3 Ways A Man Should Lead His Home: A man who loves Jesus and leads his family well has at least three roles in common with the man who is called to lead the church.

4 Ways to Love Those With Mental Illness: It is time to face the fact that there are millions of people who struggle with mental illness and the church must rise up and disciple them. Jesus Christ is greater than any mental illness and even though anxiety wins many of battles, I always remember that Jesus Christ has already won the war. We will be raised up. We will have new creation bodies. We will not suffer forever. He is the resurrection and life.

Blue Collar Man: On Financial Struggle and Working For A Living: In general, youngish-Reformed evangelicals tend to be a pretty affluent, heavily degreed, upwardly mobile lot with a surplus of time to read websites and grow their considerable book collections. [1] With “providing” often being a top priority for Reformed men, this group generally has a clear vocational plan and usually gets plenty of opportunities to implement said plan. And because we tend to be small-government capitalists, we tend to feel pretty good about ourselves when we’re making lots of bank–and don't feel conflicted about enjoying it. And in general (again), readers of TGC tend to be pastors, professors, seminary students, theology nerds, or wives of the aforementioned. But what about those who don't fit this social/cultural Reformed paradigm, including in their vocations? 

God's Will For Your Wait: Sometimes God calls us to wait, and that is hard. But waiting for God is not passive; it is active, purposeful, and spiritual.

Stuck In Relationships: I've spent thousands of hours in counseling sessions with people who are stuck in relationships. It wasn't always a husband and wife in a marriage gone bad; any two people in any type of relationship can find themselves stuck.

The Child Of The Future: Like college football, the world for young people has changed dramatically. High exposure to media via technology and the deluge of mixed messages in the culture have created an incredibly difficult landscape for parents and children to navigate.

The God Of Diverse Excellencies: Jesus is calling. Do you hear his voice? There is no voice like his. Only in Jesus Christ will you find a God who is both a strong Lion and a slain Lamb. Only in him will you find a God of so many beautiful and diverse excellencies.

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Restoring Shalom: While God is the only One who can bring Shalom to full completion, He invites His children to participate in the restoration process. What does our participation look like? I want to open to Revelation 21 and look at 5 ways you can approach your everyday ministry life.

The Twitter Disconnect: Why Christians Are More Loving In Real Life: Perhaps it’s time for Christians to reconsider how we use social media. What are we saying to one another that we wouldn’t say offline? Are we speaking to one another as humans, or as presumed enemies of whatever cause we most strongly believe in—even causes and beliefs that are of vital importance to the Gospel? How do we cultivate a persona of holiness in our daily lives and how can we carry that cultivation into our online lives? Why are our words online disconnected from the stuff of holiness?

Good News For Mother's Day: Striving to be the “Best Mom Ever” will leave you feeling exhausted and unworthy. Thankfully, that’s not your calling as a mom.

Christian Reflections On Mental Illness: Christians are right to want to provide all the help possible for these kinds of problems. If we want to provide real help, however, it will be important to know what we're talking about when we use the term...

How Do you Deal With Feeling Unloved?: Everyone feels the basic needs for love, security, and significance. But we should be wary of these psychological needs.

5 Lessons From The Life of Stephen: One of the outworkings of the gospel is that it will inevitably reorder your value system. This is exactly what we find in the book of Acts, in the life of an ordinary man name Stephen – he realized the value of the gospel and was willing to risk everything to preach it. It’s because of common guys like Stephen—much more than through the apostles—that the early church grew. I think there are 5 lessons we can learn from the life of Stephen.

Walking the Wedding Aisle Without Your Virginity: So what is the gift you do have to give to this fiancé with whom you have had sexual relations? What gift can you give her that God might be pleased to make so wonderful, the gift you can’t give her will not destroy? And here it is. You can look your fiancé in the eye and say this.

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Ways To Restore Zeal When Sharing Your Faith: Hundreds of Christians are martyred every day for their faith. Yet, today, most Christians in the western church will be silent, afraid, or unmoved by the lostness around them. Why aren’t we as zealous about our faith in the western world? We don’t run the risk of death for our faith (at least not yet) but we seem mostly apathetic about sharing Jesus. Here are a few thoughts:

The 'Gospel' That Almost Killed Me: If you meet someone lost in this false gospel, please, please, please love them and tell them the truth. Sit them down, buy them lunch, and open up your Bibles. Speak life. Be brave. Odds are, no one has ever loved them enough to tell them the truth about themselves. The truth is they cannot be saved by a false gospel, and the prosperity gospel is certainly that. Jesus saved me from the prosperity gospel, and he can save more. He will save more. How could he not?

The Power Of A Boring Testimony: If you’re the type of person who has a boring testimony, take heart! You also are a sinner who deserves hell apart from the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Just because your sins weren’t as directly destructive to society doesn’t mean that you’re not rebellious. As Tim Keller has famously said, “We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.” Jesus’ death on the cross was every bit as much for you as for anyone else.

