Joe Rigney | Desiring God

Most people in the world have no experience of lasting joy in their lives. We’re on a mission to change that. All of our resources exist to guide you toward everlasting joy in Jesus Christ.

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Joe Rigney

Joe Rigney is assistant professor of theology and literature at Bethlehem College & Seminary and author of The Things of Earth: Treasuring God by Enjoying His Gifts. He is a pastor at Cities Church.

Do You Feel My Pain? Empathy, Sympathy, and Dangerous Virtues

Do You Feel My Pain?

Empathy, Sympathy, and Dangerous Virtues

Empathy has become a more popular virtue than sympathy in recent decades. But the shift does not come without its dangers.

Dangerous Compassion: How to Make Any Love a Demon

Dangerous Compassion

How to Make Any Love a Demon

True compassion moves toward the hurting — without getting swallowed by their grief.

Why God Does Everything He Does

Why God Does Everything He Does

The God-centeredness of God may unnerve us at first, but if we wait over his word long enough, nothing will stabilize our faith and joy in God more.

Treasure in the Field: Enjoying God Through the Game of Baseball

Treasure in the Field

Enjoying God Through the Game of Baseball

Our problem is not that we love the good in this world too much, but that we do not see the good in this world in relation to the One who made it.

The Enticing Sin of Empathy: How Satan Corrupts Through Compassion

The Enticing Sin of Empathy

How Satan Corrupts Through Compassion

Satan drives a subtle and enticing ferry from the truth that feelings are important to the lie that feelings are all that’s important.

Killing Them Softly: Compassion That Warms Satan’s Heart

Killing Them Softly

Compassion That Warms Satan’s Heart

If he can, Satan will suck even these seven words dry, rendering them poetic and meaningless: “God works all things together for good.”

He Sang in the Belly of the Earth: Holy Saturday in Hades

He Sang in the Belly of the Earth

Holy Saturday in Hades

What did the dead Jesus do on Saturday? He sang in the belly of the earth.

Panel Discussion

Gospel Joy Panel Discussion: Piper, Charles, Meyer, Onwuchekwa, Rigney, & Stiles

Gospel Joy Panel Discussion

Piper, Charles, Meyer, Onwuchekwa, Rigney & Stiles

Join this panel of pastor-theologians as they work through difficult questions about life and ministry.

Broad Minds and Big Hearts: A Case for Christian Liberal-Arts Education

Broad Minds and Big Hearts

A Case for Christian Liberal-Arts Education

A Christian liberal-arts education forms students into godly adults, equips them for service in the church, and sends them out as light in the world.

Ask God to Forgive You, Not Excuse You: Five Lessons from C.S. Lewis

Ask God to Forgive You, Not Excuse You

Five Lessons from C.S. Lewis

When we confess to God as we are, we find that we become our true selves — stable, strong, full of life and joy, and conformed to the image of Christ.

Joy in This World Panel Discussion: Piper, Storms, Rigney, & Borman

Joy in This World Panel Discussion

Piper, Storms, Rigney & Borgman

Man’s chief end is not only to glorify God, but also to enjoy him forever. This panel of pastor-theologians discusses this joy-filled life of man.

The Excuses We Make for Sin

The Excuses We Make for Sin

Satan is happy when you ignore your sin — and even happier when you believe your sin is someone else’s fault.

Seven Ways to Pray on Election Day

Seven Ways to Pray on Election Day

Judgment always begins with the household of God. Heartfelt repentance for our own sins is where we must start.

The Gift of God’s Judgment

The Gift of God’s Judgment

Our Election Crisis and Opportunity

The election of either candidate may be evidence of God’s judgment. But what if the fact that we’re faced with this horrible choice is already our call to repentance?

Panel Discussion

The Future of Christian Hedonism

The Future of Christian Hedonism

Panel Discussion

The Indulge seminar was a part of the 2016 Preview Days of Bethlehem College & Seminary in downtown Minneapolis. Students are equipped for joyful lives of high-impact, helping other people be eternally happy, by learning and sharing that God is…

Christian Hedonics

Christian Hedonics

C.S. Lewis on the Heavenly Good of Earthly Joys

God has orchestrated a symphony of pleasures for his creation, and the more we hear, the more he’s glorified. We should all be students of God’s delights.

Your Sorrow Will Turn to Joy

Your Sorrow Will Turn to Joy

Morning & Evening Meditations for Holy Week

A team of pastors and scholars walk us through Holy Week with short meditations for each morning and evening, from Palm Sunday to the triumph of Easter.

Panel Discussion

Panel Discussion

Panel Discussion

Bethlehem 2016 Conference for Pastors and Church Leaders

What Has Jerusalem to Do With America? Lessons from the Book of Acts (Part 2)

What Has Jerusalem to Do With America? Lessons from the Book of Acts (Part 2)

Bethlehem 2016 Conference for Pastors and Church Leaders

What Has Jerusalem to Do With America? Lessons from the Book of Acts (Part 1)

What Has Jerusalem to Do With America? Lessons from the Book of Acts (Part 1)

Bethlehem 2016 Conference for Pastors and Church Leaders

Think It Not Strange

Think It Not Strange

Navigating Trials in the New America

A diverse team of contributors joins together to help Christians prepare for the trials, opposition, and even persecution that may lie ahead.

The Shadrach Option

The Shadrach Option

Shadrach and his friends, along with the early Christians, recognized the idolatrous claim for what it was, and they refused to go along. They defied. They said, “No.” And here’s the clincher: They did so because they were seeking the good of the city.

Good

The Joy of Christian Manhood and Womanhood

Christian complementarity is the conviction that God created men and woman as his image-bearers — equal in dignity, but distinct in roles. Contrary to popular opinion, these distinctive roles of men and women are not the cultural fads of…

Designed for Joy

Designed for Joy

How the Gospel Impacts Men and Women, Identity and Practice

God created men and women in his image — equal in value and complementary in roles, which are integral to God’s good design for humanity.

When to Baptize Our Believing Children

When to Baptize Our Believing Children

Baptized members, in a congregational church, must be able to stand in the assembly of saints on their own two feet. Which has implications for when we baptize our believing children.