Work: For Legacy or Joy?

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

The Preacher of Ecclesiastes uses the word “toil” in ways that sound like more than “job” or “career” or “thing I do for income.” He seems to use this word more broadly to mean what we put our energy toward in this world.

On this topic, the end of Ecclesiastes 2 focuses on a pointed question: Why do we toil? In answering this question, he, unsurprisingly, identifies one reason that is “vanity” and one that is “from the hand of God.”

His Days Are Full of Sorrow

The Preacher hated his toil because he would eventually have to leave the fruit of it to others. Yes, the finiteness of life plays a major role in how the Preacher thinks about about work in addition to wisdom.

There are two main problems with leaving life’s work to another, according to the Preacher. First, we don’t know whether our successor will be wise or a fool (Eccl 2:19). This ambiguity can be maddening, since this person will be the “master” of all for which we toiled. Additionally, there is the sheer vanity of someone coming after us who will enjoy what they did not work for (Eccl 2:21). The Preacher labels this not only as “vanity” but “a great evil” (Eccl 2:21).

This meditation on work provokes harsh words from the Preacher! He “hated all his toil,” and he gave his “heart up to despair;” a man’s return for his toil is days which are “full of sorrow” with work “a vexation” such that “in the night his heart does not rest” (Eccl 2:18–23).

When the Preacher asks what a man has to gain from all his toil (Eccl 2:22), the clear answer is: nothing.

Enjoyment From the Hand of God

And yet, there is another, better perspective on work the Preacher has to offer.

There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25)

Ideally, we will find “enjoyment” in our toil. God gives this as a gift, as there is no enjoyment in toil apart from the Almighty.

In reading Ecclesiastes, I’ve found a helpful framing from David Gibson: gain or gift? This framing helps me understand what the Preacher is up to at the end of this chapter when he seems to talk about work in two different ways.

When we work for gain—that is, when we work to be remembered or with a fixation on what will become of our work—we are striving after wind. This is misguided and foolish, since we will be forgotten (Eccl 2:16) and our work will pass to others. However, when we see work as a gift from God, we can begin to enjoy it.

Like so many other aspects of life, the key to joy in Ecclesiastes is receiving each role or activity from God. We honor God best (and thus enjoy life most) when we treat each area of life in the way that God intended. We will not live forever, and our work will not live forever; accepting and embracing these truths opens up the path toward enjoying our work now.

Pleasing God

The Preacher ends this discourse on work with a caveat. God does not give everyone joy in their work.

For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. (Ecclesiastes 2:26)

God only gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to those who please him. The sinner gets something quite different.

This raises a natural question: who is it that pleases God? For the original audience listening to Ecclesiastes, the answer would have been clear: those who love God and keep his law please him.

So, if you feel frustration in your work, if you would like to find more joy in what you give your energy to in this world, the Preacher would direct your attention to your obedience to God’s law. And if you find yourself not quite measuring up to the standard of God’s law, join the club.

Jesus became man and lived in perfect accord with all of God’s righteous rules. The good news of the gospel means that Jesus’s obedience is credited to all those who trust in him. God is pleased with those who put their faith in Jesus.

These frustrations that the Preacher unearths are universal. They point to a planet which is cursed and discordant. And yet, the Bible testifies that there is a Savior given to the world as well.

The humble posture of the believer is to confess our sins and receive the Savior. The Preacher’s teaching on receiving one’s work as a gift points those with ears to hear in this same direction.

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Links for the Weekend (2026-05-22)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

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

The Will of God Isn’t a GPS

Trevin Wax advises that God’s will is more like a map than a GPS.

Some Christians come to the Bible expecting semimystical guidance—a verse that will signal to you exactly what job to take, a story that will help you know whether to move, a constellation of circumstances that tell you to lean further into the right romantic relationship. Others wait for a perfect peace, a gut feeling, or a dream. Doesn’t Jesus say our heavenly Father takes note of every sparrow that falls? Surely he cares about our every step.

