She quotes three current studies into the subject of self-esteem, all of which reach this conclusion and she states that ‘people with high self-esteem pose a greater threat to those around them than p...
Put it this way—are his promises conditional, or unconditional? Judges is crucial, in that it shows that neither answer to that question is right. Nearly all readers of the Old Testament take a libera...
Prayer plunges us into the fullness of who he is, and his love becomes more real than the rejection or disappointment we are experiencing. Then we can handle our problems, and we can hold our heads up...
Our prayer is that as you read, you’ll be struck not by the contents of this book, but by the book it’s helping you open up; and that you’ll praise not the author of this book, but the One he is point...
Only if your God can say things that outrage you and make you struggle (as in a real friendship or marriage!) will you know that you have got hold of a real God and not a figment of your imagination....
One of the world’s most prominent philosophers, Jürgen Habermas, was for decades a defender of the Enlightenment view that only secular reason should be used in the public square.9 Habermas has recent...
On the one hand, we know that we have not because we ask not (James 4:2). There are many goods that God will not give us unless we honor him and make our hearts safe to receive them through prayer. Bu...
Jesus evokes extreme reactions. Some are so furious with him they try to throw him off a cliff and kill him. Others are so terrified they cry out, Depart. . . . Get away from me!5 Others fall down bef...
Jesus did not merely weep for us; he died for us. Jonah went outside the city, hoping to witness its condemnation, but Jesus Christ went outside the city to die on a cross to accomplish its salvation.
Jesus declares not that he has come to reform religion but that he’s here to end religion and to replace it with himself.
I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or b...
He is both the rest and the storm, both the victim and the wielder of the flaming sword, and you must accept him or reject him on the basis of both. Either you’ll have to kill him or you’ll have to cr...
Habermas writes: The ideals of freedom . . . of conscience, human rights and democracy [are] the direct legacy of the Judaic ethic of justice and the Christian ethic of love. . . . To this day there i...
Christmas shows us that Christianity is not good advice. It is good news. THE
Augustine concludes, pour out your heart’s desire, but remember the wisdom and goodness of God as you do so.
A focus on being good distracts us from coming to terms with our sin; and it is because of our sin that Christ needed to die.
This is what a true elder brother would have done. He would have said, Father, my younger brother has been a fool, and now his life is in ruins. But I will go look for him and bring him home. And if t...
What’s the story line of the culture in which I live and the field where I work? Who are the protagonists and antagonists? • What are the underlying assumptions about meaning, morality, origin, and de...
This shows us that the good God always is working for us is character change. He is making us as loving, noble, true, wise, strong, good, joyful and kind as Jesus is.
There is ultimately no such thing as unanswered prayer. If the answer at first is no or not yet, it is because he gives us what we want in ways better than we asked.