Fundamentals in 2026

New year, new me? No, not really. In fact, from a third-person view, I haven’t changed much in the past couple of years, save for my beard becoming gradually more gray. By the grace of God, sanctification is also taking place, and that change is meant to be steady until we enter the presence of our Savior. As I consider 2026 and changes I might need to implement, I’ve come to a realization. Keeping up with the change in the world doesn’t require anything new on my part. In fact, just the opposite is true. To stay in a position to speak into the world today, I don’t need to move forward. I need to look backward.

Here’s what I mean: the world continues in its cycles of madness, debauchery, war, confusion, regime change, repeat. To be sure, there are moments of revival. The church grows and persists, as Jesus promised. Real progress is made in one place while steps backward are taken in another. I’m not a “doomsday” guy by any means. I just acknowledge that there is nothing new under the sun, and just because the calendar turned over, that doesn’t mean Christians need something new or innovative to speak truthfully into our day. Like I said, I want to take this year to look backward.

I’m going to use this year to revisit old truths in a specific way. Here’s how that will take shape in my life: rather than buying and reading new books (a practice I love), I’m going to commit to only reading, or rather re-reading some books that have deeply impacted me over the past ten years. They impacted me for a reason. They were clear, full of truth, and didn’t stray far from the plain and fundamental teachings of the Bible. The list is still being compiled, but here is a sample so far.

• Christianity and Liberalism by J Gresham Machen
• On the Incarnation by Athanasius
• Don’t Waste Your Breath by Brian Borgman
• It’s Good to be a Man by Michael Foster
• He Shall Have Dominion by Kenneth Gentry
• Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl by N.D. Wilson

This list is incomplete and does not include selected readings from books like Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students or Institutes of the Christian Religion by Calvin. Plus, I’ll continue to read recreationally from various genres (I’m 60 pages into Dune, for example). Obviously, and most importantly, this is all supplemental to time spent in the Scriptures daily. I personally recommend the Journey through the Bible program that Church and Family Life has produced.

Here’s my point in this brief post - don’t feel like you need to need to learn something new to be able to speak intelligently and redemptively toward the ever-changing madness in the world. We’re dealing with transsexualism, transhumanism, and trans-everything else, for starters. Nothing in the news surprises me anymore. Neither should it surprise you. The US just captured a South American dictator and made him wear Mickey Mouse ears? Sure, why not.

It’s madness, and it’s moving at a million miles per hour. The Bible and the truth it contains, however, are static. The Word of God speaks to every moment in history, but it does not bend for any moment in history. I encourage you to use the Year of Our Lord 2026 to take a deep breath, slow down, and get back to basics.