What We Lose When We Don’t Study the Bible Ourselves

Glenna Marshall explains the benefits of studying the Bible, even when (maybe especially when) it is difficult.

The purposes of study require that we do the work of study. We cannot expect spiritual growth without living closely to Scripture. We cannot hope for a deeper understanding of God and his redemptive story while refusing to learn the Person or the story. We won’t grow closer to the Lord if we refuse to engage with his chosen means of revelation. The things we desire to take from Bible study will only come through studying the Bible. A deepened affection for the Lord and a heart that reflects Christ come from a life saturated with Scripture. Because God’s word is living and active, regular study will (over time) shape you to look like Jesus, to love what he loves, and to hate what he hates.

Three Truths to Combat Your News Anxiety

If paying attention to the news is making you anxious, Paul Sadler has some truths from the Bible to offer comfort.

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 (2026-05-15)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

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

Eight Myths about Heaven That Many Believe

Many Christians have a view of heaven that is more informed by popular culture than by the Bible. Randy Alcorn has spent years writing about heaven and wants to correct eight of these myths.

Thinking that Heaven will be boring betrays a heresy—that God is boring. Nonsense! God made our taste buds, adrenaline, the nerve endings that convey pleasure to our brains, our imaginations, and our capacity for happiness and excitement.

Collective Awe and What We Were Made For

Glenna Marshall writes about recent space-related events and discoveries and ties them into God as creator and humans as those who gaze on creation together.

That’s why when we encounter large-scale astonishing global or terrestrial events, we drop what we’re doing and stand in awe. I enjoyed following the Artemis II mission around the moon and back, mostly because I cannot imagine the glimpse of the universe that the four astronauts were fortunate enough to see, but also because I cannot fathom the math-minded brilliance of the scientists and physicists who made such an endeavor possible. I know I wasn’t the only one watching the Orion burn its way through the earth’s atmosphere while my heart pounded with a bit of fear. Anyone who watched breath a collective sigh of relief when splashdown occurred at precisely 7:07p.m. We were relieved and amazed.

Breaking

Our poem of the week: Breaking, by Kate Bluett. This poem is introduced by a portion of Luke 24 where disciples recognize the risen Jesus as he broke bread for them. This poem is, gloriously, about resurrection.

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published an article I wrote called Wisdom Drained of Power. 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. 

Wisdom Drained of Power

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

When was the last time you walked through a cemetery? Such a stroll may seem dismal, but it’s quite good for your soul. Modern humans, especially the young, can talk themselves into immortality if they’re not careful.

If you visit a cemetery, you’ll probably find the newer graves in one area and the older graves in another. Pay attention to that older area. Notice the headstones, the names and dates carved along with a few words carefully chosen as an everlasting benediction.

The thing is, headstones don’t last. From the perspective of decades, it doesn’t take long before the carved words wear down and the stone itself starts to sink and crumble. You probably don’t know the people in these old graves, and now you can’t even read their names.

You Will Die

In Ecclesiastes 2, the Preacher takes on several investigations, starting with pleasure and turning to wisdom (Eccl 2:12). He somewhat predictably finds that there is “more gain in wisdom than in folly,” but the conclusion he reaches may be surprising: “the wise dies just like the fool” (Eccl 2:13,16).

Since “the same event” (death) happens to everyone—both the foolish and the wise—the Preacher wonders why he has tried to live according to wisdom. It is absurd that the sage and the fool both die in the same way (Eccl 2:14-15).

The Preacher was grappling with a profound and difficult lesson: Wisdom cannot protect us from death.

Those familiar with the Bible will sense a dissonance here that I believe is intentional. After all, in the book of Proverbs, Solomon extols the value of wisdom (see Proverbs 2) and urges his son (and his readers) to pursue and not abandon wisdom (Proverbs 4:1–9).

