Welcome!
A bit about me…
If you were to know one thing about me, my chief desire is to align my life with my chief end which is to enjoy and exalt the chief Author of all creation — that my life would be a story that exalts the glory of Another.
In my mind, my life played out like a story from the time I could remember. The stage was set. Main characters; extras; antagonists; protagonists; score/soundtrack. Enter stage right the main character — me — an ordinary boy from New York City longing to know how this story will unfold, longing to know the events surrounding that one climactic, joyous moment at which I can look with satisfaction and utter delight. You know the moment don’t you? That moment of arrival — that vision of the good life that is the true north of your inner compass? Perhaps it’s the future moment where you have a slight smile as you look back at the sum total of your existence and in your head is a faint whisper that says, “Ah, this is it. This is it.”
But what if my story is situated within a grander narrative transcending my small existence and the trivial accomplishments I deem important?
God has revealed a story; the ultimate storyteller has revealed Himself in a story that climaxes in one person, Jesus Christ. He is the image of the invisible God, the One Who has all authority in heaven and on earth, the One in Whom dwells all the fullness of wisdom and knowledge.
He created the world with the breath of His mouth. The earth is His and all its fullness. After placing man in the garden, He permits man to fall from a state of perfection and plunge the rest of us into a sea of darkness and depravity where, from the moment we’re born, we now have a natural disposition to worship the creation rather than the Creator. Our hearts are bent toward what is evil. The true north of our inner compass has been irreparably altered. We needed rescue from the jaws of sin and death.
My story is only significant because it is found within this narrative of rescue and mercy. Through no works of our own, God has pursued His people by grace, won our redemption through the sacrifice of His own Son, and applied His benefits through the life-giving Spirit.
The Triune God has reconciled me to Himself, forgiven my sin, granted me access by faith into His loving presence, and has accepted me as righteous in His sight because of the righteousness of Another — all of this, when what I truly deserved was His eternal wrath. That one climactic, joyous moment has come — I look back at it with utter delight; it gives the rest of my story meaning because it reorients me to the reason for my existence. My story (and our story if you’re a follower of Jesus) is, as Kevin DeYoung writes, “the story of God doing what we can’t in order to make up for us doing what we shouldn’t. The Christ suffers for our sin, that we might share in His sinlessness. And so deliverers are born to die. Things fall apart so they can come together. God kicks His own people out of paradise and then does whatever it takes to bring them back again.”
I exist to know this God and help others know Him too. He unexpectedly called me into pastoral ministry when I was very young and if you read my other posts, you’ve seen that I have a passion for studying/teaching the scriptures and growing in understanding the great doctrines of the Christian faith, so that I may enjoy, rest in, and worship the risen Christ.
You’ll see that passion expressed in various ways and at various times so that I may serve the Church and whoever may want to read.
You can expect devotional pieces, deep theological writing, and book reviews. However, I have a particular interest in studying the Marrow Controversy in 18th-century Scottish church history. I desire to explore the life and theology of Thomas Boston and his contributions which greatly affected the advance of the gospel of free grace, even in our day. This blog will be an outlet for my research in this area. Wherever you find yourself in your study of theology, I hope you enjoy those posts.
It’s my goal to produce content that celebrates and defends historic, orthodox Christianity to orient the believer’s heart toward Christ and His glory. Let’s keep reforming together by God’s Word and Spirit. My prayer is that, through these writings, Christ’s church would rest in the objective realities of the gospel and “comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:18–19).