We face 3 common temptations: to fill our wants inappropriately, to seek inordinate attention, and to pursue power at the cost of integrity. They lure our public figures. How do you respond when they entice you?

As I looked at my friend’s body, the message was clear: Your days are numbered; use the time you have well.  It’s a lesson that applies both to our personal lives and to our professional lives.

The “wise men” of the Christmas story are foreigners who travel from another country to see Jesus and are welcomed by the Holy Family.  But these wise men are part of a much bigger story that Matthew is telling in his Gospel.  What is Matthew's bigger point, and how do the wise men fit into it?

My Christmas cactus didn’t bloom for years. When it did, I learned some lessons about having patience and not judging others.

How much good news can you capture in just 8 notes? Take a look at this video to see. Then ask yourself: What are the “pauses” in your life that are needed between the notes, to help the good news sound clearly?

The movie “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” was not written by or for Christians, but it shows an ordinary Christian trying to be a channel of God's grace – something every Christian is called to do. How does that show up in the middle of a murder mystery?

Most people love a good love story – in movies and plays, in literature and books. But many people don’t realize that the greatest love story in the history of the world is celebrated every year – and YOU are in the story!

Everyone – politicians, people in business, and you and me – face the temptation to make ourselves look good and to think that we are solely responsible for who we are. Giving thanks to God can help us gain some perspective and avoid hubris. Here are some things you can thank God for.

Developing a habit of gratitude can rewire your brain and change your life and the lives of others. Take a look at this video to see gratitude in action (warning: it will put a smile on your face but might also tug at your heart). And consider these ideas for how to give thanks.

God loves you more than the birds, more than the moon and stars, more than you can imagine. Listen to Matthew West as he expresses these truths in his powerful song “More.” Then accept and embrace God's love, and shine brightly.

I was blessed with wonderful parents whose default position was to say Yes if they could. Jesus modeled the Yes mindset. Those who refuse to provide SNAP benefits for the hungry show a No mindset. We all have to decide whether we approach life with a Yes mindset or a No mindset, and for whose benefit we are most likely to say Yes.

I was watching a movie last night, and a character explained something bad that happened by saying, "It was God's will." Christians sometimes say this. But, while God allows evil, he does not cause evil, and evil is never his will.  We need to be more precise in our language and ask the right questions.

God doesn’t force us to let him be part of our lives. Read this wonderful poem by Thomas Edward Brown, touted by Madeleine L’Engle, that calls us to make room for him so that he can fill us with himself. Are we too full of ourselves to make a space for him? “If thou could'st empty all thyself of self....”

Les Misérables director John Caird says, "As a bunch of liberal humanists, we had tried to avoid every mention of religion, [but] sewing God into the show was what animated the characters." We have the same opportunity: to let God sew himself into the fabric of our lives so that he animates our character and gives life to everything we do.

Evangelical and Catholic Christians all over the world, except for some in the United States, know that climate change is real and are working to reverse the damage to our planet and address the ways it disrupts and devastates so many lives. At a conference, Pope Leo said: God will ask us if we cultivated and cared for the world and took care of our brothers and sisters. In the Bible, God commands us to do both. Do we?

You’ve probably heard the words “faith, hope, and love” together many times. Take this 6-question quiz to see how much you know about them. Who was the first person to talk about “faith, hope, and love” (Shakespeare? the Bible?) and what do they mean?

My family spent a day in Muir Woods National Monument, the home of giant redwood trees that are spectacular not just because they are tall, but also because of their variety and character, which tell us something about God and ourselves. The bark of each tree is unique, as is each tree's roots. Each human is also different on the surface and below. Every tree and human is designed to honor the glory of God. Can we delight in the bark of every tree, and the skin of every perso

What difference can a bell make? The atomic bomb that killed 74,000 people in Nagasaki permanently silenced one of the two bells of the city’s Urakami Cathedral. Thanks to James Nolan, exactly 80 years later a replacement bell rang out for the first time, a gift from Christians as a tangible act of peacemaking and solidarity. How can you or I be a peacemaker?

Many political leaders and social influencers show mercy only to people they agree with. That isn’t what Jesus meant by “Blessed are the merciful.” Can we show mercy consistently in our social media and politics, even to those we don’t agree with?

In the Beatitudes, Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful.” Mercy is compassion in action. How can we show mercy to others? How can our government treat people with mercy, and in what ways is it failing?