Are You Reading Revelation Wrong?

Posted on March 4, 2026 by Dana Dill

If you grew up in or were discipled in certain Christian circles (e.g. went to Calvary Chapel, listened to KWave Radio, read the Left Behind paperbacks, or went to prophecy conferences with color-coded timelines), it wouldn’t be surprising if you thought the book of Revelation is the key that cracks the code of the nightly news. The European Union, the Middle East, microchips, Apache Helicopters, Russia: John saw all of it in vivid detail in his 1st century vision. Every headline today can be unlocked by a verse from Revelation.

I’ve read the same charts, listened (on KWave, woot woot) to the same godly preachers, and approached Revelation the same way I was taught. But, as someone who knows and appreciates that heritage, I want to ask you a question you may not have considered: what if that isn’t the best way to read this book?

What if Revelation isn’t an American-centric description of the precise geo-political events of 2026?

To help you think about that, let me introduce you to William Hendriksen, a rigorous, Reformed New Testament scholar whose commentary More Than Conquerors (1940) remains one of the most careful, pastoral, and readable introductions to Revelation ever written. He is not a skeptic. He is not trying to defang the book. He believes every word of it is inspired by the Holy Spirit, authoritative, and important. But he reads it very differently than the prophecy charts do and his reasons deserve a hearing.

Six Reasons Revelation Isn’t About 2026

Taking from Hendriksen, here are a few reasons Revelation may not be relevant for American Christians in 2026, but for all Christians at all times in all places from the cross to the final crown of Jesus.

1. Revelation was written for first-century Christians, not primarily about twenty-first century geopolitics

Hendriksen writes about a popular commentary on his desk at the time of writing that “views the Apocalypse as a kind of history written beforehand.” In other words, It was the kind of commentary that treated Revelation as a code-cracker for all the global events of his present day in 1940. The commentary said Revelation had “copious and detailed references to Napoleon, wars in the Balkans, the great European War of 1914–1918, the German ex-emperor Wilhelm, Hitler and Mussolini, and so on.”

His response? He says, “These kinds of explanations, and others like them, must at once be dismissed.” Why? Because of a simple pastoral question that the futurist reading can never satisfactorily answer:

“For what possible good would the suffering and severely persecuted Christians of John’s day have derived from specific and detailed predictions concerning European conditions which would prevail some two thousand years later?”

We could tweak the same question to ask:

“For what possible good would the suffering and severely persecuted Christians of John’s day have derived from specific and detailed predictions concerning American conditions which would prevail over two thousand years later?”

This is not a liberal argument offered from someone who denies Scripture’s authority. It is a pastoral one. If Revelation is primarily a prophecy chart for the modern era, then it was useless to the people it was originally written to: the men and women being fed to lions, watching their neighbors burned as human torches under Domitian’s reign. Even more, it has been almost entirely useless to Christians for the past 2,000 years who lived before America existed or Russia had helicopters. That should give us pause.

2. The book’s stated purpose is comfort for the persecuted church in every age

Hendriksen is clear about what Revelation is actually for:

“In the main, the purpose of the book of Revelation is to comfort the militant Church in its struggle against the forces of evil. It is full of help and comfort for persecuted and suffering Christians.”

The theme of Revelation is not a detailed, geopolitical countdown. It is a victory announcement: “The theme (of Revelation) is the victory of Christ and of His Church over the dragon (Satan) and his helpers. The Apocalypse is meant to show us that things are not what they seem.”

Herein lies another problem, when we use Revelation primarily as a geopolitical decoder ring, we make it about watching rather than enduring. We become code-breakers of the mysteries of God rather than faithful, gospel proclaiming sufferers with hope. It shifts our focus from Christ and the Church to America and the Anti-Christ. Revelation becomes a news commentary rather than a word of courage to the beheaded and the bereaved.

3. The seven sections of Revelation are parallel, not sequential

One of the most important structural arguments Hendriksen makes, and one the futurist reading almost entirely ignores, is that the book itself gives you reasons to reconsider a linear reading. Revelation is not a chronological layout of future events. It is a many-sided description of one long era, like looking at a painting from numerous angles rather than watching train cars pass one by one.

Hendriksen shows how Revelation divides into seven major sections, each covering the entire period from Christ’s first coming to his second coming, viewed from a different angle each time. He calls this progressive parallelism (also known as recapitulationism). It isn’t imported from outside the text. The text itself demands it. A clear evidence that this is how Revelation is written is seeing that the end of the world occurs not once but seven times across the book (Rev. 1:7; 6:12–17; 11:15–18; 14:14–16; 16:17–21; 19:11–21; 20:11–15). A strictly linear reading has no satisfying explanation for this. On the other hand, parallelism takes the text at face value and sees these are not different periods stacked end to end, but the same era with the same ending described repeatedly, each time through different imagery (see chart below for a visual).

This matters because structure governs meaning. If Revelation is parallel rather than sequential, then treating it as a prophetic timeline of future geopolitical events misreads the book’s own architecture.

4. The numbers and symbols are symbolic, not literal codes to be cracked

A futurist reading of Revelation (i.e. it all happens in the future) tends to treat the numbers and imagery of Revelation with a kind of hyper-literalism that the text itself does not support. The 144,000 are not a specific ethnic group to be identified. The “mark of the beast” is not a microchip. Babylon is not a rebuilt literal city. And, to crush one of my personal favorites, the steel-armored locusts are not Apache Helicopters.

Instead, Revelation opens by telling us it was “signified.” That is, communicated through signs and symbols (Rev. 1:1). The genre of writing — apocalytpic literature, which deals heavily symbols — supports this. Hendriksen argues that the seven churches represent the whole Church throughout history (seven being the number of completeness) and that the various beasts, bowls, and numbers are symbolic descriptions of spiritual realities experiences by all Christians at all times in all places, not encrypted predictions about specific modern nations or politicians. Revelation is truth! But we must not fail to recognize it is truth preached through symbol.

Taking symbols literally will not clarify, but confuse and distort the text. If I take Jesus’ claim, “I am the door” literally and not metaphorically, things get weird quickly. In the same way, when we treat the symbols literally we’re being less accurate in our interpretation, not more. Revelation is a vision of true, authoritative truths given in symbols and it does us well to read it as such.

