Author: Ryan Higginbottom

Ryan lives in Washington, PA with his wife and two daughters and teaches mathematics at Washington & Jefferson College. You can connect with him at his blog.

Links for the Weekend (2025-01-17)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

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

Why Don’t We Read The Bible More? Three Common Misunderstandings

Ava Ligh looks at the real reasons (not just the stated reasons) we don’t read the Bible. She clears up some misunderstandings about the purpose of Bible reading to help us on our way.

Most sermons and Bible teachings tend to approach Scripture through a medical paradigm. The text is seen as offering a diagnosis and remedy for a specific problem within the congregation, and the sermon concludes with various prescriptions or applications to address the symptoms of that problem. However, Jesus encourages us to engage with Scripture through an agricultural paradigm, where the Word of God is compared to a seed that must be received (Matthew 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:4-15). 

Nearness is Enough

Kirsten Black writes about her experience in the hospital as one of her sons was dying. She honestly wrestles with the promise of God’s nearness and how or whether that’s a good thing in the midst of suffering.

So, what does the nearness of God look like amid our trials and our suffering? For years, I thought the nearness of God would mean that everything would be okay or, at the very least, feel okay. I hoped that his nearness would mean some sort of tangible presence, some sort of relief from pain. I hoped that it would act as a shield and protection around me, that it would stop the fiery arrows of the enemy from penetrating my heart. But that was not the nearness of God.

When

Our poem of the week is When, by Henry Lewis in Ekstasis Magazine. Brace yourselves—this one is about dying.

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 (2025-01-10)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

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

You Can’t Life-Hack Your Way to Holiness

Trevin Wax has written about how our culture’s obsession with techniques and results may have affected our approach to growing in holiness.

We live in an era flooded with life hacks—new exercise regimens, cooking recipes, productivity shortcuts, and self-optimization strategies. The message is clear: Find the right technique and everything will change. We’re bombarded with marketing, which influences how we think, even in spiritual matters. This hyperfocus on techniques and disciplines often drives our conversations about spiritual formation. We’re drawn to it because of our consumer society and our hearts’ inclination toward self-justification. The desire for self-optimization warps into the belief we’re responsible for our spiritual growth.

Answering Kids’ Hardest Questions: What Makes Me Special?

This post is relevant for all parents, but it is also important for all Christians who might talk to young people. (Which is all of us, hopefully!) When children ask what makes them special, Sarah Walton has some suggestions for how to answer. (This is available as a video and a written article.)

Especially for kids going up into junior high and high school ages, as they’re being flooded with questions of identity, this message is increasingly important. It’s so important to begin this conversation early to help them see that their identity is fixed in Jesus Christ, not in anything that they do or can accomplish.

It will be so freeing for them if we can help them build from there because the reality is, sometimes the gifts we have can be taken. That happened to me. I was an athlete, and I lost it all through an injury. It completely changed the trajectory of my life.

Two Poems

Here are two great poems which have Christmas or New Year connections. Enjoy!

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published an article I wrote called Why Isn’t Hope a Fruit of the Spirit? 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. 

Why Isn’t Hope a Fruit of the Spirit?

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

The fruit of the Spirit are familiar: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22–23). I doubt Paul intended this list to be exhaustive, but at least two Christian virtues are conspicuous in their absence from this hallowed group: faith and hope.

Given that faith and hope are both brought about by the Spirit and that Paul writes much about these qualities elsewhere, their absence from this list may surprising. In this short post, we’ll explore this mystery.

Looking to Calvin and 1 Corinthians 13

Allow me a slight detour. Most know 1 Corinthians 13 as “the love chapter” from its presence at wedding ceremonies. This chapter ends with sweet words that raise an obvious question.‏

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Why exactly is love greater than faith and hope? The answer can be found in the text, but it is nicely summarized by John Calvin.

