Holy means God cannot be compared to anyone else. He certainly cannot be likened to the worst person you know. He cannot even be compared to the best. His love and faithfulness endure forever.
Humility means that you acknowledge you don’t know everything, and you might be especially confused when it comes to God.
If our failure to consistently worship the true God is the key feature of sin, we are sinners all.
If you feel ugly you will experience shame. The two are bound together.
Imagine the presence of one who deeply loves you and is powerful enough to deal with the things you fear. It turns fear into confidence. But, like all spiritual growth, this change only comes with pra...
Our goal is to love people more than need them. We are overflowing pitchers, not leaky cups.
Shame lives in the community, though the community can feel like a courtroom. It says, You don’t belong—you are unacceptable, unclean, and disgraced because You are wrong, you have sinned (guilt), or...
The character of God is the basis for our connection to him, not our intrinsic worth. Self-worth, or anything we think would make us acceptable to God, would suit our pride but it has the disturbing s...
The fastest way to bring a wrecking ball to our skewed interpretations is through confession.
The ordinary is not good enough for us; our hubris wants something grandiose. But the ordinary done in obedience to Christ is beautiful, inspired, and oftentimes heroic.
The rule of thumb is that if someone is able to be verbally or physically abusive, he or she is able to understand that the behavior is wrong.
There is something about uncleanness that asks for blood.
Think about the nature of depression. Life is turned inward. You already have a sense that, for all practical purposes, God is not present. Add to that your relentless condemnation and pervasive self-...
This is the last word. Jesus always has the last word, and it is always a good last word. It is always about him and it always takes you by surprise with his love and acceptance. What is your response...
Though the cross and everything leading up to it violate our sensibilities and we are rightly aghast, the reality is that human beings have never liked God very much. At the cross, the nature of God w...
Through our struggles and pain, we are being offered perseverance, the character of God. Hardships are intended to give us a spiritual makeover, that we may share in his holiness (Heb. 12:10). Therefo...
To look to Christ to meet our perceived psychological needs is to Christianize our lusts. We are asking God to give us what we want, or so we can have more happiness, not holiness, in our lives.
Try changing the subject so it is more about God than about your shame. The basic idea is to focus on the matchless worth of the Lord God and then get connected to him. For you are a people holy to th...
We are more concerned about looking stupid (a fear of people) than we are about acting sinfully (a fear of God).
We can think that God is good, and we are pleased with him, though we might be pleased less with him than we are with the ease of our lives. Then, when life is hard—especially when life remains hard—t...
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