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Four Habits of a Happy Heart
Today’s happiness is not promised, and it refuses to be assumed.True happiness — the kind that really anchors, satisfies, inspires, and lasts — is not something to be taken for granted. It’s not a...
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Power, Police, and Another Shooting
About 12:30 PM Tuesday, 25-year-old Kajieme Powell was shot and killed by two police officers in Saint Louis, just north of Ferguson, Missouri, apparently after robbing a convenience store. The...
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“Invictus” Redeemed
The English poet, William Ernest Henley (1849–1903), is remembered mainly for a single poem, “Invictus” (Latin for “unconquered”):Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I...
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The Open Hands of the Gospel
He may have been a wee little man, but he was the kingpin of the Jericho tax cartel. He was a filthy rich little guy, this Zacchaeus.But when he met Jesus, everything changed — not only his heart, but...
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When You Don’t Feel Like Worshiping
There you are at church, and worship begins, but you are not feeling it. No awe of God. No love for him. Nothing.What should you do? Should you go through the motions anyway? Should you leave and come...
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Blessings Beyond Our Dreams
We live in the land of dreamers.You’ve seen this before: The biggest impact, as the spiel goes, comes from the biggest dreams, and therefore, if you want your life to really count, you need to broaden...
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What’s the Point of All this Futility?
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope. (Romans 8:20)Are you tired of fighting futility? Evil and disorder relentlessly throw wrenches...
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Are You Worthy of Jesus?
In what sense are Christians worthy of God or of Christ or of their calling? And in what sense are we unworthy?On the one hand, Jesus and Paul both teach that we must be “worthy” of Jesus and his...
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God’s Great and Precious Promises
God has given us powerful means of knowing him and understanding his will for our life and this world. He’s given us a Book — pages and pages of truth, love, wisdom, and grace — pages of him.Some of...
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Embrace the Blessing of Rebuke
One of the most loving things anyone can do for you is tell you when you’re wrong.Call it correction, reproof, or rebuke — Paul uses all three terms in just four verses in 2 Timothy 3:16–4:2 — but...
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You’re Not a Student First
I’m a student first.Campus ministers have heard the excuse a thousand times as they challenge Christian college students to invest their lives in evangelism, disciplemaking, and service to others. It’s...
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6 Things Every Freshman Needs to Know
In 1903, George Horace Lorimer published a book entitled Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son. The letters were written by John Graham, the head of a meat-packing company in Chicago, to his son...
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Ian & Larissa: Eight Twenty Eight
“For those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28“Eight Twenty Eight” holds a wealth of meaning for Ian and Larissa Murphy.Ian’s...
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What Ferguson Has Done for One White Family
Michael Brown’s funeral on Monday isn’t sufficient closure for the tragedy that’s taken place in Ferguson, Missouri, or the tensions felt across America. Though the news coverage may have run its cycle...
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Lay Aside the Weight of Self-Indulgence
We are all self-indulgers. The whole lot of us. Let’s just admit it upfront and help each other fight.Biblical self-indulgence is feeding the “passions of the flesh” (1 Peter 2:11). It’s indulging...
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From Traitor to Heir
“In your culture, what is the greatest act of sin someone can commit?”This was a question I asked of a young Asian man with whom I had been meeting for months to do evangelistic Bible studies. He was...
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The World’s Joy-Tragedy
In his classic book Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis delivers a profound insight into the psychological engine that pulls along the drama of history. “All that we call human history — money, poverty,...
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The Awl
Sometimes a story, a poem — a poem-story — can capture some of what social and political analyses can’t. How might you say in a story — flowing in the banks meter and rhyme — that life is never simple?...
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Are We Passionate for People?
“But God, who comforts the downcast . . .” (2 Corinthians 7:6).It is an amazing thing that God comforts the downcast, and that he tells us this so clearly. The idea of God’s comfort isn’t religious...
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Some Books to Feed Your Brain
Books are brain food. They make you think. They help you reflect. As a rule, they are more beneficial than blog post brain snacks (like this one). As a rule, they are far more beneficial than the brain...
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