What to Hold On To When Christmas Feels Hopeless

What to Hold On To When Christmas Feels Hopeless

For many people, the happiness we expect at Christmas only magnifies the pain of the challenges. The over-the-top joy in sugary-sweet Christmas movies can make us feel like we’re the only ones who are hurting. But the story of the first Christmas is actually a dark tale that both acknowledges our pain and points to our hope. Consider the harsh realities of the first Christmas described in Luke’s Gospel and what they reveal.

How Job’s Trials Redefine Comfort in Suffering

How Job’s Trials Redefine Comfort in Suffering

Painful trials have a way of testing our coping strategies. The Book of Job introduces a man whose suffering included unimaginable financial devastation, unrelenting physical pain, and the tragic loss of his children. His story helps us to see the limitations of some of our usual responses and gives us more effective means of relief.

Three Ways Our Views on Money Would Shock the Early Church

Three Ways Our Views on Money Would Shock the Early Church

In one of the wealthiest eras in history, our attitudes about money often reflect scarcity instead of generosity. This post explores common beliefs about giving that would baffle the early church and challenges us to embrace their faith-filled perspective.

What You Call Conviction Might Just Be Convenience

What You Call Conviction Might Just Be Convenience

I thought I had strong convictions. I learned that many of my beliefs were borrowed from other people and hadn’t been tested, applied, or internalized. I’ve come to recognize the cheaper substitutes to convictions that we often mistake for the real thing. As you consider them, decide whether your own beliefs are truly rooted or just borrowed.

Why God’s Forgiveness Isn’t a Ctrl-Z for All the Wrong You’ve Done

Why God’s Forgiveness Isn’t a Ctrl-Z for All the Wrong You’ve Done

God’s forgiveness is complete, but it doesn’t erase every consequence of sin. Exploring the guilt offering in the Book of Leviticus reveals how God’s grace calls us to confess, repent, and take action to restore what our sins have broken.

How Leviticus Can Show You the Path to Peace

How Leviticus Can Show You the Path to Peace

Stress at work, problems with kids, and our mental health push us to look for peace in different ways. But the instructions for the Peace Offering in the Book of Leviticus teach us to confess, connect, and celebrate in order to experience lasting peace.

What Leviticus Taught Me About How To Express My Love to God

What Leviticus Taught Me About How To Express My Love to God

The grain offering of Leviticus teaches us how to respond to the love and forgiveness of God. It pictures an ancient act of devotion that shows how God delights in sincere expressions of love, no matter how simple.

No More Fig Leaves: How Leviticus Transformed My Search for Acceptance

No More Fig Leaves: How Leviticus Transformed My Search for Acceptance

Desperate for acceptance, I went to wild lengths in university to fit in. Years later, Leviticus, a book many avoid, transformed how I viewed acceptance. The background of a sacrifice called a sin offering reveals a deeper, lasting acceptance from God that goes beyond masks and striving.

How To Love Your Enemy When Your Enemy’s an Abusive Family Member

How To Love Your Enemy When Your Enemy’s an Abusive Family Member

Everybody knows the command to honour your father and your mother, and Jesus called us to love our enemies. But what if our enemy is also our abuser? What if the parent we’re called to honour is mistreating or exploiting us? Some say the Christian response is to turn the other cheek. Others follow the recent explosion in articles advocating that you cut off all the toxic people in your life. The biblical tension is somewhere in between.

Why I’m Glad Jesus Didn’t Start a Zoom Group

Why I’m Glad Jesus Didn’t Start a Zoom Group

Maybe starting a Zoom group in the first century wasn’t an option technologically, but there’s value in considering what would have been lost if Jesus had chosen to mentor His disciples online instead of in-person.