When our hopes are in their proper places, attached to the right things, not only do we flourish better as human beings, but we are rescued from a thousand heartbreaks. For not all hopes are created equal; there are casual hopes, precious hopes,...
READ MOREThis may come as a surprise to you: Christianity is not an invitation to become a moral person. It is not a program for getting us in line or for reforming society. It has a powerful effect upon our lives, but when transformation comes, it is...
READ MORESeveral years ago I went through one of the most painful trials of my professional life. The story involves a colleague whom I will call Dave, a man I hired and with whom I had labored several years in ministry. We spent many hours on the road...
READ MORELadies, you are the Bride of Christ ... and the Bride of Christ is a warring bride.
Now, often the hardest person to fight for is ... yourself. But you must. Your heart is needed. You must be present and engaged in order...
READ MOREThe book "Killing Lions" is a conversation between John and Sam Eldredge about the trials young men face.
[John] I was watching a remarkable documentary on the Dorobo hunters in southern Kenya. Their bows simply aren’t...
The mind takes in and processes information. But it remains, for the most part, indifferent. It is your mind that tells you it is now 2:00 A.M. and your daughter has not returned, for the car is not in the driveway. Your heart wrestles with...
READ MORETalking about the Self Life is a difficult thing to do, because there are teachings that sound very righteous and holy, which basically say that anything connected to your humanity is the Self Life and must be crucified. Any desire, any dream,...
READ MOREAnd I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them,...
READ MOREChrist is not joking when he says that we shall inherit the kingdom prepared for us and we shall reign with him forever. We will take the position for which we have been uniquely made and will rule as he does — meaning, with creativity...
READ MOREBut doesn't Christianity condemn desire — the Puritans and all that? Not at all. Quite the contrary. Christianity takes desire seriously — far more seriously than the stoic or the mere hedonist. Christianity refuses to budge from the fact that...
READ MOREIt all begins with a couple. Not some hero standing alone against the rising tide of the world. A marriage. A man and a woman, given to one another at the dawn of time. The human race is about to enter into its great adventure and its...
READ MOREWe are loved. Born out of love, into love, to know love, and to be loved. Yes, we were born into a fallen, sorry world, which is at the same time more lovely than any fairy tale. It is both. And in this beautiful, heartbreaking world, God—the...
READ MOREIn the heart of every human being lies the desire to belong. It is primordial, primeval, linked somewhere in our deep memory to our need for survival. To be the outcast is to be sentenced to death. To be shunned is the worst form of punishment....
READ MOREGod is the source of all masculine power; God is also the fountain of all feminine allure. Come to think of it, he is the wellspring of everything that has ever romanced your heart. The thundering strength of a waterfall, the delicacy of a flower...
READ MOREMost Christians desire very deeply to be known as gracious, kind, patient, and forgiving. We feel we “owe” it to Jesus to be seen on our best behavior. This is even truer for those of us in “the ministry,” whose lives are publicly attached to...
READ MOREToo many men hide behind reason and logic. A man must grow beyond mere reason, or he will be stunted as a man, certainly as a lover. No woman wants to be analyzed, and many marriages fail because the man insists on treating her as a problem to be...
READ MOREI’m thinking about love this morning.
I’ve been noticing that most mornings I don’t wake up super happy, and I’m not sure why. I’ve also been noticing for some time now that when I first wake up, I find myself racing through the coming day...
READ MOREAs we seek to convert our unconverted places, and take hold of the strength that prevails, we need to bodyguard our faith and our Eden hearts back to Jesus. We turn from all other comforters — even benign things like remodeling projects and...
READ MOREThis is why we accept the false reverence — it’s like having a relationship with someone out of state. It doesn’t intrude into your life like a spouse or a good friend does. There is safety in the distance. We secure ourselves against a fuller...
READ MOREThere is something mythic in the way a man is with a woman. Our sexuality offers a parable of amazing depth when it comes to being masculine and feminine. The man comes to offer his strength and the woman invites the man into herself, an act that...
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