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Featured image for “Christ the Conqueror”
July 10, 2017
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Devotions

Christ the Conqueror

by Anneke Wind
…to him. “As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you” (v. 10-12). So, take refuge, Christian. Have hope. For our God is greater, our God is stronger, and our God rules over all. He cannot be broken, He cannot be defeated. In times of trouble and in times of peace, He is there…
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Featured image for “Why Are Vacations So Exhausting?”
July 26, 2016
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Essays

Why Are Vacations So Exhausting?

by Howard Schaap
…hem in their space, making memories and getting in each other’s hair until coming home felt like freedom. This is another aspect of “vacation.” We “vacate” ultimately to return. In literature, the goal of any hero’s journey is to go out, have experiences that change us, and then return with our changed selves to better the place from which we came. The same can be said for vacation. Even if we return with tales of eating smoked gator, vacation and…
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Featured image for “Fairness for All: Using Civil Rights Law to Protect Distinctively Christian Higher Education”
November 6, 2019
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Essays

Fairness for All: Using Civil Rights Law to Protect Distinctively Christian Higher Education

by Stanley Carlson-Thies
…he many past, current, and looming difficulties stemming from the conflict commonly termed “religious freedom versus LGBT rights.” She noted the absence of any assured or broadly acknowledged way forward. The strategy of refusing federal and state government funding, for instance, does free an institution from a range of government demands to adopt new views and practices concerning marriage and human sexuality. Yet, in the future those requiremen…
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Featured image for “Why Is Obedience So Hard?”
February 11, 2017
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Devotions

Why Is Obedience So Hard?

by Leah Dunlap-Ennis
…do it. He has given you his Spirit. That is why Augustine prayed, “O Lord, command what you will, and give what you command.” Tell us what you want us to do, and give us the power to do it! On our behalf, the Psalmist acknowledges that one of his greatest needs is to be steadfast in keeping God’s statutes. And as he sets forth on the path of life, he promises: I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your st…
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Featured image for “Looking for “Deep Rest”: Confronting the Idolatry of Personal Success”
February 23, 2021
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Essays

Looking for “Deep Rest”: Confronting the Idolatry of Personal Success

by Justin Ariel Bailey
…ancient by the standards of professional sports), Brady can’t seem to stop competing. And commentators can’t seem to stop comparing.   There is something admirable about a professional athlete’s will to win. And there is something endearing about the arguments we have over their accolades. But underneath both is a haunting question: when will it ever be enough? Because if we are not careful, we believe that our professional accomplishments are the…
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Featured image for “The Healing Mission of Christ”
April 29, 2015
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Essays

The Healing Mission of Christ

by Darren Stoub
…Ada, MI: Baker Books, 1983). â†© The Bethesda Pool, Site of One of Jesus’ Miracles, Accessed 16 April 2015. The Miracle of the Healing of the Lame Man, Accessed 16 April 2015.  â†© MacDonald, 70. â†© Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Matthew 8, Accessed 16 April 2015. â†© Barker, Kenneth L. and John Kohnlenberger. Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary, Vol. 2(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1994) 38. â†© Colossians 1:16-18 â†©…
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Featured image for “What is Religious Liberty?”
May 21, 2015
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Essays

What is Religious Liberty?

by Donald Roth
…n establishment of religion (the Establishment Clause), or prohibiting the free exercise thereof (the Free Exercise Clause).” The case law regarding exactly what these two clauses mean is nuanced at best, murky and self-contradictory at worst; however, there is a general consensus that these provisions, as interpreted today, are meant to stand in some sort of balance.3 The government should not go so far in avoiding religion as to disenfranchise a…
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Featured image for “Seeking Justice in the Workplace”
September 9, 2015
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Essays

Seeking Justice in the Workplace

by John Taekema
…in order to find solutions to the problems that occur. The workplace is a community of workers. It is comprised of skilled and unskilled workers, managers, and owners. Each important in a unique way, the focus of a union is naturally different than management. Everyone in that community brings their unique skill set (gifts) to serve others. CLAC is a labor union that seeks to do justice in the workplace based on Christian principles that recogniz…
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Featured image for “Labor Day: Stories of Work”
September 7, 2020
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Essays

