Editor’s note: One of my (Jeff Robinson) ministry mentors once told me, “Theology and biblical truth does you no good if it doesn’t land on the ground.” This was a wise saying, one that a young seminary student and ministry upstart needed to hear.
Wisdom from God’s Word is precisely that: It is theology applied to everyday living, to all the issues of life. As Puritan theologian William Ames put it, theology is the art of living well. We asked a few of our writers to weigh in on issues with brief words of wisdom.
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What Do I Look for in Joining a Church?
By Travis S. Kerns
Searching for a new church is never easy. Finding fellowship among a group of established believers who already have relationships, history, and commonalities can often feel like trying to begin an entirely new life. And, in many locations, it seems there are more churches than gas stations from which to choose. However, there is wisdom in Scripture that can be applied to the search for a new church wherever you may be in the world.
First, find a church that proclaims Scripture without apology and does so believing Scripture to be inerrant, infallible, authoritative, and sufficient. Throughout the Bible, when God’s people gather, they look to Scripture first and foremost. In Nehemiah 8, Ezra stands before God’s people and reads God’s Word from sunrise to midday. In Acts 2 at Pentecost, Peter stands before the people and boldly proclaims Scripture. In 2 Timothy 3:16–17, Paul tells the young preacher that God’s Word is all he needs, thus God’s Word is all the church needs. A church that respects God’s Word as sufficient and authoritative will incorporate it into every aspect of the life of the church. The Bible is more than just something to hear from during the sermon; it is all-encompassing.
Second, find a church that practices biblical polity. The Bible is replete with commands for the church concerning evangelism and missions, discipleship, worship, fellowship, prayer, church discipline, and leadership structure. Consider texts like Matthew 28:18–20; Acts 2:42; 1 Timothy 2:8–15; 1 Timothy 3:1–13; Titus 1:6–9; and Paul’s epistles. Frankly, if a church is serious about Scripture, it will also be serious about polity. Orthodoxy will necessarily lead to orthopraxy.
Biblical wisdom in finding a church is simple. A true kingdom outpost is one that proclaims, loves, and respects Scripture. Likewise, a true kingdom outpost is one that practices what Scripture teaches. Find a group of believers who uphold Scripture as God’s inerrant, infallible, sufficient, and authoritative word and you will have found a New Testament church.
(Travis S. Kerns is missions strategist for the Three Rivers Baptist Association.)
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How Can I Know the Right Person to Marry?
By Jeff Robinson
Thirty-one years ago this summer, I met the future Mrs. Robinson. Thirty years ago, on June 3, 1995, we were married after dating for nearly nine months. Sometimes, when you know you know, but it’s not always that way for every successful Christian couple. Here are a couple of general biblical principles:
• A Christian must not be unequally yoked to an unbeliever. This is, of course, priority one. If you are a follower of Christ, you must marry a fellow believer. Paul’s words to the Corinthians make this clear: “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?” (1 Cor. 6:14–15).
• As a pastor, I was often asked by young people, “Do I need to be physically attracted to a potential spouse?” The short answer is yes. I think it’s important because, while beauty does fade over time, Scripture often depicts beauty in a positive light, speaking of David’s handsome appearance or Queen Esther’s stunning beauty, among many others. Physical intimacy is an important, God-ordained part of a marriage, and it certainly helps if husband and wife find one another attractive. To my mind, I married the most beautiful woman on earth!
• It will fill your relationship with joy if you enjoy each other’s company. This does not mean you must be exactly alike in personality, share the same tastes, hobbies, and the like. This means precisely what it says: enjoy your spouse’s company. My wife and I are different in many ways, but there’s no person on earth I’d rather spend the day with than her. This is evidenced with the 18 times per day we talk by phone. We are best friends, and that friendship only grows sweeter with time.
(Jeff Robinson is editor and president of The Baptist Courier.)
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Where Should I Find Reliable News and Information Sources?
By Aaron Markham
With the internet and social media, a wealth of information — good and bad — is always at your fingertips. Some estimates assert the amount of information available to us doubles every 12 hours. Here are some simple encouragements as we try to think wisely about the information we intake:
1. Intake the Bible
We need to pour in God’s words more than human words (2 Tim. 3:16–17). It’s not always easy to understand, but we need it (2 Pet. 3:14–18).
2. Intake resources your church supports
Talk to your pastors about helpful information to intake (whether about theology, the news, or even hobbies). They are responsible for equipping you so that you will not be “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Eph. 4:14).
