Children Need a Crisis of Faith: Seven Lessons from Parenting Through Doubt My wife and I have five children. Our oldest two have exited childhood and are adventuring into the uncharted territory of their young adulthood. Our younger three are navigating the tricky waters of adolescence. As parents, we have the sacred, marvelous, daunting, and … [Read more...]
Daughters From Broken Homes
This world is not whole. This reality was poignantly paraded in front of me in my broken childhood home — and maybe yours too. Parents burden little children’s shoulders with responsibilities far beyond their capacity to bear healthily. We are celebrated for being “wise beyond our years,” but we know the secret: it’s because we never really got … [Read more...]
You Are Not Alone
Dear Husband, You know why I am writing to you. In our last conversation, you shared the pattern of your sinful thoughts, and how it often leads you to look at pornography. We agreed together on the importance of having dominion over our imaginations and putting on the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5). Viewing pornography is already a lamentable … [Read more...]
Open Letter to a Daughter
To my sweet daughter, As you begin junior high this month, the atmosphere about you is crackling with excitement. So many new doors are opening, and I am rejoicing with you. But now is also the time when we have to revisit a topic that may seem a bit awkward: your body. I want you to think of this letter as the culmination of the many … [Read more...]
Wasted My Life-Now What?
A listener named Bruce writes in: “Dear Pastor John, I haven’t read your book, Don’t Waste Your Life. The title is convicting enough. The fact is that I have already wasted it; or at least it feels that way. For decades I tried a variety of different ‘careers.’ None of them worked. I tried starting my own business for over 20 years while my wife … [Read more...]
Principles: Personal Productivity
We recently talked about the book you just wrote Pastor John, back on Thursday of last week. . . . In light of that, Brandon in Charlotte, NC writes in: “Pastor John, thank you for your Christ-centered precision and for the tremendous volume of your ministry output. I’m curious how you produce so much content. What time do you wake up, or find … [Read more...]
Read the Bible for Yourself
1. Read for the author’s meaning, not your own. When we read, we want to know what an author intended us to see and experience in his writing. He had an intention when he wrote. Nothing will ever change that. It is there as a past, objective event in history. We are not reading simply for subjective experiences. We are reading to discover more … [Read more...]
Should Christians Be Encouraged to Arm Themselves?
As chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary, I want to send a different message to our students, and to the readers of Desiring God, than Jerry Falwell, Jr. sent to the students of Liberty University in a campus chapel service on December 4. For the sake of the safety of his campus, and in view of terrorist activity, President Falwell … [Read more...]
