Identity Security

First, the man selected a tackle box. Standing in his town’s small bait shop, he then filled a shopping cart with hooks, lures, bobbers, line, and weights. Finally, he added live bait and selected a new rod and reel. “Ever fished before?” the shop owner asked. The man said no. “Better add this,” said the owner. It was a first-aid kit. The man agreed and paid, then headed off to a day of not catching a thing—except snags on his fingers…

There are some things you will never learn on your own. You only learn them in community. To grow and develop your potential, you must learn from other people. For instance, you can only learn forgiveness in relationships. You can’t learn that on your own. You can only learn loyalty in relationships. You can only learn love in relationships. You can’t learn kindness or faithfulness or graciousness or unselfishness without others. In fact, the most important…

As a child, Tenny felt insecure. He sought approval from his father, but he never received it. It seemed that whatever he did, whether in school or at home, it was never good enough. Even when he entered adulthood, the insecurity remained. He continually wondered, Am I good enough? Only when Tenny received Jesus as his Savior did he find the security and approval he’d long yearned for. He learned that God—having created him—loved and cherished him as His.…

After seeing the risen Jesus, everyone rejoiced—except Thomas. Recorded as the sole disciple who said, “I will not believe,” he often gets a bad rap, but can you imagine being the only one of your friends who was unsure? Thomas probably felt alone in his doubts—he may have sensed pressure to be excited and could have assumed he was disappointing his fellow disciples. He might even have felt embarrassed when Jesus singled him out to touch His wounds …

Whatever else it means to be human, we know beyond doubt that it means to be relational. Aren’t the greatest joys and memories of your life associated with family, friendship, or falling in love? Aren’t your deepest wounds somehow connected to someone also, to a failure of relationship? That you were loved but are no longer, or that you never have been chosen? One of the deepest of all human longings is the longing to belong, to be a part of things, to be…

One of the strangest quirks of life here on this planet is the fact that the one face we hardly ever see is the one closest to us: our own. As we move about in the world every day, our face is always right before us and always just beyond us. Somebody could write a fairy tale about that. It would be an allegory for how rarely we see ourselves, who we truly are, the good and the bad. But in unexpected moments we get a sideways glance, as when passing by a plate glass window,…

Your sin has been dealt with. Your Father has removed it from you "as far as the east is from the west" (Ps. 103:12). Your sins have been washed away (1 Cor. 6:11). When God looks at you he does not see your sin. He has not one condemning thought toward you (Rom. 8:1). But that's not all. You have a new heart. That's the promise of the new covenant: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone…

God introduced Himself to Moses with just two words: "I AM." Typically that phrase needs a third word to complete the sentence. But because God is everything and everyone and everywhere that He needs to be in every moment, His name doesn't need a third word. You and I, on the other hand, need that third word to anchor our identities to specific, tangible, descriptive terms. But completing the "I am _________" sentence is not as easy as it sounds. We…

Because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross, everything you’ve ever done wrong is forgiven. God forgives you freely, completely, instantly, and repeatedly. Even if there were no such thing as a Heaven — but of course there is — it would be worth believing in Jesus just to get a clear conscience. I’ve talked to thousands of people, and I know that most people are carrying secret guilt, secret regrets, and secret shame. You can be completely forgiven…