3. Intake helpful books
Listen to the Courier Conversations podcast “Reading as Spiritual Discipline” from June 23, 2025. Good books have a way of growing you in wisdom and understanding.
4. Intake information from trusted authors
Find writers (books, blogs, podcasts, YouTube videos) you can highly trust. I don’t have time to regularly consume authors who are bad or consistently wrong in their theology.
5. Limit intake of social media
This is my first one stated negatively, but I am more and more convinced by the harms of consistent social media intake. When I have done social media in the past, it has a way of overwhelming and burdening my heart that I haven’t felt in a long time by being off social media.
6. Intake information that is fun and interesting for you
This must necessarily be limited and below the other points above, but you probably have a topic or hobby that is of interest to you. Listen to a podcast. Read an article. Do it moderately while enjoying a good gift of an interesting topic or hobby from a good God.
(Aaron Markham serves as discipleship pastor at Ridgewood Church in Greer.)
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How Can We Raise Our Children in Accord with Biblical Wisdom?
By Marilee Flook
Expectations can set one up for success or failure — they are critical to our well-being.
When it comes to parenting, it is no different. Generally, our children will rise —or, conversely, fall — to meet our expectations. God has given much wisdom to my husband and me over the years as we raised our children. We always expected that our children would be well-behaved, treat others with love and respect, and learn to obey God’s Word. Hence, most of the time this is what our children did. Not that they didn’t receive their share of consequences for misbehavior, but our children did not fall prey to the entrapments of worldly parenting “wisdom,” which says that “children will be children”.
By accepting the worldly “wisdom” and advice of parenting, Christians lose the God-given wisdom of biblical parenting that guides us as parents to “train up [our children] in the way they should go” (Prov. 22:6). Passages such as Ephesians 6:4, Psalm 127:4–5, Proverbs 29:17, and Deuteronomy 6:6–7 should define our parenting and enable us as parents to raise our “arrows” to be shot out into the world, to be used of God to penetrate the hearts of others with the truth of the gospel as it is spoken and modeled by our children. What a powerful notion and reality this should be for Christian families!
We seem to frequently find ourselves among unruly, disobedient children who are not a blessing to those around them. This is a sad testimony of many Christian parents today. How can this be? What is the answer?
The answer is that, as Christian parents, we must dig in, believe, obey, and apply God’s instructions to parents given in His Word, the Bible. What better place to find true wisdom for parenting?
(Marilee Flook is a longtime stay-at-home mom. Her daughter is Mary Margaret Flook at The Baptist Courier.)
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How Can I Determine What Job or Career Is Right for Me?
By Jeff Robinson
Let’s say you are a youngish person and are seeking God’s will for your life in terms of education and career. I’d recommend you start with a few important questions. What do you sense God is calling you to do? Divine calling is for every vocation and not limited to those called to gospel ministry. To determine the answer to this question, ask these two related queries: What am I good at? (In other words, where do my God-given gifts lie?) What do I enjoy doing? (By this, I don’t mean what you enjoy doing during your spare time.)
As a younger man, I enjoyed reading and writing. As for math, I was the village idiot in my high school. I was always an extrovert and enjoyed talking with all kinds of people. Therefore, I knew that I probably needed to do something in the realm of written or spoken communication.
I worked as a writer and editor in secular newspapers for nearly 15 years before surrendering to ministry. I now have logged 27 years as a pastor, professor, author, writer, publisher and editor/president of a state Baptist newspaper, and I have loved every minute of all of it and hope to do some combination of these things until Jesus calls me home. From the beginning, I knew that work as an engineer, accountant, math teacher/professor or loan officer were not in the cards for me. Words were my friends, numbers (at least those not tied to money or sports statistics) were not.
I think these basic principles would work for any youngish person seeking the work/career path to which God is calling them. I once had a church friend tell me God won’t call us to things we are good at because it’s not spiritual to be comfortable or good at what you do. While I respect this friend, that may have been one of the more asinine (and unspiritual) things I’ve ever heard. It may sound deeply spiritual, but methinks it’s deeply stupid.
As for whether or not to attend college, I’ve tried to boil it down to a single question for my kids: Does your job or career require a college degree to excel in it or even actually get a job within the field? If yes, then go to college. If no, then save your money and consider continuing education in that field through your employer or on your own.