5. Prophecy charts have a poor track record

The commentary Hendriksen speaks about on his desk — the one that confidently taught Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm, Hitler, and Mussolini were in Revelation’s pages — reminds us that our confident proclamations about who the Anti-Christ is, which nation is Gog and Magog, and when the world is going to end aren’t often, well, correct. That 19th commentary was written with the same confidence that today’s prophecy teachers have when they speak about the European Union, Russia, and microchips. Napoleon did not fulfill those prophecies. Neither did Kaiser Wilhelm. Neither did Hitler. The “prophecy” commentaries of each era have found their generation’s villains in the text with total confidence and have been wrong every time.

This is a problem. It is also a pattern. If Hendriksen’s view of progressive parallelism is correct, then we can know why the prophecy charts never pan out. If Revelation is not a sequential timeline of future geopolitical events, then every attempt to map it onto current events will eventually fail because that is not what the book is doing.

6. The book’s real message is more better and more radical than a timeline

The most important thing Hendriksen shows in Revelation is the pastoral weight of its content. Revelation is not asking, “Can you identify the Antichrist?” It is asking: “Can you hold on?” Remember, Revelation is a book written to originally to people who were losing, looked defeated, who were dying and it preaches to those suffering people: things are not what they seem. The Lamb has already won. Your prayers are moving history (Rev. 8:3–4). Your death is precious to God. The beast who seems to be winning is already cooked. You’ve got crowns. Yes, they’re causing you some pain, but hold onto them. He says:

“(Christ) conquers death, Hades, the dragon, the beast, the false prophet, and the men who worship the beast. He is victorious; as a result, so are we, even when we seem to be hopelessly defeated.”

That word is for persecuted Christians in Nigeria, in North Korea, in China, and everywhere else. That’ll preach in the 4th, 11th, and 21st century. That is not a message for American readers trying to figure out if Putin is the Anti-Christ, but the Christian who is struggling to follow Jesus in a world that hates him.

Could Your Reading of Revelation Be Improved?

None of this is to say that Revelation has nothing to say about the future. Hendriksen fully believes in the Second Coming, the final judgment, the new heaven and earth. He knows Revelation has something to say about those things too because it ends with a glorious vision of the final, future hope.

But there is a difference between a book that climaxes in the future and a book that is primarily a map of the future. Revelation is the former. Reading it confidently as the latter has a long and unbroken track record of embarrassment, distraction, and most importantly, missing the actual comfort and courage the book gives us.

If you’re not convinced, but open, pick up Hendriksen and hear his arguments. At the end of the day, we should all avoid believing things because they’re familiar or they’re comfortable, but to believe things because we’re convinced it is what Scripture teaches. If it is possible that there is a different way of reading Revelation that doesn’t end with prophecy charts, are you open to investigate?

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The Hidden Map Behind Every Culture War

Posted on February 11, 2026 by Dana Dill

You have probably been in this conversation before.

You’re talking with a friend, a family member, or a stranger online about something you both care deeply about like sexuality, justice, parenting, politics, or faith. No matter what you say, no matter how carefully you explain yourself, it feels like they are hearing a completely different language. You walk away frustrated, maybe a little hurt. You’re convinced either you are the worst communicator in history or that the other person is a wicked fool. To make it worse, they likely feel the same way about you.

What is going on?

A psychologist named Jonathan Haidt tried to answer that question in his book, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. His answer, though he is a non-Christian, is a very useful tool believers can pick up to engage our deeply divided world about questions of what is good, beautiful, and true.

In this book, Haidt sets out to understand why moral disagreements are so bitter, so persistent, and so impervious to argument. He discovered that most moral disagreements are not primarily about facts or logic, but values. You cannot win an argument about what is wrong if the other person doesn’t agree with you about what is valuable. Actions, and our judgments of them, are downstream values.

Imagine you are trying to explain why a piece of music is beautiful to someone, but they’re hard of hearing. You are not wrong about the music. They are not stupid. They just don’t hear what you hear. That is, in essence, what is happening in many of our most heated moral debates.

To get somewhere in conversation, we need to go past what people are saying to why their saying it.

Six Moral Foundations: A Map of Human Conscience

Haidt developed what he calls Moral Foundations Theory. He identified six core moral “taste receptors”, innate psychological systems that all human beings carry, but that different people and cultures dial up or down in different proportions.

Here they are:

1. Care / Harm

The deep human instinct to protect the vulnerable and avoid causing suffering. This is the foundation behind compassion, kindness, and outrage at cruelty. This asks. “Is someone being hurt?”

2. Fairness / Cheating

The instinct for justice and reciprocity. It wants people to be treated rightly and cheaters to not prosper. The questions here are, “Is this fair? Is someone being cheated?”

3. Loyalty / Betrayal

The instinct that binds communities together. It values those who are faithful to the group and condemns those who betray it. It inquires, “Is someone being disloyal? Is the community being protected?”

4. Authority / Subversion

The instinct for social order, leadership, and legitimate hierarchy. It recognizes that some structures, traditions, and authorities deserve respect and obedience for the good of all people. It’s focus, “Is someone undermining legitimate order?”

5. Sanctity / Degradation

The instinct that some things are sacred, noble, or pure by nature. To degrade these things is genuinely wrong, regardless of whether anyone is “harmed” in a physical sense or even if consent is offered. Its question, “Is something sacred being profaned or degraded?”

6. Liberty / Oppression

The instinct that individuals deserve freedom from domination and coercion. When people feel that a powerful force is crushing the rights of ordinary people, this is the line they feel is being crossed. “Is someone being unjustly controlled or oppressed?”

Haidt’s key finding is this: all six foundations are real, all six are human, and all six are weighted very differently by different people. To use an example from modern American politics, Progressives tend to rely most heavily on Care, Fairness, and Liberty. Conservatives draw more evenly from all six, making sure Loyalty, Authority, and Sanctity are not forgotten along the way.

This is not a small difference in emphasis. It means that in many moral arguments, one side is raising a genuine moral concern and the other side is not hearing it at all because they don’t share the concern.

Why This Matters for Christians

Why should a Christian care about the theory of a secular psychologist? Three reasons.

1. It’s Largely True

The moral foundations Haidt identifies are not inventions. They are discoveries. He found them embedded in human cultures across the globe; in Brazil and India, in conservative and progressive communities, in religious and secular settings alike. That kind of cross-cultural universality is exactly what you would expect if these intuitions were part of our created design rather than mere social convention.

