Every ache is telling us something important, but we miss it. It’s not that we don’t try. Goodness knows, we attempt a million varieties of pleasure to address the ache. But few ever hear what the ache is really after. Jesus hears the ache clearly. Why? Because he put it there. Let me say that again: Jesus put the ache in us. And he wants to satisfy it. As we suspend our demand for the million...
Every age has its own set of unquestioned presuppositions. Here’s one in our day: Getting what you want quickly is better than having to wait.This is why advertisers boast of faster internet, quicker results, shorter lines, easier access, top speeds, and fewer commercials. Going without what you want produces an ache. When you get what you want, the ache goes away. This is why we pay a high...
Two of our most basic, human needs are this: to be known and to be loved. But something’s got many of us convinced you can’t have both. So we expend lots of energy hiding those parts of ourselves that are unlovely. And we work really hard to succeed (at business, parenting, athleticism, ministry, Bible study, you name it) because we think it will make us lovely and so, worthy of love. The sad...
If you’re pursuing sexual integrity, one of the worst things you can do is try to keep the sexually sinful parts of you from the God of Christmas. Those are some of the places that need him the most. Here’s what I mean: We know intuitively there is something deep and good and wonderful about humanity. It’s a distinct glory—something different than the stars in the sky and different...
It’s a risky thing to ask a girl out. I remember the fear as a twenty-something anytime I asked a young woman on a date. It felt like placing my heart in her hands for her either to hold or to crush. So like a lot of guys, I tried to minimize the risk, read the signals, pick up on clues and cues to get a good sense of what she’d say before I ever put myself out there. If it seemed like she...
It’s in our stories, movies, and legends. In Shakespeare’s MacBeth, Edgar Allan Poe’s Telltale Heart, Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. We feel it in our bones. It’s in our DNA. When we’re guilty, we desperately want to come clean. Can you relate? Maybe you have a loved one who is struggling against being honest with her sin. Maybe you’re carrying something from your past that you’ve never told...
