Month: March 2026

Links for the Weekend (2026-03-27)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

What Unity in the Church Really Is

We don’t always have the right idea about unity in the church. Here’s a brief article describing what unity isn’t, then what it is.

I love the realism of the Bible. The writers of the New Testament held no delusions about the easiness of church and church leadership. In fact, they recognized that unity is exemplified when people with seemingly unassailable differences come together as one in an unexplainable way. True Christian unity demands diversity, difference, and dissent.

Blessed Are the Empty

Here’s a great guide to reading the Beatitudes. You’ll learn about how the Beatitudes are invitations, the OT background of the Beatitudes, and the structure of the Beatitudes themselves.

The structure of the Beatitudes teaches us that in the sermon Jesus invites the empty to come and be filled. Jesus doesn’t offer ultimate happiness to those who trust in themselves for spiritual riches, restoration, and righteousness. Rather, Jesus offers the life of the kingdom to those who are empty and in faith look to him for their eternal good. And in doing so, Jesus promises that he won’t leave his followers empty but will infallibly fill them. 

How do I walk well with someone when they are grieving and they do not share my Christian faith?

Lauren Whitman (CCEF) has a video answering this question. (A transcript is also available.)

Ode to Dawn

Our poem of the week: Ode to Dawn, by Thomas McKendry. This poem is a delightful description of the sunrise. Enjoy the rhythm and rhyme!

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (2026-03-20)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

Embrace Your Life by Enjoying Quiddity

Come for the chance to learn a new word (quiddity!), stay for advice on enjoying life exactly where you are.

How do you become a deep person? You can hear it in the word itself—it’s the desire to mine, uncover, excavate. That doesn’t happen in 14 seconds. One method, then, is through reading great books, but it’s not the only way. Lewis presents a method available to any person at any point in his or her day—practicing attentiveness.

What Is Fasting?

Cassie Achermann has written a nice overview of fasting: what it is, where it shows up in Scripture, and why you might consider doing it.

I began fasting out of a sense of deep need for God. A Bible study I had worked through left me yearning for God to bring revival in my heart as well as in my church. I started small, skipping lunch once a week and instead spending that half hour praying. Not long after, I added a second day in the week. These weren’t aimless, wandering prayer times; I was asking the Lord urgently for help in two specific areas: first, for a breakthrough in an area of ongoing sin, and second, for spiritual revival in my church, where I’d been facing discouragement and difficulty for a while.

Righteousness

Our poem of the week: Righteousness, by Kate Bluett. This is a meditation on hungering and thirsting for righteousness, as Jesus spoke of in the Sermon on the Mount.

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published an article I wrote called 3 Poor Reasons to Read the Bible. If you haven’t already seen it, check it out!

Thanks to Cliff L for his help in rounding up links this week!

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

3 Poor Reasons to Read the Bible

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

On this side of our glorified bodies, Christians have two natures that wrestle within. Our “old man” persists until we see the Lord, and as a result, even our good behavior can be laced with sin.

We rejoice at the opportunity to help our neighbor, but we recognize the pride of self-congratulation on the walk back home. We try to give money generously, but we catch ourselves scheming how to work our latest donation into a dinner conversation. Our hearts have graduate degrees in dusting sour, selfish powder on the wholesome bread of obedience and love.

Bad Reasons for Bible Reading

Reading the Bible is no exception. We can exploit even this act of devotion for selfish gain.

I’ve seen this in my life. The reasons I have for sitting down with God’s word are often mixed. The more we can identify and repent of our bad impulses, the better.

Read the Bible to Have a Great Day

Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of encouragement to exercise in the morning. I’m told this active start to the day will make me feel amazing and will set me up for success in every other area of my life.

Some people advocate Bible reading in the same manner. Fifteen minutes in the Psalms will give you the spiritual equivalent of endorphins. If you start your day with God, what could possibly bring you down?

This approach to the Bible is stained with the prosperity gospel. Yes, obedience to God brings blessing, but “blessing” does not mean a smooth path and a fat wallet. We must not tie our ease and comfort to God’s favor or our obedience.