Paul writes in Romans 2:15 that Gentiles who have never read the Law “show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness.” Haidt’s research is a perfect example of that truth. These moral foundations are tattooed onto every human heart by its Maker.

2. It Explains What the Bible Says

The Bible tells us that the human conscience is real but corrupted. It is there, but it is disordered. This means all humans have genuine moral instincts, but sin has distorted how we apply them and which ones we emphasize. Haidt shows that people do not lack morality, we just use it badly. We amplify certain instincts while suppressing others. We call good evil and evil good. Again, not because we have no moral sense, but because our sense of morality has been bent by sin and its ensuing stupidity.

Haidt does moral psychology. The Bible is does moral theology. They are looking at the same human being from different angles or reading different books, but, in many ways, they’re the same thing.

3. It Makes Us Better at Conversations

When you are talking with someone who doesn’t share your Christian convictions, it is helpful to remember they are not operating in a moral vacuum. They do have moral foundations, they are just weighting and applying those foundations differently than you are.

Haidt’s research reveals one of the main reasons conversations about sexuality, gender, life, justice, and family go nowhere: we often share completely different moral concerns. Christians who speak about Sanctity, “this degrades what is holy,” are dismissed as Puritanical weirdos by progressives. Progressives raise the moral concern of Care, “this hurts people,” and the conservative may be eager to dismiss their claim as manipulative emotionalism. In both, the conversation dies before it begins.

Here is how Haidt’s list helps me: if I can learn to identify which moral foundations someone is reasoning from, I can stop arguing past them and start speaking to what they actually care about. You are not compromising. You are translating.

Here’s an example: you are not going to convince someone who weights Care and Liberty above all else that pornography or sexually provocative entertainment is harmful primarily by appealing to Sanctity. But you can appeal to the harm it does to real people. You could point out how they exploit women in the industry, destroy marriages, rewire the minds and pursuits of the young men who watch it. If I begin with Care and Fairness, I am speaking their language. Then, once I have established the real, shared moral common ground, I’ve a fighting chance to produce more light than heat. This is not manipulation. It is wisdom. It is the difference between throwing a rope and watching someone drown and actually tying the knot where they can grab it.

A Caution for Christians

Before I close, one honest caution. Haidt’s theory is descriptive, not prescriptive. He is telling us how people actually reason about morality, not what morality ultimately is. He is a moral pluralist. He believes all six foundations are equally valid human concerns and that no tradition has a corner on moral truth.

Christians won’t agree with that because God doesn’t. Scripture is clear that moral truth is not merely discovered in our intuitions but revealed by God. The six foundations are real, but they can all be corrupted, misapplied, and weaponized. Care without truth becomes toxic empathy. Fairness without God’s definitions of property rights becomes communism or the worst kinds of DEI. Sanctity without the gospel becomes self-righteous moralism. The foundations need a foundation! The foundation of all foundations is not found by intuition alone but the character of God revealed in Scripture and embodied in Christ.

So, use this as a tool. It is a good one. But use it the way a surgeon uses a scalpel: carefully, in service of something greater than itself.

The Bottom Line

For Christians, Haidt’s framework is both a confirmation of what Scripture says about the universal human conscience and a practical key for engaging people whose moral language feels foreign. Don’t abandon your convictions, but learn to translate them.

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When Caring Goes Wrong: Why Christians Need to Talk About Bad Empathy

Posted on February 4, 2026 by Dana Dill

Empathy is having a moment. It’s often leveraged to shame believers away from speaking or even thinking about certain topics. To question it or critique it can sound heartless, unchristian, or cruel. After all, aren’t Christians supposed to care? To weep with those who weep? To love our neighbors?

Yes. Absolutely.

But, and remember this, not every form of empathy is good. Some forms of empathy, especially when detached from truth, can deform Christian judgment, discipleship, and even love itself. It wears a pretty mask and carries an ugly dagger.

That’s why two recent works, one by Joe Rigney (The Sin of Empathy: Compassion and Its Counterfeits) and the other by Allie Beth Stuckey (Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion) are worth your careful attention. Both identify, describe, and push against the current cultural version of empathy that feels virtuous and seems Christian but, in reality, is neither.

What Is “Bad Empathy”?

Bad empathy isn’t caring too much. It’s caring in the wrong way.

Joe Rigney draws a distinction between traditional Christian sympathy (or compassion) and what he calls “the sin of empathy.” He describes the sin of empathy as an excess of compassion that dulls judgment and detach believers from truth. This kind of empathy sweeps us “off our feet” and is “unmoored from truth, goodness, and reality” (p. xiv). It leads us away from wisdom, causes us to lose sight of what’s really good for ourselves and others, and makes us primed for manipulation. It doesn’t help, but actually hinders our ability to love.

Allie Beth Stuckey calls the phenomenon “toxic empathy.” She argues that empathy has been co-opted culturally to push or protect choice political stances (e.g. abortion, gender, immigration, social justice) as the only compassionate choices. Stuckey points out that this kind of empathy is often used to manipulate believers to affirm positions based on how others feel rather than what God has lovingly revealed in his Word.

It’s worth remembering that God alone can create and all he creates is good. Satan, on the other hand, cannot create, but only distort God’s good creation. Today, his distorting work seems especially evident in the way the virtue of compassion is being twisted into something harmful and dangerous.

Why This Matters for Christians

Recognizing the existence and damage of this kind of empathy is important not so we can win our political debates on Facebook, but so we can live and love wisely in Christ. It isn’t a political issue. At its core, it’s a discipleship issue.

Bad empathy shows up in much modern parenting decisions when our actions are determined by the goal of, “I don’t want to upset my kids.” Pastors can avoid saying what’s needed in fear of it hurting feelings. In important conversations about sexuality, justice, or immigration, normal Christians will feel cowed away from affirming out self-evident truths like, “It is good to have strong national borders” or “A man cannot become a woman” in fear of harming the marginalized, causing trauma, or being accused as heartless.

Though this kind of empathy looks and feels loving, in reality, it withholds what people actually need. Jesus never sets love against truth. He teaches that love requires truth. Sometimes the only way to know who truly loves you is by noticing who is willing to say the hard, painful, but necessary thing. At times, enemies offer kisses while friends deliver wounds (Proverbs 27:6).

