Eat, Drink, and Be Merry
God’s path of wisdom for you is both serious and delightful—more of both than you might expect. Following Christ will both deepen you and free you. It’s a brilliant strategy for glad sanity and steady integrity—all the way.
Explore youth
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A Message for Young Men
Somewhere out there in the great, wide world, someone is praying for you. He probably doesn’t know you and you probably don’t know him. You may not meet one another for many more years. But he’s praying for you nonetheless and has been for a very long time. He is the father of a daughter.…
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Tips for Young (and Maybe Not-So-Young) Bloggers
It’s always a blessing for me to see the launch of a new blog, and perhaps especially so when that blog has been founded by a young Christian. I’m convinced there’s still a place for Christian blogs, even in 2020, and I am eager to give whatever tips I can to help these new bloggers…
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That Time I Went After an Older, Godlier Man
It’s not a memory I’m proud of, but every now and again I feel the need to revisit it. I guess if Peter could tell the tale of betraying Jesus—after all, how else would the biblical writers have known the fine details?—, I can tell my tale of failing to be like Jesus. I can…
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The Coming Millennial Midlife Crisis
One of the things I most admire about the Millennial generation is their desire to make a difference in the world. They are convinced that it’s their responsibility to make the world a better place. Not only that, but they believe they actually can. It’s little wonder, then, that it’s so easy to rally this…
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Young People and the Hundred Pushup Challenge of Life
A few years ago, the “hundred pushup challenge” began to trend online. At a time when gyms were opening on every corner and roping people into increasingly expensive and complicated workouts, there was a call to the simplicity of the pushup. Those who could rattle off 100 were proving they had a solid baseline of…
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Advance! Advance in Favor
When I was in my early 20s, one of my friends had a sudden experience of spiritual growth and enthusiasm. Suddenly, he had a new fervor for the Lord and a fresh desire to serve him. He began using new words and imaginative phrases to describe his relationship with God and his longing to live…
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Advance! Advance in Stature
How big is God? This is the kind of question most children ask at one time or another. They know that they are weak and that God is strong, they know that they are tiny and that the universe is immense, and so they naturally wonder, “Just how big is this God, anyway?” And in…
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Advance! Advance in Wisdom
Since 2004, Dove has been promoting their products with the Real Beauty campaign. Several years ago, they released a video titled “Real Beauty Sketches,” and it quickly went viral. In this video, they had a number of women describe themselves to a hidden forensic sketch artist. He listened to them and created a drawing based…
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Advance! One Key Pursuit for Young Christians
Imagine for a moment that you have been charged with coming up with a life plan for the most important person in all of human history. The Messiah, the Son of God, will soon come to earth and will remain here for just over 30 years. He will be fully man, so you will need…
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Advance! Priorities for Young Christians
Nobody left a deeper or more indelible mark on history than Jesus of Nazareth. In his birth, life, death, and resurrection, he impacted lives, transformed nations, and changed the world. It is for good reason that we measure history with B.C. and A.D., with what came before the birth of Jesus and what came after.…
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The Particular Temptations of Young Men
Young men have it tough. In so many ways, this world seems to have been custom-crafted to take advantage of their weaknesses, their flaws, their immaturities. Solomon lamented this in his day, telling of the seductresses and prostitutes who laid in wait for young men. He told as well of the immaturity and ungodliness of…
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Don’t Waste Your Ambition
I wonder if in all of human history there has been a generation that has had as much ambition, as much self-confidence, as the millennials. You believe that you can make a difference, that you can change the world, and you have the ambition to get out there and attempt it. I like that. I…
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Set an Example in Your Purity
There is a lot to love about the Bible. I could go on for hours about just how amazing, just how unique it is. The Bible offers us something so different from what we get anywhere else, something so opposed to our all-too-human expectations. When we live by the Bible, we live lives that are…
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Do You Have the Faith to be Faithful?
Children are mimics. Children are mimics because human beings learn by imitation. We learn to speak by hearing our parents speak. We learn to do dishes by watching mom and dad do dishes. We even learn to love (or not love) Jesus by seeing our parents love (or not love) Jesus. In both vice and…
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Be a Living Example of God’s Living Love
Art comes in many different forms. Visit a museum or art gallery and you may see sculpture, pottery, calligraphy, and, of course, paintings. Though each of these is beautiful and valuable in its own way, the Bible commends another form of art, one that is more important and more enduring. It is a living art.…
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Do You Set an Example in Your Conduct?
Today I want to scare you a little. At the very least I want to intimidate you. Actually, I want the Bible to scare and intimidate you, to set a challenge so difficult that you’ll know you can’t possibly meet it on your own. This is a challenge for any Christian, but I’m directing it…
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Set an Example in Your Speech
A few weeks ago I was in Cambridge, England, participating in a writing tour and workshop. We had one afternoon to ourselves and since I was not feeling particularly creative in that moment, decided to explore the town. I happened across a museum and, since it was free, thought I’d take a look. I wandered…
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Set An Example: Don’t Surrender To Low Expectations
Last week I kicked off a new series that I’m writing with younger Christians in mind—high schoolers, college students, people just getting started in the independent life. In the opening article I introduced our key verse: “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in…
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Young Man, Young Woman: Set An Example
I was always lousy at painting. In my high school art classes the teacher would give an assignment that involved studying a car or a human form or a bowl of fruit. Our task was to observe and then paint. I would do what she said. I would look at it, I would study it,…