Today we often hear heartrending stories from people struggling with their sexual orientation and often Christians have responded poorly. There are some attitudes, perceptions, and orientations which can’t be simply switched off, but Christians too often want to just tell struggling people: “Stop it!” We wish it were so easy, but it’s not. Let me …
The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is called the “unpardonable sin,” a sin that will never be forgiven. The very possibility of even committing it often haunts many Christians. Indeed, as an insecure high school sophomore I once thought that I had committed the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit—and I was distressed! Clearly, our own …
A major study has concluded that women have become increasingly unhappy. By many objective measures the lives of women in the United States have improved over the past 35 years, yet we show that measures of subjective well-being indicate that women’s happiness has declined both absolutely and relative to men. The paradox of women’s declining …
Scott commented on my last blog that he had just confessed looking at porn to his wife and that she forgave him and is going to help him! Praise God for that! I did the same thing over 30 years ago to my wife, Jean E. I told her, “If I ever look at porn …
So you’ve committed a sexual sin, again. And sinned again. And again. For the one-millionth time. Again. Of course you stopped counting long ago (okay, let’s be honest, no one counts—and how big is a googolplex really?) and you’re disgusted with yourself. What should you do? First, confess it to God (I realize that for …
Another thing that fuels lust is our basing our self-worth on worldly standards. If we are not going to find value in our relationship to God, then we will base it on what the world values. What does the world value? The world says you are valuable if you are attractive, or intelligent, or strong, …
Before I give the next step for controlling lust, it is helpful to understand the kinds of things that make us lust. And I’m not just talking about sexual lust but every kind of lust because all the lusts—whether they are lusts for people, positions, possessions, or pleasures— have some things in common. One of …
One of the most dangerous teachings today is that you need to learn to love yourself before you can love others. People who believe this will quote the verse “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39) and then say that a lot of people don’t love themselves and so they need to learn to love …
