We long for love and acceptance. But we’re afraid that if our secrets were revealed, we would be rejected. So we hide. But in this parable, Jesus shows us how we can bring all of ourselves into the open and experience healing and wholeness.
Solitude and silence force us to face the reality that we are not in control of reality. And the reality is that the world can be a disorienting and terrifying place. But what if solitude and silence help us encounter a greater reality that goes beyond the reality of this world?
In our workaholic culture, we desperately need rest, but it’s harder than ever to experience it. That’s why we need Sabbath. What is it, and how do we enter it? This passage shows us.
How can we follow Jesus with all that's going on these days? Prayer is as necessary as breath for the next step. Listen to this story as a parable of why we must pray.
There is a surprising openness to Jesus in our world today. Many people are turning to the Bible for answers to their questions. But the Bible provides even more than answers, it produces transformation. How?
God’s grace is often like a wrecking ball. Surrender is our response to the wrecking ball. What does that mean? This passage helps us enter into the spiritual discipline of surrender.
Discipleship to Jesus doesn't mean adding burdens, it means trading burdens. It means, as Dallas Willard said, to be with Jesus in order to learn to live like Jesus. Join us as we explore twelve spiritual disciplines that Jesus uses to make us more like himself.
The warfare between what Paul describes as “the flesh” and the Holy Spirit is an unremitting struggle. For believers in Jesus, and in this life, there can be no escape from the need to depend on God’s grace. The difficulty of life now weighs upon us, but, as we learn in this passage, a remarkable and heavenly “fruit of the Spirit” grows in our embattled hearts that transforms our daily lives. As we believe and follow Jesus, we are not only cultivating the fruit Paul mentions here, but in this fruit we are experiencing Jesus’ own character. Here and now we can taste what it means to belong to Him, to be changed by Him, and thereby gain the encouragement and assurance we need to continue in the struggle, not only for our own joy and happiness, but for the sake of others, too
Do you ever feel like there’s someone you’re supposed to be, but you can never quite become that person? Why is that? And is there any hope of ever becoming that person? There is. This passage shows us how.
It’s common to think of Christianity as a colonialist instrument of oppression. But what if the gospel is the only thing in the world that can truly bring different cultures, nations, and people together in a unifying love that transforms the world?
We all long for love. We also long for truth. But is it possible to have both truth and love? Is it possible to love one another across our differences? And if so, can a letter like this possibly help us?
What does it mean to be born again? The term originates with Jesus, and it’s everywhere in the New Testament. But what does it mean, and why is it so important? This passage shows us.
We all experience moments of both doubt and belief, and we all experience moments of longing. But we wonder, “How can I trust anything, especially about spiritual reality?” In this passage, John helps us with our questions and our longings by pointing us to a testimony we can trust.
What if following Jesus in everything he said, especially the hardest things, is the way to a peace, a joy, and a fullness that nothing in this world can offer? That’s a big what if. But this passage shows us how.
Modern people struggle with the question: How can God be both a God of love and a God of judgment? This passage shows us that the presence of judgment doesn’t contradict love. The presence of judgment gives us a far deeper love.
Why do Christians have to say that Jesus is the only way to God? As problematic as that sounds, it raises the deeper question of the nature of spiritual reality. This is a question that matters for all of us. This passage shows us why.
The Bible emphasizes the centrality of love in the life of the Christian. This passage challenges both the church and secular notions of love and justice. But it’s a challenge we need.
What is the good life? Where do we see it, and how can we really live it? In this passage, the apostle John says it all comes down to getting our vision. How are we seeing reality?
Our culture says real spirituality is not intellectual, it’s experiential. Christianity says that’s a false dichotomy. This passage shows us that knowing Jesus is something that happens with our whole being and transforms our whole being.
In this troubled world we need both encouragement and guidance. The Apostle John strengthens us as he reminds us of the Lord's work in our lives. He also warns us of the danger that comes when we set our hearts on the systems of this world that are disordered and destructive. He invites us to live differently, as dearly loved children, in light of what will truly last.