July is birthday month for me. My family did not make a big deal about birthdays growing up. We rarely had parties. When my brother or I had a birthday, we would set out from our small town in rural Georgia to the big city of Atlanta where we would go to ShowBiz pizza and Toys R Us. (For...

Moralism characterized most of my early Christian life. I lived a number of years with a constant sense of guilt that I did not measure up. I praise God for the people He brought into my life to show me that no, I do not measure up, but Jesus does. God sent Jesus to live the life I couldn’t...

Have you ever noticed that whenever people are talking about evil they tend to use “murder” as a sort of “pinnacle of sin?” We compare our actions and responses to this imaginary bar we’ve set to make sure we are always OK. The person caught stealing might say, “It’s not like I killed someone!” The person who awkwardly crosses...

Every since my church started using The Gospel Project in our children’s ministry, I’ve consistently been amazed by how easy it makes it for teachers and kids to connect the message of the Old Testament to Christ—and how challenging it can be for all of us when we start really thinking about what this means for us as we...

I’m so grateful for the group of ladies from my church I meet with on Tuesday nights. I can confess my sin and weakness to them in an environment of safety and know that I will be met with grace and encouragement and pointed to the hope of the gospel. Last night our large group teacher exhorted us to...

It is a great struggle for me not to worship at the feet of my approval idol. Consequently, it’s easy to internalize any criticism, even when it’s the well-placed and much-needed constructive sort. If you say “this paragraph needs work” there is a good chance what I will hear is “you aren’t a very talented writer.” The enemy teams...