How much money do I need for retirement? A helpful article from Life Institute no matter how old you are.
Sin causes anxiety, too: Casey McCall with a helpful article reflecting on connection (sometimes) between sin and anxiety, “Christians today would do well to consider sin as a possible cause of mental illness even as we follow Murray’s advice to avoid pinning all mental illness on sin.”
What was David’s worst sin? Every Sunday School child knows the answer to that question: his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband Uriah (2 Sam. 11-12).
There’s no doubt that David’s double sin against Bathsheba and Uriah is heinous. Following David’s sin, his family begins to implode. David’s son Amnon rapes his daughter, Tamar, Absalom murders Amnon in response and then attempts to overthrow his father and is ultimately killed. David’s sin was a direct violation of two of the most sacred moral laws: adultery and murder, and his family or reign would never be the same.
Faithfulness in an inside-out world: This is a good one from Andrew Noble, In today’s age, people are to find out what’s inside first, and then they are to express it outward. Charles Taylor describes this as “a culture of authenticity.”
Fight brain rot by reading books: This one is written to Gen Z, but applies to everyone. Luke Simon writes, “What surprised me most was how different reading was from scrolling. My phone had trained me to skim, to consume quickly, and to expect instant gratification. Books demanded something deeper: focus, patience, and the willingness to sit with ideas that don’t immediately resolve.”
Like so many others, The Chronicles of Narnia is one of my favorite fiction series of all time. CS Lewis masterfully gives us insight into the heart of Christ and our relationship with him through the figure of Aslan. The tales teach us unforgettable truths about us about friendship, courage, and redemption.
Lewis brilliantly captures the weight of our sin against God. The figure of Aslan helps us see the price Christ paid to atone for our wrongdoings. Near the conclusion of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe we watch an interaction that gives us insight into the cost of our sin.
We live in an apology-averse culture.
We are allergic to repentance and forgiveness alike.
Think about it. When was the last time someone repented to you? I mean, truly repented?
The last time a congregant apologized to me, the email began this way (I’ve tweaked it only to protect the one who sent it), “I might have been a little harsh in my email.. I had a very bad week…” In further communication, the individual referenced their apology. I scratched my head. “When did they apologize?” I dug back through the email thread and saw those phrases. That is what they were referencing.
To (almost) die is gain: Heidi Kellogg with a moving reflection, “To die would have been gain for me, but to live is Christ, and that means serving my family just as Christ came not to be served but to serve (Mark 10:45).
Jesus did condemn homosexuality: Alan Schlemon explains, “Jesus doesn’t reserve his judgment for only those who engage in homosexual sex. He also condemns false teachers who mislead people into practicing homosexuality.”
The worst of all possible worlds: Samuel James considers the grip of malaise on the modern world and the hope of the gospel. “There is a place you can reach where there is neither pleasure nor pain, just a prolonged limp between compulsion and guilt. Malaise won’t do what it should do, and it can’t do what it really wants to do. Malaise is the worst of all possible worlds.”
The rise of Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses: Derek Cooper provides background and context on two American religions. He summarizes, “New religious movements such as Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses serve as poignant examples of how deviations from orthodox Christian teaching eventually produce entirely new religions that add or remove foundational truths. These groups, while professing allegiance to Christ, diverge significantly in their doctrines of God and theologies of salvation, revelation, and eschatology.”
Why am I so spiritually dry? Glenna Marshall reflects, “I couldn’t think of any particular trigger. No big reason stood out to me that would explain why everything felt stale and stagnant inside.”
When offenses come: Scott Hubbard encourages us to reframe when we’ve been sinned against, “Offenses are gifts wrapped with dark ribbons. So don’t let the packaging deceive you. Every snub and jab and wound invites you into deeper fellowship and joy with your forgiving Lord.”
A theology of leisure: Reagan Rose with an important piece. She says, “Many Christians have unthinkingly adopted a view of leisure that sees rest time as synonymous with me time. But this is a historical anomaly.”
The church’s unsung hero: the persevering Sunday School teacher: Can we get an amen to Trevin Wax’s post? God bless our amazing faithful teachers! “Committed Sunday school teachers are a big part of what makes discipleship effective. Yet how often do we let weeks and years go by without lifting up their example or celebrating their faithfulness?”
God brings us bad to bring us best: Joni Eareckson Tada, “When God lobs a hand grenade into life and rattles our faith to the core, we wonder how he’ll work the pieces of shrapnel together for our good. What does good mean, anyway?”
Why we should expect witnesses to disagree: J. Warner Wallace, former cold-case detective explains, “I spent the first nine years of my career investigating crimes as a committed atheist. Even then, I would have approved the notion that witnesses who fail to agree on every detail, raise as many questions as they seem to answer and are inaccurate in some detail of the event, could still be trusted as reliable eyewitnesses.
A biblical understanding of depression: Kathryn Butler explains, “Spiritual factors don’t mean depression and faith are mutually exclusive; on the contrary, Scripture teaches us that discipleship is costly, that sin still ravages the world, that deep, penetrating pain exists (even for believers), and that God works through such pain for good.”
Atheist or Christian, we all choose our miracle: Randy Alcorn begins by quoting Glen Scrivener, who says, “Christians believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. Materialists believe in the virgin birth of the cosmos. Choose your miracle.”
Most have heard of the famous Stanford marshmallow experiment. In 1970, psychologist Walter Mischel invited kids into his lab. A child was offered a marshmallow that they could eat, or, if they waited until the researcher returned, they were given a second marshmallow. About one-third of the kids waited approximately fifteen minutes for the additional reward.
The study then tracked those children over time and found that children who waited for the second reward tended to have higher SAT scores and lower body mass indexes. Later tests have challenged those outcomes, but it hasn’t stopped parents everywhere from running the experiment on their kids, often with humorous results.
How Christians can fight the war on lies: Joe Carter lays out four fronts of the war on truth: emotional, narrative, institutional, and tribalistic. He concludes, “In following the way of Jesus, we preserve our witness and offer hope to a world drowning in deception. For in Christ, we find not just the truth that sets us free but the strength to stand firm in that truth, come what may.”
Impossibly, gradually, miraculously changed: Glenna Marshall with a post that drips with hope! “They glint in the morning light, impossibly shiny and smooth. Where they lived and how they lived in nature made them what they are. Some have tiny holes in them where scavenging snails once drilled in through their delicate exterior for prey. The shiny surface tells the story, imperfections and all. Their bodies keep the score, if you will.
Waiting pushes our limits—and that is part of God’s design: Mark Vroegop muses, “I think it’s safe to say that most people dislike waiting. Do you know anyone who celebrates it? “Oh good, we get to wait.” That feels weird or fake, doesn’t it? Imagine meeting a friend and asking about her weekend. What would be your immediate response if she said, “I spent three hours waiting on Saturday”? You’d probably groan, right? Waiting feels like a gap in time that’s annoying at best and aggravating at worst.”
Savoring the moment takes time: Brianna Lambert with a lovely piece. “Maybe the older woman in the grocery store knows how precious this season is precisely because she’s had 10,000 more days to fully enjoy its memory.
Why the world’s greatest athletes don’t get paid like it: Most Olympic athletes truly do it for the love of the game. Mark Dent reports, “26.5% of the surveyed athletes had a total income of less than $15k per year, and another study from the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee found 59% of Olympic hopefuls make less than $25k during Olympic years.”
How to counter the forces that malform your soul: John Mark Comer explains how spiritual formation happens in this brief video.
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