Two Diverse Sources Agree on the Power of Confession

Two diverse sources—ancient Christian monasticism and modern psychology—agree on at least one thing: keeping dark secrets can destroy us, ...

Humility Tears Down the Fortress of Pride

Ego builds a cardboard fortress that humility must, every day, tear down.

Book Explores Our Pattern of Self-Justification

The authors of the book Mistakes Were Made (but not by me) argue that our tendency to justify our actions is more powerful and deceptive than an explicit ...

Actor Peter Falk Hands an Umpire His Glass Eye

Peter Falk (1927-2011) was an actor who spent his career playing a wide range of roles in comedy and drama. Most notably, he played an eccentric, rumpled ...

Two Wrong Ways to Address Struggles and Sins

On the same day, Rebecca Pippert attended two very different events: a graduate-level psychology class at Harvard University and a Christian Bible study ...

Doctors Wash Their Hands after Seeing Their Own Germs

Dan and Chip Heath, the team of brothers who wrote the best-selling book Made to Stick, tell the following story about a doctor who was trying to get ...

Tim Keller: We Can't See Our Own Greed

Tim Keller writes:

Some years ago I was doing a seven-part series of talks on the Seven Deadly Sins at a men's breakfast. My wife, Kathy, told me, ...

The Main Hindrance to Your Spiritual Growth

It's easy to blame others (and thus justify ourselves) for our disobedience. But in the following quote, Thomas Merton identifies the key reason why ...

A Friend's Criticism Leads to Self-knowledge and Humility

How do you handle criticism? Is it an opportunity to take offense? Or is it a chance to grow in honesty about our faults and our need for God's grace? ...

Research Shows We Inflate Our Good Qualities

Here's some good news: if you're like most people, you're way above average—at almost everything. Psychologists call this the state ...