Perhaps we can feel the frustration voiced by the Preacher. Wisdom has great value in this life. But this life is so short! Is wisdom that valuable if everyone ends up with the same washed-out gravestone?

You Will Be Forgotten

In his investigation of wisdom, the Preacher lands on a second truth as difficult as our own mortality. Both the wise and the foolish die alike, and neither one is remembered.

For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind. (Ecclesiastes 2:16-17)

Not many of us meditate on our mortality. But even those who do probably think the good they do in the world might outlast them. The businesses, organizations, causes, places, and people we pour our lives into—surely these will be remembered, right?

Sadly, and simply, no. They won’t, and you won’t. Not in the long run.

You might not need convincing of this, but here’s another illustration. I know the first names of all four of my grandparents, and if you pressed me on it I could probably come up with the grandparent-names my parents used for their grandparents (my great-grandparents). But I don’t know any of their first names, and I barely know anything about them. That’s just three generations! And because I know so little about my great-grandparents, my children know nothing about them. I’m tied at the top of the list of people in the world most likely to remember those eight people, and I don’t even know their names, much less their passions or accomplishments.

Exposing Misplaced Hopes

Ecclesiastes exposes our misplaced hopes in a methodical, direct way. Do you think you might find some lasting significance from pleasure? From wisdom? From work? No, no, and no.

Everyone dies. You might be remembered for a few years, but it won’t be that many. Your name will blow away from the mind of the world like a feather on the wind.

What do we do with this stiff, cold breeze from the Bible? Were you hoping for something more encouraging or slogan-friendly from the Holy Scriptures?

Ecclesiastes takes a little while to resolve this tension, but we eventually get there. The Preacher gives this counsel: fear God and keep his commandments (Eccl 12:13).

That conclusion may not sound as uplifting as we’d like, but when we arrive there I suspect we’ll see how joyful and full of hope that exhortation is.

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Links for the Weekend (2026-05-08)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

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

The Modern Flattening of Sin—and What We Lose

Trevin Wax has written about how our descriptions of sin have changed and how this affects our view of the work of God in salvation.

When we recast sin as primarily a matter of feeling far from God rather than being in an objective state of rebellion against him, the solution gets altered. We no longer need a physician who prescribes a cure for a dying patient; we go looking for a therapist who helps us understand our feelings. “Is our nature truly impaired,” Sanders asks, “or are we simply suffering the consequences of false beliefs about ourselves?”

Want to Share the Good News? Ask Good Questions

Sharonda Cooper has an article for Crossway about the power of questions in evangelism. She provides some helpful examples!

A third reason to ask questions is to learn the person’s perceived area of greatest need. Oftentimes people think love and acceptance are their greatest needs. Sometimes they prize financial success or independence. Maybe they long for freedom from fear and anxiety. Whatever that deepest craving might be, your job is to find it. You want to know what keeps this person up at night. Probing that area uncovers pathways to present Christ as the answer to that person’s soul sickness.

Eventide

Our poem of the week: Eventide, by Sally Thomas. This sonnet is remarkable, a description of dusk by the sea. The hymn Abide with me runs through the 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 (2026-05-01)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

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

Aim High. Repent Often.

Christians are often called “hypocrites.” Trevin Wax wrote an article “to distinguish between the kind of hypocrisy Jesus excoriates and the stumbling attempts of sincere believers to live according to his commands.” This one is worth reading a few times.

Jesus reserved his sharpest words not for those who fell short but for those who wouldn’t admit their shortcomings. The Pharisees weren’t condemned for having standards too high. They were condemned for performing righteousness while concealing corruption—for polishing the outside of the cup while the inside was full of greed and self-indulgence.

The solution to hypocrisy, then, isn’t to lower your aim. It’s to be honest when you miss.

AI Is Coming For Your Systematic Theology

Tim Challies writes about a troubling trend of AI-produced books on systematic theology on Amazon. He introduces us to the sort of books he’s talking about, tells us why the prevalence of these books is dangerous, and advises us how to spot them. He also warns that this trend is likely to get much worse.