For faith does not remain after death, inasmuch as the Apostle elsewhere contrasts it with sight, (2 Corinthians 5:7,) and declares that it remains only so long as we are absent from the Lord. We are now in possession of what is meant by faith in this passage—that knowledge of God and of the divine will, which we obtain by the ministry of the Church; or, if you prefer it, faith universal, and taken in its proper acceptation. Hope is nothing else than perseverance in faith. For when we have once believed the word of God, it remains that we persevere until the accomplishment of these things. Hence, as faith is the mother of hope, so it is kept up by it, so as not to give way. […] Faith and hope belong to a state of imperfection: love will remain even in a state of perfection.

In other words, love is the greatest of this trio because it remains into the fulness of the new creation. We have no need for faith or hope in heaven—these are virtues we need only in anticipation of our future home. (Calvin is on solid footing, as 1 Cor 13:8 asserts that “love never ends,” and then the rest of verses 8–12 discuss what will and will not pass away.)

Not Needed in the New Creation

In light of this argument, we see that faith and hope do not belong among the fruit of the Spirit. Perhaps the fruit of the Spirit are those qualities the Spirit grows within believers that will be needed for our new-creation lives.

There is some evidence for this argument within Galatians 5. After listing the “works of the flesh” in Gal 5:19–21, Paul writes, “I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal 5:21). There is a link between life in the future kingdom of God and these works of the flesh/fruit of the Spirit.

Love One Another

There is another explanation for the absence of faith and hope from the list of the fruit of the Spirit. Interestingly, Calvin also touches on this in his commentary on 1 Corinthians 13.

For every one derives advantage from his own faith and hope, but love extends its benefits to others.

Paul is relentless in Galatians to show that embracing the true gospel of Christ leads away from slavery toward freedom—the freedom to serve one another through love. (See my fuller discussion here.) The entire earlier paragraph of Gal 5:13–15 is about loving neighbor as self.

While faith and hope affect the way we interact with others, they are called “theological virtues” because they primarily involve our orientation toward God. The fruit of the Spirit are mostly needed for our relationships with others.

Convergence

In the end, these explanations converge. Faith and hope are not properly considered fruits of the Spirit because they aren’t necessary for our interaction with others, either now or in the age to come.

Faith and hope are gifts of the Spirit and they are essential to get to that new age! But they are the ship which takes us across the river and drops us on the far shore. We no longer need the boat for the singing and dancing and living to come.

(Note: I focused on hope instead of both faith and hope in the title of this post because so much of my recent writing has focused on hope.)

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Links for the Weekend (2025-01-03)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

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

How Healthy Is Your Soul? Six Questions for a New Year

At Desiring God, Scott Hubbard provides some questions to help us take our spiritual temperature at the start of a new year.

So no, the purpose of these questions is not to condemn, but rather to expose any area where we have cooled insensibly, by degrees, by little and little. And therefore the purpose of these questions is to draw us nearer to the Lord who has warmth enough to melt our coldness, if only we bring ourselves close to him.

3 Illustrations That Help Us Understand What It Is to Be “in Christ”

I linked to several articles related to union with Christ last year. Here’s another one, with a link to a book that looks to be good.

Without an understanding of what it means to be in Christ, our view of the Christian life becomes blurry. The ideas will still be there, of course—we’ll know that we’re justified through the death of Christ alone, that we will one day join him in resurrection life, that in the meantime we’re to commit ourselves to walking in holiness, and that all this is to be understood and worked through in the context of a local church. The pieces will be in place, but they won’t fully cohere—they’ll seem like separate elements, each of which we admire in its own way but which, like Lego bricks poured out onto the table, are meant to fit together and make a whole. Union with Christ is the lens through which all these parts of the Christian life can be seen most sharply and beautifully.

Bible Reading Plans for 2025

Ligonier has rounded up more than 20 Bible reading plans for 2025. Check them 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. 

Links for the Weekend (2024-12-27)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

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

Beauty & Brokenness

This author reflects on the beauty and brokenness in the world and writes about Christmas in this context.