Insights Worth Remembering

From both books, a few insights stand out as worthy to remember:

  • Compassion is not emotional surrender. Christians are called to care deeply for others according to the truth without being emotionally hijacked.
  • Feelings are real, but not authoritative. Emotional identification alone does not and cannot determine truth.
  • Love sometimes says “no.” Any kind of empathy that compels Christians to affirm what God calls sinful is distorted, dangerous, and deadly.
  • Truth orders empathy. Empathy must not rewrite truth. Our care for others must groundeed in reality expressed most clearly by biblical wisdom rather than cultural sentiment or how someone may feel about it. By all means, speak the truth as gently and wisely as possible, but make sure it is truth you’re actually speaking.
  • Jesus is our model. Even casual readers of the New Testament will see Jesus was simultaneously full of mercy and truth. He was never manipulated into acting or speaking from hijacked emotion or how he may come off. He spoke the truth from love and loved people to the truth.

Be Prepared

Bad empathy will show up in your life. It’s inevitable. It will arrive wearing the costume of care, justice, and love and it will ask you to trade discernment for sentimentality. Are you prepared to face it?

This doesn’t mean Christians need colder hearts. It does mean we need wiser ones. If we want to love well amidst the confusion, we must learn to resist counterfeit compassion and recover a love that is both tender and rooted in truth.

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Why I Argue With People Online

Posted on January 22, 2026 by Dana Dill

I don’t like conflict. It is uncomfortable and often gives me an icky feeling in my stomach. I am most definitely not one of those who seek confrontation, dispute, or arguments. They don’t excite me. They drain me.

Yet, I sometimes engage in arguments online because I think there is value in rightly chosen and well conducted dispute in-person or online. Sometimes there are good reasons to disagree out-loud with one another.

Before I share those reasons, let me clarify something important: arguments are not necessarily fights. An argument, rightly defined, is carefully giving reasons to explain why something is true, good, or worth believing. A fight, by contrast, is driven less by reasons and more by rivalry. Where arguments seek truth, fights seeks victory. Arguments are cooperative, working together to build toward reality. Fights are oppositional, seeking only destroy the other. Arguments are carried with an open mind and fights with them slammed shut. Confusing the two leads us to avoid disagreement of any kind since we don’t want our family, friends, or neighbors to think we want to destroy them. However, rightly defined and rightly done, thoughtful argument is one of the most respectful and productive ways we can engage another person and important ideas.

Why I Choose to Argue

With that, here are ten reasons I choose to argue.

1. Arguments sharpen my own thinking skills

They help me move beyond slogans, emotional reactions, reactive thinking, or vague impressions and force me to think and articulate ideas with clarity, coherence, and careful reasoning. Like your body, working out your mind makes it stronger.

2. Arguments give me a chance to examine my own beliefs

I think everything I believe is true. Otherwise, I wouldn’t believe it. However, I know I am wrong about stuff. Tricky situation, isn’t it? How can I spot my false beliefs? By allowing other people to question, challenge, and poke at them. If someone has well-reasoned and well-supported arguments, it gives me a fighting chance to see my blind-spots.

3. Arguments train me to be more like Jesus Christ

I daily pray, “Lord Jesus, make me like you.” My greatest desire is to think, feel, and act more like him everyday. He’s just the best. Arguments offer me significant opportunities to practice the patience, love, gentleness, humility, courage, and wisdom of Christ. Growing in those virtues will not only make me a better thinker, but a better husband, father, and church member. I don’t always do it well, but, as the saying goes, practice makes perfect. Arguments are gym sessions ripe with opportunity to grow myself up into his image.

4. It reveals people worth talking to

Proverbs 26:4 says, “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself.” Some people are fools not worth talking to. Not because they disagree with me, but they’ve no desire for truth. They don’t care to be right. They only want to feel right. These folks tend to live and breath online which is why many refrain from online debate at all. That decision isn’t cowardice, but wisdom. Folks who jump to mockery, insults, rants, thoughtless sloganeering reveal themselves to be little more than noise machines who merely provoke and annoy rather than reason. By contrast, those who respectfully push back with evidence and reason are rare treasures who sharpen us. In that sense, arguing with others can be a useful filter, revealing who is capable of genuine dialogue and who is simply not worth our time.

5. Arguments help listeners

A helpful way to think deeply about important issues is hear people debate them well. A good debate offers presentations of both sides in their own words along with careful cross-examinations where the arguers point out perceived deficiencies in each other’s arguments. Listeners are left with a lot to consider. Though the debaters’ minds are seldom changed, the listeners’ minds are often enlightened. If my online exchanges can leave my friends and neighbors with a little more light, I am game to serve.

6. Arguments break me free of possible echo-chambers

It is comfortable to listen to those you already agree with. Shared perspectives, beliefs, and values create a trust the grabs our attention. Trust naturally binds us together. This is normal and good. However, there is a danger that only listening to those we already agree with can keep us locked in communal blind spots. Stepping into conversation with people who see things differently gives us a fighting chance to unite ourselves to truth that our own news feeds or communities may be missing.

7. Arguments reveal assumptions

A fish will never realize what water is until they meet a creature who doesn’t live in it. In the same way, people rarely recognize the things they take for granted until someone challenges them. Arguments help both parties to not only express their beliefs but also understand the assumptions their ideas are grounded in. Without good-faith arguments, we rarely have the opportunity to unearth the assumptions we and others operate from.

8. Arguments clarify the real issues in question

They help distinguish between preferences and principles. For instance, many abortion debates are filled with emotionally-laden points about poverty, crime, or women’s choice. However, the actual issue about abortion comes down to one question, “Is the unborn a human?” Once that question is answered, all the other questions are answered. Similarly, arguments against Christianity boil down to, “Did Jesus really rise from the dead?” The debate about same-sex marriage or transgenderism come down to who gets to decide the definitions of marriage or gender. Arguments help me gain clarity on secondary matters and first-order truths. They help me distinguish the root from the fruit.

