
Articles by Desiring God
638 episodes — Page 10 of 13

Humbled, Whole, and Honorable: What to Look for in a Pastor
David Mathis | As our lists grow longer of what to beware in a leader, do we have any corresponding clarity on what to pursue?

How to Squander Your Spiritual Gifts
Marshall Segal | Are you wasting your God-given abilities? God builds the church through ordinary, everyday members taking the capacities he has given and gladly using them for the good of someone else.

Better to Have a Burden
Scott Hubbard | Don’t assume that the burdens you’re bearing in this season are somewhere outside God’s good plans for you. Assume they’re one of God’s plans for you. Because they are.

What Spoils the Lord’s Supper? How Not to Come to the Table
Joe Rigney | In many churches, the Lord’s Supper feels somber, heavy, and introspective. But is that what Jesus intended when he broke the bread and poured the cup?

We Work with You: How Pastors Serve Their People’s Joy
David Mathis | Pastors, remember your people want to be happy. Dignify your people as partners, not just recipients. And embrace ministry that is harder, not easier.

Escape from Every Temptation
Jon Bloom | How does Jesus help us in temptation? He gives us all his promises. He delivers us from the fear of death. He always intercedes for us.

The Dark Side of Equality
Greg Morse | Equality can be a gift and mercy in an unjust world. But when cries for sameness rise up against God-established authority, we see equality’s dark side.

The Messy Home of Blessing: Why Children Are Worth the Chaos
Marshall Segal | Does parenting feel trivial? Does it feel unrewarding? Does it feel futile? Let God remind you of the giant blessings buried in the chaos.

Why Bread and Wine? Enjoying the Meal Above All Meals
Scott Hubbard | If you want to taste more of Jesus’s love in the Lord’s Supper, take a closer look at the meaning of the bread and the wine.

Be Comforted in Your Smallness
Joe Rigney | Does one of your callings in life feel overwhelming? Let C.S. Lewis help you take comfort in your smallness.

Breakfast of Pastors: How God Feeds and Keeps Spiritual Leaders
David Mathis | How do you find your legs for life and leadership each day? God has given us a golden, well-worn, surprisingly ancient path for daily stability, clarity, and strength.

A Little Theology of Dinosaurs
Scott Hubbard | If dinosaurs could preach, what might they say? Trust the God of wisdom. Fear the God of power. Praise the God of wonders.

O Beard, Where Art Thou?
Greg Morse | Beards are no prerequisite for godly manhood. In days like ours, though, they can be a symbol for it.

The Spiritual Gift of a Closed Door: How Waiting Serves Ministry
Marshall Segal | Why might God give a man an ambition to lead, and the character to lead, and yet withhold certain opportunities to lead? Because unwanted waiting can be some of the best preparation for ministry.

Other Billy Graham ‘Rules’? The Modesto Proposal
David Mathis | The infamous “Billy Graham Rule” is not actually a rule, but a resolution — and just one of four that the evangelist made in 1948.

What Does Disunity Say? Three Common Types of Division
Jon Bloom | Not all divisions are created equal in the church. Some arise from the flesh. Some enter through differences in maturity. Others are necessary to distinguish the false from the real.

Our Gentle and Terrifying God: How Justice Holds Out Mercy
Marshall Segal | We will not feel the full weight of God’s mercy toward us if we downplay or ignore the fury of his justice.

Martyr or Madman? The Unnerving Faith of Ignatius
Greg Morse | What person would not only submit to martyrdom, but would embrace it, relish it, and even eagerly long for it? Ignatius of Antioch.

The Lost Awe of Majesty: Why I Love an Overlooked Attribute
David Mathis | Our God is not only great, but good. Not only big, but beautiful. Not only strong, but stunning. He is, in a word, majestic.

Slow to Anger: The Beauty of God’s Perfect Patience
Scott Hubbard | The patience of God is not like our shallow, short-lived patience. It is deep and long, wide and high. And in the perfection of his patience, we find great hope.

Put Your Anger to Bed: Five Lessons for Young Couples
Marshall Segal | Feeling angry over a spouse’s sin may not be wrong. But staying angry is.

Are You Not Provoked? The Jealousy of Godly Men
Greg Morse | Too many men sit around and watch the world burn without stepping up to tell someone about Jesus.

Everything in God Is God: How to Think About His Attributes
Joe Rigney | How might we think in an orderly way about God’s attributes? Here’s often overlooked help from Jonathan Edwards.

A Rest Sweeter Than Sleep: Nighttime Prayer for a Troubled Conscience
Scott Hubbard | Even the most faithful Christians end some days deeply wishing we had walked more worthy of our God. How do we find rest when our conscience keeps us awake?