If you were to visit Amazon today and search for “systematic theology,” it would not take you long to find a host of similar works. Many of them have scads of enthusiastic reviews and feature realistic-sounding author bios that say things like, he “is a Christian author and teacher of systematic theology with a passion for making biblical doctrine clear, accessible, and meaningful for today’s readers.” Yet in reality, he does not exist at all, and the books under his name have been generated through nothing more than clever prompting of a Large Language Model.

How to Worship When God Feels Distant

Emily Jensen offers some biblical advice on how we can worship when it feels God is far from us.

Sometimes we’re tempted to hold off on praising God until we judge ourselves ‘faithful’ or have an emotional sense of God’s nearness. But the truth is that we were never faithful enough to begin with—we’ve always had to approach God humbly, by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8–9). God hasn’t gone anywhere, and you don’t have to do a checklist of ‘right’ things before coming to him in worship.

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published an article I wrote called Why We Reread the Bible. 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 We Reread the Bible

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

The Bible is not like other books. When we finish a novel or biography, we put it down and pick up something new. But many Christians complete a Bible reading and start right in again. For those new to the faith, this may seem strange.

Because frequent rereading of the Bible is not an obvious activity, I thought it might be helpful to highlight some of the reasons Christians never really finish reading the Scriptures.

The Bible is a Singular Book

Christians believe that the Bible is God’s Word, that God himself inspired what we read on those pages. This gives the Bible an authority and status unequal to any other book.

While this by itself does not imply we should reread the Bible, it does mean it’s no surprise if we treat it differently than other volumes on our shelves.

We Need to Keep Learning

The Bible gives us instruction, correction, comfort, and hope. This is the infinite, eternal God’s primary revelation of himself, and we finite, fallen humans don’t understand everything about God the first or second or tenth time we read it. Given our limitations and our nature, we will never have perfect knowledge of God in these imperfect bodies.

Because the Holy Spirit illuminates the Bible for us and gives us understanding, rereading the Bible can sometimes feel like reading a completely different book. I’ve talked to many Christians who admit to reading a passage dozens of times—over decades of their lives—before grasping something profound that now seems obvious.

We Forget

The Bible is a long book, containing truths both profound and difficult. Our frail minds do not easily hold all of these truths for long periods of time, especially when only exposed to them once.

We forget who God is and what he has done because we are weak and limited. We also forget God’s word because in our corruption we do not hold tightly to stories that emphasize our dependence and guilt. This is especially true when our lives are comfortable. (See the relevant warning to Israel in Dt 8:11–20.)

Because we easily forget God, we reread his word to remember.

We Are Commanded

Keeping the holy teachings about God top of mind is not just a recommended Christian activity. God commands it!

We are to “let the word of Christ dwell in [us] richly” (Col 3:16). Because we are forgetful, it’s hard to imagine obedience to this command without rereading.

Jesus says that part of the way we abide in him is to let his words abide in us (John 15:7). The words of Christ take up residence with us when we revisit them frequently.

To Grow in Love

Reading (and rereading) the Bible is not an end in itself. There is no heavenly trophy for most times reading the Bible.

We are getting to know a person—God—not a textbook. And we must hold tight to the gospel truths that fuel our love of our neighbors.

We read because we are loved by God. And because God loves us, we read so that we might love him and love our neighbors.

And until we love perfectly, we reread.

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Links for the Weekend (2026-04-24)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

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

I never felt like reading the Bible. Here’s what changed.

Reagan Rose grew up in a church that emphasized the importance of reading the Bible. But he never enjoyed doing it. Read his article about how he grew to look forward to reading the Bible.

I guess if I were to try and sum all of this up in a single word, that word would be faith. The thing that drove me to consistently reading the Bible daily was faith. It was faith that the Bible could be read and understood that got me to open it up. And it was faith that reading the Scriptures wasn’t a heavy burden but an immense privilege. And that faith was blessed with fruit, as the Word did its work in my life. 