9. Arguments create true unity

Unity that avoids argument is superficial at best. It’s often false. Like a wedding ring without a marriage, it offers the appearance of unity without the substance. Thoughtful argument, by contrast, helps highlight where we truly agree and where we genuinely disagree. It gives us a fighting chance to move closer together by locating disagreements accurately and setting them proportionally alongside points of common ground. And even when argument reveals less unity in belief rather than more, it still serves a vital purpose: it shows us exactly where the fault lines lie, allowing us to engage one another with eyes wide open rather than defaulting to dehumanizing and disrespectful caricature, demonization, or dehumanization.

10. Arguments cultivate courage

In Pilgrim’s Progress, Great Heart encourages Christian to continue on the path even though the road is scary, “We must go on; for here is not all our danger.” There are more dangerous things than the discomfort of argument. Ideas have significant consequences. To live well, we must cultivate enough courage to take on scary conversations because we’re convinced living by illusion is far scarier and much more dangerous. Choosing to stay comfortable and avoid arguments is likely to keep you trapped in bad thinking and, therefore, doomed to bad living. Courage, not cleverness, is what’s required if we want to live free. Arguments force you to exercise it.

In my view, arguments, done rightly, are not acts of hostility but acts of hope; a courageous hope that truth can still be known, shared, and pursued together.

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Not Ideas, But Realities: Why Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Matter

Posted on January 21, 2026 by Dana Dill

Sometimes, we ask good questions: What’s real? What’s worth loving? What’s worth living for? If we slow down, we can begin to see the answer in three simple yet astonishing realities: Truth, Beauty, and Goodness.

These are often called the transcendentals and smart folk have thought about them for a long time. Here are a couple of reasons why you should too.

They’re Objective

Truth isn’t something we create. It’s something we discover. It doesn’t bend just because we want it to. The Earth orbits the sun whether we like it or not. A promise broken is still broken, even if we try to justify it. Beauty isn’t actually in the eye of the beholder. It exists in real life and waits to be found and cherished. When we see a sunset or paint a canyon wall in fiery reds and golds, our awe is a recognition, not the creation, of the beauty they express. With goodness, pulling someone out of danger, feeding the hungry, or acting justly aren’t subjective ideas or personal preferences, they’re are real expressions of what’s really is praiseworthy. Truth is not subjective, but objective. It cares not a wit and is changed not an inch by your preferences.

They’re Universal

True, beautiful, and good realities don’t care what time, culture, or continent you live in. Gravity pulls the same way in Paris as it does in Peru. A Beethoven symphony stirs hearts across generations who are able to detect its intrinsic beauty. Justice is understood in every heart that sees suffering and cries, “This is wrong!” They aren’t negotiable. They’ve no expiration date. They don’t depend on whether we “feel” them at the moment.

They’re Inseparable

You cannot warp truth without without twisting goodness or beauty. If something is good, it also must be true and beautiful. Tell a lie and your sense of beauty dims. Cheat to win and the goodness and beauty of your victory evaporates. Injustice feels ugly because it is. It distorts both truth and beauty. These realities are a tightly woven tapestry. Tug one thread and the whole cloth ripples. They’re triplets who never leave each other’s side.

They’re Divine

Finally, these are not mere ideas floating in our heads. Truth, Beauty, and Goodness are not just from God. They are who God is. He is Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. Any expression of them is a revelation of Him. Every moment we recognize them, we glimpse His character. When we behold the sunrise, applaud courage or faithfulness, or act with justice or wisdom, we are seeing, reflecting, and participating in the life of God Himself.

These aren’t philosophical puzzles to debate endlessly. They are realities to behold, to love, and to let shape our lives. The world’s chaos, our own doubts, and the noise of culture can make us forget this. But slow down. Look, listen, act. Truth is waiting to be learned, beauty is calling to be adored, and goodness stands as the standard all should aspire.

These eternal realities are not far from you. They are the very ground beneath your feet.

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Grace & Peace (But Mostly Anxiety): How Not to Email Your Pastor

Posted on December 17, 2025 by Dana Dill

I’ve served in local church ministry for a season as a member, on staff, and as a pastor in two different churches. Serving the church is a glorious thing. It is also, at times, a terribly hard thing.

One of the challenges pastors face is the normal conflict that arises within a congregation, including criticism directed at them or their leadership decisions. This is not necessarily wrong, but it is often difficult. It becomes even harder when concerns are communicated in unhelpful or unclear ways.

How Not to Seek a Meeting With Your Pastor

Recently, a pastor collected all the most unhelpful and stomach-churning ways people have sought a meeting with him about an issue and put them in one long and supreme example.

This is how not to seek a meeting with your pastor about a concern.

“Hey brother,

So, I’ve been sitting with this for a bit, and I want to be thoughtful in how I say it. Out of an abundance of caution, and truly for the sake of unity, I feel like we need to have a conversation.

I want to start by offering affirmation. I don’t doubt your sincerity or your desire to be authentic. I’m coming to you as a brother, and I’m trying very intentionally to be charitable and helpful here. This isn’t easy to write, and I hope you can hear it in the spirit it’s intended.

Some people came to me over the weekend with concerns about a few tweets you shared. I want to be careful not to overstate things, but multiple people independently described the content as alarming in tone. A couple of them specifically said it felt like it carried racist and fascist overtones. I’m not saying that’s your heart or your intent, but the perception is there, and perception has real impact.

They just feel hurt. Deeply. And, frankly, it hurts my heart to even say that, because I care about you and about our broader community. I find this troubling not just on a personal level, but because of what it could mean for the emotional wellbeing of people who are already carrying a lot of trauma.

I’m wondering, again, an honest question, if you’ve paused to consider how this lands given the power differential involved. Whether we like it or not, your voice carries weight, and some may feel unsafe or unempowered to push back. A few people said the tone felt unloving, even if unintentionally so, and that it came across as argumentative rather than winsome.

Let’s be clear: I’m not accusing you of being racist or fascist. But it seems like the narrative being implied, particularly online, could be experienced as unempathetic by those with a different perspective. That’s where it starts to feel problematic. This is complicated, and nuance really matters right now.

I fear that continuing in this direction could sabotage trust. Some people are already saying they feel this may be disqualifying for you in leadership, especially as it seems, at least in their perception, that only certain voices are being enabled while others feel marginalized. And as you know, it takes time to rebuild trust once it’s been strained. That’s not healthy for the community long-term.

I hesitate to say this, but there’s a growing sense that the approach lacks pastoral sensitivity, especially in this moment. Your language seems at odds with the gospel-centered focus of our church. In particular, it comes off in a way that many find harsh rather than helpful.

