Since starting this blog in March, I’ve done a lot of writing. Some articles I loved, some not so much, but the goal has always been to bring glory to Christ by encouraging His people to keep moving onward in their faith.
As we enter a new year, I thought it would be fun to look back at some of my personal favorites from this website. These aren’t the articles that got the most clicks, but ones that I have a personal fondness for. If you have a favorite article, I’d be so encouraged if you’d share it in the comments, on social media, or through my contact form!
I’ve tried to put these in order, but it’s really difficult to rank something like this. #1 is definitely my favorite, but #2-10 could probably be listed in any order.
#10 Kanye West
This represents a bit of a turning point for this blog. My wife and I have an ongoing joke – the articles I enjoy writing the least seem to be the ones that get the best response. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy everything I write, but some topics certainly have me more excited than others. My article on Kanye West’s conversion to Christianity and his new album is a style I never planned to write, and one I figured would be posted and ignored. How wrong I was.
I don’t tend to follow the news, so I didn’t realize how big of a buzz Kanye West was creating in Christianity. The idea of writing on “current events” had honestly never occurred to me, but when I decided to write about Kanye I did so from a discernment perspective. In other words, I wanted to encourage people to use a current event as an opportunity to practice wisdom and Christ-like thinking.
While this blog will certainly never be the place to go if you want the latest news, it opened my eyes to a whole new type of article that people will actually enjoy. And I really enjoyed getting to talk about how to view current events through a biblical worldview that seeks to bring glory to Christ. I’ve done a similar article on the recent Bethel Church story that will probably remain my most-viewed article for quite some time.
#9 “It’s Just a Fetus” (series)
Abortion is such a difficult topic to approach with truth. It is charged with a lot of emotion, and because of that people on both sides tend to remain stuck where they are. This 4-part series set out to discuss abortion by using reason, not emotion.
- Part 1 discussed why abortion demands that we dehumanize the unborn, as well as why science proves that the unborn are 100% human beings.
- Part 2 pointed out the logical inconsistencies of saying the unborn aren’t human because of how they look or what they’re capable of doing without applying that lack of humanity to people outside the womb who are physically malformed or incapable of surviving on their own
- Part 3 carefully looked at the popular argument of a woman’s right to choose and why morality must be absolute
- Part 4 concluded by taking everything we’d discussed about why a fetus must be human so that we can understand why God hates the murder of anyone made in His image, whether they’re in the womb or outside of it
This series was an important one to me because Christians often wrestle with balancing what the Bible seems to say and what they’ve grown up believing. Through the conviction of the Holy Spirit, I believe Christians can easily accept the simple reality that murder in any form is wrong. The aim of this series was to show why a fetus must be human, knowing that God could use that to guide His people to truth.
#8 Finding Hope When Bible Reading Seems Pointless
Although this is a generally useful article for all Christians, this used one of my favorite new metaphors for the Christian life – the acorn. If we were to sit and watch an acorn grow, we would spend days wondering if anything was happening. We may see the shell split, notice the plant has made some progress, and probably note that a leaf has grown. However, if we could zoom in and see the multitude of processes at work, we’d be amazed at how much is really happening.
The Christian life is so similar, especially with our Bible reading. We may feel like we spend days or weeks without it touching our hearts, and that can make us wonder if it’s worth it. Yet we can find hope because God’s word never fails, He finishes the good work He begins in us, and He wants us to become more like Jesus Christ.
#7 “Don’t be a lukewarm Christian!”
Theology Busters are some of my favorite articles to write because they’re basically me talking to you about how I study the Bible. I take an idea or Bible passage and study it deeply, seeing how the whole Bible agrees (or doesn’t). Of all the articles in this category, examining the common misunderstanding of the verses below was my favorite because it dug deep into biblical context, tackled logic, and gave a strong call for God’s people to pursue holiness. If you haven’t read the article yet, I hope you will!
“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot! So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth!” (Revelation 3:15-16)
#6 What Do They Believe? (series)
Fun fact #1 – this series almost made me quit this blog. At one point I started to wonder if all my work in this ministry was really worth it. I’d spend 2 hours on each article only to get a handful of views. I was discouraged because the Holy Spirit was still working on my heart and teaching me what it’s like to have a ministry mindset. It was at this time that I was working on the Mormon articles and decided to time myself.
