Ask Pastor John

In our pursuit to be holy as God is holy, how do we move past our failures to obey without feeling condemned in the process?

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God may use medicine to lengthen our lives, but he will always use habits of grace, like prayer and Bible reading, to sustain our faith in suffering.

We miss the miracle of what Christmas is if we forget why Christmas happened: God the Son became man — to die in our place.

Christmas is not just another bend in the river of redemptive history. Christmas marks the end of the river and the arrival of the ocean.

The Bible teaches both the absolute sovereignty of God and the genuine accountability of man. And nowhere are they considered contradictory.

No Christian consistently longs for God, which is one reason God gives us prayers like Psalm 86:11: “Unite my heart to fear your name.”

Those who live for joy in God now will possess joy in God forever. And until then, God pledges his protection over body and soul, through life and death.

Christians sometimes talk about giving God “some” glory, “more” glory, or “most” glory, but are those really biblical categories?

None of us has an infallible understanding of the Bible, but at what point does open contradiction of Scripture call into question someone’s profession of faith?

God, in his grace, does not keep us from trouble and pain. But he does order and measure our trouble and pain — and then uphold us through it all.

A love for excellence can easily grow into a hypercritical spirit. How can we resist the tendency to focus mostly on the failures of others?

John Piper’s ministry has been marked by rigorous attention to God’s word paired with deep delight in God’s word — a double emphasis captured in Psalm 119:97.

The story of Elijah on Mount Carmel shows that God rules over fire and rain, bulls and rocks — and even over every human heart.

If we allow anger to come quickly and stay long, it will eventually consume love, consume gratitude, consume mercy, and consume true perceptions of reality.

God has reasons for everything he does — and an ultimate purpose driving it all. Personal mission statements help us align all of life with that great purpose.

Gratitude is a duty — we ought to thank God for the grace he has given. But genuine Christian gratitude is far more than mere duty.

Jesus healed people with deep, lifelong disabilities. So should we pray that he would heal loved ones with disabilities like Down syndrome or cerebral palsy?

When we don’t understand God and his ways, we can still rest here: God is always totally sovereign, and God is always infinitely good.

Jesus never lied, stole, coveted, grumbled, lusted, or sinned in any other way. And that means Jesus alone knows the full force of temptation.

When suffering overshadows the life of a family, how can parents help their children embrace God’s all-good, all-wise, all-governing providence?

Are God’s callings for men and women merely functional and practical, or do they flow from something deeper in his design?

We live in the day of salvation, the day of patience, the day of tolerance. But when Jesus returns, that day will end forever.

Despite the warnings, cigarette smoking and other forms of nicotine use persist. How concerned should parents be about whether their teens smoke, chew, or vape?

Pleasure in God is not complete unless it overflows in praise to God. And praise to God is not sincere unless it overflows from pleasure in God.

Joy in God was never meant to be a solitary pursuit. Joy sends us out to serve — and serving fills us up with joy.

Few of us feel as attractive as we would like, and some of us feel downright ugly. Why does God allow such unattractiveness in a world that prizes physical beauty?

Fifteen states have now legalized the recreational use of marijuana. What message might God be sending to the church in an age of legal pot?

The boldest people in the world are those who can look into the face of God, in all of his holiness and power, and know that he is for them in Christ.

Whether Old Testament or New Testament, stories fill the pages of Scripture. How can we begin to discover God’s meaning in the Bible’s narratives?

Life’s pressures have a way of exposing hidden sins and introducing new temptations. So how do we know if pressure is making us more holy or more sinful?

Many wish they could have seen Jesus in person as he walked on the earth. But to have the four Gospels is even better than being there.

Until we begin to grasp the infinite worth of God, and the horrific evil of sin, much of the Bible will make no sense — including a book like Job.

Psalm 91 offers spectacular promises for the one who “dwells in the shelter of the Most High.” What does dwelling in the shelter of God mean for us today?

Countless pastors carry out their ministries faithfully — and some abuse their position and cause many to stumble. What does God have to say to hypocritical pastors?

God made marriage to picture the relationship of Christ and his church. Does it follow that a marriage between an unbelieving man and woman is illegitimate?

God has promised never to leave us or forsake his people. So how do we respond when it feels like he has?

If we’re going to parent well through family troubles, we need to know, first, that our own sin is our worst problem, and second, that Jesus’s blood covers it all.

The Bible talks a lot about feasting — far more than about fasting, in fact. So what is feasting, and how might we enjoy it in our Christian lives?

We know from the New Testament that Jesus will return in power and glory. What can we do to prepare ourselves for that long-expected day?

Jesus’s command to love our neighbors as we love ourselves isn’t a call to raise our self-esteem. It’s a charge to seek others’ good in the same way we seek our own.

When the glory of God grows dim in our eyes, bodily appetites become gods. When we lose sight of a big purpose for our lives, sexual urges become too big.

At what point should a Christian woman keep encouraging her spiritually lethargic boyfriend — and at what point should she call it off?

When do we experience the love of God most deeply? Not when we get whatever we want, but when he does whatever it takes to satisfy us in himself.

We seem hardwired to be happiest when life goes well, and saddest when life goes poorly. How can we root our joy in Jesus instead of circumstances?

Jesus and the apostles regularly warn against the dangers of wealth. So, should rich Christians take steps to downgrade their lifestyle?

Jesus promises spectacular responses to our prayers, but only if our desires are shaped by his word abiding within us.

The Bible repeatedly warns us against false teachers. But how can we actually identify them, especially if their ministry is mainly online?

On the morning after September 11, 2001, a radio station interviewed Pastor John about the day’s stunning and tragic attack. Listen to the 47-minute recording.

The New Testament never pairs the blessing of God with material prosperity in this age. So, what does it really mean to be blessed?