SUFFERING SEEN THROUGH THE LENS OF SCRIPTURE
Vaneetha Risner's The Scars That Have Shaped Me I am not defined by what people have done or said to me. I am defined by who I am in Christ. God uses all of our suffering for our joy and for his glory. God’s refusals are always his mercies. When my life spins out...
DEPRESSION STATISTICS AREN’T NUMBERS, THEY’RE PEOPLE
The Prevalence and Symptoms of Major Depression Usually sanguine, sixteen-year-old Chad started locking himself in his room more often, texting and calling his friends far less frequently, and attending fewer school and church social functions. He’s sleeping more,...
What Does It Look Like in the Dark?
My first recollection of it occurred on the back porch steps of my rural home in North Carolina. Nine or ten years old, I slumped, cried aloud for what seemed like an hour, tears cascading down my cheeks onto the steps, obscuring my view of the sun setting behind a...
I Am Depressed, But God is Good
What follows is a journal entry from 2005. The first part sounds bleak. I was knee-deep in a depressive episode and couldn’t slog my way out. I’m posting it to show you how depression expresses itself in the minds or emotions of some Christian workers you may...
8 BIBLE PROMISES TO ENCOURAGE YOU
Why do you need encouragement? *Inadequacy for a called task or responsibility? *Weariness of mind, body, and spirit? *Battle fatigue over spiritual warfare? *Discouragement over an unmet goal or unanswered prayer? *Doubts about God’s love and faithfulness?...
SURPRISED AT SUNRISE
God Penetrates Our Darkness with His Light. A lot of my writing strives to reconcile struggles, especially depression, with faith in a loving God. But not even a melancholy...
When Faith Doesn’t Work
I am not a Christian because my faith “works” for me. Talk to a devout Mormon, Muslim, or Buddhist and he’ll extol the here-and-now benefits of his faith. He’ll cite a serenity of spirit, or a sense of order that believing brings to his life. Yet his belief system...
5 LESSER KNOWN WAYS THAT PRIDE SHOWS
Repeatedly in His Word, God warns about the encroachment of pride. That’s because, as John Wesley put it, “All pride is idolatry.”When we’re proud, how does it show?More obvious answers include boasting about accomplishments (even when we’re subtle about it during...
I’M TIRED OF THESE 7 LEADERSHIP BEHAVIORS
I’ll start by qualifying what I’m about to write.Most vocational church and parachurch leaders deserve more applause than they get. They’re diligent, caring, teachable, committed to Christ and His church, and often underpaid in a job fraught with pressure and...
5 STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP PASSAGES IN THE BIBLE
God’s Word is first and foremost a message book, revealing the story and means of redemption. But it’s also a method book, in the broad sense of that term.Pastors, missionaries, teachers, and evangelists may glean from certain texts how-to ideas for fulfilling...
7 GUIDELINES TO HELP YOU PREPARE FOR YOUR GROUP BIBLE STUDY
Do you prepare your own small group Bible studies or Sunday School lessons?Do you receive published curriculum from your church, but typically revise the lessons in view of the characteristics of your particular group of learners?Do you strive for an interactive...
6 QUESTIONS FOR ENHANCING APPLICATION IN YOUR TEACHING OR PREACHING
The late Larry Richards, biblical scholar and Christian Education specialist, lamented that even good Bible teaching usually stops at the level of interpretation. In Creative Bible Teaching, he viewed a focus on application as the missing element in much Bible...
