Before the wrapping paper and bows, there was a gift too great to measure. This prayer helps you pause and thank God for the one gift that changes everything.

Celebrating Jesus doesn't mean there won't be tears. 

Discover how to navigate difficult holiday emotions with faith, honesty, and discretion by seeking Jesus first and maintaining a hopeful perspective. Learn practical steps rooted in scripture to process your feelings with clarity and peace, even in challenging times.

From sweets and snacks to gifts for pampering and everything in between, your loved ones will love the gifts you make because they are one-of-a-kind treasures created with love, made to make this Christmas the best one yet!

Few modern songs have enjoyed the popularity and cross-denominational appeal of Keith Getty and Stuart Townend’s “In Christ Alone.” It may surprise you, then, that the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted in 2013 to strike the song from its hymnal over a doctrinal controversy. The church wanted to replace the line “’Til on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied” with “. . . the love of God was magnified,” an emendation the song’s authors refused. Though now 12 years old, this story points to a profound, still fiercely debated question: What did Jesus do on the cross? Did he suffer in the place of sinners to bear the wrath of God for humanity’s sin (penal substitutionary atonement theory) or did he defeat Satan in an invisible victory over cosmic forces (Christus Victor theory)? The PCUSA’s preferred “love of God was magnified” describes the moral influence theory, namely that Christ’s death supremely demonstrated the lengths to which God’s love would go, which inspires people to lives of service. The book of Hebrews addresses this issue directly. Examining this deep book helps us answer this important question and allows us to see how Jesus first identifies with us in our humanity, then takes the place of sinners on the cross, and ultimately pays the punishment for our sins through his sacrifice. Precondition for the Sacrifice: High Priest’s Humanity Hebrews begins with an extended reflection on the Son’s total uniqueness. Jesus is unlike any past bearer of revelation or angel, since he is God himself (Heb. 1:1–14). Yet beginning in Hebrews 2, there’s a striking shift in the argument: In the incarnation, this utterly unique Son has become “like” mankind. The same Son who is so superior to angels has been “made lower than the angels” (2:9) and now calls humans his “brothers” (v. 11). The author clarifies the purpose of this condescension, explaining that Jesus was “made lower than the angels . . . so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone” (vv. 9–10). More specifically, he was “made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (v. 17). But why did Jesus need to be human to “make propitiation for the sins of the people” or “taste death for everyone?” According to the author of Hebrews, Jesus’s total humanity was a precondition for his role as humanity’s high priest (v. 17). Only as a true human could Jesus be mankind’s representative to “make propitiation” (i.e., a wrath-atoning sacrifice) for the sins that other humans (“the people”) had committed. This logic becomes clearer in Hebrews 9. Nature of the Sacrifice: High Priest’s Blood In Hebrews 9, the author draws an analogy between Jesus’s sacrifice and the Day of Atonement ritual. During this annual feast, the high priest would enter the Most Holy Place but “not without taking blood” that he would offer “for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people” (v. 7). Similarly, Jesus “entered . . . into heaven itself” to make atonement for humans (vv. 24–25). It’s important to understand the Old Testament background the author draws from. Leviticus 16 describes how, after purifying himself, the high priest was to take two identical goats for the people’s sins (vv. 3, 5). One of these goats was sacrificed as a “sin offering,” and the priest carried its blood with him into the Holy Place (v. 15, referenced in Heb. 9:7, 25). To symbolize the effect of that sacrifice, the high priest would then lay his hands on the second goat, confess Israel’s sins, and “put them on the head of the goat” (Lev. 16:21). This second animal thereby came to “bear [the] iniquities” (v. 22) of Israel and was then driven away to perish outside the camp. The deaths of these two goats symbolized the transference of both the people’s sin and sin’s penalty from the people to the animals. The deaths of these two goats symbolized the transference of both the people’s sin and sin’s penalty from the people to the animals. The problem with this ritual, however, was that “the blood of bulls and goats” could never itself take away or atone for human sin (Heb. 10:4). Yet in a striking transformation of the imagery, the author of Hebrews explains that it was Jesus, the fully human great high priest himself, who carried not animal blood but his own blood into the Most Holy Place, and was “offered once to bear the sins of many” (9:25, 28). On the true “day of atonement,” Jesus wasn’t just the officiating high priest; he was the sacrifice on whose head the people’s sins were placed. Effect of the Sacrifice: Substitution The author summarizes the effect of this transfer in Hebrews 9:15–17. Christians can have hope that they’ll one day receive the “promised eternal inheritance” of salvation because of what Jesus has done. The author explains that his death “redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant” (v. 15). As verses 16–17 explain, in a covenant arrangement, transgressions ordinarily require “the death of the one who made [the covenant]” (v. 16). The natural and just penalty for our sinful covenant-breaking is death. This is an essential principle of God’s perfect justice: No sin can go unpunished. Hebrews goes on to say that “a covenant is valid only when people are dead” and is “[not] in force while the one who made it lives” (v. 17, NASB). If God would simply let covenant-breakers off the hook, this would only show that the covenant was never really binding, valid, or in force. But this problem is decisively removed through Jesus’s work. He died in our place to both satisfy the demands of God’s justice and set us free. Christ died in our place to both satisfy the demands of God’s justice and set us free. Certainly, the death of Jesus was the defeat of Satan (2:14–15) that “disarmed the rulers and authorities” (Col. 2:15). Jesus is, of course, the Christus Victor. This death is also our great example that inspires us to a new way of life (John 13:34), as the Moral Influence theory stresses. Yet whatever else may be said, Hebrews presses us to the conclusion that Jesus’s death was not less than a penal, substitutionary atonement. Because Jesus became human, identified with us in our weakness, bore our sin, and died a sacrificial death, Christians can be certain that we too will one day receive the promise of eternal life (Heb. 9:15).

