Ann Voskamp is the wife of a farmer, the busy mom of six kids, and a bestselling author. Throughout the year, Voskamp’s writings are a reminder that kindling thankfulness leads us to fellowship with God. During the holidays, Voskamp’s writings are a reminder that celebrating the birth of Christ points us to remember the death of our Savior.

On this special Christmas edition of Authors on the Line, we talk with Ann Voskamp about how she keeps the cross central in her home during the holidays. She says, "If there is no cross in my Christmas, then my Christmas has lost Christ; and what is the manger if not for the Messiah, the one who saves us with scars?"

“If my life isn’t cross-centered, …

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Update 12/27
We have received $360,000 of the $745,000 that we need in order to meet our end-of-year financial goal. Thank you for your generous support! The Lord is good, and all of his paths are "steadfast love and faithfulness" (Psalm 25:10).

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Dear Friends,

It may surprise you the way the Desiring God website began. That’s what this video is about: how one ordinary man got an extraordinary vision from God. I hope the story of Moe Bergeron inspires you.

For decades, Moe was a factory worker and bi-vocational pastor on the rugged spiritual soil of New England. He was one of the first to believe in the power and potential of computers “talking” to each other, and he may have been …

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The Lord Jesus Christ — the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, the one through whom all things were made — became human like us.

I recently talked with Nancy Guthrie, author of Hearing Jesus Speak into Your Sorrow, to ask her about what the humanity of Jesus means for us. “He is a safe person to draw close to when life is hard,” she said, and then explains why in this short video:

Most of us would have been scared away from the Middle East by the events of September 11, 2001. But not Mack Stiles.

Not that he didn’t waver just a bit. Here’s the story.

Loosening the Roots

For years Mack had labored stateside with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in an administrative job that, you might say, didn’t fit him like a glove. If you’ve met Mack, you likely noticed right from the start how outgoing and people-oriented and relationally energetic he is. Not that administrators can’t be people-people. It’s just this particular slot wasn’t optimal for this particular Mack.

After much wrestling, Mack sensed that God was loosening his American roots and preparing him and his…

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Murdering a human being is an assault on God. He made us in his own image. Destroying an image usually means you hate the imaged. Murdering God’s human image-bearer is not just murder. It’s treason — treason against the creator of the world. It is a capital crime — and more. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image” (Genesis 9:6).

As usual, Jesus takes this up in devastating terms. None of us escapes.

You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.” But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his br

…

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We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize . . . but one who in every respect has been tested as we are. (Hebrews 4:15)

Mass murder is why Jesus came into the world the way he did. What kind of Savior do we need when our hearts are shredded by brutal loss?

We need a suffering Savior. We need a Savior who has tasted the cup of horror we are being forced to drink.

And that is how he came. He knew what this world needed. Not a comedian. Not a sports hero. Not a movie star. Not a political genius. Not a doctor. Not even a pastor. The world needed what no mere man could be.

The world needed a suffering Sovereign. Mere suffering would not do. Mere sovereignty would not do. Th…

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Have you ever stopped to ponder how amazing it is to be alive? To be not generic or arbitrary, but a human being, a man or a woman created in the image of God?

It is no trifle, John Piper explains in this three-minute video:

This excerpt is from the most recent sermon. See Pastor John's related article, 10 Resolutions for Mental Health.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55). Anyone grieving the death of someone they love deeply will say that “sting” hardly begins to describe the pain.

And Christmas often heightens this pain. Certain decorations recall hands we will never hold again. Gatherings make visible precious absences. Sweet voices now stilled echo in our memories as we sing or share stories.

But this is not a bad thing. Christmas is actually a very good time for grief. Because sorrow has a way of disbursing fantasy nonsense and pointing us to what the birth of Jesus was all about: death’s destruction (1 Corinthians 15:26).

The sting Paul is talking about is not grief. He kno…

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Isaiah 9:2,

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

Where I live Christmastime is cold. Just days ago Minneapolis was wrapped in a frigid blanket of snow 14 inches thick. Though the drab brown city was transfigured into a winter wonderland, every Minneapolitan longed for warmth.

Where I live Christmastime is dark. High up in the northern hemisphere the sun makes his appearance for less than 9 hours and hangs low in the southern sky. When the long dark descends every Minneapolitan longs for light.

Where I live, nature plays out, like a Christmas pageant, a parable of the human condition.

Since the col…

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At long last, Bilbo Baggins is back. Whether you’re fanatic enough to dress up for the midnight showing, or patiently awaiting a weekend outing, or even content to meander into a theater after the crowds die down, here’s some advice for how to make the most of your experience of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

Don’t worry, there’s no spoiler below. My hope in seeing an early screening of the film is to be at your service in preparing you for the viewing, not by letting any cat out of the bag — although if you’ve read the book, you know where this film is going.

It is fitting to mentally and emotionally prepare yourself for an experience like this. That’s precisely what the story’s cre…

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