What is Marriage, According To The Bible?: We can’t turn the clock back to the days of the Christian social consensus the West has foolishly thrown away.  But we who say we believe the gospel can and must stand up for the biblical definition of marriage.  We must cultivate beautiful marriages ourselves.  We must suffer social rejection bravely.  We must pray for revival.  We must wait for the inevitable collapse of every false view of marriage.  We must lovingly serve all who suffer for their foolish attempts at false “marriages.”  And we must go to church this Sunday and worship the living God with all our hearts, so that we ourselves are sustained for faithfulness over the long haul, because this isn’t going to be easy.

On World Vision and The Gospel: We’re entering an era where we will see who the evangelicals really are, and by that I mean those who believe in the gospel itself, in all of its truth and all of its grace. And many will shrink back. There are no riots if the gospel you’re preaching doesn’t threaten the silversmiths of the Temple of Artemis. And there are no clucking tongues if the gospel you’re preaching isn’t offered to tax collectors and temple prostitutes. 

World Vision And Why We Grieve For the Children: So, yes, we grieve for the children across the world who will be adversely affected by World Vision’s decision and the evangelical response. But we also grieve for children here at home who are growing up in a culture in which sexual idolatry distorts the meaning of marriage and the beauty of God’s original design. Today is a day to grieve for the children.

World Vision Reverses Decision To Hire Christians In Same-Sex Marriages: Only two days after announcing it would hire Christians in same-sex marriages, World Vision U.S. has reversed its ground-breaking decision after weathering intense criticism from evangelical leaders.

Gentrification: Its Impact On The Local Church: All of the above leads us to conclude that gentrification is hurting local churches by multiplying cross-ethnic tensions (thereby hindering the proclamation of the gospel of reconciliation across ethnic lines) and by producing new segregated congregations even in ethnically diverse neighborhoods (thereby hindering the visibility of the gospel of reconciliation at work).

The Distrustful Generation: The decline of social trust is the deepest problem our culture faces. The cancer of distrust will eat away at all our plans to deal with political, economic, and familial problems. Sooner or later, this culture is going to realize that nothing can save it if it doesn't rebuild its moral bonds. Showing the world what φιλοξενία looks like will not only help us stay faithful as our culture becomes more faithless; it will help our culture rediscover why it used to think faith was so important.

Our Consuming and Crushing Snare: We don't typically learn what others really think of us. But do we really want to know? More often we're left to assume the best or nothing at all. Unfortunately, though, many of us don't assume the best or nothing at all. We're preoccupied by the opinions of others.

Believer Baptism and Mental Disabilities: Navigating the question of a believer baptism and mental disabilities and how these two go together.

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Weekly Once-Over:

Why Does God Allow Burdens?: A quote often attributed to Mother Teresa is, “I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that he didn’t trust me so much.” It’s a clever line. But it’s not right.

Mental Illness - The New Leprosy: Jesus Christ directly called those who labor and are heavy laden to seek him for rest. As followers of Christ, it is therefore the responsibility of Christians to care for these souls and the Church’s obligation to cultivate an environment that welcomes this process. However, it must first be understood the missteps that have led the Church to separate themselves from this calling. Here are three overarching mistakes that have led the Christian church to make outcasts of those with mental health problems. (Also Part Two of the Blog Post - "3 Ways To Engaging Those Struggling With Mental Illness")

People Are Books: The famous British historian H.G. Wells is credited with this quote: “I am a historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.” It is hard to find anyone these days that will truly contest that reality.

Are You Faking or Trying When It Comes To God?: Plenty of people fake it in their spiritual lives. They want to look like healthy Christians or to make it through church without anyone looking askance at them or asking a personal question. That comes from a heart of pride and deceit. Trying until it pays off is different. It comes from a heart of need and an eye on the goal of growth in holiness. Both faking and trying might feel like we are going through the motions, but the end result of one is emptiness and exposure. The result of the other is closeness with God

5 Keys For Reinvention: Growth brings change. Period. That’s true for big churches and small churches, and it’s true for people, families, corporations, and countries. If you want to function well at the next level, reinvention is absolutely necessary.

Porn Brain: Even sex experts, celebrities, and Hollywood are noting the destructive realities of porn in relationships, and its complete rewiring of how individuals approach sex.

The New Year For Your Children: This year, let's be intentional with teaching our children about Christ. While everyone else makes plans and sets goals for all that they will do this year, let's consider specific ways we can point our children to their Savior.

Duck Dynasty Debrief: In the end, let’s take a deep breath and get some perspective. We don’t pin our hopes to a television show, no matter how popular. And we don’t adjust our convictions to fit the culture, no matter how unpopular. Celebrity television stars come and go; it’s the Word of the Lord that stands forever.

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