Tertullian famously asked, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” Aware of the intellectual riches available in the Greco-Roman tradition, early Christians faced a choice: Should they appropriate the best that had been thought and said among the pagans or forge ahead with the gospel alone? Tertullian advocated for the latter path; Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, and Augustine all took the other road, treating pagan writings as, with all proper caveats, beneficial for pursuing wisdom and godliness. The church fathers spoke of “plundering the Egyptians.” Just as the departing Israelites took with them the gold of their Egyptian neighbors (Ex. 12:36), Christians can appropriate the “gold” of the classical tradition. In Christians Reading Classics: An Introduction to Greco-Roman Classics from Homer to Boethius, Nadya Williams, books editor for Mere Orthodoxy, embarks on a search for that gold. Half enchiridion and half apologia, Williams’s book offers both a guide to the classics and an argument for their value to Christians today. She examines what the great books of the classical age offer in their own right and weighs them against scriptural truth. The result is a lively and thoughtful tour through some of humanity’s greatest literature. Presence of the Absence of God Williams begins with the Homeric poems, which are stark and brutal in their depiction of the human condition. Simone Weil describes The Iliad as a “poem of force,” in which great warriors are swept up by powers beyond their control to kill and to be killed with little meaning and no permanence for their lives. What could such a poem mean to a Christian who believes in God’s providence and who clings to faith, hope, and love? In The Everlasting Man, G. K. Chesterton connects the tragic beauty and profound sadness of ancient epic to what he calls “the presence of the absence of God.” Chesterton points us to a great yearning in the pagan classics. Ecclesiastes says God “has put eternity into man’s heart” (3:11), and, lacking a better path, Homer’s warriors seek eternity through undying glory in warfare. Williams argues, “The epics were about an instinctive desire that people in all time periods of history have felt: the desire for undying glory that would give the greatest warriors an immortality of sorts” (5). This “God-shaped-void” makes characters like Achilles, Hector, and Odysseus both noble and tragic (5). They’re noble because their desire for eternity illustrates humankind’s highest aspirations. They’re tragic because they achieve only a second-best eternity even as they live on in legend. The Homeric epics remain beautiful and valuable because they mirror our own deepest longing: the longing for God. The Homeric epics remain beautiful and valuable because they mirror our own deepest longing: the longing for God. Williams sees this longing in other classical pagan poets, such as Hesiod and Pindar, as well as in the desire, as seen in Herodotus and Thucydides, to record history. Turning to classics of the Christian age, Williams makes occasionally illuminating—and even moving—connections. “Given every opportunity to choose possibly a long life without Christ,” Williams writes about Perpetua’s martyrdom, “she instead chooses a death that will lead her to glory with her Savior . . . How Homeric!” (238). Achilles chooses to fight and die young and glorious rather than return home to die old and forgotten, a choice Williams connects to Perpetua’s willingness to die for Christ. For Perpetua, God fulfills the longing left ultimately unsatisfied in Homer and Herodotus. How Shall We Then Live? Williams goes beyond these sorts of literary connections into the practical value of reading classics as she commends the vision many classical authors offer for citizenship and virtue. She follows Virgil and Plutarch, for example, in suggesting we read for the sake of exempla, characters on which to model ourselves. Such a purpose was once commonplace before romantic aestheticism and modernism disconnected reading from everyday life and moral formation. The habit of reading for exempla survives among children—I knew one young girl whose behavior was much improved by the desire to be more like Lucy Pevensie. But most discussions of education and of adult reading fail to consider the way reading shapes our moral fiber. Restoring reading for exempla could only improve both our literacy rates and our national character. We could do far worse than imitate Cato or Aeneas. In pointing us toward the imitation of Cicero’s civic-mindedness and Aeneas’s dutifulness, Williams subtly invokes the doctrine of common grace. She observes that “these writers in the dawning age of Christianity share with us a wonder that we might too easily take for granted as we read the pagan classics—that God could love sinful humanity so very much” (273). God shows this love primarily through the offer of salvation in Jesus Christ, but we see God’s love also in the goodness of virtue wherever it appears. Everything good points us to God, and thus Philippians 4:8 directs us to think about whatever is true, good, and beautiful. Classics as a Good Guide As an introduction, Williams’s book is occasionally idiosyncratic. Her discussion of Plato omits The Republic and makes no mention of Platonic forms. She devotes considerably more time to the comic playwright Aristophanes than to the great tragedian Aeschylus. Seneca goes unmentioned. God shows his love primarily through the offer of salvation in Jesus Christ, but we see God’s love also in the goodness of virtue wherever it appears. She’s correct, however, when she notes that “someone else could have approached this project with a different set of authors” (274). Her aim, and her contribution, isn’t to guide us through the classics—a lifetime project—but rather to guide us into the classics. In Dante’s Divine Comedy, as they travel through Purgatory together, the Roman poet Statius tells Virgil, “You were as one who leads through a dark track / holding the light behind.” Statius means that, although Virgil didn’t know Christ, the poet’s works pointed others toward Jesus. Williams shows just how this lantern works, how Homer, Sophocles, and even Suetonius can point us toward the greatest good. Christians Reading Classics is an engaging and thoughtful companion for the journey into the afterlife of the Greco-Roman classics.

