You can often tell what mattered most to a person by what they leave behind when they depart this world. What Jesus left behind is more astonishing when you think of what he didn’t leave: No wife or child No…

Princess Diana once said, “Only do what your heart tells you.” This is a creed believed by millions. It’s a statement of faith in one of the great pop cultural myths of the Western world. It’s a gospel proclaimed in…

If you’re a romantic (and I think you should be) you love the book of Ruth. This short story almost seems like it was made for film. It has all the components of a great romance: tragedy, loyalty, courage, virtuous…

W. Somerset Maugham once said, “There is hardly anyone whose sexual life, if it were broadcast, would not fill the world at large with surprise and horror.” With networks and newspapers broadcasting another New York Congressman’s sordid sexual secrets, and…

Malaise is a mercy that feels yucky. Malaise is that feeling you get when you’re getting sick but you don’t quite know it yet. It’s a vague sense of dis-ease. Your energy is draining. You just want to lie down…

I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me. You have turned cruel to me (Job 30:20-21). These words came out of the mouth of the man God considered…

How does God want us to deal with the emotion we call disappointment? Joseph Barsabbas was disappointed by Jesus. Joseph was a candidate to replace Judas Iscariot as one of the Twelve, but when the lot was cast it “fell…

Remember the story of Narcissus? He’s the proud, beautiful man in the Greek myth who saw his reflection in a pool, fell in love with it, couldn’t tear himself away, and it killed him. Mirrors are very dangerous for…

Why is it so hard to just find some peace of mind? Well, peace is hard to come by when you live in a warzone. And like it or not you are in a war—a very serious one. This war…

As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear…

Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created (Revelation 4:11). The story behind your existence is wilder than any story…

Beneath intellectual objections to Jesus’ claims are often deep-seated fears. Imagine a conversation between Paul and “Jonathan,” a friend from Paul’s pre-Christian days who visits him in Felix’s Caesarean prison. Jonathan was escorted into the dingy cell where his old…

Judas Iscariot “was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it” (John 12:6). Has it ever struck you as odd that Jesus put a thief in charge of his…

Most of the decisions you will make today aren’t explicitly addressed in the Bible. Questions like, should I eat out today? What should I wear? Should I respond to this instance of my child’s sin with correction or forbearance? Should…

“Andrew. Oh! You’re Simon Peter’s brother, aren’t you?” Andrew must have gotten used to that. Even the New Testament introduces him as “Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother” (John 1:40). Peter’s shadow is cast over Andrew from the beginning. Andrew is mentioned…

No one puts it as bluntly as Blaise Pascal in his Pensées: All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and…

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:11-12) God is such a…

A reflection on John 8:2-11. “Shame on you, Whore!” She was married, but not to the man in whose arms she had been laying. Suddenly the door had burst open. Oh no! Instantly she was in the grasp of angry…

Ask the Apostle Paul to explain love (agápē) and the first thing out of his mouth: “Love is patient” (1 Corinthians 13:4). Forget the rest of his list for a moment; my work is already cut out for…

She hobbled into the synagogue to hear the healing rabbi. Hoping against hope. You see, she “had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself” (Luke 13:10-11). Eighteen years. How…

Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair (John 12:3). Judas simply could not fathom Mary’s ridiculous decision. During dinner she had just…

“Lord, what about this man?” (John 21:21) Peter asked Jesus this question when he learned that Jesus had ordained very difficult things for Peter’s future. So Peter wanted to know about John. Was Jesus going to give John a better…

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope (Romans 8:20). Are you tired of fighting futility? Evil and disorder relentlessly throw wrenches into the gears of your life. What’s the…