There are two types of people – those who listen and those who don’t. Which one are you?

33 thing I'm thinking as I turn 33 years old.

When we suffer, our heart breaks open to God in ways that it can’t otherwise.

Nearly every one of us has a family member that we can’t imagine will ever believe the gospel. How can we break through the barriers to share the gospel with them?

It’s Valentine’s Day - the day most people pretend to hate because they either don’t feel loved, or don’t want to show love, but also because they always wish the love they had was more intense, more real.

There are times so awkward or painful or frightening that I have no words. In those times I repeat to myself, “it’s not about me.” That phrase reorients me. The sooner I can recognize my inward turn the sooner I can make the God-directed U-turn I need to be an active minister of the gospel.

Those moments of awareness in the midst of our sin – those moments where we are surprised by our actions or thoughts – are moments of grace from the throne. Here’s what we can do.

There is a strain of Christianity that says, “Let your hearts be troubled.” And there is a proper place in the Christian life for true conviction of sin. But the gospel does not consist in a troubled heart. There is a bigger truth, a bigger reality, than troubling over our sin. There is a gospel of grace that envelopes it all.

When we open the Bible, we are confronted not just with words on a page but a person speaking through a page. We are confronted by God himself. To read the Bible is a risky thing. We cannot read it, put it down, and claim ignorance. We have been enlightened through the Scriptures to the reality of God. To open the Bible is to expose ourselves.

You know those moments when you’re giving into temptation? Those moments when you’re in the midst of sin and you surprise even yourself? Those moments when the rest of God seems so far away? What do you do at that moment? What do you do when your peace with God doesn’t give you the peace of God?