What do you rely on to get through your day? The things we rely on are also what define us—our family, education, job, accomplishments, money. For the apostle John, nothing defined him more than the love of God in Jesus, and that is what he relied on every moment of every day. In 1 John: Relying on the Love of God, Scotty Smith takes readers through a study of 1 John that shows how a rich...
Working through problems of sex and intimacy in a marriage can be difficult for many reasons. For one thing, intimacy often seems to be more of an experience than a choice or behavior. Intimacy is hard to do: it just happens or not. How do you control or change something as unpredictable as intimacy? Intimacy often comes as a surprise. One evening, completely unplanned, you end up sitting on the...
If you are reading a story, it’s hard to make sense of it unless you understand the plot. You need to understand who the main characters are and where the whole story is going. That is also true of the story of our lives! If we don’t understand the main characters in our own story, we have no hope of understanding ourselves or our world. The gospel starts at the beginning of the Bible and gives...
When children are hurting, most parents would do anything to help bring relief. At times, this means that we might settle for solutions that provide short-term reprieves, but can cause secondary problems. Take, for example, six-year-old Monica, who sincerely is afraid of the dark. Each night at bedtime, she begins her routine of checking under the bed and in the closet, turning on nightlights...
Biblical counseling is not an easy calling. How do you effectively communicate the gospel to hurting people? Theological training and learning from other counselors are both key to growing in the wisdom, love, and skill needed to apply Scripture to yourself and others. Preparation is key, but sometimes the most effective training comes after you’ve jumped into the ring—when a coach puts his arm...