In this plenary message from TGC25, Ryan Kwon exposits Ephesians 4:25–5:14. He explains that God’s indicatives always lead to God’s imperatives, and the grace of God gives believers a new desire to obey God’s commands. In Christ, this leads to living out a new individual identity, a new collective identity, and a new familial identity. In This Episode 0:00 – Ephesians 4: introduction and context 1:55 – Personal story of transformation 5:22 – Ephesians 4:1–2: living out our calling 8:44 – Individual identity: living as new creations 12:19 – Collective identity: living as members of one another 29:43 – Familial identity: living as God’s children 41:00 – Conclusion: living in unity and grace SIGN UP for one of our newsletters to stay informed about TGC’s latest resources. Help The Gospel Coalition renew and unify the contemporary church in the ancient gospel: Give today. Don’t miss an episode of The Gospel Coalition Podcast: Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube

Two distinct, saucer-shaped objects with glowing lights are clearly visible

A persistent symptom of ABC News’s Trump derangement is the overriding need to depict all resistance to Trump policy as virtuous, and anyone suffering the consequences of such resistance as victims, even when the law is clearly not on their side. Their insane coverage of a recent viral video proves this. Watch as World News Tonight reacts to viral video of a female U.S. citizen being briefly detained in Florida, as aired on Thursday, December 4th, 2025: DAVID MUIR: Now to disturbing images tonight showing ICE agents dragging a woman from her car in Florida. She is heard screaming for help, telling authorities, “I am a U.S. citizen.” She was placed in handcuffs. She was a U.S. citizen- and what Homeland Security is now saying. Here is Victor Oquendo with the video tonight. VICTOR OQUENDO: Tonight, dramatic video showing a woman being pulled from a car during a Border Patrol operation in Key Largo, Florida, screaming she is a U.S. citizen. The woman pulled over during a traffic stop yesterday morning. Video capturing her struggling with law enforcement, who then pick her up and carry her to a grassy area where she is handcuffed. FEMALE: Stop it. OQUENDO: Despite screaming she is a citizen. FEMALE: I am a U.S. citizen! Please help me! This is unfair! Why are you doing this to me? OQUENDO: The woman is restrained and carried into an unmarked vehicle. The Department of Homeland Security telling ABC News the woman was driving her boyfriend's car who is an undocumented immigrant, stating: “She was removed from the vehicle and briefly held while her identity was confirmed. She was promptly released once her identity was confirmed.” David, that video that shows the woman pulled from the vehicle was filmed by a Miami Herald reporter. DHS confirmed she is, in fact, a U.S. citizen. David. MUIR: Victor Oquendo, live in Florida. Victor, thank you. Remember the Deported Citizen Babies Hoax? That hoax is dead but the urge to run it back remains, albeit with grownups. This story aligns perfectly with a narrative of masked ICE agents marauding the highways and byways of America’s diverse cities in search of brown or brown-adjacent people to harass, regardless of their citizenship status. Except…that this didn’t happen as reported and the story has a pretty big narrative-inconvenient omission. You see, the female U.S. citizen was not just targeted and yanked from her car, as Victor Oquendo’s report after David Muir’s melodramatic framing leads viewers to believe. Here’s DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, clarifying why the female citizen was pulled from the vehicle: During a traffic stop, a U.S. citizen, who was driving her illegal alien boyfriend’s car (who had been arrested prior) refused to comply with law enforcement’s repeated lawful orders to identify herself. She was removed from the vehicle and briefly held while her identity was… https://t.co/KndnZp8HDK — Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) December 5, 2025 That line “she was removed from the vehicle and held while her identity is confirmed” is quite sneaky. People don’t just get pulled from their cars. As McLaughlin makes clear, the woman refused to comply with Border Patrol and provide ID when asked.  The same thing would’ve happened had she refused to comply with her local sheriff. But ABC News is not vested in undermining local constabularies, at least not yet. So it is that Trump-deranged ABC makes a material editorial decision to excise resisting law enforcement from a set of facts in furtherance of an adult rerun of the Deported Citizen Babies Hoax. This isn’t just fake news- it’s also extremely dangerous at a time when border enforcement agencies are under repeat threat of violence.  

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