Alasdair Groves
When Saying I’m Sorry is Selfish
“Sometimes “I’m sorry” is a selfish thing to say. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? After all, repentance is a cornerstone of the Christian walk, right? Sadly, I can assure you that it is indeed quite possible to spout humble-sounding words of apology more in self-protection than in real repentance aimed at real reconciliation. The basic dynamic of phony repentance works like this: I say I’m sorry in an effort to make the “offended” person feel better about me or to make me feel…
Five Ways to Jump Start Your Devotions
“Spending meaningful time alone with God is one of the most important aspects of the Christian life, but it is also one of the most difficult to sustain. Failure in this area, real or perceived, is common and is guilt inducing for most Christians. We give many different reasons for our struggle: it bores us, it discourages us, it’s work, we’re busy with the things we really have to do, and so on. But I suspect the vast majority of our problem…
Engaging our Emotions
“I’ve spent a great deal of time reflecting on God’s call to us to have a whole array of emotional responses to his world, from awe-filled delight (e.g., Ps. 8) to vehement hatred (e.g., Ps. 139:21–23). How can we live up to this? Does God expect us to have perfect, instantaneous control over our emotions? No. God does not stand at a distance and command emotions we can never fully attain. Instead, he meets us with countless mercies, transforming our…
Stuck in Sexual Sin
“You know, the experience of being stuck in a pattern of sin is one of the most discouraging things a human being can experience. And I don’t know that this is fair to say, but in my experience, I would say that people struggling with sexual sin, in particular, maybe even more so than drugs or alcohol or Facebook, or whatever the other addictions there might be, there’s something just unbelievably discouraging about the sheer wilfulness of it. The sense…
Anxiety, Waiting and the Coronavirus
“Writing about events while they are happening is always a bit dangerous. It’s easy to encourage over-reactions and reinforce unhelpful panic in our hearts. That said, the COVID 19 coronavirus provides us with an opportunity to think about how we respond to anxiety.” Read more…