Heaven Will Forget None of Its Heroes

Tim Challies compares the way countries treat their military heroes to the way God’s people will be honored in heaven.

There will be many surprises on the day the Lord calls us all to give an account. I am convinced that one of the greatest surprises will be this: that those who have received the least acclaim on earth may receive the most acclaim in heaven. In fact, God’s Word tells us that many of those who are first will be last and many of those who are last will be first. The least names on earth may be the greatest in heaven, while the greatest names on earth may be the least in heaven. 

4 Reasons Why Fasting Is Worth It

Cassie Achermann writes about four blessings that come along with fasting.

By stripping away the comforts our culture tells us are essential, we see that they’re only cheap imitations of God’s comfort. Fasting isn’t reserved for those with great self-control; it’s also for those who see their need for self-control. It’s not reserved for those who walk closely with God; it’s also for those who lament their distance from him. If you’re tired of relying on yourself, if you’ve experienced the emptiness of worldly comforts, if you desire a deeper relationship with God—fasting is for you.

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 (2026-04-17)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

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

The Danger of AI Isn’t Misinformation. It’s Mis-Formation.

If not used thoughtfully, artificial intelligence has the potential to damage our spiritual formation.

The real issue is what habitual AI use does to us. It turns into muscle memory that, over time, will reshape basic Christian habits like what we pay attention to, what we expect, and where we look for counsel.

How Ben Sasse Is Living Now That He Is Dying

You may or may not be familiar with former U.S. Senator Ben Sasse. He is an outspoken Christian with ties to our denomination. He received a diagnosis in December that he is dying of pancreatic cancer.

This is a podcast episode he did with Ross Douthat of the New York Times. A good chunk of this podcast is about politics, artificial intelligence, and higher education. If you’re not interested in those topics, skip to about 55 minutes to hear Senator Sasse’s thoughts on his top priorities as he is dying. (There is audio, video, and a transcript available at that link.)

We Have Seen You

Our poem of the week: We Have Seen You, by Kate Bluett. This is a poem about believing in the resurrection of Jesus, whether we have seen it with our eyes or not.

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published an article written by Meghan Watt called Good Stewards of God’s Grace. 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. 

Good Stewards of God’s Grace

Posted onAuthorMeghan Watt

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 4:10-11

Scripture pulls no punches: not if each has received a gift, but as each has received a gift. The purpose is serving one another through God’s abundant generosity. God keeps things simple for us. So, why do we wonder what we’re supposed to do, how much we’re supposed to do, and often miss the point while we’re doing it? 

Most of us feel tired. We’re stretched with careers, growing children, ailing bodies, and demanding class schedules. What can tired people do when the needs are high all around them? There is discernment and direction for us in God’s word. We are to walk in the ways Jesus walked (1 Jo 2:6) and seek to understand his will for the time, resources, energy and capacity he’s given us (Eph 5:15-16). The good news is that we can do so without overwhelm, guilt, or burnout if we quietly listen to where he’s calling us to go. I’ve outlined just three basic responses below.

Look to Christ

High needs, right hand is a motto that has rung in my ears for the past several months. On a rainy Monday morning, I was busy doing laundry while muttering prayers. I had just realized there was a trail of paper scraps through the study, and I could faintly hear two brothers bickering from the upstairs hallway. My daughter had just come in to ask me a math question while the timer beeped (again) on an overdone egg-bake in the oven. Above all the small neediness of the household, I had my own internal needs that felt pressing. My soul needed comfort from God in a stressful situation, and my emotions felt raw. 

In that season, I was reading through Romans and had just paused in chapter 8. Verse 34 wafted back to me like a fresh spring breeze that lifted the fog

Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

High needs, right hand. 

