One of the things I have been noticing lately is how often people will say something like, “you know, if my son or daughter (or wife or husband) had asked me the same question I just asked you, I would have given them the same answer you gave me.” They knew the right answer all […]
Specific Strategies to Try Pt. 1
The following list contains homework assignments and specific strategies that have been helpful for some people. Take one biblical story, read it every day, and write down ten (or more) applications of it. (The basic idea with this assignment, and some of the others that follow, is that you want depressed people to meditate on […]
Grow From Day to Day
We grow up together with Christ into one body, and he shares his Spirit with us, through whose hidden operation he has become ours. Believers receive this communion with Christ at the same time as their calling. But they grow from day to day more and more in this communion, in proportion to the life […]
community that proclaims
But let’s be honest, we have all fallen short of community that proclaims the truth of God’s goodness and grace, as we are often censored by fear or muzzled by sin. The cross, then, is central to building community within the church. If the church is going to offer an alternative to the brokenness and […]
Encourage
To encourage means to inspire with courage, spirit, and hope; to hearten; to urge forward. Everyone occasionally gets discouraged. We face times when life seems difficult, progress slow, or challenges insurmountable. How important it is at these times to have someone give us a pep-talk based not on positive thinking or blind optimism but on […]
Perhaps He Will Hear
“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Who knows […]
Faith Looks Out
Faith is not in itself a meritorious act; the merit is in the One toward Whom it is directed. Faith is a redirecting of our sight, a getting out of the focus of our own vision and getting God into focus. Sin has twisted our vision inward and made it self-regarding. Unbelief has put self […]
All Need Community
Christians certainly aren’t the only ones to lament the fragmentation of society. Christian or not, we all have an intrinsic need for community. We all suffer from the isolation that sin breeds. Our neighbors are desperate to belong and be connected to a people. Some try to rebuild community through social action, campaigns, planning better […]
turn a bad thing into a great one!
The Christian approach is to solve all problems, not just solve some problems or solve them part way. Romans 5:20 tells us about the fullness of God’s grace: ‘But where sin abounded, grace far more abounded.’ That assurance means that when Christ meets sin, He more than meets the need. It is not His concern […]