Those who push the Bible as a vaccination against trouble also speak a lot about how “inspiring” the Scriptures are. Call me a downer, but we need this sobering truth: The Bible is not always inspiring. It isn’t supposed to be.

In the Bible we find the self-revelation of the holy God of the universe, and this revelation is not always intended to make us feel good. God has designed something much better.

Read the Bible so Others Know You’re Holy

Social media has multiplied our opportunities to broadcast our spiritual practices. And the dopamine hits from likes and shares can transform a posture of humble worship to one of gold-nugget hunting.

But Instagram did not create this temptation. From my earliest days as a Christian I have wanted others to praise me for my piety. I would read God’s word with an eye toward sharing my devotional discoveries with my friends.

Most people want others to think well of them, and in the church, this can take the insidious form of spoiling genuine time with God by an obsession with one’s reputation. Time set apart to think about and worship God becomes more time to focus on me.

Read the Bible to Earn God’s Love

Christians need to hear the gospel of grace over and over and over. The news is so stunningly good, we have trouble believing and remembering it.

We doubt that God’s love is as deep and steady and present as he says. We know the devotion God desires, and we think his love for us must be proportional to our obedience. We pick up the Bible either in the fear that we have sinned too much or in the hope that God might, finally, be pleased with our latest offering of worship.

This thinking is pervasive, but it is nowhere in the Bible itself. For Christians, God is a good father whose love cannot be improved. Our accounts are at maximum capacity. Whether we read the Bible, or how well we read the Bible, does not change God’s affections toward us.

One Good Reason to Read

These poor reasons to read the Bible are focused on self. A great reason to read the Bible is to focus on God.

In the Bible, God shows us himself. He shows us his holiness and his law and his mercy. We see the background and setting for the life of Jesus, the central act of history. We hear the cosmos-rocking implications of his death, resurrection, and ascension.

We read the Bible because God commands we love him with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. But the transformed people of God long to worship their loving father and hear from him.

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Links for the Weekend (2026-03-13)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

Edgelords Won’t Inherit the Earth

This one is especially for parents or friends of young men or teenage boys. Joe Carter writes about this moment’s cultural figures who influence young men and contrasts it with a biblical perspective on being a man. He offers three ways for the church to help.

The tragedy of our moment is that young men are starving for such mature masculinity and often can’t find it because the platforms that dominate their attention are structurally hostile to it. When the loudest voices in a young man’s life are those modeling immaturity, he’ll assume immaturity is what strength looks like.

​​6 Tactics for Your Fight Against Sin

This article from Brad Wetherell presents some help in the battle against sin and temptation.

When temptation comes, don’t think to yourself, “Sin is inevitable. Its pull is too powerful for me. What’s the point of fighting?” Instead, tell yourself, “Sin has lost its authority over me. I belong to Christ. Therefore, I will resist. I will not act as if sin reigns.”

Whatever Is

Our poem of the week: Whatever Is, by Sarah Chestnut. This poem is a wonderful meditation on Philippians 4:8.

Thanks to Leeanne E for her help in rounding up links this week.

    Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

    Links for the Weekend (2026-03-06)

    Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

    Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

    Six Gospel Antidotes to Anxiety

    As this article says, “We live in an anxious world.” But the Bible speaks to anxiety! Brady Hanssen writes about the portions of the Sermon on the Mount relevant to those who are anxious.

    In verse 27, Jesus asks, “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” The answer is obvious: nobody. Anxiety accomplishes nothing; in fact, it is counterproductive. Psalm 139:16 reminds us, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” The Lord has sovereignly ordained the number of our days before we were even born. Worrying about our life will not extend it beyond the days that God has given us.

    How Do You Know If You Are Called to Write a Book?—Five Questions Every Artist Should Ask

    Andy Patton had a conversation on a podcast with Will Parker Anderson about vocation and calling. (At that link is a written summary of the highlights.) Even for non-artists and non-writers, this might be helpful for thinking about what God might have you do.

