Why is Christianity so disappointing?

What’s not to like about Christianity? Eternal life. Forgiveness of sins. Love poured into your heart by the Holy Spirit. A free gift received by faith. Jesus willingly gave his life to save us from our sin. Union with a Triune God of love. Friends …

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Why do you read the Bible?

Let’s say your main goal in life was to be fit and healthy. And so you turn to the Bible for some wisdom. After perusing its contents, you buy some Ezekiel Bread (Ezekiel 4:9), you drink a little wine for the sake of your stomach …

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When do we need to answer questions?

If someone has a doubt, you might not want to give them an answer. And there are a lot of people with doubts about Christianity. Gallup reports that “U.S. Church Membership Falls Below Majority for First Time.” The New Republic reports: Denison University political scientist Paul A. Djupe, who has studied …

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How can we tell if you really believe in God?

For the ten years after I graduated from college I invested in discipleship and evangelism with university students. For the first seven of these years I was affiliated with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. This was a remarkable community of Christlike servants who, for the most part, …

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How do things get better?

I am a hopeful person. I believe the future will be better than the past. I know, I know, historically speaking, sometimes things get worse before they got better.  Even in recent memory — many would say that 2020 was worse than 2019. But I believe …

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Why do I need to find myself?

A common phrase in my childhood was, “When you grow up, you can be anything you want to be.” I sometimes responded with sarcastic comments like, “Oh, sure, then I guess I’ll be an invisible time traveler.” But what has been hardly noticed – yet …

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What can we learn from a lost toenail?

A lost toenail One night during college I looked down at my feet and realized that I had lost a toenail. Not just part of the toenail, but the entire toenail. My toenails are not that impressive – I haven’t done any foot modeling – but it …

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Distracted by Excellence

We live in a culture that habitually, even casually, assumes that excellence is a noble and worthy value. The famous CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, told us, “We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because …

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A True Comparison

In the age of social media, it seems that comparing ourselves to one another is inevitable. How can you not compare yourself to others when, every day, you are seeing the glamorous photos, funny stories, and insightful comments from a few hundred people who are just like …

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All for Jesus

There’s a very simple message at the heart of the Christian message: by faith in Christ, be transformed by the love of God into a new creation. Then, by the renewing love of the Holy Spirit, we love God and love others (see, for instance, …

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