This isn’t about issuing a mandate or questioning your calling. But some are quietly wondering about being qualified for this moment, especially given the optics and the current climate. Maybe just take a break from being online so much?

Obviously, there is sin on both sides, of course. None of us gets this perfectly right. I’m lamenting the situation more than anything, because I want us to bring the temperature down, not escalate it. I truly believe stepping back for a moment could help rebuild trust and prevent further unhealth.

I hope you can receive this charitably and not as an attack. My goal is unity, safety, and healing for you and for everyone impacted by this moment.

I look forward to chatting about this over coffee sometime soon.

Grace and peace,

A Terrible Person Many of Us Have Dealt With

I now have PTSD.

How to Seek a Meeting With Your Pastor

Helpfully, he followed up with this by offering some counsel on helpful ways to approach your pastor, or anyone, with an issue you need to work through.

My general approach is to keep it very short. I say plainly why I want to meet, in as few words as possible, and then offer some flexibility on time and place.

I despise sneak attacks. If they don’t want to meet or they dodge accountability, at least it won’t be for lack of clarity from me.

In my experience, people are more likely to respond when you remove the mystery, clarity lowers anxiety. I also don’t mind giving them time to think through the issue ahead of time. I’d prefer it. Come prepared.

Just be plainspoken and upfront.

Christians are often like porcupines When they get close, they poke each other. Conflicts, issues, disagreements, and misunderstandings will arise if you are in a meaningful a community or have relationships you care about. When they do, be charitable, clear, and courageous. Deal with the issue promptly, personally, plainly, and patiently.

It will bless your pastors and everyone else and help them avoid ulcers along the way.

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What About Gluttony?

Posted on December 16, 2025 by Dana Dill

Christians are well-versed with sins like sexual immorality, dishonesty, murder, and idolatry. You know, the biggies. However, some sins the Bible speaks of confound us, like gluttony.

For a long time in my walk with Christ, I was curious on why gluttony is even mentioned in Scripture, let alone rebuked and warned of. What’s the big deal if someone eats a little too many sweets or has a few inches on their waste band? Aren’t there bigger things to focus on?

If that’s you, I hope this helps.

What Is Gluttony?

First, let’s define our terms. Gluttony is when we allow our appetites to rule over our reasoning. It is when what we want controls what we ought. Gluttony causes our desires to move from the passenger seat to driver seat in our hearts. In this way, gluttony can meaningfully be applied to other areas beyond food (Deut. 21:20; Prov. 28:7), but food is often focused because the desires it elicits are so frequent and strong.

With this, you may better see why the Bible warns against it.

Proverbs 25:16 – “If you have found honey, eat only enough for you, lest you have your fill of it and vomit it.”

Proverbs 28:7 – “The one who keeps the law is a son with understanding, but a companion of gluttons shames his father.”

Philippians 3:19 – “Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.”

1 Corinthians 6:12 – “‘All things are lawful for me,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be dominated by anything.”

Titus 1:12 – “One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.’”

God does not want his people to be ruled by desires, but by truth. We used to be slaves to our “the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind” (Eph 2:3) and worshiped the belly god (Philippians 3:19), but God frees and instructs us in Jesus to worship and serve Him instead. God warns of gluttony because he know that our desires are great servants, but terribly cruel masters.

Why Is Gluttony Dangerous

If someone allows their desires to run the show, what happens? A lot of things and all of them bad in varying degrees. Here are five dangers gluttony offers.

1. It Enslaves the Heart, Not Just the Stomach

Gluttony is dangerous because it trains the heart to obey appetite rather than reason or God. John Calvin warns, “We must hold to moderation lest our appetites become our masters.” When food or any desire becomes a source of comfort, identity, control, or escape the heart is no longer free. We no longer simply enjoy the thing, we obey it. A person can be gluttonous without eating excessively because the sin is enslavement to desire. Over time this habit conditions the soul to seek satisfaction from created things rather than from God and turns good gifts into bad gods.

2. It Turns a Gift into a King

The human body is a gift from God meant to be stewarded wisely and cared for as a temple (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). Gluttony turns the gift of our bodies into a tyrant by letting our bodily cravings dictate our choices. Instead of eating to nourish and strengthen us to worship God and love others, gluttony causes us to merely indulge for our own immediate pleasure. This overindulgence with food can lead to poor health, exhaustion, or diminished ability to serve others. In obeying our appetites, we progressively lose the ability to obey God. Gluttony is not just a moral failing it is a increasing hindrance to living faithfully.

3. It Weakens Self-Control Across Life

Gluttony is a failure of self-control, a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23). When appetite consistently wins, we lose our own ability to control our lives and increasingly become “slaves to various passions and pleasures” (Titus 2:3). Lacking restraint in our eating and drinking also diminishes our restraint in other areas of life such as speech, temper, finances, or relationships. A person who cannot say no to seconds, the extra piece of cake, or another beer loses strength to say no to other impulses as well. Over-indulgence in one area spreads like a cancer to others.

4. It Crowds Out Love of God and Neighbor

Self-indulgence causes us to make personal satisfaction more important than the needs of others. It trains us to think about me instead of them. Scripture often notes that gluttony often gives way to neglecting generosity, hospitality, or care for the poor (Prov. 23:20–21; Ezek. 16:49). When pleasure becomes a primary concern then we begin redirecting time, energy, and resources that could serve others to serve only ourselves. Gluttony is a personal habit that has relational consequences.

5. It Distorts Gratitude

Food is a gift meant to lead to thanksgiving yet gluttony consumes without thought or acknowledgment of the Giver. Romans 1 shows the downward spiral that happens when we exchange truth with our desires. When we mindlessly consume, our hearts forget God’s provision and neglect his wisdom. Indulgence replaces gratitude. Gluttony turns joy in God’s gifts into self-focused obsession.

God Is Not a Joy-Killer

To the untrained mind, the Bible’s warnings against habits like gluttony can seem like a buzz-kill. Many read verses against overindulgence and think God is out to steal our joy. The opposite is true. The Father sent His Son into the world destroy the one who began our misery: Satan, the Snake of old (Genesis 3:15; Romans 16:20). Jesus has come to bear our griefs and sorrows so we may learn from his commands how to live lives marked by his joy (John 15:11). God fills us with his Holy Spirit of adoption to replace the spirit of fear and slavishness (Romans 8:15). God isn’t out to kill our joy, but to kill all the things that kill our joy.