There is so much that is beautiful. And there is so much that is broken. This is the case in the particularity of our own lives as well as at a global scale. Just today I have been a recipient of beauty: good food on my plate, the wind stirring up the waves at the beach, my wife. There has been brokenness too: the trail of litter along the street from the takeaway stores, neglected gardens, ugly things I can detect in my own heart.

What Did Mary Know? Maybe More Than You Know

This post looks at Mary and her famous song and deduces that she knew quite a lot of the word of God.

Poems of the Week

Not one or two but three poems this week, all by Angela Alaimo O’Donnell: The Body in Advent, Upon the Winter Solstice & Fourth Sunday of Advent Falling on the Same Day, and Solstice Poem.

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 (2024-12-20)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

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

The Darkness Does Not Win

In the midst of a world that, at times, seems filled with personal pain and terrible tragedies, it is good to read Kevin DeYoung’s reminder that Jesus is the light of the world. The darkness will not win.

Why can we be confident that the darkness will not win? It’s not because of grandma’s cooking or a familiar Christmas movie. It’s not because dreams come true when we believe, no matter what we actually believe. Our confidence is rooted in history; our faith is based on fact. What we celebrate in this season is not the triumph of the human spirit or the importance of family or the power of positive thinking. We worship a baby boy born in a bloody mess in a manger in Bethlehem. 

Does God hate the sin but love the sinner?

Andrew Walker tackles this question in a wise and gentle way: does God hate the sin but love the sinner? Be sure to stick around for the end of the video, where Dr. Walker demonstrates how our answers to this question can introduce the gospel.

Deliver Us

We have a song instead of a poem this week: Deliver Us, by Andrew Peterson. This excellent song is taken from Peterson’s Christmas album, Behold the Lamb of God.

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 (2024-12-13)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

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

Recovering Christ at Christmastime

Here’s a brief but powerful reflection about Christ and Christmas from Sinclair Ferguson.

Perhaps the reason that He is not central to us at Christmastime is that He has been stolen from our lives long before Christmas. So the first issue to settle is really this: Is Jesus central in my life day by day during the rest of the year? If not, why would I imagine that He will suddenly become central to me on Christmas Day?

Can I Pray to the Holy Spirit?

This is an important question, and Fred Sanders gives a good (short) answer: can I pray to the Holy Spirit? (This is a video with a transcript.)

Advent Sunday: Christina Rossetti

Our poem of the week: Advent Sunday, by Christina Rossetti. This poem contemplates the second coming of Christ, one of the important practices of Advent.

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 (2024-12-06)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

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

We Need Advent

T. M. Suffield writes about how the waiting of Advent is just the thing we need.

Advent can help us. This is a season of darkness, focused on the second coming of Jesus. It’s a time of waiting. It’s a time to really feel the tension of living in the Between, this suspended moment between what was and what will be. The Church are a people of the Between, a people of gloaming, of the time when it’s neither night nor day, the time between the times.

You’re Exactly As Holy As You Want To Be

This article from Tim Challies is a sobering reminder of our still-being-sanctified wills. We now have the ability to resist sin, but we often put up little fight. This should not only sober us, but our unity with Christ should give us hope.

Yet that’s only partially true. There’s another sense in which each of us is exactly as holy as we want to be. How is that the case? Because there is no one who can force us to sin and nothing that can force us to fail to do whatever is righteous in any given moment. There is no one who can keep us from deriving spiritual growth and benefit from any of the circumstances of our lives. No one, that is, except ourselves. If we ever wonder who is hindering our holiness, we don’t need to look any further than the closest mirror.

Six Questions Our Children Have that Demand Answers

Here’s a look at the sorts of questions our children ask as they mature. The author provides some advice on helpful answers we can supply.

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 (2024-11-29)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

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

How Do I Raise Grateful Kids?

Sam Crabtree has some advice on raising grateful children.

So if our kids are born thankless, how can we raise kids to recognize with heartfelt gratitude that they are served by an endless conveyor belt of divinely supplied benefits including life, breath, and everything? How can we help them see that God is working all things together for the good of those who love him? How can we help them see that he is good all the time and that our pleasure in him is enlarged and deepened and gladdened when we consciously thank him? How can we raise grateful kids?