    God is personal, present, and near. He wants us to walk in His way, and He has given us means of discernment. Some people have dramatic, unmistakable moments of calling. Most do not. For most of us, calling is discovered through prayer, patterns, community, Scripture, desire, slow obedience—and, to be honest, simply trying things and stumbling around.

    Hillside Vigil

    Our poem of the week: Hillside Vigil, by Thomas McKendry. This is a quiet, sobering poem about a man mourning by a grave.

    On the WPCA Blog This Week

    This week on the blog we published an article I wrote called Context Matters: Bear One Another’s Burdens. If you haven’t already seen it, check it out!

    Thanks to Phil A for his help in rounding up links this week!

    Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

    Context Matters: Bear One Another’s Burdens

    Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

    Perhaps you’ve heard that Christians are to bear each other’s burdens. When a member of your church family is ill, recovering from surgery, or has recently welcomed a new child, you may have been encouraged (using this verse) to provide meals and other practical assistance.

    “Bearing the burden” or “carrying the load” of another person is a memorable, vivid image. When a friend is weary and struggling with something weighty, we can take that heavy object in our arms. This is an act of service and love.

    And yet, context matters. When we learn to read the Bible as a unified collection of letters and books instead of as a binder stuffed with proverbs, we’ll see that some of its most memorable commands don’t mean what we always assumed.

    Ensnared in Sin

    The context of the command to “bear one another’s burdens” is a person caught in sin.

    Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:1-2)

    This instruction comes on the heels of Paul’s famous passage about the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:16–26). Paul is explaining, in part, what it means to keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25).

    What should Christians do when someone in their fellowship is “caught” in a transgression? Those who are spiritual should “restore” them in a spirit of gentleness. These topics are tricky and sensitive; being ensnared in sin is humbling and the one who is caught has likely been exposed. We must proceed with caution and love, and Paul gives us guidance.

    Fulfill the Law of Christ

    Perhaps by now we can see that bearing another’s burdens has little to do with mowing their grass after knee replacement surgery. Paul is concerned that Christians bear the burden of their friend’s sin entrapment and help them to freedom. This is so central to the way we are to love one another within the church that Paul writes that it helps us “fulfill the law of Christ.”

    It is rare that someone can escape the quicksand of entrapping sin without the help of a Christian friend. A friend who will listen, who will gently speak the truths of the gospel, who will pray, who will help develop a plan for resisting and fleeing temptation—this is a friend whose value is beyond gold. These are the friends we need, and these are the friends we are called to be.

    The surrounding passage gives further commentary on these situations.

    • Those who restore a sinner must be careful to watch themselves, lest they also be tempted (Galatians 6:1). When walking so close to the bog of sin and temptation, we must take care not to fall in the muck ourselves.
    • Christian friends must remember their own weaknesses and sin. There is no place for pride when bearing the sin burdens of another (Galatians 6:3).
    • We must not think we are better than our friend and boast in that perceived superiority (Galatians 6:4-5). Our “walking by the Spirit” is not measured by comparison to others; rather, we should use Paul’s list of the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit to make an honest self-assessment of our lives and hearts.

    What We Lose

    Do not fear. When we interpret Galatians 6:2 correctly, we are in no danger of losing the Christian call to care for our brothers and sisters when they need practical help.

    Earlier in this epistle, Paul tells the Galatians to “through love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13). In 1 Thessalonians, we read, “See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone” (1 Thessalonians 5:15). Finally, the many New Testament commands to love one another more than cover the circumstances which are usually in mind when Galatians 6:2 is cited.

    The danger we face, in fact, is just the opposite. This is one of a few places in Scripture that teach us how to act when a friend is stuck in the brambles of sin. If we misuse Galatians 6:2 because we haven’t read the passage carefully, or because we have over-emphasized the burden-carrying image, or because we think sin is a private matter, we’ll lose valuable instruction about how Christians bear the fruit of the Spirit in community.

    Context matters.

    For more examples of why context matters, click here.

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