Exploring Faith and Spirituality

Religion

Take It from Me, Don’t Use AI to Cheat in School

“I understand that this is an awkward time in the semester to tell you this, and quite frankly, I feel ashamed writing this email.” I typed this sentence in a convenience-store parking lot as I sa...

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Why the Goal of Spiritual Formation Can’t Be Balance

“There was a good 10 years where it felt like somebody had a boot on my chest.” This is how Justin Vernon—known as Bon Iver—describes the season before making his most recent album, SABLE, fABLE. A...

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To Understand the Old Testament, Recognize Its Allusions

Somewhere on the list of stories rarely included in children’s Bible storybooks is Samuel hacking Agag, the Amalekite king, “to pieces before the LORD in Gilgal” (1 Sam. 15:33). For many, God’s com...

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Meet the Gen-Z Pastor

Twenty-seven-year-old Saolomon Mouacheupao grew up in a family that went to church. But after he came to faith as a high school sophomore, his first impulse was to stop attending. “I felt disenfra...

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Paul Helm (1940–2025), Philosopher of the Doctrines of Grace

Paul Helm, who died on December 29 at home in Gloucestershire aged 85, was the leading philosophical defender of Calvinism in the United Kingdom over the past 50 years. Helm was the best kind of Ca...

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Psalm 119 Isn’t 176 Independent Statements

Psalm 119 is one of the most famous chapters in Scripture—mainly because it’s so long. Christians have found it fascinating, edifying, and beautiful. But one challenge of studying and understanding...

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5 Habits for Better Prayer in 2026

One of my closest friends moved across the country. I’ve learned that in long-distance friendships, every bit of communication matters. Our steady stream of texts and short voice memos is the glue ...

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Satan’s Tactics Shouldn’t Surprise You

As long as I can remember, I’ve heard the warnings. Reading the Goosebumps books, playing Magic: The Gathering, or even dressing up for Halloween have been presented as open doors to the demonic. ...

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Final Reckoning: Grace That Glorifies Christ

All people, including believers, will “stand before the judgment seat of God” (Rom. 14:10), and every person will “receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Cor...

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Renew Your Prayer Life

Prayer is essential to a flourishing walk with God. Yet too often, our prayers remain shallow or neglected. The apostle Paul models how to use the beauty of Christ’s work as a springboard for hopef...

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Old Advice for a New Year

In the typical flurry of secular articles about the new year, two messages seem loudest. Half the articles triumphantly declare that this can be the year you become the best version of yourself and...

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Rediscover the Book That Launched the Modern Missions Movement

William Carey was born August 17, 1761, in Paulerspury, England, a small village in Northamptonshire. Even today, little more than a thousand people live in the village. But it was into this tiny h...

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How Spirituality Reshapes the Depressed Brain

As I left the exam room in my family practice clinic, I realized the patient I had just seen was the third young woman that afternoon expressing moderate to severe depression symptoms. Each voiced ...

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What the Gym Can’t Give You

We all own items previously owned by others, whether cars or coffee pots. While exercising recently, I realized that the weight bench I was sweating on—the tool I use to stay fit, healthy, and aliv...

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New Year’s Goal-Setting for People with Actual Lives

It’s that time of year again for advice on goals, resolutions, and fresh starts. All you need to do, they say, is wake up at 5 a.m. so you can journal for 20 minutes. Also, set SMART goals and revi...

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Why Women Are Going to Therapy Instead of Church

In my role as a women’s ministry director over the past 15 years, I’ve observed an increase in church women struggling with emotional and relational issues and a decrease in women coming to pastors...

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Work and the Meaning of Life

Work is the meaning of life. Got your attention? Your identity is tied to what you do. I bet I have it now. So argues David Bahnsen in his book Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life. Bahnsen ...

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What I Learned from a Year with Lesslie Newbigin

Thirty-three books by one author, read in the order of publication. That was the reading goal I set for myself in 2025. Over the years, I’ve learned to appreciate the writings of Lesslie Newbigin. ...

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5 Ways to Honor an Aging Loved One (Even When It’s Hard)

I’ve experienced tough situations in my adult life, including a divorce, single parenting two young boys, and telling them at ages 8 and 14 that their dad had been killed in a car accident. Despite...

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Editor’s Choice: The Best of 2025

Consider what’s changed in the last 20 years. Consider how you’ve changed in the last 20 years. And consider what never changes—the good news about Jesus Christ. The 20th anniversary year for The ...

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How a Christian Worldview Animates Jane Austen’s Fiction

In my Jane Austen seminar this fall, students were excited to study Austen’s most famous and romantic novels, such as Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. Many students were well versed i...

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