Daily Reading
August 16, 2022
Personally, I find one of the most startling things Jesus says tucked away at the end of the fourteenth chapter of John. He is preparing his closest friends (and soon-to-be-successors) for his departure. They still don’t believe or don’t want to beli...
Daily Reading
March 30, 2022
After his resurrection, Jesus sends us all out to do what he did: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you" (John 20:21 NRSV). And he gives us his authority to do it: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go" (Matt. 2...
Daily Reading
March 21, 2022
Consider the natural human longing to be loved and admired, how deep it runs in you. It is practically an aching abyss. Remember how rare it is for love and admiration to come to any soul in this jealous world. Now, add to this poverty the insight th...
Daily Reading
March 19, 2022
The book “Killing Lions” is a conversation between John and Sam Eldredge about the trials young men face. [John] A man faces many forks in the road as he journeys through his life — each choice determining what kind of life he is going to live. ...
Daily Reading
March 16, 2022
Francis of Assisi was called “the second Christ” because his life was so totally given over to expressing the life of Jesus. What can we learn from this man devoted like no other? “As Saint Francis did not love humanity but men, so he did not love Ch...
Daily Reading
February 11, 2022
The book "Killing Lions" is a conversation between John and Sam Eldredge about the trials young men face. [Sam] I feel like I blunder into success as much as I blunder into downfalls. That Susie really values connection. That I think the world of...
Daily Reading
February 10, 2022
This is a love story, dear friends. God is love, the apostle John tells us, and then he says it again so that we don’t forget, “God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God” (1 John 4:16). Love is the single most defining quality of his ...
Daily Reading
February 7, 2022
For above all else, the Christian life is a love affair of the heart. It cannot be lived primarily as a set of principles or ethics. It cannot be managed with steps and programs. It cannot be lived exclusively as a moral code leading to righteousness...
Daily Reading
December 29, 2021
What is it that God wants from you? He wants the same thing that you want. He wants to be loved. He wants to be known as only lovers can know each other. He wants intimacy with you. Yes, yes, he wants your obedience, but only when it flows out of a...
Daily Reading
December 28, 2021
You must understand an important distinction — there is Christianity, and then there is church culture. They are not the same. Often they are far from the same. The personality conveyed through much of Christian culture is not the personality of Jesu...
Daily Reading
December 27, 2021
We feel that God is not only unconcerned with our plight, but that he is actually working against us. And sometimes, we are right… Indeed, in the seventeenth chapter of Acts, Paul gives the Athenians the stunning news that every single thing in the l...
Daily Reading
December 26, 2021
Wisdom is crucial. But wisdom is not enough. Wisdom is essential...and insufficient. Saul of Tarsus was headed to Damascus, "breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples," with official documents granting him permission to arrest all...
Daily Reading
December 21, 2021
Scripture names hope as one of the Three Great Forces of human existence: Three things will last forever — faith, hope, and love. (1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT) By saying they last forever, God names these three as immortal powers. A life without fa...
Daily Reading
December 20, 2021
Through his cross he paid for our sin, cleansed us, bought us out of the dungeons of the evil one and brought us back to his Abba. Jesus established a whole new way of relating to God. He often reclined at meals with people; he stopped along the road...
Daily Reading
December 15, 2021
We grow during meaningful conversations with kindred spirits. But that's often hard to find in the midst of our non-stop days filled with never-ending to-do lists. Today, we want to lift up several powerful podcast conversations as a way to encourage...
Daily Reading
December 6, 2021
I don't fully understand the modern church's amnesia-plus-aversion regarding one of the most central qualities of God understood for centuries before us: The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name. (Ex. 15:3 NIV) The LORD will march out like a mig...
Daily Reading
December 1, 2021
Imagine the stories that we'll hear. And all the questions that shall finally have answers. "What were you thinking when you drove the old Ford out on the ice?" "Did you hear that Betty and Dan got back together? But of course you did — you were prob...
Daily Reading
November 24, 2021
Life on the road takes us into our heart, for only when we are present in the deep sentences can God speak to them. That's why the Story is a journey; it has to be lived, it cannot simply be talked about. When we face trials, our most common reaction...
Daily Reading
November 21, 2021
The things that have happened to us often suggest that the real script of the play we're all living in is "God is indifferent" rather than "God is love." Deep down in our hearts, in the place where the story is formed, this experience of God as indif...
Daily Reading
November 11, 2021
Creation sometimes screams a confusing message — fear, pain, grief. Fire burns, rivers flood, winds go hurricane, the earth shudders so hard it levels cities. But you must remember — this was not so in Eden. Mankind fell, surrendering this earth to t...
Daily Reading
January 5, 2019
We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline. (Hebrews 6:18–19 The Message) The hope and promise of the restoration of all things has b...
Daily Reading
January 4, 2019
God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart. (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT) The thing you are made for is the renewal of all things. God has given you a heart for his kingdom—not the wispy vagaries of a clo...
Daily Reading
January 3, 2019
You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. (Psalm 139:5) At the Fall, why did God curse Adam and Eve with an emptiness that nothing would be able to fill? Wasn’t life going to be hard enough out there in the world, banished from...
Daily Reading
January 2, 2019
Long before [God] laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. (Ephesians 1:4 The Message) We exercise because we want to grow stronger; we take vitamins in the...
Daily Reading
January 1, 2019
Is anything too hard for the Lord? (Genesis 18:14) January 1. A brand-new year. It’s the time of year we start thinking about making changes. This year, rather than writing a quick list of resolutions that we’ll likely forget before February, maybe ...
Daily Reading
December 31, 2018
He who testifies to all these things says it again: “I’m on my way! I’ll be there soon!” Yes! Come, Master Jesus! (Revelation 22:20 The Message) There’s nothing like stepping out your door into the beckoning world. This is why people vacation in bea...
Daily Reading
December 30, 2018
Out of that terrible travail of soul, he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it. Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant, will make many “righteous ones,” as he himself carries the burden of their sins. (Isaiah 53:11–12 The...
Daily Reading
December 29, 2018
“After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them. ... His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’ ” (Matthew 25:19–21 The Message) You are created to accomplish...
Daily Reading
December 28, 2018
“Come!” say the Spirit and the Bride. Whoever hears, echo, “Come!” Is anyone thirsty? Come! All who will, come and drink, drink freely of the Water of Life! (Revelation 22:17 The Message) Two ideas are absolutely basic to a Christian understanding o...
Daily Reading
December 27, 2018
What is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Indeed, you are our glory and joy. (1 Thessalonians 2:19–20) Where is this supposed coming? The current expression of that is often: “But...