Labor Day: Stories of Work

by James Calvin Schaap
…not afraid to admit it, or even flaunt it. But then there’s this: We love free stuff, the more the merrier; but it’s passing strange that the one thing in life that’s offered freely is something we want so badly to work for and to earn—salvation. That line isn’t mine, but I’ve used it often because of the catchy irony that traps most of us when we hear it unrolled. It’s Labor Day all right, a holiday meant to celebrate work and those who do it, b…
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Featured image for “Part One: Reforming Journalism”
January 15, 2019
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Essays

Part One: Reforming Journalism

by Lee Pitts
…efferson understood that a press has a vital role in preserving liberty. A free society needed a free media. He believed in this so much that he was willing to abandon the very government that he helped create if it meant preserving the press. This message is forgotten today. I see it in the eyes of high school juniors and seniors and their parents when they visit Dordt. These students love to read and write. They are curious about the world. Thes…
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Featured image for “The Gift of Giving”
October 9, 2015
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Devotions

The Gift of Giving

by Willis Alberda
…n that we were made in the image of God? Where does the capability to love come from? Since the answers are beyond our comprehension, the best we can do is respond with praise to the Creator, who gave us all these capabilities and abilities, and do our best to create an environment in which all of these capabilities have the best possible way of developing in the way the Creator intended, both before and after the birth of each human being. Such a…
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Featured image for “Joining Christ in Mission”
March 9, 2015
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Spotlights

Joining Christ in Mission

by Darren Stoub
…aling of the ten lepers,1 those who are poor and rejected by society; “the freedom of the prisoners,” which could have been evidenced by the healing of the paralytic near the pool of Bethesda,2 a prisoner of his paralysis; and “the oppressed free,” which could have been seen through the healing of the bleeding woman,3 oppressed because she was unclean for twelve years. Beyond an implicit reading of this passage, one can consider the fact that more…
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Featured image for “What is Jesus’ Will?”
May 1, 2015
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Devotions

What is Jesus’ Will?

by Donald Roth
…ey’ve passed. The promise that we inherit then in Christ is of something accomplished. The contract made in the Old Testament between God and His people has been fulfilled by Christ, and the blessing secured by that fulfillment (“I will be your God.”) has been granted to us. For another, to paraphrase and apply Paul’s imagery from Galatians 4: workers sign a contract, children receive an inheritance. Thinking of the New Covenant as a will directs…
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Featured image for “Public Worship and the Shape of Discipleship”
August 28, 2018
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Essays

Public Worship and the Shape of Discipleship

by John D. Witvliet
…used attention-getting stunts and cheesy remarks to get it. These memories testify to the deformation of worship—to profound theological, pastoral, and spiritual astigmatisms that distort how the gospel is perceived and lived. As with healthy memories, the ripple effects of unhealthy practices may not become explicit or fully apparent until years later. The fact that my students recognize these as problems is, to be sure, a good thing. However, th…
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Featured image for “Jesus: Signal of Hope”
July 26, 2017
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Devotions

Jesus: Signal of Hope

by Kate Meyer
…in God’s kingdom: persistently, yet without hatred/judgment/violence. I am coming to believe that Jesus ordered people to keep quiet because Jesus knew if we talked, we would mess up the simple message: Jesus is the Son of God and he was sent to this earth to free the oppressed and bring restoration to the whole of humanity and creation. Clearly, Jesus was right to expect that we would mess that up. We live in a world full of evidence that we do n…
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Featured image for “What is Happening?”
November 20, 2015
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Essays

What is Happening?

by Joel Veldkamp
…di Arabia’s tyrannical King Abdullah this spring by announcing an essay contest to honor the king’s “powerful voice for tolerance, moderation and peace.” Muslim American groups protested vehemently, but almost no one else did.) Nevertheless, I think it is crucial for us to understand this history – not only as we participate as citizens in debates and elections, but especially now, as the controversy over whether to accept Syrian refugees rages. W…
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Featured image for “The End of Christianity in Iraq, Part II: 2003-2017”
March 7, 2017
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Essays