This is no less true in his command to run from gluttony. He calls us to rid ourselves of the cruel masters that is our own appetites and desires (1 Corinthians 6:12; Galatians 5:16–17) and instead master them by his power. In doing so, God does us a great kindness. Effectively, God’s word against gluttony is him saying, “Break up with the god of your belly! He’s a mean son-of-a-gun!”Alternatively, he invites us, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Ditch your cruel belly-god and follow the Loving One.

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Union Vs. Communion With Jesus

Posted on December 13, 2025 by Dana Dill

There is such a thing as a loveless marriage where two experience the reality of marriage, but no longer enjoy its blessings. Many of us have seen them. Some, sadly, experience them. No one wants them.

A similar danger lurks for those in Christ.

Wendell P. Loveless spots it, and its cure, beautifully:

One observes some marriage where the is union, but apparently very little, if any, communion.

We fear this difference is all too apparent in the case of some true children of God. When they received Christ as Savior and were born again by grace through faith, there was an instant and eternal union—they were joined to Christ in a welded union which can never be dissolved during time or eternity.

And yet, while this is gloriously true as a positional relationships, there may be little real heart communion, little genuine appreciation of the lovely Person of our Lord, little time spent in personal and loving fellowship.

It is wondrously true that the believer’s union with Christ can never be annulled. There is eternal guarantee in God’s Word for that. But it is also sadly true that communion may be broken. And when it is broken there is an interruption of joy, peace, fellowship, and fruitfulness in service.

The design of (the gospel) is to set forth the wondrous fact of union and the resultant blessings of communion.

The key to it all is a Person—the altogether lovely Lord Jesus, the heavenly Bridegroom who loves His own with an everlasting love, and woos His loved one with a persistence and patience so characteristic of Himself.

(Christ & the Believer in the Song of Songs, p. 14-15)

Believer, if you’ve repentant faith in Christ as Savior and Lord, fear not your position in Him, but do examine your pleasure in Him.

Do you have union without the blessings of communion? Have you “abandoned the love you had at first” (Rev. 2:4)? If so, go to Him now with this one prayer, “Lord, help me see you as you are. Rid me of anything that I’ve allowed to stand between us. You’ve saved me by your blood and, now, satisfy my heart with your glory and love.”

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Don’t Abuse or Fear God’s Gifts

Posted on December 12, 2025 by Dana Dill

There are two axioms I have found helpful in navigating how to enjoy God’s gifts wisely, in a way that honors him and protects my joy.

1. The use of a thing does not condone its abuse.

Just because God gives a good gift doesn’t mean we can use it however we want.

Christians can forget this when it comes to things like food. Feasting is celebrated in Scripture, yet gluttony (overeating) is quietly tolerated by many today. Rest is a blessing, but can slide into passivity or laziness when we baptize with the impenetrable claim of “self-care.” Social media can genuinely connect us to people or be a legitimate medium to learn or offer wisdom. Yet, using it for endless scrolling, to sooth our anxious, bored souls, or allow ourselves to be discipled by worldly thinking or values is something to avoid.

God’s gifts can be distorted into curses. Good things can be used in bad ways or for bad purposes. To avoid this, reflect on how and why you’re using things you enjoy.

2. The abuse of a thing does not forbid its use.

Equally, many overreact just because something can be misused.

Some believers treat alcohol as inherently sinful, but they fail to recognize the basic truth of Scripture: alcohol is a gift from God, drunkenness is from the devil. Others think money itself is wicked. They think Paul said, “money is the root of all evil.” What he actually said was, “The love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Tim. 6:10). Money, too, is a gift that is indeed abused by greedy hearts, but the abuse of a thing does not forbid its use. People abuse the stars by worshiping them, distort sex in all sorts of heinous ways, and murderer with kitchen knifes. Yet, should should we then say that stars, sex, and kitchen knives are evil? Of course not. Because the abuse of a thing does not forbid its use. When we conflate good things with their improper use, we dishonor God by rejecting his good gifts meant for our joy, wisdom, or refreshment.

The ancients coined a term for this impulse: Abusus non tollit usum, which means “Abuse does not take away proper use.” We Americans colorfully recycle it, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.” By this wisdom, we’re helped to not respond to God’s gifts with fear unto rejection or license unto folly, but discernment unto life and joy.

It is evil to abuse God’s good gifts. It is equally evil to condemn God’s good gifts. Proceed from there to live wisely and joyfully.

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Christmas In Three Words

Posted on December 10, 2025 by Dana Dill

Years ago, I read a pamphlet called, “Christmas in Three Words.” I was blessed and remember it fondly every Christmas.

Today, I had the privilege of preaching at my high school’s chapel and used the framework to deliver the same glorious message in my own way. Here it is.

——–

How would you describe Christmas if you had just one word? Difficult, right? There’s too much happening: lights, songs, presents, cheesy Hallmark movies, ugly sweaters, or the tube socks you get every year from a weird aunt. Trying to sum all of that up in a single word feels almost impossible.

So today, instead of using one word, I want to describe Christmas in three, because why give one word when you can give three?

1. Christmas Is Historical

The first word: historical. Christmas didn’t begin as a story or a set of traditions. It began as an event. Something that actually happened, in a real place, in real time, to real people.

We get this mixed up sometimes because of all the legends and characters surrounding the holidays. For example, think about Santa Claus. You may not know, Santa is real, but he later got turned legend. There was a real St. Nicholas, but over time, stories about him grew, changed, and eventually turned into what we now call Santa Claus. Fun? Yes. Historical the way we think of it today? Not exactly.

Jesus birth is different. The birth of Jesus, however, didn’t evolve from myth. In fact, the writings of the Apostles has no evidence of myth, but of historical record. It was recorded by real eyewitnesses. The events it speaks about are confirmed by non-Christian ancient writers. It speaks about real government officials like Quirius, Tiberius, and Herod and real governmental activities like the census. Christmas is real. It’s no legend. The story of Jesus’ birth (and the rest of his life) isn’t folklore. It’s history. Christmas is not “once upon a time.” It’s “At that time…” (Luke 2:1).