Calm Under Pressure: Recovering the Grace of Equanimity
David Mathis | Our families, churches, and communities need leaders who have learned to keep their heads when others are losing theirs.

You Still Need Good Friends
Marshall Segal | Few realities in human life are as captivating, fulfilling, and elusive as friendship.

Do Infant Baptisms Count? Reconsidering Open Membership
Joe Rigney | If a Christian wants to join your baptist church but they tell you that they were baptized as a child, what do you do?

Where Do We Find Unity Now? The Surprising Path to Real Peace
David Mathis | Many today may feel afresh that true unity is rare and precious. But do we know from where that kind of unity comes?

The Progressive Pilgrim: Allegory for an Easy Age
Greg Morse | The world, the devil, and your flesh will tell you there is surely an easier way to heaven than the narrow way, a more comfortable burden than the cross, and a more reasonable spirituality than self-denial requires.

We Need More Holy Fools: How God Awakened Me to Eternity
Scott Hubbard | This world needs more people willing to look foolish in the eyes of the world so that more in the world might be saved.

Some Conflict Is Healthy: How Division Can Serve Churches
Marshall Segal | Sometimes God allows conflict in a church so that the body might finally heal and be whole again.

Tenacious Grace: How We Become and Stay One
Jon Bloom | As Christians, we can build unity, protect unity, and maintain unity because Christ has already made us one.

Chapter-and-Verse Protestants: The Reformation Legacy of Little Berea
David Mathis | Faithful confessions, creeds, and commentaries provide crucial insights into Scripture. And they never replace the words of God.

The Prudence Bucket: Applying the Bible to Gray Areas
Joe Rigney | Many of the most difficult decisions churches face are ones the Bible does not clearly address. This means pastors have to regularly practice humble, Bible-saturated prudence.

If Your Brother Sins Against You: How to Forgive and Let Go
Greg Morse | When we are the victim of another’s sin, we are often in danger of becoming a culprit in how we respond.

Triage in the Trenches: When Do Second-Tier Issues Divide?
Joe Rigney | If sexuality and baptism are both second-tier issues, why is the former often more divisive in the wider church today?

Of Mountains and Molehills: How Much Should Doctrine Divide Us?
Scott Hubbard | All biblical doctrine is important, but not all biblical doctrine is equally important. So how do we discern which doctrines should divide us?

Why Is Christian Unity So Hard?
Jon Bloom | Unity is often harder in our relationships and churches because we assume it should be easy.

Jellyfish Christians: The Costs of Thin Christianity
Greg Morse | The deepest, fullest, most vibrant unity is found in embracing, not a few favorite verses, but everything God has said in his word.

American Prodigal: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of Alexander Hamilton
David Mathis | As the United States celebrates 246 years of independence, and Americans newly remember the ten-dollar founding father, what lessons might we learn from the rise, fall, and redemption of a prodigal son?

The Quiet and Crucial Work of Deacons
Marshall Segal | Deacons are not only handy, administrative, or good at meeting needs. They are also holy, humble, and unusually sacrificial. Deacons are spiritual giants who bow low.

‘In Faithfulness You Have Afflicted Me’
Jon Bloom | In his faithfulness, God promises not only that he will deliver us from affliction, but that we will do something good through the affliction.

A Wife No Man Would Want: Lessons from the Hardest Marriage
Marshall Segal | The moments when marriage feels most challenging are often the moments with the most potential to say something profound about Jesus.

Harry Potter Turns 25: What I Saw While Reading to My Sons
David Mathis | Today marks 25 years since the first Harry Potter book released. What Christian lessons might we take away from the bestselling series?

Casual Church: What Happened to Christian Reverence?
Greg Morse | Where reverence withers, worship suffers.

Immersed into Mission: Why Jesus Commands Us to Baptize
Joe Rigney | Being baptized into the church means being immersed in its mission. The old has passed and a new life now begins.

God Makes War with Words: Why Teaching Will Win the World
Scott Hubbard | Satan knows the power of words — he’s been undoing souls with them from the beginning. And wherever Christ is faithfully taught, the devil is undone by them.

Some Answered Prayers Hurt: The Hidden and Faithful Love of God
Jon Bloom | If God’s answer to your prayers hurts, don’t assume he doesn’t love you. Assume his love is working something good you cannot now see.

Do Not Fear to Leave This World
Greg Morse | Want to measure your growth in grace? Consider how deeply you long for heaven.

Find a Storm to Stir You
Marshall Segal | The friends we need will not always be the friends we want. They’ll often be the brotherly storm that wakes us back up to God.