Group and individual role labels – like leader, manager, coach, mentor, go-getter, team, type-A, etc. are frequent observations and studies for me. In my 20+ year career, and in college before that, this stood out to me as both peculiar and aspirational. Then, I...
The concept of virtue is a bit of an oddity. On the one hand, one might “stand for virtue.” But on the other hand, we ponder what actually constitutes virtue. In other words, there is both a definition of it and a classification of virtues in the plural. A common...
With a mindset of building Christian character, I sought to deeply study Jonathan Edwards' 70 resolutions in 2017. When I set that course, I categorized them according to the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). I admittedly did that before truly grasping the...
When it comes to prayerful confidence, most think in the context of God’s willingness to answer. However, we must keep mindful of our own actions and intentions. To that end, I can’t count the times I’ve failed to make a prayer I told someone I would. Or the times...
Spiritual warfare. It’s a term that conjures all sorts of visual representations. And it probably varies greatly by culture. I can’t claim to be all that knowledgeable about it, and I have kept my life mostly ignorant of the concept. I like to live in my little bubble...
Bad moods are inevitable. Some of us find our way into them more often than others, but it happens to us all. It may be caused by how we are feeling, events that happen, as a response to stress, or just because. Heck, I have been so moody, it seems like I am sometimes...
One of my former pastors encourages people to ask “what is the right Christian response to this?” when faced with conflict. It's not just conflict, though. It’s an appropriate question for all matters of life. Being able to press pause for questioning an appropriate...
I am the biggest sinner. That's not a title I wear with any sense of pride, however. I wear the title with shame and humility. But the bigger question, though, is why I am the biggest sinner? The answer to that is rooted in the study of Edwards’s resolution number 8....
Doubting God’s love is something I suspect we all can relate to feeling. I know I personally go through seasons of spiritual idleness. And I, like Edwards and many other people, suffer bouts of depression. The feeling of hopelessness is a sentiment I know as well as...