Posts in category For the Heart

How many times have you heard the story? A kid has a bright idea, drops out of college, and starts a business borrowing on credit …

There are moments when joy comes easy. Or so it seems. Perhaps a simple pleasure brings joyful reflection: a warm fall evening with the family, …

Esther Talbert cared for her mother-in-law through Alzheimer’s stretching out well over a decade. Here are just a few of her meditations and lessons learned: The subheading …

Had I just committed the unpardonable parenting crime? I had finished a conversation with my four-year-old daughter: “We are all sinners,” I looked her straight in the eyes as I continued, “And sin always hurts. It hurts us because we deserve to be punished in hell for it.” I had just told my daughter she was a sinner, condemned by God. Had I cruelly set time-bombs of depression and despair in her little heart by teaching her the doctrine of original sin?

Here’s what we’ve discovered from the New Testament so far. I’ll just rehearse the principles, not the passages. But it’s important to remember that these …

The most spiritual thing you can do this school year is to love the Lord your God with all your mind. You’re not working for a piece of paper. You’re getting an education the Lord can use to open doors for His glory, the rest of your days.

Principle 1: Whenever the offender genuinely confesses and asks forgiveness, I am obligated to grant it fully and freely. The second time the topic of …

Which statement sounds more spiritual to you? A. “Don’t follow me. Just follow Jesus.” B. “Watch me, and do what I do.” Obviously, the first …

When we casually absolve everyone of everything irrespective of their own attitude toward their sin, we make light of sin, cheapen the grace of forgiveness, and short-circuit what God wants to do inside them. Sin is ultimately against God not me, so forgiveness is bigger than me; that’s why I have to exercise it according to God’s rules.

As a Christian, am I obligated to forgive everyone who sins against me? Do I forgive only if the offender asks me to? What do I do if he never asks forgiveness?

All this came up while my daughter was counseling at a Christian camp this summer. One of her campers (“Anna”) asked her whether she was obligated to forgive her father for being verbally abusive to her, even if he never apologized for his behavior. See, someone else had told her that she needed to, and she wanted to know if that was right.