Seeking Our Happiness in God

Scripture makes it clear that God is the ultimate source of happiness. Our problem is when we start seeking happiness in things that are secondary instead of primary.

Giving Thanks Brings Happiness

The person who gives thanks learns to be thankful. And the thankful person is a happy person.

Homosexuality and Happiness

Tony Reinke, a young evangelical thinker who I know and deeply appreciate, has written what I think is an excellent piece on homosexuality, idolatry and happiness.

How pleased will God be to have us with Him in Heaven?

As I’ve often said, A. W. Tozer is one of my favorite all-time authors. I love what he says here, and what I also love is that elsewhere He affirms God’s holiness, justice and wrath in uncompromising ways, then gives us this beautiful depiction of God’s love for His children, and His delight in us

Does it Dishonor God for Us to Long for Reunion with Loved Ones?

Believers periodically tell me versions of the following: “We shouldn’t be thinking about reunion with loved ones, or the joys of Heaven. We should only be thinking about being united with Christ, who is our only treasure.” This sounds spiritual, but is it?

Emotions: Part of Being Created in God’s Image

In Scripture, God is said to enjoy, love, laugh, take delight, and rejoice, as well as be angry, happy, jealous, and glad. Rather than viewing these actions and descriptors as mere anthropomorphisms, we should consider that our emotions are derived from God’s.

Free Hugs and Finding Joy in One Another

God delights in his children’s enjoyment of one another. True, Christ alone is sufficient to meet all our needs. Yet, God has designed us for relationship not only with himself but also with others of our kind.

Dug Down Deep and the Joy of Studying God

Does studying God—and doctrine—have to be a dull discipline, or can it be an exhilarating exercise that transforms your life? I believe that theology is the foundation upon which worldview is built. People have good worldviews because they have good theology and bad worldviews because they have bad theology. I say this partly because I can't divorce heart orientation from theology. The word believe in the New Testament (for example, in John’s gospel) stresses belief as trust and submission. This is my approach to theology. It’s not a dried up system of intellectual affirmations divorced from a passion for God; rather, it is a life-transforming belief of both seeing and embracing God’s truth. It is a belief that is a trust—one which permeates your mind and heart and life.

The Pressure to Accomplish Snuffs Out the Pleasure of Being God's Child

Our friend Amy Guerino recently wrote a thoughtful blogpost that really spoke to me. I asked her permission to share it with you here.

The Pressure to Accomplish Snuffs Out the Pleasure of Being God's Child

Peasant Woman Threading a Needle by Jules Breton

“To live in the past and future is easy. To live in the present is like threading a needle.”
~ Walker Percy in Lancelot

 In his book Conformed to His Image Kenneth Boa explains, “For many people, life has become so filled with if-only of the future that today becomes an inconvenient obstacle in the path of reaching tomorrow…We have a natural tendency to invest our energies in goals and accomplishments we hope to achieve in the days ahead. The problem is that even when we are able to attain these ends, we are already thinking of the next one. Thus, by moving from one product to product, we are rarely alive to the realities of the present.”

Question and Answer of the Week: Looking Forward to Heaven?

With the deaths of several celebrities on the forefront of people's minds, I want to focus this week's question and answer on Heaven. Because the reality is, as human beings, we all have a terminal disease called mortality. The current death rate is 100 percent. Unless Christ returns soon, we’re all going to die. We don’t like to think about death; yet, worldwide, 3 people die every second, 180 every minute, and nearly 11,000 every hour. If the Bible is right about what happens to us after death, it means that more than 250,000 ...