The End of Christianity in Iraq, Part II: 2003-2017

by Joel Veldkamp
…troops to keep peace in a country of 26 million people. One general who protested in public that “several hundred thousand” troops were needed was nudged into early retirement. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was eager to prove that new technologies could win wars quickly, cheaply, and cleanly. Instead, the small size of the occupation force (combined with the U.S.’ decision to disband the Iraqi Army and the BaĘżath Party) threw Iraq into chaos,…
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Featured image for “Unplugging from Social Media”
July 27, 2016
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Essays

Unplugging from Social Media

by Kory Plockmeyer
…from the relentless flow of minutiae and Internet memes.” This feeling of freedom is, I believe one of the greatest opportunities in a social media fast. We are constantly inundated by information, some of it important and useful, others of it only masquerading as such. At its best, social media offers us a platform to engage in relationship and community. Yet far too often, we engage social media uncritically, without thought to how it is shapin…
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Featured image for “Hear My Prayer”
May 15, 2017
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Devotions

Hear My Prayer

by Ethan Brue
…ferent prayer altogether—a short prayer, which has generated more words of commentary than it probably deserves: the prayer of Jabez. A prayer with very little context for us to lean on. A prayer that asks for God to increase the author and free him from pain. God grants it. End of prayer. After receiving and reading the Chronicles devotional, I went back to the tragedy of Psalm 102 and read on. “Hear my Prayer, O Lord.” The Psalmist is not asking…
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Featured image for “History of Social Justice and Its Relation to American Christianity”
November 15, 2018
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Essays

History of Social Justice and Its Relation to American Christianity

by Rebecca Koerselman
…ally, and commercially influence, thus touting a nonrestrictive capitalist example of free expression, high art, and the United States’ racial tolerance. In the 50s, 60s,and 70s, Americans shift from focusing on social reform to focusing on civil rights and the expansion of civil liberties and individual freedoms for everyone, including women, African Americans, and other ethnic and minority groups. A rights-based liberalism runs into problems wit…
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Featured image for “Pause in the Pain”
October 11, 2017
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Devotions

Pause in the Pain

by Edie Lenz
…ch does not rest in our hands. “Stretch out your hand from on high; set me free and rescue me from the mighty waters…” How many have prayed this prayer, awaiting rescue in their flooded homes? How many have prayed desperately for the deliverance of their loved ones in the rubble, in the fires, in the fighting? How many have prayed prayers of desperation, awaiting deliverance, awaiting a miracle? “May there be no breach in the walls, no exile, and…
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Featured image for “The Raging Waters of Advent”
November 28, 2016
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Devotions

The Raging Waters of Advent

by Teresa Ter Haar
…der the law, but under grace. While Advent is often considered a time of waiting for the Christ child and thoughtful reflection, perhaps this year we need to challenge ourselves to do more than wait. The passages for today open up space for us to act with confidence in God’s saving grace. Our baptism into Christ frees us and challenges us to move through the torrent of a broken world. We know that ultimately, we WILL live with him forever….
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Featured image for “The Endless Cycle of Want”
December 1, 2015
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Essays

The Endless Cycle of Want

by Howard Schaap
…people affected along the way by our purchases. Ten Thousand Villages, for example, is a company that attempts to bridge the developing and developed worlds with handicrafts made at the local level. As is so often the case, scripture gives the best insight into both the cycle of want and freedom from that cycle. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth. You cannot serve two masters. I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances….
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Featured image for “Why Vote”
November 6, 2018
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Essays

Why Vote

by Jeff Taylor
…ur local community, and, most importantly, try to provide a daily personal example of truth, morality, justice, mercy, and community. Nowadays, political campaigns tend to be slick, cynical things making use of messianic and apocalyptic language. The language pushes our buttons of hope and fear. We can vote and engage in the political process without buying into such save-the-world, sky-is-falling nonsense. Put in proper perspective, and done with…
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Featured image for “Advent: A Thrill of Hope”
December 3, 2019
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Essays

Advent: A Thrill of Hope

by Howard Schaap
…high call of the gospel: The Redeemer has broken every bond: The Earth is free, and Heaven is open. He sees a brother where there was only a slave, Love unites those that iron had chained. Who will tell Him of our gratitude, For all of us He is born, He suffers and dies. People, stand up! Sing of your deliverance, Christmas, Christmas, sing of the Redeemer, Christmas, Christmas, sing of the Redeemer! Despite the darkness—of literature, of human n…
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