Spoiler Alert: Spotting Sin’s Forbidden Fruit

One of the most important parts of spiritual quality control is learning to identify imposters: AKA fake fruit. From December 29, 2024

Myrrh Maids: The Glory of the Tent Peg Story

What all went through Mary’s mind as Jesus grew into a toddler? How often did she kiss His toes and say, “These little feet are gonna crush that ol’ serpents’ head!” From December 22, 2024 

Rest in Peace: Christmas’ Calming Conquest

Christmas is our annual reminder that “what is” true has already defeated all our “what if” worries. From December 15, 2024 

James’ Bond: The Call of Duty and Devotion

God wants us to go from a servant level of doing our duty, to a companion level of motivation that comes from agreeing with His heart. From December 8, 2024 

Martha-Martha: Settle Down and Listen Up

We need to discern when sitting and listening best serves His plans and our created purpose – and when we’re being called to serve others on His behalf. From December 1, 2024

Get On the Bus: The Great Divorce, Part 5: Living

We choose our actions, but truth decides our consequences. Just as we can choose to board a bus, but we don’t decide where it goes. From November 24, 2024 

Get On the Bus: The Great Divorce, Part 4: Loving

We need to make sure our heart isn’t yielding to tainted love, but rather guided by God into true love. From November 17, 2024 

Get On the Bus: The Great Divorce, Part 3: Listening

Tested words make trusted people. And when the input of others leads us deeper into our relationship with God, we can trust their guidance as “tried and true.” From November 10, 2024 

Get On the Bus: The Great Divorce, Part 2: Losing

In the story, three Grey Town ghosts are challenged to change by letting go of their Grey Town attachments and embracing their new life in Heaven. From November 3, 2024

Get On the Bus: The Great Divorce, Part 1: Leaving

The common thread that keeps people off Lewis’s metaphorical bus begins to emerge: sin finds a way to hold people from pursuing Heaven. From October 27, 2024 

Selfless Vengeance: Rightly Repaying Our Wrongdoers

It can be so hard to hold our tongue and our temper. It isn’t that we don’t trust the Lord to repay; it’s that we don’t like the way He repays. From October 20, 2024

Coming Attraction: Feeling Future Hope Now

Nothing gives purpose to today like the promise of tomorrow, and the better our expectations the greater our excitement. From October 13, 2024

Do Gooder: The Right to Forgive Wrongdoers

How do I forgive the intentional, inexcusable wounds of those who are dead to me? From October 6, 2024 

Self Stable: Christian Consistency

Whether Christian or secular, we’re defined by the qualities of our character that stay the same despite the situation. From September 29, 2024 

Debt Relief: Feeling the Freedom of Forgiveness

How does sin increase our debt? Who do we owe? And why? And, what’s it mean to borrow against life? From September 22, 2024

So Far, So Good: Regulating Righteousness

We’re motivated to pursue what we love and avoid what we fear. But God can seem like both a reward and a threat. From September 15, 2024 

Giving Up: Making Ourselves Good and Poor

We understand building wealth, but not so much building benevolence. From September 8, 2024

Shareholders: Offering Loans to the Lord

Giving conquers our greed, increases our Christlikeness, and gives us a share in His work. So, whatever you do, don’t give your Lord your leftovers. From September 1, 2024

Missing Persons: Lusting for What We’re Lacking

We can measure our lives by what we’re denied or supplied; but a life measured by what it’s missing is hollow, while a life measured by what it’s filled with is rich. From August 25, 2024 

Patches Pals: Clothing Ourselves With Christ

We were created to bear God’s image by maturing in His character. So, who are you honoring by the way you’re living? From August 18, 2024 

Hunger Gains: Understanding Unmet Urges

We’re all starving for something. And no matter how hard we try to change ourselves or our situation, the real you will always hunger for your real home. From August 11, 2024

Get Real: Activating Our Potential

As all parents know, you don’t know what you’re made of until you start “playing the part”. From August 4, 2024

Star Power: Taking the Lead by Taking Action

You’ve been given a leading role in the ultimate reality show, and it’s the role of a lifetime – and beyond! From July 28, 2024

Captains Courageous: Our Struggle to Be Vulnerable

Our planet is sailing around the sun like a big ol’ cruise ship. And we wear the Captain’s uniform of compassion, kindness, and encouragement. From July 21, 2024

Picking Fights: Winning the Right War

You can have a tender temperament and still fight with ferocity – as long as love leads the way. From July 14, 2024 

Fire Works: How to Take a Stand and Shine

Salvation produces shining works of faith, the way a lit lamp or Roman candle produces light. That’s our fire “proof” in the dark down here. From July 7, 2024

Risky Business: Are People Worth It?

