but from within. Slowly, subtly, she has been persuaded to trade her identity for what she was promised would be more effective.

Much of what is called the church today bears little resemblance to what Scripture reveals the church to be.

Religion has been labeled “bad” largely because some taught doctrines and took practices beyond what Scripture permits. But instead of reforming according to the Word of God, many seized the moment to offer new solutions that created new problems. The answer was never innovation for its own sake. The answer has always been Scripture.

We look back at the past and see dusty roads, open windows without air conditioning, and lives marked by hard labor rather than modern comfort. We see men of the past as ignorant and uneducated. We assume there is nothing there for us to learn. But the real issue is not progress. It is pride.

We think we know better than those who came before us. Worse still, we often act as though we know better than God.

Rather than reforming our beliefs and practices according to the Word, we chase what is new and shiny. We want to leave our mark. We want to be part of something big. We want our names written in history books. That is the promise many have been sold, and many are willing to do whatever it takes to obtain it. It is even marketed as virtuous.

Reform is seen as boring. Innovation is celebrated. And many will get exactly what they want. They will join movements. They will gain recognition. They will stand in the spotlight they crave. Others will not, and though their smiles remain polished, their hearts will grow quietly bitter.

Not everyone will be the face of a movement. Not everyone will be a visible servant within one. Yet even proximity to prominence is often prized above faithful identification with biblical religion.

Meanwhile, the word religion is despised, though Scripture does not despise it. The word movement is celebrated, and it is marketed well. It appeals powerfully to the flesh.

Why does it work? Because fallen men do not naturally want religion that glorifies God. They want significance. They want scale. They want association with influence. Movement language, branding, and messaging often appeal directly to those desires.

It is frequently framed as being about Christ, about the gospel, about love for the lost. But those grounded in Scripture and shaped by true religion can often discern the difference between what is authentic and what is carefully packaged to appear so.

Christ never called His bride to build a movement. He called her out from the world and united her together in Him. The church is, by definition, the called-out ones. Our identity is in Christ. We belong to Him and to one another in Him.

Our mission is not to build platforms. Our mission is to proclaim Christ and His gospel.

Yet many no longer understand what the church is or where her beauty truly lies. She has been so frequently leveraged for man’s purposes, man’s visions, man’s ambitions, and man’s dreams that she has often lost sight of her own glory.

But she has one Lord. Her identity is in Christ alone. She has His Word.

Pastors are not salesmen or brand architects. They are called to faithfully exposit the Word of God, through which Christ sanctifies His bride, causing her to grow in true beauty and glory by His grace and for His glory.

The church is Christ’s bride. He loves her. He is jealous for her. And He has not called her to chase the spotlight, but to remain faithful to Him.

Grace and peace.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Written by: April J. Buchanan

Your heart rejoiced in the Lord your God. You enjoyed the beauty and glory of God.

What is this sickness that has poisoned the wellspring of your heart?

When your heart is sick, unless the poison and toxin are removed and purged entirely, your praise becomes only echoes from before and longings for what once was.

Let not your heart be overtaken by that which promises pleasure, for once the poison has taken effect, the beauty of God’s glory becomes terror to the heart and hinders praise. It threatens assurance.

Oh dear saint, there is no pleasure outside of Christ worth destroying your own heart, your own soul. It all comes at a price. And though you may be rid of the toxins and your praise returns to its former glory, the sin that so easily beset you and robbed you of ascribing glory to God was never worth it, and your heart knows this.

You are not a victim of your choices. God in His grace has made a way for you to escape. He has enabled you and empowered you to overcome. You can do what is right.

Let not the taste of sinful pleasure entice your heart to sin against the God you love. It is not little. It is not minor. It is poison, slow, deadly, intoxicating poison.

If you truly love God, and yet you have tasted the intoxicating poison that once enticed you, your heart is not as it once was. You cannot enjoy it. You simply cannot.

Resist it! Flee from it. If you have partook, repent and flee immediately to Christ.

You are right. You do not deserve Him. You never did. That is grace.

But grace abused is what unregenerate men presume upon as they sin freely, with hearts set on sin, using God’s grace to indulge their pleasures while seeking escape from temporal and eternal punishment. They neither love God nor hate sin; they love sin and hate its consequences wanting to be absolved of guilt and shame while continuing in their love for sin.

Not so with you. You have been born again. You have a new love for God and hatred for sin not merely the consequences. When you sin now you hate sinning against so great a love.

You love God. You cannot taste sin’s pleasures and enjoy them. You hate your sin.

Resist it! Flee from every temptation. If you have sinned and your assurance is tested, examine yourself that you are in the faith. Flee to Christ!

Written by: April J. Buchanan

Few devotionals sit on my bookshelf, and that is intentional.

Even the most theologically rich and doctrinally anchored devotions often serve to fill a space in the day when we want to spend time in the Word but give little time to what should be the most important part of our day. Devotions can allow us to feel as though we have spent time in the Word when, in reality, we have not.

Even sound and faithful devotions can unintentionally empty the text of its beauty if we are not also faithfully sitting under the Word itself. A devotional may rightly handle a verse, offer honorable application, and provoke thoughtful reflection. But if that is all we consume, we may simply be seeking something to carry us through the day and to feel good about having been in the Word when we have not truly been.

We can easily begin to treat theologically rich books and devotions as substitutes rather than as what they ought to be. They are meant to serve us by helping us go deeper into Scripture and understand it more fully.

These resources can be good, beneficial, and God honoring, and they can lead to beautiful worship that truly glorifies God. They can also become substitutes for the true treasure. Used improperly, they may help us grow fluent in the language of sound doctrine while we spend little time actually sitting under the Word itself, which alone is inherently powerful and the ordinary instrument the Spirit uses to sanctify His people.

Can the Spirit of God enlighten us as we read a verse in a devotional written by a faithful expositor? Certainly He can. But there is no substitute for the Word of God.

While some chase experiences and encounters that lead their hearts away from the truth, we must also be careful not to replace Scripture with things that are good but can never and must never stand alongside or over it.

Devotions and theologically sound books have their place and can serve the believer well. We need not be as those who think they should never pick up a commentary, theology book, or study church history. That’s unwise and not at all what scripture teaches. It is also dangerous and prideful. We benefit greatly from studying church history, reading theologically sound books, and we can find encouragement from few (and I stand in stong conviction on the word few) devotions. But when a choice must be made, we ought always to choose what is best, which is the Word of God.

Even when isolated verses are handled carefully in some devotionals, and sadly many popular ones are not, they must still be tested by the whole counsel of Scripture. More than merely tested, we should be driven back into the text itself for the joy of seeing its beauty in full context rather than only through carefully selected fragments.

As Charles Spurgeon once said, “Visit many good books, but live in the Bible.”

Grace and peace.
Soli Deo Gloria