What We Were Created For

Every day we make decisions – what to wear, what to eat and what to do. There are little decisions and big decisions. Perhaps, for most people, the biggest decisions in life are about relationships, marriage (whether to marry and whom to marry) and work. But these decisions pale into insignificance beside the great decision. The great decision is how you respond to God. Bernard Levin, perhaps the most influential *Times* columnist of the twentieth century, described…

The context of the journey of deliverance from the false self and restoration of the true self is unique, but the process is universal. It begins with awareness. The first step to becoming true is becoming aware of the false. Who am I in my false self? What version of myself do I present to the world as a mask to self-protect? What is my effect on people? What do people feel when they are around me? You’ll want to get to know the false self and get very familiar with.…

It’s ironic that in the areas where we need help the most, we often close ourselves off from honest dialogue with our Savior. He created us and knows every detail of our lives better than we do, yet we seem to think we can hide things from Him. It’s far better to open our heart to His searching and direction. Enjoying God’s continual presence in our life requires that no area be excluded from the light of His Word and His amazing love for us. We must not…

God has a beauty to unveil. There's a reason that a man is captivated by a woman. Eve is the crown of creation. If you follow the Genesis narrative carefully, you'll see that each new stage of creation is better than the one before. First, all is formless, empty and dark. God begins to fashion the raw materials, like an artist working with a rough sketch or a lump of clay. Light and dark, land and sea, earth and sky—it's beginning to take shape. With a,…

“Love your neighbor as yourself,” Jesus taught (Mark 12:31), implying a direct link between one and the other. Loving our neighbor is clearly an essential to Christian faith; I think we all get that one. But the qualifier “as yourself” is lost upon most people; it confounded me for years. It almost sounds too pop psychology, something you’d see on the cover of the magazines at the checkout stand, right next to the articles on “brain superfoods;…

There is a reason you have the desires you do. Some desires you share with many others. Many people want the same core, good things: a community, a relationship, a deeper walk with God. But many of your dreams and desires are yours alone. They have been given to you by God for you to awaken to, embrace, nurture, pursue, and then offer. Let God use your dreams to guide you into the fuller expression of your unfolding glorious self! We need to increasingly live from the…

If you want to get to know someone, you need to know their story. Their life is a story. It, too, has a past and a future. It, too, unfolds in a series of scenes over the course of time. Why is Grandfather so silent? Why does he drink too much? Well, let me tell you. There was a terrible battle in World War II, in the South Pacific, on an island called Okinawa. Tens of thousands of American men died or were wounded there; some of them were your grandfather's best.…

The average person will spend approximately 150,000 hours at work in their lifetime – that is to say, about 40% of our waking lives are spent at work, whether it be paid or voluntary employment, or as a carer or full-time parent. ‘Is God interested in our work? Many people do not see God as a 24/7 God, but as a withdrawn actor confined to a Sunday show with a declining audience. There is a widespread view that God and work simply don’t mix: the,…

Take up your cross. We say it so effortlessly, so flippantly. But that’s because we read it figuratively. It’s estimated that a Roman cross weighed three hundred pounds, and even if Jesus carried only the crossbar, it was still placed on raw flesh that had just been flogged! And He carried it no less than 650 yards down the Via Dolorosa. In my book "Play the Man," I introduce seven virtues of manhood. The first virtue is tough love. Here’s what I…