The Bible is about God. He has a message he wants to communicate to humanity, and he has revealed it through this collection of writings. Here’s how to interpret what it says.
How Should We Interpret the Bible?
Personal Wholeness
Articles addressing the skills and qualities of one’s person that help them realize and maximize their potential and faithfully follow Jesus in the midst of a chaotic world (i.e. healthy disciplines, meaningful relationships, clarity of life purpose, finances, time management, physical health, emotional health, spiritual health, mental health, intellectual development, etc.)
It’s Okay to Enjoy Valentine’s Day
At the end of the day, I think what we are all looking for is verbal recognition that we matter, that just because I’m not at the same stage of life is you doesn’t mean one of us is missing out on something.
You Don’t Know How to Write—Stop Using Social Media to Wave Your Tongue
The limitations of written language are not excuses for coming across as rude. They are reasons to respect the medium and do the work it takes to communicate well through what you’ve written.
9 Ways You Accidentally Make Your Husband Feel Little
I suppose it is only fair, after writing about how we men make our wives feel ugly, that I address how women make their husbands feel little. Not because I want to hit women over the head with how they’re failing us husbands. Rather, just as women can feel ugly from small gestures on our part, we sometimes feel little by seemingly innocent actions from them.
In my last post, I talked about nine ways husbands accidentally make their wives feel ugly. Here I’ll share nine ways wives accidentally make their husbands feel little. As a lady wants to feel beautiful and wanted, a man wants to feel capable and needed. These are nine subtle ways wives undermine their husbands.
Why You Don’t Talk about Your Problem with Porn
A recent study reveals that 54% of born again Christian men confess to viewing porn monthly. More than half. It also showed that 97% of all men have seen pornography at some point in their life.
The interesting thing is that 1 in 3 women also struggle with pornography. It’s not a just a male issue. But in general, we keep it hidden to ourselves. We don’t really talk about it with anyone, which causes us to further struggle.
There is a reason you don’t talk about your problem with porn. It doesn’t mean you are bad or ungodly, it means you’re normal. But don’t let it hold you back from finding freedom.
Young Families in Danger
Are you scared to take your young family into missions? People usually go into missions as singles or young couples. When the kids start coming and grow older, they move back to the States and “settle down.” But what if that is actually one of the most dangerous things you could do?
They don’t learn to serve others automatically as soon as they become adults. If they have been raised pursuing sports, hanging out with people they think are cool, and taking luxurious family vacations, that’s how they will live when they have their own family.
In this post I give three reasons why I think it’s better for young families to get involved in ministry than to “settle down.”
7 Modesty Issues That Don’t Matter
In conservative Anabaptist circles, we often get hung-up on issues of modesty that don’t really matter.
What is modesty, anyway? If I’m going to be a modest man does it mean I wear long-sleeve shirts and long pants? Or is that completely beside the point and I just need make sure I have a humble, self-deprecating spirit?
I believe a good definition of modesty is an attitude of heart that causes us to live in such a way that does not bring attention to ourselves, but to the glory of God. For purpose this post, I want to point out seven things Anabaptists often consider “modesty issues,” but don’t really matter.
What to Do When You Don’t Know What’s Next in Life
Three years ago my wife and I were asked to teach school in Thailand. The opportunity excited us. We had met in Asia and both of us left a bit of our hearts there. But the question we wrestled with was whether it is actually God’s will for us to move back to Thailand, or whether it’s just our own selfish desire?
On one hand, it seemed ridiculous because we lived in Los Angeles and were heavily involved in ministry. Why would we leave? On the other hand, what if this request was God introducing a better opportunity for us? Or what if we were just infatuated with Asia?
In this post I reflect on five truths I’ve discovered about finding God’s direction for our future.
“I asked her out and she said ‘No'”
What’s a guy to do when he asks the girl of his dreams out and she turns him down? Or maybe they were dating, but she decided to break it up. Does that mean it’s over for good?
This week my wife and I are celebrating our third anniversary. I find it hard to believe it has been three years already because I remember so clearly how scared I felt when I first called Teresa’s Dad. I pushed it off for about a week. I was afraid that I would receive a “No.”
We have this thing called courtship, modeled after our “romance patriarchs”: Isaac and Rebecca, and Boaz and Ruth. As I understand it, the goal is to have a romantic relationship built by serving each other and around the purpose of pursuing marriage as opposed to simply having fun. But is what we call courtship in crisis?
The Secret to Experiencing Meaningful Relationships
What if relationships weren’t meant to be about getting somewhere, but enjoying the journey?
Recently, my wife and I had a little squabble. The whole episode left both of us a little hurt and longing for deeper oneness as a couple. It’s in times like that I feel defeated and anxious of whether I’ll ever get relationships down, if you know what I mean.
We are all made for relationships. Even us men. We want meaningful relationships. But what does that mean? What does it look like?
Why Marriage Won’t Solve Your Problem with Lust (and what will)
Lust isn’t just a man’s problem. It’s a human problem. Furthermore, lust isn’t the fact that you desire sexual intimacy. That desire is good and God-given.
If you’ve been following the posts on lust and desire, than you know that single men and women aren’t necessarily lusting when they desire something that can only be satisfied in marriage. On the other hand, married men and women could be lusting when they want what can be satisfied, but their wanting it is self-focused and not motivated by love.
In other words, burning with passion may not be wrong and fulfilling sexual intimacy could be. That means many of us may not fully understand 1 Corinthians 7.
God Brings about Our Greatest Change in Life through Difficult Times
Authors Note: This is a guest post by my friend Emily Smucker. Emily loves to learn, but it hasn’t always been that way. It took a difficult experience for God to help her learn to love learning. For a few years she struggled with West Niles virus and wrote about it in her book Emily (Check it out on […]
