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Preaching at our moment in history is perilous. People find offense and can easily find some other voice that will say what they want to hear. How do we move forward?

Recognizing the Bible as literature opens us up to a fuller appreciation of the holy book than if we treat it like an instruction manual or to-do list. The Bible is a bibliography of genres, including poetry, song, lament, prophecy, history, narrative, parables, letters, dreams, and so forth.

In reading other books, we practice reading the Bible; and in reading the Bible, we read other books by that lens.

The number of adults who don’t fall wholly into the biblical worldview category, but still lean that direction, possessing “a substantial number of beliefs and behaviors consistent with biblical principles,” has fallen dramatically, as well.

Secularism has said that if we had more education, more science and better government, we’d have a good life. But the COVID pandemic showed us that science alone wasn’t enough to guarantee a good life. The War in Ukraine has shown us that education and good government aren’t enough either. As Sayers says, “It’s as if the tide of the gospel has gone so far out that the sheer weight of the gospel is going to come rushing back in.” This is not a threat to the gospel, but an opportunity. There is a vacuum out there that longs to be filled.

Deep down, I think we live with the fear of being on our own, without someone to love and care for us, exposed to everything life throws at us. But every Christian has a heavenly Father who will never leave them. The Spirit makes us aware of that truth, reminds us of it, and helps us feel it.

About 20% of those who lose a loved one experience an unrelenting mental health condition known as “complicated grief.” Of course, these numbers do not even touch the grief resulting from job loss, the pandemic and other bereavements. Grief abounds. That’s why Tim Challies’ Seasons of Sorrow is particularly relevant for anyone in ministry and counseling.

For believers in Jesus—and for everyone on the planet, actually—the answers we search for reside in one place. It’s not in our own minds, in the opinions of others, or in a search engine, but in the timeless truth of God’s Word.