Saturday, 4 May 2024

Thoughts

A Message for High Schoolers and Everyone Else Too: Find Your Happiness in Christ

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Last year I had the privilege of talking to a group of high schoolers about happiness. I love young people and enjoy spending time with them, so it was a pleasure to bring them a message I feel is of utmost importance for people of all ages.

When I was 15 years old, I came to faith in Christ. I discovered that a lot of my unhappiness had been due to my sin and separation from God, and that when I came into a relationship with Jesus, my life was infused with a happiness I’d never felt before.

Now..

Kids—and Adults—Need to Get Outside

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Several years ago, a friend and I were driving through a neighborhood on a beautiful summer day and he said, “We haven’t seen a single kid outdoors. They’re all inside, watching movies, playing video games and looking at computer screens.”

Nanci and I have talked about how when we were growing up, free time when it was daylight meant being outside, and free time at night meant reading a book. I have great memories of playing army in the wheat fields around our house, and playing football and bas..

If “No Eye Has Seen,” How Can We Know About Heaven?

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Years ago when I was working on my book Heaven, a pastor visiting my office asked what I was writing. When I told him, he replied, “Well, since Scripture says ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him,’ what will you be talking about? Obviously, we can’t know what God has prepared for us in Heaven.” (He was referring to 1 Corinthians 2:9.)

I said to him what I always say: “You didn’t complete the sentence. You also have to read verse t..

We Need to Laugh at Ourselves (Try Checking out the Babylon Bee)

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Over the years, I’ve observed some Christians who are perpetually somber, never laughing or poking fun at themselves, rarely celebrating, and quick to frown when they see someone having fun. They believe that happiness is ungodliness, and that having fun is a sin. It’s not!

Though his portrait shows a somber expression, German Reformer Martin Luther (1483–1546) said, “It is pleasing to the dear God whenever thou rejoicest or laughest from the bottom of thy heart.”

As believers, we need to lau..

God of the Beautiful

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In an 1847 letter to his father, Scottish author George Macdonald (1824–1905) wrote of the barriers he faced in turning to Christ:

One of my greatest difficulties in consenting to think of religion was that I thought I should have to give up my beautiful thoughts & my love for the things God has made. But I find that the happiness springing from all things not in themselves sinful is much increased by religion. God is the God of the Beautiful, Religion the Love of the Beautiful, & Heaven the Hou..

Is Personal Reflection Still Valuable?

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Introspection is a skill that is undervalued these days. For the classical Christian philosophers, introspection was the ability to look within oneself, to meditate on one’s thoughts and feelings, and to separate one’s constructive and unconstructive reflections. To read their writings is immediately to encounter their impressive introspective powers. They had an astounding ability to conform their minds and behaviors to God’s will, down to the last cognitive detail. For many of them, introspection was a treasured skill that they had cultivated via years of practice.

Why did the classical Christian philosophers consider introspection to be so important? In part it was so that they could better love God. Introspection enabled them to identify their selfish and sinful cognitive habits. Sins like adultery, theft, and deception were for them the mere external and visible manifestations of an internal corruption. For ..

Be a Real World-Changer, Not a Wannabe

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The students I meet as a professor are idealistic and want to be world changers. They dream of deeds that will transform the world. Some of them do go on to great things. But many do not, and their lives are sidetracked by addictions, poor financial decisions, and failed relationships.

Where do they go wrong? In dreaming of epic lives, a lot of my students are forgetting the value of small-scale heroism. Many of them could in fact live epically if they focused on small things, rather than large. For instance, few could ever impact an American presidential election. The system is just too vast for individuals to make a difference. But a lot of them could change their city council. A lot of them could influence the kids on their neighborhood block. A lot of them, through introspection, could overcome their personal addictions. And a lot of them could bless their children, their spouses, and their friends and neighbors.

I love following the world news. I am often glued to the Washington P..

Risen: fictional or historical?

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Risen, in the spirit of Mel Gibson’s Passion, is a forthcoming blockbuster film about the first few days after Christ’s resurrection. It tells the tale from the perspective of a roman soldier, who, tasked with disproving the resurrection, finds his assumptions challenged and his worldview shattered. I love historically responsible depictions of Biblical and classical events, and I can’t wait for this film to appear.

But is the film accurate? Does its story depict things the way they (probably) were, or is its tale-telling too fanciful? I haven’t seen the movie yet, but the fact – surprising perhaps – is that the historical evidence for Christ’s bodily resurrection is actually quite strong for such an ancient event. Consider the following three points.

First, there were numerous people in a number of different circumstances who encountered Jesus after his death. These stories appear in the Biblical gospels and they were attested to by other ancient writers as well. True, the writers of ..

What is Cultural Persecution?

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The statistics suggest that over the last decade in America, the cultural Christians have finally begun to break ranks with other, more observant Christians. It’s not that participating Christianity is declining so much as it is that the persons who in previous surveys have classified themselves as ‘Christian’ because it was the culturally expected thing to do have now begun no longer to classify themselves with any religious designation at all. From recent Pew surveys we are told that the ranks of fervent Christians – including especially evangelicals – have slipped hardly at all. But the numerical decline among their less observant mainline counterparts has begun to accelerate.

The decline of cultural Christianity is both a good and a bad thing for the future of the Christian religion in the United States. It is a good thing in that the Christian church will now be smaller, sleeker, and more muscular. Its members will really believe its doctrines and will not be participating in its ..

What are Friends and Family For?

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During the Christmas season, friends and family are one of the blessings we celebrate. But, looking at our actual life choices, many of us do not always see friends and family as sources of strength along life’s journey.

A New York Times special report that was published online on October 18, 2015 described the life and death of a retired mover named George Bell. There was nothing distinctive about Bell and he died alone of heart disease in his apartment at age 72, without any family being aware of his existence. The article concluded that Bell’s solitary existence, life, and death are becoming all too commonplace among the 50,000 or so deceased persons in New York City each year. For Gerard Sweeney, a private lawyer who does public administrative work and handles cases like Bell’s, “You can die in such anonymity in New York. We’ve had instances of people dead for months. No one finds them, no one misses them.”

The statistics suggest that Bell’s life of solitude is increasingly frequen..

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