All masculine initiation is ultimately spiritual. The tests and challenges, the joys and adventures are all designed to awaken a man’s soul, draw him into contact with the masculine in himself, in other men, in the world, and in God, as Father. I...
READ MOREOur acts of remembering must therefore involve both essential truths and dramatic narrative. I believe we need to hold the creeds in one hand and our favorite forms of art in the other. There are films, books, poems, songs, and paintings I return...
READ MOREThere is a widespread belief in the church that to be a Christian somehow satisfies our every desire. As one camp song has it, “I’m inright, outright, upright, downright happy all day long.” What complete nonsense! Augustine emphasized, “The...
READ MOREI am loved. Deeply and truly loved.“I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3).
If all the pain of the world were gathered together, and sorted by cause into great basins, the vast majority of tears would fill an...
READ MOREOnce more, lend a mythic eye to your situation. Let your heart ponder this:
You awake to find yourself in the middle of a great and terrible war. It is, in fact, our most desperate hour. Your King and dearest Friend calls you forth. Awake...
READ MOREDoes God have a good heart? When we think of God as Author, the Grand Chess Player, the Mind Behind It All, we doubt his heart. As Melville said, "The reason the mass of men fear God and at bottom dislike him is because they rather distrust his...
READ MOREA friend of mine wanted to teach English as a second language in an Asian country, as a way of becoming a sort of undercover missionary. A beautiful dream, one that I'm sure she would have been excellent in fulfilling. But she rushed to the field...
READ MOREFirst, where does Jesus Christ now reside, in the life of the believer? Inside us; more precisely, in our hearts: “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I...
READ MOREMany people have the vague but ominous idea that God destroys the current reality and creates a new “heavenly” one. But that is not what Scripture actually says.
For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal...
READ MOREAnd then, alas, there is the church. Christianity, as it currently exists, has done some terrible things to men. When all is said and done, I think most men in the church believe that God put them on the earth to be a good boy. The problem with...
READ MORE“All mankind will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, your Redeemer.” (Isaiah 49:26)
Once upon a time the earth was whole and beautiful, shimmering like an emerald, filled with glory, bursting with anticipation. Such...
Hopefully you will find a few folks who walk with God to also walk with you through the seasons of your life. But honesty — and Scripture — forces me to admit they are a rare breed. Few there are who find it. All the more reason for you to make...
READ MOREBy the grace of God, we cannot quite pull it off. In the quiet moments of the day we sense a nagging within, a discontentment, a hunger for something else. But because we have not solved the riddle of our existence, we assume that something is...
READ MOREIf you woke each morning and your heart leapt with hope, knowing that the renewal of all things was just around the corner — might even come today — you would be one happy person. If you knew in every fiber of your being that nothing is lost,...
READ MOREAnd so Screwtape reveals the Enemy's ploy — first make humans flabby, with small passions and desires, then offer a sop to those diminished passions so that their experience is one of contentment. They know nothing of great joy or great sorrow....
READ MOREEntering into the Sacred Romance begins with eyes to see and ears to hear. Where would we be today if Eve had looked at the serpent with different eyes, if she had seen at once that the beautiful creature with the charming voice and the...
READ MOREAdam was given the earth to rule, but when the test came — he folded. He didn’t speak, didn’t act on Eve’s behalf. Satan was there, attacking his wife, threatening the whole kingdom, and Adam didn’t do jack squat. He fell through his acquiescence...
READ MOREThis is not to say the heart is only swirling emotion, mixed motives, and dark desire, without thought or reason. Far from it. According to Scripture, the heart is also where we do our deepest thinking. "Jesus, knowing what they were thinking in...
READ MOREForgive God? This idea is going to cause some readers to freak out. Just listen for a moment. If you are holding something in your heart against Jesus — the loss of someone you love, a painful memory from your past, simply the way your life has...
READ MOREHer child was snatched away from the dragon. ... Then there was war in heaven. (Revelation 12:5, 7 NLT)
I would pay good money to have a nativity scene with Revelation 12 included. Not only would it capture the imagination...