Year: 2026

Links for the Weekend (2026-01-16)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

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

You Have Time to Read the Bible in the New Year

Glenna Marshall used to tell herself that she didn’t have time to read the Bible. She’s changed her mind, and she wants to change yours too.

In the many years since then, I’ve often been told my others that they don’t have time to read the Bible regularly. It’s one of the most common excuses I get now as a Bible teacher. It might be the thing holding you back right now. But I’m lovingly calling your bluff. You do have time to read the Bible. And so did I during all those years I swore I didn’t. Here’s how I know.

On Marriage

Jen Pollock Michel reflects on her years of marriage and offers some advice to those who are younger.

The only certain thing you choose when you marry someone is the certainty of change. Prayerfully, you want to seek a commitment—and a friendship—that will sustain you through all the beauty and brokenness of life. A health diagnosis. A bunch of kids. A job layoff. An incredible career success. You want a friendship that weathers the change that will inevitably befall both of you, a friendship that is committed to remembering the beauty and good you saw when you were falling in love—and forgetting the many lapses since.

In the face of loss, what does “grieving with hope” look like in the day-to-day?

CCEF counselor David Gunner Gundersen answers this question in a video. (A transcript is also available.)

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 (2026-01-09)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

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

Gospel-Centered Resolutions

This is a helpful explanation of how the gospel can reshape our approach to resolutions.

The gospel challenges our normal approach to resolutions. Rather than starting with our desires, it reminds us that our desires are deceitful. We need to look elsewhere for our goals. Rather than telling us how to find value, the gospel reminds us that our value has been established by the blood of Jesus on the cross. Rather than telling us to try harder and be better to accomplish our goals, the gospel is the “power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). A gospel-centered approach is simply truer. It is more life-giving. It is powerful. If you’ve given up on resolutions before, don’t lose hope. Instead, give up on “you-centered” resolutions and replace them with the gospel.

5 Habits for Better Prayer in 2026

This writer offers suggestions for mindsets toward prayer in the context of maintaining a relationship with God.

Prayer is, first and foremost, being in our Father’s presence. One of the most common hindrances to prayer is the fear of not “doing it right,” like a student hesitant to attempt a tricky math problem. Yet prayer is about cherishing a relationship, not cracking a formula. It’s not the eloquence of our words but the posture of our hearts that the Lord considers.

The Key to Finding the Author’s Emphasis When You Read the Bible

Jon Nielson offers some suggestions to find the structure of Bible passages.

This tool operates on the basis that every passage in the Bible has a clear structure, and the structure is important because it shows us the focus or thrust of the passage. In other words, the way the biblical author puts a passage together can show us what that author means to emphasize, highlight, and bring out for his readers. Very often, the structure of a passage is the main key to interpreting it well, understanding it rightly, and applying it faithfully to our lives. This is why the construction tool is so important—it helps us see what the biblical authors want us to see.

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published an article I wrote called The Bible Is Not About You. If you haven’t already seen it, check it out!

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

The Bible Is Not About You

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

We are self-centered by nature. This egotism can be amplified in certain cultures and by some personalities, but we all have a central impulse to focus on the person in the mirror.

So it is not surprising that when we turn to the Bible we think about ourselves first. Our spiritual disciplines can easily become a vehicle for self-improvement.

So what is a healthy way to approach reading the Bible? How should we pay attention to and process God’s word?

For a start, when reading the Bible, we should not immediately look for ourselves in the text. The Bible has implications for us, but the Bible is not about us.

The Bible is about God

If the Bible is not about us, then what is it about? Don’t take my word for it—search the Bible from beginning to end and you will see there is one primary actor and one main subject. The Bible is about God.

Note how the book begins.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

And when the book ends, we see the servants of this creator-king gathered around to worship.

No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. (Revelation 22:3)

God is infinite and eternal, so glorious and holy that humans could never know him without his self-revelation. And while God has revealed himself through his creation, he has shown himself in more detail and with precision in his word, the Bible.

Consider the way this displays God’s heart. He wants to be known! If you have access to a Bible, you are able to learn about this wonderful, powerful God. This is his desire!

The Bible is about Redemption

As we read the Bible, we learn who God is and what he is like. But we also learn about the place of humanity in the world and how we relate to God.

Adam and Eve turned against God early in the Scriptural story, disregarding his command and seeking their own way. God responded with judgment, mercy, and a promise. God’s judgment was the exile from Eden (Gen 3:22–24) and the curse—childbirth, the husband-wife relationship, and work in creation would all be painful and difficult (Gen 3:16–17). God’s mercy was that he continued to speak with the man and woman and that he covered their shame and nakedness (Gen 3:21). God’s promise was that there would be a child of Eve that would bruise the serpent’s head (Gen 3:15).

The rest of the Bible unfolds these responses of God and the fulfillment of his promise, and everything points to Jesus (Luke 24:44–48). Jesus was the Son of God incarnate; he came to make God known (John 1:18), to redeem God’s people (Titus 2:14), and to bring them to God (1 Peter 3:18).

So, the Bible is about God, but it is also about how (and why) he is redeeming a people for himself.

Implications for Reading

If God and his redemptive purposes are at the core of the Bible, that should shape how we read.

First, we should be aware of the big picture as we read. When we study the Bible, we are seeking the author’s main point of each passage and how we should respond. But when we are reading for breadth, we don’t have time for such a narrow focus. It is better to think about the themes and arguments of the book we are reading and how they connect to the overall sweep of Scripture. Reading for breadth is primarily about familiarity and understanding, not application.

We should be sure to interpret before we apply the Bible. Some people are in such a rush to come away from their Bible reading with a “nugget” on which to meditate for the rest of the day that they skip crucial steps. All basic communication means that we must understand before we act. This may mean that you end up with no victory token from your devotions, no Instagram-worthy verse to quote and post. And that is fine!

Finally, we should think corporately, not individually. Especially in the global west we have a far more individual mindset than the first audiences of the Bible. God has set out to redeem a people for himself, the Church. This collective body is not the same as a group of random humans! So, while applying the Bible has clear implications for us as persons, those implications (often) flow out of truths and commands for the corporate people of God. (So many of the New Testament commands are for you (plural), not you (singular)!)

The beginning of another year brings many of us back to the Bible. As we turn to the Bible for the first or for the ten-thousandth time, let’s make sure we recognize our place. We are part of this grand story, but none of us are at the center. That would be far too small a story.

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Links for the Weekend (2026-01-02)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

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

Freedom in Devotions

At the beginning of a new year, this post is a good reminder about the goal of our spiritual practices. (It also sounds a warning about the traps we can fall into.)

Once we come to grips with the honest truth that our status with God is completely unearned and freely given to us by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, that may reveal our true motivation in doing all these things. If my true motivation was tied up in a belief that I was earning (or forfeiting) the blessings and favor of God, then I’ve forgotten the goal of devotions in the first place.

How do I deal with anxiety and depression related to aging?

This video from CCEF is full of biblical advice about anxiety related to aging. (A transcript is also available.)

If you have lingering regrets, speak them to the Lord and let his grace and mercy meet you. He has born your guilt and shame, and it’s okay to lament the loss of vitality in various areas of your life. By speaking of your disappointments and fears and sadness to the Lord, you are doing what so many of the Psalms model—faithful and trust-building crying out to the Lord.

All Flesh Shall See

Our poem of the week: All Flesh Shall See, by Kate Bluett. This is an Advent poem which also keeps the Good Friday work of Jesus in view. (I just discovered this poet on Substack and I think she’ll be making repeated appearances in these links in the coming year.)

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