Resources by Topic: Christian Life

The purpose of this assignment is to see in overview what the Bible says about desire. As you look at each passage, in the space provided jot down key phrases, observations (e.g. who’s doing the desiring and what they desire) or principles.

Our underlying beliefs—right or wrong—about what will bring us happiness, what will satisfy our deepest desires, largely determine the lives we will live.

The following is the class syllabus from a class Randy Alcorn taught during the Summer of 2002 at Western Seminary (5511 SE Hawthorne, Portland, Oregon 97215, 503-517-1800).

It’s like the tip of an iceberg, a sharp, damaging, external protrusion that, no matter how much pain it inflicts, only represents the much bigger problem beneath the surface. What is so fierce that it can sink the seemingly hardiest of men, or at least flood a chamber of his heart and debilitate him for life? Abortion.

Scripture reminds us first that our citizenship is in heaven, not here on earth (Philippians 3:20).

If we think that issues of race and racism in America were settled with the civil rights movement in the sixties, we are not awake to the real world.

How do you pray in the midst of crisis? More than any other portion of Scripture, Psalms shows us how. Beginning with Psalm 3, and over and over again until Psalm 149, we find the psalmist crying out to the Lord in various dire circumstances.

Inconsolable pain, the kind that drives away every vestige of happiness and renders us incapable of fully enjoying any pleasure, can be handled only be discovering a capacity for a different kind of joy.

Whenever I start despairing over defeats in the culture war, I hear a story like this one and it renews my hope. Ani Seromik is a high school senior in the Midwest and she’s a Christian.

The answer is not simple. Some biblical texts seem to say no. Others, yes. 

Holding a leadership position in a Christian organization does not make one a spiritual leader.

When Isaiah says that God “exalts himself to show mercy to you” (Isaiah 30:18, RSV), he teaches us that one mark of great, self-sufficient poise is the willingness to get down low with the weak. 

The decline of church discipline is perhaps the most visible failure of the contemporary church.

As thunder follows lightning, giving follows grace. They’re inseparable. If God’s grace touches you, you can’t help but respond with generous giving.