In the fog of relationships, it’s sometimes hard to see the payoff and hard to see the reward behind the risk. And that means we can’t do it without Jesus! From June 30, 2024 

Joy Ride: Identifying Our Driving Forces

If love doesn’t drive us, something else will. So what’s driving you? Guilt? Anger? Approval? Greed? Fear? From June 23, 2024 

Dad Company: The Fellowship of Fatherhood

Our heavenly Father wants us to know that a loving dad means all of the stress, friction, confusion, pains, and change in His fellowship is always aimed at our best. From June 16, 2024

Maker’s Mark: The True Identity of the Sober-Minded

What’s the best way to display our identity to the world? “Show them the goodness of God.” From June 9, 2024

Guide and Seek: Experiencing God’s Explanation

Whether it’s Adam, Eve, you or me – every human has to live with this truth: there’s no escaping God’s guidance! From June 2, 2024

Successful Failure: Training to the Point of Transforming

Our Father isn’t out to get us. However, He absolutely is out to train us. So look for and celebrate the little gains. From May 26, 2024 From May 26, 2024 

Importunity: The Command for Shameless Audacity

So… we’re supposed to ask God for things with shameless audacity?! Yeah! Humble submission to God’s command comes with the confidence of His strength on our side. From May 19, 2024 

Basket Case: Moses’ Messed-Up Mom

God will use the most messed up past the moment He becomes the highest moral authority. Which simply means that we love others above all things. From May 12, 2024

Sync’n Think’n: Living the Lord’s Life

There are infinite possible outcomes in every situation. But what actually happens depends on our decisions. And our desires make our decisions. From May 5, 2024

Dirty Hands: The Richest Man in the Room

Like the men in our story, true friends are willing to carry your mat, because true friends are willing to get their hands dirty. From April 28, 2024

Passing Judgment: Leaving Life to Join Jesus

Jesus made it obvious we’re all welcome, but until we see we’re all starving for what He’s serving, it’s easy to drag our feet on the way to His feast. From April 21, 2024 

Lame Preaching: Silently Speaking Loud and Clear

Do you preach what you say you practice? We moralize and sermonize with every roll of the eyes, eyebrow rise, lip curl, cheek puff, and shoulder shrug. From April 14, 2024 

Fixed Metaphors: Finding Meaning in Our Story

Sometimes, it takes seeing the meaning in a symbolic story to dig up and discover the message hidden in our own lives. From April 7, 2024

Hard Rock Hearts: Joining Our Living Cornerstone

Our heart is Jesus’ new home office, and our mind the headquarters of His Kingdom! So, in what shape is your heart? From March 31, 2024

Under the Influence: Choosing Control

This world is full of people battling for every inch of real estate in your heart, but God is so confident of what He offers that He put us in control of who controls us! From March 24, 2024 

How to Hate: Healing Our Hearts With Hatred

Although there’s a time to love and a time to hate, there’s never a time to let hate infiltrate our heart. From March 17, 2024 

Indecent Exposure: Bringing Sin to the Surface

What we plant in our heart is what we grow in our lives. And to be sure our true desires are in fact, Spiritual seeds, we need to check the produce! From March 10, 2024

Death Match: Living With an Eye on Dying

Death is by far the harshest reality of life. And the weight of the world trains us by forcing us to face that harsh reality. From March 3, 2024

Silver Linings: Turning Storms Upside Down

Storms aren’t selective. They happen to all of us. But if Jesus is your Savior, the storm is not the end of the story. From February 25, 2024

Heads Bowed: Correctly Confronting Invasive Chaos

This side of Heaven, wheat and weeds can look a lot alike. And we’re dealing with an enemy who makes bad look good, and wrong feel right, and poison appear appealing. From February 18, 2024

UnEasy Street: The Curse of Success

As sweet as it can seem down here, success also has a way of holding us back from up there. From February 11, 2024 

The Struggle IsReal: The Blessing of Wrestling

Life is a struggle! And if that’s actually by design, then somehow, God’s got a good reason for all our daily difficulties. From February 4, 2024 

David’s Size: Ending the Excuses that Enslave

We’re not called to an easy life, but a powerful life – where the small and despised run toward their giants! From January 28, 2024

That’ll Leave a Mark: The Impact of Contact

How do you reach every neighbor, co-worker, and family member who shuts off when they hear the words cross, sin, or Savior? From January 21, 2024

David’s Stones: Slingers, Swingers, and Singers

Defeating our own giants means first defeating our fears. And fear isn’t conquered by thought, but action. From January 14, 2024