We can stagger when there are so many voices jockeying for our attention. But the first and most important thing we can do is look to Christ. He is at the right hand of the Father right now. Condescending to us and interceding for us right now. Who better, then, to ask for direction and insight? Who better to prioritize our to-do lists and alleviate our guilt? Who better to show us how to live, serve, and die? 

The gospel transforms our spiritual gift perspective by reminding us that it’s not about us and what we can do—it’s about Jesus and what he has done. We don’t answer the call to serve working toward approval but rather working from approval—our approval is secure and unshakable in Christ. There are high needs all around us, and each of them has a legitimate pull for our attention. When we look to Christ, we marvel at the way he walked, the life he calls us to live, the death he died, and the beauty of his presence with us all our days. The flustered feelings of not doing or being enough find their place in the dust among the rubble of our insecurity and pride. Only then are we free to speak with his wisdom, discern what pleases him, and receive the strength he supplies. We work our fingers to the bone out of gratitude and humble love for his people, for we are merely responders to his mercy.   

Involve Your Leadership

As you look to Christ, you can rest in the providential care of the leadership God has placed over you. If you have a husband, ask where he sees your gifts being best used. If you’re in a conversation with a deacon, ask how your natural talents and abilities can help with physical needs of the church. Seek counsel from your elders about where they see gaps in the local body that your spiritual gifts might fill. Open yourself up to wisdom from brothers and sisters in your church. Tune your ear for echoes from the church announcements or bulletin. Study the people God has put in front of you. In our American context, we prize individuality. However, when we look to Scripture, giftings are much more communal. Peter reminds us, it’s been given that you might give. Involving someone else in something we’ve made so personal can be unnerving. We may have convinced ourselves that we’re gifted in an area that we’re not. We might cringe at the actual need of the church compared to the exciting thing we thought we could offer. A chaotic season of life may mean we need to heed counsel to pull back for a time. In humility, we must listen to the wisdom of the leadership over us.

Do the Next Thing

Have you ever wondered why spiritual gift tests are such a draw for Christians? Like some kind of alternative to personality assessments, we flock to these formulas to tell us where we fit within the body and where we are weak. They can be helpful when the results are used correctly and held loosely. Worst case scenario: we note our frail areas and excuse our lack of serving while boasting about our strengths. Best case scenario: we take seriously 1 Peter 4 and get to work. 

A good amount of our fretting over which way to walk is cured by just taking the first step. One of my favorite authors, Elizabeth Elliot, quipped:

When you don’t know what to do, do the thing in front of you.

“There are a million things in front of me!”, you might protest. Great—pick one. The question is not, who am I and what do I have? The question is, what grace have I experienced, and how does that serve others well? We don’t need to spend our time lamenting the gifts we weren’t given, nor are we permitted to envy the gift another has. We are called to get busy doing what’s been laid in our path with what he’s given us. Sometimes, our over-analytical approach to how we should serve within our local church is nothing more than a glorified roadblock to obedience.

In the Strength God Supplies

God often calls us to spaces where we feel our weakness more than we feel our strength. Remember, he is in the business of making shaky things solid by his strong arm. When we only gravitate toward serving in an area in which we feel totally comfortable and refuse to meet any need outside that range, we miss out on the comfort God gives his people when they rely on him. I’m not advocating that you grab a mic if you’re tone deaf or help balance the church budget if you struggle with basic math. However, we are a gullible people who can easily cite reasons for not relying on the strength God supplies. 

Maybe serving one another isn’t as daunting as we’ve made it. The simplicity of the gospel should fuel our posture toward one another in a way that is natural, even if it’s hard. Let’s commit to asking ourselves how Christ might be exalted through our going low and serving in unseen places. How might it please God to do a mighty work, by the power of his Spirit, in ordinary and busy people like us? 

In order that in everything, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

Don’t be deceived: this little corner of Washington will echo into eternity. Christ is Lord, and all gifts, all talents, all time, all resources are his. 

To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

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