Lecrae's "Don't Waste Your Life"

At the end of tennis season I gave our six graduating seniors from the team I help coach a bag of books with a video and one CD, Rebel, by the rapper Lecrae. One of the kids wrote me a note saying how he loves the CD and is listening to it daily.

One song on the CD I love is "Don’t Waste Your Life," which is the same title as John Piper’s book.

Thoughts about Thinking for the Christian

My friend Justin Taylor recently posted this on his excellent blog, one of my favorites. I also enjoy Tim Challies's blog, which Justin refers to. Here are some important thoughts about thinking and the Christian life.

How do I have an authentic, meaningful relationship with God?

A couple of weeks ago, we asked my blog readers to submit questions for me to answer. I answered five of them at a recent filming, and today’s blog and the next four posts will be my answers to those questions.

One of the questions asked was, “I have accepted Christ as my Savior. How do I begin to have a authentic meaningful relationship with God? Besides going to church. I mean on a more personal one on one basis."

Oswald Chambers: You Are Not Your Own

I appreciated this writing by Oswald Chambers, a Scottish minister and teacher whose teachings were compiled in the classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest.

"A Call to Anguish" from David Wilkerson

As a young Christian, forty years ago, I read David Wilkerson’s The Cross and the Switchblade and Run, Baby, Run, written by Nicky Cruz, a New York City gang warlord who David had led to the Lord. Both books had a profound influence on me. After Wilkerson died in a car crash April 27, I listened to a seven-minute excerpt from his message "A Call to Anguish."

Are Spiritual Disciplines Legalism?

When it comes to spiritual disciplines, some people think being committed to them is a matter of legalism. A couple of years ago, I led a group of young guys through a study of Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard, in which he emphasized the spiritual disciplines

Investing Time in Reading God’s Word

Revive Our Hearts, a great ministry that my daughters and a number of our ministry staff have benefited from, recently posted a link on Facebook to this two-minute video about finding time to read your Bible.