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David Mathis

David Mathis is executive editor for Desiring God and pastor at Cities Church. He is a husband, father of four, and author of A Little Theology of Exercise: Enjoying Christ in Body and Soul (2025). Read more about David.

More of Jesus: ‘Maximalist Christianity’ for a New Year

More of Jesus

‘Maximalist Christianity’ for a New Year

Christ can handle our down seasons, but he doesn’t call us to settle for scraping by year after year. He invites us to more.

The Most Stubborn Day of the Year: Why the World Stops for Christmas

The Most Stubborn Day of the Year

Why the World Stops for Christmas

Two thousand years later, no single day marks as many calendars, determines as many schedules, pauses as many businesses, and draws together friends and families like Christmas.

Who Wrote Hebrews? Exploring a New Testament Mystery

Who Wrote Hebrews?

Exploring a New Testament Mystery

Of the New Testament’s 27 books, we know who the author was for 26 of them. What can we say about the unnamed, unknown author of Hebrews?

We Were Made for Thanksgiving: A Father’s Gratitude for a National Holiday

We Were Made for Thanksgiving

A Father’s Gratitude for a National Holiday

God made us to honor him — and few realities tap so deeply into our purpose and joy as humans as giving him thanks.

Do You Insult Your Savior’s Bride? What Jesus Thinks of His Church

Do You Insult Your Savior’s Bride?

What Jesus Thinks of His Church

In a day when it’s popular to be cynical and broad-brush “the church,” what if we remembered Jesus’s heart for his bride and how he talks about her?

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Workers for Your Joy: The Call of Christ to Christian Leaders

Workers for Your Joy

The Call of Christ to Christian Leaders

God made us to be led, every one of us. He designed us to thrive, not in autonomy, but under the wisdom and care of worthy leaders.

Kindness in a World Gone Mad

Kindness in a World Gone Mad

It’s only human to respond in kind. But Christ calls his church to something more: respond in kindness.

Two Truths About the One Percent: How Important Is Corporate Worship?

Two Truths About the One Percent

How Important Is Corporate Worship?

The Sunday gathering may be the most important hour of the week, but it is also only one in 168. We are the church every hour of every day.

Show Us Your Glory: Prayer That Sparks Reformation

Show Us Your Glory

Prayer That Sparks Reformation

Moses made an audacious request. God answered — but only in part. And what he revealed at Sinai pales in comparison to Calvary.

A Strange and Holy Calm: Holding Our Peace in an Age of Outbursts

A Strange and Holy Calm

Holding Our Peace in an Age of Outbursts

If God, by all accounts and remembrances, is indeed slow to anger, how can his people not seek to be like him?

Feed His Sheep: Whom Does Christ Call to Preach?

Feed His Sheep

Whom Does Christ Call to Preach?

We cannot well answer the question of whom should preach on Sunday without coming to grips with the nature of preaching in the local church.

The Real Protestant Ethic: How ‘Faith Alone’ Sparks Industry

The Real Protestant Ethic

How ‘Faith Alone’ Sparks Industry

Justification by faith alone marks the end of our work to secure God’s favor — and the beginning of our work to secure others’ good.

Teamwork Humbles Pastors: Four Ways Plurality Challenges Pride

Teamwork Humbles Pastors

Four Ways Plurality Challenges Pride

Humility is so critical in Christian leaders that Christ gives each local church a team of pastors to secure it.

Did Jesus Exalt Himself?

Did Jesus Exalt Himself?

If you want to see what it means to be human, marvel at the self-humbling, God-exalting life of Jesus. We find our humanity in his humility.

‘Christ Must Be Explicit’: How 9/11 Changed Desiring God

‘Christ Must Be Explicit’

How 9/11 Changed Desiring God

On the twentieth anniversary, many will recount how 9/11 changed our world. But how did the attacks that day affect how we see and speak about God?

Humbled: Welcoming the Uncomfortable Work of God

Humbled

Welcoming the Uncomfortable Work of God

Humility is not something we can just up and do. This concise, accessible study of Scripture’s humble-self language uncovers two surprising lessons about the pursuit of humility in the Christian—both what we cannot do and also what steps we can take.

One Spectacular Person: The ‘Admirable Conjunction’ in Jesus Christ

One Spectacular Person

The ‘Admirable Conjunction’ in Jesus Christ

Jesus is all the more fascinating and satisfying because he brings together qualities, in one person, that no one else can.

You Have Permission to Slow Down: Start the Day with the Voice of God

You Have Permission to Slow Down

Start the Day with the Voice of God

More important than what constant hurry is doing to our work lives, family lives, relationships, and emotional health is what it’s doing to our souls.

Team Preaching: Why Our Pastors Share the Pulpit

Team Preaching

Why Our Pastors Share the Pulpit

If a single primary preacher has been the paradigm in your church, have you considered the potential wisdom of team preaching?

Jesus Rose Early: What Mornings Say About Us

Jesus Rose Early

What Mornings Say About Us

When we have a great need, or a great opportunity, or a great calling — something compelling to attend to — we rise early to meet it.

What Will We Do with Our Times?

What Will We Do with Our Times?

We do not get to choose what times we live in. But we do get to decide what we will do with the time we’ve been given.

Worthy of It All: Heaven’s Praise for the Lamblike Lion

Worthy of It All

Heaven’s Praise for the Lamblike Lion

The Bible contains several stunning visions in which a prophet sees some portion of God himself, but none surpasses the one we find in Revelation 4 and 5.

When Jesus Doesn’t Seem Gentle: Admiring the Toughness of Christ

When Jesus Doesn’t Seem Gentle

Admiring the Toughness of Christ

We need to know the toughness of Jesus as much as we know his tenderness — and for the sake of really knowing his tenderness.

Glorify God with Your Body: How Exercise Serves the Christian Life

Glorify God with Your Body

How Exercise Serves the Christian Life

While some people may be tempted to view the Christian life as mostly sitting, listening, and talking, the New Testament casts a very different vision.

The Best-Known Hymn in History: Why We Keep Singing ‘The Doxology’

The Best-Known Hymn in History

Why We Keep Singing ‘The Doxology’

“The Doxology” reminds us that infinite reality can be summarized in a few simple, well-chosen words — words full enough to be sung for centuries.

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