3 Ways We Parents Wrongly Teach Kids to Earn God’s Approval
As parents we hate to see our kids live with the burden of trying to gain approval. Or worrying if they are going to be accepted by their looks, their dress, their performance. Or struggling with the pain of wondering if others will love and accept them. As Christian parents we know we have a […]
Popeyes, Our Fascination With “New,” and the Exhaustion of Climbing
Because I grew up in the New Orleans area I grew up eating and loving Popeye’s Chicken (Popeyes started in New Orleans). As a kid, my parents would drive us by Al Copeland’s house at Christmas, the founder of Popeyes, because of the incredible Christmas lights he put up each year. My childhood nostalgia had […]
The Only Way To Rejoice Always
I have been thinking about the command to “Rejoice Always” a lot over the last five weeks for two reasons. First, I have been preparing for a teaching series on God’s will in the Scripture “rejoicing always” is clearly His desire for us. The apostle Paul wrote: “Rejoice always. Pray constantly, give thanks in everything; […]
The Beauty of No Shame
When the apostle Paul wrote about marriage, he reminded us of the first couple in Scripture: For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery — but I am talking about Christ and the church. […]
Testing Leadership Ambition
The following is by Kyle Worley. Kyle is a connections minister at The Village Church. He is also the author of Pitfalls: Along the Path to Young and Reformed. I had spent months writing a book, working hard to speak truthfully and persuasively, and I sat there holding it in my hands deciding whether or not I should give it to […]
Christ Was Cursed
No one longs to be cursed before God. We want His blessing, His favor. Yet unless we continually obey everything in the law and never falter at one point (James 2:10), we are guilty of violating all the law. And because of our sinfulness, we were cursed before God. But the scandalously good news is […]
Remember You Are His Bride
As you live, remember you are the pure and forgiven bride of Christ. Remembering your identity as a pure bride should lead you to live pure and blameless. Purity is your new identity. To live impure is to not live the reality of who you really are. To live impure is to revert to your […]
The Bride of Christ
Unless you have dozed off at every wedding you attended, you have heard the famous passage about God making two people one. When God first set the foundation for marriage in the book of Genesis, He said that two people will become one flesh (Gen. 2:24). God is describing the depth of a relationship where […]