So accurate are the historical claims of Scripture that Oxford scholar Sir. Dr. William Ramsey said of Luke’s writing in Luke and Acts:

“Luke is a historian of the first rank; not merely are his statements of fact trustworthy, he holds the true historic sense… In short, this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians.”

The other books of the New Testament bear the same historical nature and reliability. These ain’t fairy tales whipped up in religious frenzy. They’re history. They’re real.

And that matters because it shows that Christianity is actually falsifiable. It makes real claims you can test. You can look for evidence. If there’s no evidence, then there’s no truth to it. If the historical events didn’t happen, then the spiritual claims collapse. If the history is real, the message of Jesus is real. But, if Christmas didn’t actually happen, then nothing else in Christianity really matters.

But, if you investigate the history, be careful, because if Christmas is historical, that means that Christ is Lord and you are not.

And that leads us to our next word…

2. Christmas Is Joyful

Our second word is joyful. This probably doesn’t surprise you. We sing, “Joy to the World!” multiple times, every Christmas. Great melody, big energy. But, have you ever asked, “Why joy? What makes Christmas joyful?

Your mind might go straight to the small joys of Christmas: what we experience. Parties, food, gifts, trees, music, break from school, and elves on shelves spying on you for Santa. These things bring a kind of joy, but they’re small joys. Temporary joys.

God Has Come

The real joy of Christmas isn’t in the things we experience, but the news of who has come. The angels announce it clearly:

“Don’t be afraid! I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem!” (Luke 2:10–11)

Great joy comes not from what’s under the tree, but from who came into the world. The prophet Isaiah explains exactly who this Messiah is 700 years earlier:

“Look! The virgin will conceive a child… they will call him Immanuel, which means God is with us.” (Isaiah 7:14)

Think about that: God is with us.

This is important to hear because some of you think of God as distant, detached, and possibly uninterested in what’s happening in the world, let alone your life. There is a reason for this, but it’s not because God moved, but we have.

Who Moved?

There’s an old story about a husband and wife who, back in their early years of dating, would ride in the man’s pickup truck pressed close together on the old bench seat. But over the years, as life got busy and routines settled in, they slowly drifted apart until each sat by their own window with a big space in between.

One day, while they were driving, the wife looked over and said, “Remember when we used to sit right next to each other? What happened to us?”

The husband thought for a moment, smiled softly, and said, “Honey… I’m not the one who moved.”

I think that story illustrates what many of us have experienced or even are experiencing now. Dryness, distance, and separation from God. But, who is the one who’s moved? We were the ones who walked away from God. We were the ones who created the distance. God created us to know him, love him, and enjoy him forever and we said, “Pass, how about I do things my own way.”

Realizing this, some of you might be thinking, “I’ve messed up. I’ve moved. I’m cooked. God wouldn’t want me.” But this text has good news if that’s you. God didn’t send a text saying, “Find your way back.” He didn’t hand us a list to fix ourselves. He didn’t shout directions from far away. We created a gap and at Christmas, God came to close it. Take joy. God has come.

Like the song says: “Joy to the world, the Savior’s come—let earth receive her King!”

It is joyful news that God has come in history. But, why has God come? That leads to our last word.

3. Christmas Is Needed

Sometimes we answer this question with half-answers: “He came to help your self-esteem,” “He came to tell you He loves you,” “He came to make you happy.” Those things sound nice, and there’s some truth in them, but they’re not enough. They only deal with symptoms, not the real sickness that causes them.

The full answer for why Christmas is needed is this: He came to rescue you from your sin.

“And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

Talking about sin doesn’t always sit well during Christmas. It’s a season filled with twinkly lights and peppermint mochas, why harsh the buzz? For some, it’s confusing. You ask, “How does talking about sin fit with a holiday about joy? But the truth is: Christmas joy makes no sense without understanding the problem. The good news of Christmas only makes sense when we understand the bad news of our sin.

Taking God’s Role

Our problem with sin is illustrated well by a story I once heard about a little boy in a school Christmas play. He desperately wanted to play Joseph, but instead he got assigned the role of the Innkeeper. He was not thrilled. But, he came up with a plan.

When the big moment arrived and Mary and Joseph knocked on the door, Joseph asked the famous question: “Is there any room in the inn?” With a huge grin, the boy threw his arms open and yelled, “Absolutely! Tons of space! Come on in!” And just like that, the entire play fell apart. Total chaos.

We’re a lot like that boy. God created the world and wrote the script. Our role is clear: to know Him, love Him, trust Him, obey Him, and enjoy Him. But we weren’t satisfied with that part. We wanted a more important role, His role.

So we tore up His script, climbed into the director’s chair, and tried to run the story our own way. That’s what sin is: pushing God aside and taking His place. Replacing His commands with our preferences. Erasing His truth and writing in our own. Taking the throne as if we are the king of our own lives.

And what happens? Chaos. When we try to take God’s place, everything falls apart: confusion, sorrow, brokenness, and ultimately death. As Scripture says, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). This is the bad news.

The Gift We Really Need

And this is the good news that makes Christmas truly amazing: God has given us a gift. Not a therapist, a coach, or a self-help wizard, but a savior who will, “save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). One pastor said it this way:

“If God had perceived that our greatest need was economic, he would have sent an economist. If he had perceived that our greatest need was entertainment, he would have sent us a comedian or an artist. If God had perceived that our greatest need was political stability, he would have sent us a politician. If he had perceived that our greatest need was health, he would have sent us a doctor. But he perceived that our greatest need involved our sin, our alienation from him, our profound rebellion, our death; and he sent us a Savior.” D.A. Carson

This is why Christmas is needed: Jesus came to save sinners by living and dying in the place of sinners. Jesus is not a therapist, coach, or self-help guru. He is the Savior of sinners. Christmas isn’t just something that happened before you. It’s something that happened for you. He came not to merely give you what you want, but what you need.

So Christmas in three words? God came to us in history. God is with us for our joy. God offer needed salvation from sin us through his son.

Give & Receive This Christmas

This Christmas, I hope you give gifts. That reflects God’s generosity. But, infinitely more than that, I hope you receive His gift: the historical gift of joy that he offers you in Jesus, the Savior of sinners. If you receive that gift and trust in Christ as the Born and Risen Savior, you’ll finally be able to sing with absolute sincerity, “Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Let earth receive her king!”

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