Because we all—men and women alike—need recalibration, I believe it is wrong to call our spouse names. Even if he has a weakness, he also has achievements. He might enjoy alcohol, yet excel in business administration. She might be a compulsive buyer, yet still be a hardworking housewife. I am not advocating drinking alcohol or... Continue Reading →
I would place this wide range of misbehaviors into an even broader category—those that arise when issues slip beyond an individual’s control. While there are explicit religious regulations concerning sexual conduct, there are none for compulsive buying disorder. Yet both involve people unable to govern themselves. Is a sex addict worse than a compulsive buyer?... Continue Reading →
To understand the education of children, we might look at how someone tends to his own land. When we see a beautiful garden, we must remember—it did not appear out of nowhere. That plot may once have been overrun with weeds, unstructured and chaotic—or in danger of becoming so. But a wise gardener begins with... Continue Reading →
Correct Discernment Requires Spiritual Formation We often observe that when someone acts differently from the crowd, they are quickly labeled a fool. If someone is not chasing wealth, he is a fool. If he doesn't sit in a pub and get drunk, he is a fool. If he refuses to commit the same sins as... Continue Reading →
Only God is capable of delivering a person from his sinful condition, through what the Puritans called “strong grace.” They used to say that “strong sins argue strong grace,” meaning that deep moral failure requires an equally powerful divine intervention. Once a person receives such grace, he enters a fragile equilibrium—capable of living according to... Continue Reading →
Faith is unquestionably the foundational condition for a spiritual life, and it is a grace from God. Openness toward God and spirituality is certainly commendable, but in the end, it is not enough. We all know people who profess belief in a divinity or in chakras, yet are unwilling to follow the path set by... Continue Reading →
Throughout the Bible, we find many episodes involving people who took dreams very seriously. Jacob dreamed of a ladder reaching to heaven. Pharaoh dreamed of fat and skinny cows. Joseph interpreted the dreams of two of Pharaoh’s officials. Daniel interpreted the dreams of the emperor. As a starting point, we should observe what kinds of... Continue Reading →
After reading the Bible for several decades, I feel a deep sense of gratitude toward the Puritan author John Trapp, whose writings have accompanied nearly every day—especially every morning—of my life since I responded seriously to God’s call to use my time more wisely. This is why I will rely heavily on footnotes inspired by... Continue Reading →
The Deeper Diver 