Advice to a Successful Young Athlete Desiring to Live for Christ

God has given you your physical and mental and spiritual gifts, to provide you a platform from which to draw attention to Him and bring Him glory.

Building a Biblical Worldview

Acts 17:11 says that “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” We should come to God’s Word with “great eagerness.” If we’re more eager to watch a sitcom or the evening news than to read God’s Word, inevitably our worldview will be more influenced by sitcoms and the evening news than by God.

We should “search” the Scriptures—we must probe deeply, not just skim the surface and quote verses ...

C. S. Lewis on the Christian Life…

• A man who is eating or lying with his wife or preparing to go to sleep in humility, thankfulness and temperance, is, by Christian standards, in an infinitely higher state than one who is listening to Bach or reading Plato in a state of pride.

• Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives.

• Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, "What! You too? I thought I was the only one!"

• Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of ...

A Call for Christian Risk

By removing eternal risk, Christ calls his people to continual temporal risk. For the followers of Jesus the final risk is gone.

The Cost of Discipleship

Note from Randy: I wrote this to the men in a study group I led, based on Dallas Willard’s book, Spirit of the Disciplines.

Death: Signing And Framing Your Life’s Portrait

The prospect of death has a way of getting our attention, of cutting to our very heart. Yet we also have a way of turning our eyes away from Death’s burning light to gaze again at the shadows of this world, stepping back away from death and ignoring the message it sends.

Does It Matter What Others Think?

The answer is not simple. Some biblical texts seem to say no. Others, yes. For example, Jesus warned us: “Woe to you when all men speak well of you” (Luke 6:26). And his own enemies saw in him an indifference to what others thought: “Teacher, we know that you are true, and care for no man; for you do not regard the position of men but truly teach the way of God” (Mark 12:14). Paul said that if he tried to please men he would no longer be a servant of Christ: “Am I now seeking the favor ...

Dual Citizenship

As Christians we carry one passport that says Earth and another that says Heaven. How should we live now in a world that will die, yet will be raised to exist again forever?

Some Christians believe that with prayer and hard work—including political mobilization—we can reclaim our country’s Christian distinctives, make abortion illegal again, and limit legalized marriage to a man and woman.

Other Christians question not only whether this is possible, but also whether it’s desirable. Why devote so much time, money and energy to improving a world that’s going to hell in a ...

Fasting seems to be an oft-neglected spiritual discipline for Christians these days. Do you have any thoughts or suggestions on fasting?

A few years ago I was involved in a study group with some younger men, and we went through Dallas Willard's book, The Spirit of the Disciplines. One of the issues we discussed was fasting. Below is what I wrote to them when we decided as a group to fast:

Fast for a full day. We came to this because fasting is one of the least practiced and/or understood of the disciplines among us.

Our schedules and family situations differ, so choose different days accordingly.

For some of us, including me since I'm insulin-dependent, this will be ...

Gift of Hope

There is a gift God has given his people in all ages that has enabled them not just to hold on, but to experience fulfillment even in times of great difficulty. This gift is hope.

A History of Your Life

O that we practiced the heavenly spiritual exercise of meditating on the providences of God! How sweet it would make our lives; how light it would make our burdens! You live estranged from the pleasure of the Christian life if you ignore or neglect this discipline.

Fill your heart with thoughts of Him and His ways! Let your meditation be as full and exhaustive as possible. Do not let your thoughts swim like feathers upon the surface of the water, but sink like lead to the bottom. Although we cannot sound the depth of providence by our short line, it ...

How Readest Thou?: An Urgent Appeal to Search the Scriptures

…we must never forget that all the education a man’s head can receive will not save his soul from hell, unless he knows the truths of the Bible.

A man may have prodigious learning, and yet never be saved. He may be master of half the languages spoken round the globe. He may be acquainted with the highest and deepest things in heaven and earth. He may have read books till he is like a walking encyclopedia. He may be familiar with the stars of heaven, the birds of the air, the beasts of the earth, and the fishes ...

I struggle with forgiving my parents for the painful home environment I grew up in. Do you know of any books that could help me?

I highly recommend David Augsburger’s The Freedom of Forgiveness. Also, Philip Yancy’s What’s So Amazing about Grace?, which shows us how God’s forgiveness of us should result in our forgiveness of others. Another good one is Forgive and Forget: Healing the Hurts We Don’t Deserve, by Lewis Smedes. In checking around on Amazon I also found a book called I Should Forgive, but . . .  Finding Release from Anger and Bitterness, by Chuck Lynch. It might be helpful. I also found some good reader reviews of Forgiving Our Parents, Forgiving Ourselves: Healing Adult Children of Dysfunctional Families ...

If a person enters into a relationship with Jesus Christ, shouldn’t there begin a transformation in their life?

If a person enters into a relationship with Jesus Christ, shouldn’t there begin a transformation in their life? Yet I read in your book The Grace & Truth Paradox and have been told by other people that “good works don’t save us, and bad works won’t kill us.” I strongly believe in eternal security, but I fear that some are going to stand face to face with the Creator of the universe and he will say, “I never knew you.”

It is quite amazing how often the term “legalism” comes up when there is a serious discussion about ...

Knowing God’s Will

When you know Christ, when you saturate yourself in His Word, knowing God’s will naturally follows. It’s not hidden and obscure, it’s clearer than it’s ever been.