Between research and actual writing, it took me 12 hours to write those 3 articles. With where my heart was at that time, that was a real blow to my passion. But God used that moment, and some words from my wife, to remind me whose ministry this was. I learned that the success of this ministry wasn’t measured by clicks, views, or shares. The only thing I could really measure was whether I was serving God faithfully in the area He called me to. I know that He’s called me to serve His people through Onward in the Faith, and I will joyfully serve with all my strength.
On top of that defining moment, I’ve just enjoyed this series because it’s reignited my heart for those who are lost. By learning more of what a person believes, I more clearly see how desperately people under these different worldviews need Christ.
You can check out the different entries in this series below. And fun fact #2 – the Jehovah’s Witness series took me at least 20 hours (possibly closer to 30), and I loved every exhausting minute of it. It’s amazing how much God can use our foolishness for His glory!
- Muslims
- Mormons
- Jehovah’s Witnesses
- Protestants (this is one of my wife’s favorite articles of the year)
#5 The Bible’s Rules for the Bedroom
I still don’t know how to feel about this one. I’m convinced that everyone who knows me personally was absolutely shocked when they saw the title of this. If they read it, I imagine they were even more surprised that I wasn’t stuffy and prude in my biblical view on sex.
Honestly, I don’t know that I’d have ever written this one if it wasn’t a request from one of my Patreon supporters. I’m not ashamed or embarrassed to talk about sex, but it doesn’t occur to me to talk about things like this. But that’s one of the best things about those requests – it lets me write about things you want to read about, not just what I want to talk about. (If you want to become a supporter and choose an article that interests you, check out my Patreon here)
Become a Patron!#4 You Can’t Make God Love You More / You Can’t Make God Love You Less
These two are big for me because I have an unhealthy mix of pride and sensitivity to my own sinfulness. The first one is our reminder that I not only don’t need to earn favor with God, but I’m incapable of generating enough good to outweigh my bad. God’s grace lets me trust that I have a relationship with my Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ. This truth frees me from trying to earn merit and lets me simply enjoy God.
The second is my reminder that my sin can’t outdo God’s goodness. In His mercy, He provided Christ to pay for my sin. Although I’m called to hate my sin and put it to death, I must also remember that God doesn’t view me as His enemy despite my traitorous thoughts and actions. This truth frees me from the overwhelming weight of my sin and lets me simply run to my perfect Savior who is the only one who can free me from whatever sin I’m putting above Him.
#3 Why My Family…. (series)
All families have their weird reasons for doing things. This ongoing series is my way of explaining the biblical reasons my family does things that makes others raise their eyebrows. I know my wife and I still get a lot of things wrong, but by the grace of God we still try to honor Christ by basing our decisions around the adults we want to create instead of only focusing on the children we have right now.
Here’s what I’ve written so far:
- Introduction (explaining what guides our parenting decisions)
- Santa Clause
- Halloween
- Playing board games
- Making promises
#2 It Is Finished!
Although written for Easter, this one made me pause and worship several times while writing it. I rarely use exclamation points, but each section brought me such joy to discuss that it only seemed appropriate. Even looking back on the article fills me with such joy at everything that was ended with Christ’s death and resurrection.
- Our spiritual death is finished!
- The guilt of our sin is finished!
- Our slavery to sin is finished!
- Our separation from God is finished!
God came to Earth and was slaughtered on a cross so that we could have new life through Christ. Praise God for His goodness and mercy, because it’s more than we can possibly understand or deserve.
#1 Reading the Bible Well – A 3 Step Guide
This is my favorite article because it shows the heart of this entire ministry. I don’t want to just talk about Jesus or tell people what we believe. If someone were to describe what I do every week, I hope they’d say that I help people understand why they believe what they believe.
This article represents the greatest way we can understand the things of God. We don’t need to believe things because our pastor said so or because it sounds right. As followers of Christ, we need to dig into the Bible and understand what God says is true. There’s only one way to do this – by knowing how to read the Bible well.
I hope this article accurately reflects the first year of Onward in the Faith. I hope that each article you’ve read has encouraged you to think about the world through a biblical worldview, letting the Bible be our primary source of truth as we seek to understand everything around us. As I seek to glorify Christ through my writing, my greatest desire is He uses me to draw His people closer by giving them a love for truth and a confidence in their beliefs.
Looking forward to next year
Whether you’ve been here since the beginning or you’re brand new around here, I’m so thankful to everyone who has let me play a small part in their walk with Jesus Christ. He has been so good in letting me serve Him through this ministry, and I can’t wait to see what 2020 will bring.
If you have an article that stands out in your mind, I hope you’ll share it with me!
