I wrote in my last blog that it’s not just biological instinct that draws us to the naked body, but that nakedness draws us because it speaks profoundly to our deep longing for relational intimacy—to know and be known. For those who struggle with lust, this illumines a pathway not just away from the false intimacy of sexual sin but toward something better for which you’re really longing:...
Images of Intimacy
If you struggle with lust, consider this for a moment: Can you explain why you are drawn to the form of a woman or the form of a man? Beyond the specifics of what part of the body titillates you sexually, have you ever considered why it titillates you? Why does your body stir at the sight of another’s body? Is it a learned response because your body knows the pleasure that awaits if you engage in...
What Displeases You
Why does God dislike sin? I think a lot of us walk around with an idea that sin is sin because those are the things that offend God or make Him angry. I grew up learning that “sin” is derived from an archery term meaning to miss the mark. Meaning, God’s will is the bull’s-eye and anything that misses the bull’s-eye is sin. But my heart at times responds to a definition like this and asks, “Well...
Harmonizing Sexuality and Spirituality
When I was in college, I was a man in conflict. I loved Jesus, and I hated and loved my sexual sin. Late one night, walking alone across my college campus, feeling defeated, having done again what I promised a thousand times I wouldn’t do, I cried out in desperation to God: “I know you love me, God, and I love you! And I know you hate this stuff I’m doing, and I hate that I’m doing it! So why...
Distant
Despite how technology can bring us together, the physical distance between where you are and where someone else is a big deal. Friends who text each other are different than friends who have dinner together. A video chat with family is different than a hug from your mom. And a long distance romance is different than holding hands or kissing. Distance impacts us. Jesus knows it. In Luke 15, he...
Guys, Snakes, and Ron Swanson
I think one of the biggest threats to guys today is the constant stream of faulty images of men that float around our cultural landscape compared to the scarcity of images of authentic masculine goodness and strength. The ancient proverb, “Without a vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18a) couldn’t be more relevant to men, young and old, who have never had a vision of good, godly masculinity...