Aaron Armstrong's Blog, page 12

What I would lose without the resurrection?

As Easter draws near, Christians naturally reflect on the events of Easter. On the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. These are the most significant events of our faith—and in all of human history.

And it still blows my mind to think of how many Easters I spent rejecting this. I didn’t just disbelieve it, I didn’t care if it was true or not.

My last Easter as a non-Christian is the first where I was reading the Bible. Of course, it wasn’t because I wanted to know Jesus. It was because...

Can we live faithfully if we’re caught between two evils?

Is it still possible to live as faithful Christians in the public sphere? Increasingly, it feels like it is a struggle for many, especially when we feel like we’re always having to choose between two evils.

North American society is genuinely more divided than ever. So, too, are Christians. Everywhere we turn there seems to be disagreement on every major and minor issue. And Christians who want to be faithful to Jesus often feel stuck.

Progressive pressure

Many of us see the views and a...

Shadows, Substance, and God’s Love

What could possibly be beautiful about death? It’s ugly, dark, and unnatural. When people die, something in us cries out, “This is wrong; this shouldn’t be!” When friends and loved ones are diagnosed with cancer, we’re quick to express our emotions using some colorful metaphors.

When people we don’t even like die, we recast our relationships, making them kinder than they perhaps were, lest we speak ill of the dead. If friends (and strangers) are dealing with the death of a loved one, we offe...

No, you probably aren’t called to be a pastor

Just about every new believer—especially new male believers—has a moment when they ask a really big question: “Am I called to be a pastor?”

I asked that question a long time ago. It actually rattled around in my head for years. Emily and I spent a great deal of time alternately avoiding it and praying about it.

Certainly I have some gifts that lend themselves to such a role. I can teach and preach. I’m not a schmuck, and I’m consistently trying to work on my character, with God’s help and...

Free Discussion Guide: Navigating the “Now What” Together

When you become a Christian, “Now what?” is the most natural question you can ask. There’s so much to figure out:

How is my life going to change?What does it actually mean to have a relationship with God?How does it affect my job and my relationships?Does it change what I read, watch, and listen to?

I wrote Iʼm a Christian—Now What? to help new believers explore the big questions they’re asking. But like every book about our faith, it is not meant to be read in isolation. My...

What is Jesus saying in John 3:16?

John 3:16 is arguably the most famous, most cited, and most quoted verses in the entire Bible. And for good reason: it is good news! It is one of Scripture’s most beautiful pictures of the gospel. It is also one of the verses we struggle to understand well.

A brief contextual aside

Before getting into the actual content of John 3, something worth noting is a very small amount of disagreement regarding these verses. But that disagreement has nothing to do with their content. It has everyth...

10 Quotes from I’m a Christian—Now What?

My new book, I’m a Christian—Now What?: A Guide to Your New Life with Christ is officially available today! This book has been in the works for a long time, and I am eager to see how it helps and encourages its readers—both those who are new Christians, as well as those more seasoned ones who are walking with them.

In addition to sharing the story of the book on my podcast, Your Next Favorite Book, today, I wanted to give you a look at 10 helpful quotes from the book:

On Belief & the Chal...

Honor Time, Authors & Acknowledgements

In the community groups at my church, we practice something we call “honor time.” This practice is rooted in Romans 12:10, which says:

“Be devoted to one another with mutual love, showing eagerness in honoring one another” (NET).

This is way we encourage one another by sharing specific ways we see God at work in each other’s lives. It can also include how God has been using a person (or group of people) in our lives, as recognition of his God’s kindness to us. Honor time can be as simple ...

Christians, are we doing discernment wrong?

There is a word that used to be a good one—a helpful one, even. A biblical word called “discernment.” In its simplest sense, discernment means to use wisdom. To judge the validity of a line of reasoning or teaching against the wisdom God gives us. This is a good thing, something we’re commended to practice throughout the Bible.1 It’s something we should apply to every area of life, including what we read, hear, and even with whom we associate.2

But in our current age, discernment has taken a ...

Your Next Favorite Book: Knowing God

Whatever our beliefs, we all believe something about God. Even if it is disbelieving in the existence of any god or higher power, it’s still a belief about God. And these ideas that really do affect every other aspect of our lives. This has created a problem for many western Christians. We don’t seem to really know the God we say we believe in. We lack a foundation in the truths we believe. We need to re-ignite our relationship between the truths we confess, the way we live, and our emotional li...