Many of us have grown up wanting to please—first parents, then teachers, employers, and yes, God. Faith can become only a checklist of things to do and not do, instead of a relationship with someone who deeply loves us. We know we’ve made many mistakes. We’ve been...
A certain man hated a group of people so much that he made it his purpose in life to make them suffer. He oversaw many of their deaths, uttering threats with every breath. This wasn’t a Nazi general, but the Apostle Paul. When Paul eventually encountered God, the...
It was a shocking story that gripped the nation. In 2002, 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her bed in the middle of the night in Salt Lake City, Utah. Nine months later she was recognized while walking down a street with her abductor. Smart was initially...
Do you plan your days, entering appointments and goals on your phone or paper calendar? If you’re not a planner, you probably feel that you should be. Plans equal preparedness, right? Well, not always. Something like a pandemic, for example, makes us question whether...
While fox hunting in Britain has fallen upon hard times, those who have indulged in the practice say the thrill is in the chase, somewhat the same way a young man feels pursuing the girl of his dreams. And while there may be a measure of truth in the fact that the...
When a friend is hurting, we wish we could make it stop. We cannot fix most situations, and we often end up doing one of two things. Either we avoid talking about the pain because we feel helpless, or we resort to statements of questionable certainty like, “there is...
The persistent refusal to do something about an issue that troubles you is what can give birth to chronic worry. Worry, however, is a choice, a bad decision that can be overcome. Interested in breaking the worry habit? Then follow these practical guidelines which will...
Poverty is not only economic but can also be spiritual. In Matthew 5, Jesus blessed people who recognized their spiritual shortcomings. This was in stark contrast to the local religious leaders, the Pharisees. One Pharisee publicly prayed, “Thank [God] I am not like...
Are you feeling broken-hearted today? If so, you are not alone. The human condition is one of heartbreak, because of the sin-broken world we live in and our own predisposition to breaking each other’s hearts. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery,...
God knows our individual struggles. He “knit us together in our mother’s womb,” knows the number of hairs on our heads, and knows what we are thinking from afar (Luke 12:7, Psalm. 139). He knows our anxieties, our perceived inadequacies, and every wound. He gives us...