We Thank You, Lord

It might be good to read this one slowly. Andrea Sanborn gives thanks to the Lord and invites us to join her.

A Liturgy for Rest

This liturgy for rest is a prayer for weary, hurried Christians who need to slow down and visit with God.

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published an article I wrote called Giving Detailed Thanks for Coffee. 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. 

Giving Detailed Thanks for Coffee

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

On one level, God’s will for us is plain.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thess 5:16–18)

Putting aside the complex issue of God’s will, Paul’s exhortation makes it clear that thanksgiving must be a central part of the Christian life. Paul also writes that we should be “…giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father…” (Eph 5:20).

What does this sort of universal, always-on thanksgiving look like?

Give Thanks to God

Principally, God’s people should be thankful to be God’s people, because this is a gift. Just look at Exodus 15:1–18 where Moses sings and exults in God’s Red Sea deliverance.

For the Christian, all of God’s gifts flow from the supreme gift of salvation, and we should thank him for every one.

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. (1 Tim 4:4–5)

Moses’s song in Exodus 15 is a model of thanksgiving for us. Our modern ears might find it repetitive, but Moses is slowly rehearsing every powerful, saving work. Every detail is important, because God is in all of the details.

We glorify God when we thank him specifically. In particular, we draw attention to his generosity, power, and love when we delight in all the blessings that come from a particular gift. After all, God foreknew and planned every last blessing we experience!

Specific, Exuberant Thanksgiving

My aim is to model this type of thanksgiving.

I love coffee. This isn’t exactly a controversial opinion on the internet, since roughly 114% of Twitter bios mention it. But I’ve been reading and thinking a lot about coffee recently. (I’m teaching a class on it in the fall.)

This is just a case study; coffee isn’t the point. My aim is thanking God everywhere, at all times, for all things. I’m just getting started; how about you?

Thank You, God, for Coffee

God, thank you for coffee. What a good, pleasurable gift you’ve given!

Thank you for the way coffee tastes. I love the way the flavor varies by the origin and roast of the bean; from nutty to fruity to chocolaty, the differences are delightful. Thank you for the unmistakable jolt to my tongue when I take my first morning sip.

Thank you for the smell of coffee. You’ve created such a warm, enticing smell with this drink that many who don’t enjoy the drink welcome the smell. The intensity of the aroma over freshly-ground beans is arresting and invigorating. Thank you for the way the smell of the grounds is released by the water, pulling me like a tractor beam to the mug.

Thank you for the stimulation coffee provides. You created caffeine, and like everything you created it is good. How generous you are to give a safe chemical in a delicious form that helps so many focus, think, and create.

Thank you for the ritual that goes along with coffee. You’ve given us a welcome, peaceful process to create this great drink. From boiling to scooping to grinding to pouring, the predictable rhythm of those ten minutes is a respite from the rest of the day. Thank you for the opportunity to breathe and rest while the coffee brews.

Thank you for the beauty of coffee. Though I make it much more for its taste than its appearance, in the right hands coffee is gorgeous. You’ve created so many different shades of brown that complement and accent each other so perfectly.

Thank you for the availability of coffee. The bean is grown in limited parts of the world, but you’ve blessed the farming, processing, and distribution of coffee so that most countries have easy access.

Thank you for the conversations that coffee inspires. You’ve made it natural, at least in the States, to build friendships over this drink. So many people meet to plan, pray, study the Bible, or ponder your world while drinking coffee.

Thank you for the food that goes so well with coffee. Donuts, bagels, eggs—these all pair perfectly with coffee. This drink you’ve created is wonderful by itself, but it shines in harmony with every cake, pie, and pastry around. What delicious combinations you’ve made for us to enjoy!

God, we see your goodness and overflowing generosity in coffee. It points us to your character, your love, and the gift of your Son for us. Thank you!

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