A Deeper Reason for Our Christmas Greed

In his book Things Unseen: Living with Eternity in Your Heart, Mark Buchanan points out how we all continually live for the "Next Thing"—the ...

Doing Battle with the "Eve Factor"

Joe Stowell writes in “Jesus Nation”:

Several years ago, [my wife] and I moved out of Chicago to the western suburbs to be near our grandkids. ...

Mattress with One Million Dollars Tossed in Garbage

Jesus warned against piling up money on earth, because money comes and goes. A sad reminder of the vulnerability of money came with the June 2009 news ...

St. Francis's Extreme Embrace of Poverty

Among his many virtues, [St. Francis of Assisi] is known for his passionate embrace of poverty. Not only did he forbid his emerging Order to own property, ...

What It Means to Excel at Giving

Paul said, "See that you also excel in this grace of giving" (2 Corinthians 8:7). Like piano playing, giving is a skill. With practice, we get ...

Our Preposterous Fantasies

God has made [our] fantasies … so preposterously unrewarding that we are forced to turn to him for help and for mercy. We seek wealth and find ...

A Lesson on Stewardship from "The Lord of the Rings"

In The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien writes about a kingdom called Gondor which for many years has had no king. While waiting for the rightful heir to come ...

The Failure of "Almost"

Since the 1940s, the Ad Council has been the leading producer of public service announcements. Of the thousands of commercials they have produced, their ...

Toxic Assets

The 2009 economic crisis brought an interesting phrase into the headlines: toxic assets. Toxic assets are one of the factors contributing to the trouble ...

Tim Keller on Self-centered Giving

In his book The Prodigal God, best-selling author and pastor Timothy Keller offers the following story to illustrate self-centered giving:

Once upon a ...