Instead of picturing yourself at the starting line, remember, the Christian life is likened to a long race. Run with your eyes fixed on Jesus (Heb. 12:1-2), and before you fix yourself on a Bible-reading plan, look for Jesus in the book of Revelation.

On this side of glory, our hearts are imperfect in their affections. Despite the magnitude of the grace shown to us in Christ, our hearts grow dull at times.

I have some reservations going into the new year. This last year was a long one. When I think back over the months, I can’t quite fathom how I managed to fit so much in.

In 2024 we’ve published three new books and over one hundred articles on various realities that Christians around the world face. These articles and books are aimed helping address discipleship in everyday life as well as church leadership needs.

Each year, this day marks our Savior’s birth as a human child revered by kings and shepherds. This day ushers divine imagination into our reality.

Being honest, in light of all this, sometimes I struggle to believe that God sees and cares. But then Christmas gives me hope that he does see and care; and that he loves me after all.

In this excerpt from Jared Kennedy’s new young adult book, The Story of Martin Luther, Kennedy traces what Luther’s pivotal theology that sparked the Protestant Reformation.

Through tinsel-coated commercials and gripping seasonal stories, the world’s message is clear: the true magic of Christmas is held by children. But is it true?

At its core Advent is more than just remembering the coming of God into our existence, Advent is about the actual presence of God in our existence. It’s the one season that reminds us that God is with us.

Christ entered a dark world. Not the inner-city darkness that fills a room with faint beams of streetlights and occasional headlights flashing as vehicles pass. He entered darkness that you can feel.

Sometimes when we choose servitude under the submission of God, we will have to be emptied out for his sake in ways we wouldn’t dream of. But it is always a blessing to be emptied of ourselves and filled up with Christ.

God created you to be happy, commands that you be happy, and stands ready to fill you with deep, abiding happiness. Yet happiness is not an automatic reality, even for believers. God’s path to happiness requires that we walk it out.