Tag Archives: christian living

Posted on

How to Take a Digital Sabbath

Do You Control Technology or Does It Control You?

by

How often do you check your email? Social media? The news feed on your smartphone? Can you even remember the last time you went one full day without your digital device?

Maybe you need to give it a rest. A sabbath rest.

God started the whole sabbath thing when he rested after creating everything.

Although he didn’t need a day off, he took one to convey the importance of rest in how His universe functions. Rest is part of the divine design. And yet we often ignore it in our” always on” digital culture.

Posted on

One Thing You Can Always Expect When Stepping Out

Why the "Open Door" Method of Determining God's Will Doesn't Work

by

Stepping out before you know how it all turns out—that’s what faith is all about. But many Christians embrace the false notion that it should be easy, or at least simple. And if it’s not, God isn’t in it.

But when we look at Scripture, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, there is one thing we know we will encounter every time we change direction in life—resistance.

Posted on

How to Kill the Green-Eyed Monster of Envy

5 Ways to Stop Envy Before It Starts

by

It’s been called the green monster. Invidia in the Latin texts. A deadly sin. And a common one. Envy.

I confess to falling for it at times. Far too many times. No matter how much success I experience, it’s never enough.

The book launch could have been bigger—like hers. The traffic could be higher—like his. The number of speaking engagements could be more—and so it goes. More. Always more.

As we strolled through our neighborhood last night, my wife and I noted features we liked about other houses, and I felt envy creeping in again—even though we have a beautiful home with more room than we’ve ever had before.

Envy, you see, is not rational. It doesn’t make sense when we think about it. But then we usually don’t think about it. We just go with the feeling and end up in a bad place.

But usually by the end of each day we’ve encountered more than a few people who appear to be enjoying success. More than we’re having, at least.

And that’s all it takes. We see it and we want it for ourselves.

Posted on

3 Things to Do When You Feel Alone

Discover How Jesus Beat Loneliness—and You Can Too!

by

Ever feel alone? Jesus did, too. That’s right. Messiah. Creator. Savior of the world. Even he dealt with loneliness. After all, one of the reasons he became one of us was to understand what we go through each day on this terrestrial ball. But unlike us, Jesus refused to give in to the temptation to fixate on that feeling.

How did he beat it? Jesus beat loneliness by speaking the truth to himself.

It matters greatly how we talk to ourselves. Let’s face it, we are the one person we can never get away form—no matter how hard we might try at times. So what we say to ourselves is critical when we are tempted to feel alone.

It happened at least once to Jesus, most noticeably as he gave his disciples a final briefing just prior to his crucifixion.

Posted on

How to Stop Being Afraid and Obey God

7 Biblical Steps for Overcoming Fear

by

Smack dab in the middle between real life and real faith is—real fear.  Fear of failure. Fear that we’ll look foolish. Fear that everyone will laugh when we do fail. Fear that __________ —fill in the blank with your own fear. There’s no shortage of reasons to be afraid. But how can we stop being afraid?

I believe that for those who have trusted in Christ as their only hope, God has not left us to be paralyzed by the unknown.

Instead, His Word gives us 7 steps for overcoming fear and rising victoriously above the challenges that come our way.

That’s not to say it will be easy.

Posted on

Why Knowing Your Strengths Isn’t Enough

Finding Life Direction Requires a Kingdom Awareness

by

Finding your life direction requires figuring out your strengths. I shared about how I discovered my strengths in this post. But for the Christian seeking to live an authentic life, it will take more than an awareness of strengths to find God’s best for your life.

It will take a Kingdom awareness.

Our strengths reside where our passions and talents unite. So if we devote the bulk of our time to doing things where those two intersect, we will be more productive and more fulfilled.

Why? Because we are doing the kinds of things God wired us to do.

You do not need to be a Christ-follower for this to be true.

But the disciples of Jesus should desire more. Jesus calls us to follow him ahead of career ambitions, the love of money, or even family ties. Our life direction priorities must align with His Kingdom priorities.

Posted on

The Person God Wants Me to Marry Is … Part Two

The Second Question Every Christian Should Ask Before Saying "I Do"

by

Don’t you wish it were easier to figure out the person God wants you to marry? After all, the movies make it look so easy:  See the person. Fall madly in love. Pine away for him or her for a little while. Then magically overcome all obstacles and live happily ever after.

At least that seems like the way it’s supposed to work. But real life often unfolds rather differently, doesn’t it?

And for those who want a happy, healthy marriage that will be pleasing to God, it’s going to take more than eHarmony to marry the right person.

Posted on

How Fasting Helps You Discover God’s Will

One Discipline You Can Use to Focus Your Faith

by

What’s the one thing you can do that is guaranteed to focus your faith and help you discover God’s will for your life? Here’s a hint: it may be the spiritual discipline most often ignored in Western Christianity. Figured it out yet? It’s fasting. And it can help you more than you can imagine.

Thanksgiving is hardly gone, and here I am talking about going without. Maybe some of us need to take a few days off from eating at this point to preserve our waistlines. But the kind of fasting I’m talking about is not for dietary reasons; it’s for the many other benefits it can bring to help you discover God’s best for your life.

Fasting may be the most underutilized spiritual discipline the Christian has in his or her backpack for the journey to live an authentic life with abundant faith.

Posted on

The Seventh Secret You Need to Know about God’s Will

We Won’t Hear God’s Voice if We’re Not in the Habit of Listening

by

Have you ever faced a key life decision and wondered why God wasn’t giving you clear direction? I mean, how hard would it be for Him to rent a billboard or at least shoot you an e-mail to say, “Click here to know what to do next.”

Doesn’t God own the data on a thousand servers as much as He owns the cattle on a thousand hills? I confess that I have never needed any cattle, but I sure could have used an email with divine direction at key times in life.

When we don’t hear clear direction from God, why is it we always assume it is God’s fault?

Posted on

The Sixth Secret You Need to Know about God’s Will

How Serious Are You about Talking with God?

by

I came across an intriguing but sad comment by a reader recently. He said that he once asked God for direction, but God didn’t answer. So he had to make his own way, and it hadn’t turned out well. I couldn’t help but wonder if God had not answered or if this reader simply had not listened or not liked what he heard.

In fact, he had made some pretty serious, even criminal mistakes, all of which he blamed on God for not responding to his request for direction.

I know in my own faith walk, when I choose poorly, it is often the result of trusting in my own wisdom instead of waiting for and insisting on an answer from God.