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Written by Eugene Peterson (1932-2018), an American minister, scholar, theologian, author, and poet. This is an excerpt from his book “Under the Unpredictable Plant.”

If we want to change our way of life, acquiring the right image is more important than exercising willpower. Willpower is a notoriously sputtery engine on which to rely for internal energy. But a right image silently and inexorably pulls us into its field of reality, which is also a field of energy.

I can do all things through him who strengthens me. [Philippians 4:13]

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Written by Brandon Gilliam, a contemporary writer.

Jesus fasted, most notably for forty days in the wilderness before beginning His public ministry (Luke 4:1-2). In this time of hunger and physical weakness, He resisted the temptations of the enemy, demonstrating that strength comes from dependence on the Father. Fasting reveals the places where we rely too much on physical comforts, habits, or routines in place of God. Fasting reminds us of our limits and reveals that our limits outline the canvas of freedom. Fasting is about learning that freedom is found not in satisfying every craving but in surrendering to God’s provision…Fasting cultivates self-discipline, not as an end in itself, but as a means to a deeper, freer, more surrendered life. Modern life can stifle us into routines where we are just getting by but not really living. Fasting is meant to tear us from the very day and remind us of the simple hope that God can and does sustain us moment by moment.

I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. [1 Corinthians 9:27]

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Written by Brian Morykon, a contemporary writer.

John’s Gospel says plainly that no one has ever seen God. That’s because God is Spirit, and Spirit is invisible. Not invisible like radio waves or oxygen; you can measure those. God is “unbodily personal power,” invisible, immeasurable, unmeasurable—which is a terribly inconvenient kind of Being to bet your life on in a very visible and measurable world. Even though God is invisible, the Apostle Paul says that since the beginning, something of God—the qualities of God—can be “clearly seen” in nature. I take that to mean that deep down everyone knows (but many ignore) that Someone is responsible for the Milky Way and the milking cows, and that creation alone is enough for us to have no excuse not to at least lift a “Thank You” and live a decent life.

No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. [ John 1:18]

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Written by Carey Nieuwhof, a contemporary author, pastor, and podcaster.

Character isn’t just important—it’s pretty much everything. While knowledge puffs up and achievements fade, character lasts. That promotion you’re chasing? The glow fades before you’ve told the last friend about your new title. The platform you built? Someone else’s will be bigger next year…The hedonic treadmill is real.  But character—the slow work of becoming more like Christ—that’s what transforms your legacy. If strangers on social media love you, but your kids don’t, you win at the wrong game. If you’re crushing it online, but your spouse feels alone, something’s deeply broken. Sanctification isn’t just an esoteric theological construct—it’s God chiseling away at who you are, not fueling what you do. Without character, what’s left? Just a pile of stuff heading to goodwill and achievements nobody cared about as much as you did. Your character, not your competency, determines your legacy.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness, and to goodness knowledge, and to knowledge self-control, and to self-control perseverance, and to perseverance godliness, and to godliness brotherly affection, and to brotherly affection love. [2 Peter 1:5-7]

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Written by Parker Palmer, an American author, educator, and activist. This is an excerpt from his book “Let Your Life Speak.”

A leader is someone with the power to project either shadow or light onto some part of the world and onto the lives of the people who dwell there. A leader shapes the ethos in which others must live, an ethos as light-filled as heaven or as shadowy as hell.

For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. [Ephesians 5:8]

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Written by Karen Ehman and Ruth Schwenk, contemporary authors. This is an excerpt from their book “Settle My Soul.”

Sometimes anger reveals not what we want, but what we have and are afraid of losing.  Maybe it’s a sense of control, someone’s approval, or security. Often times when what we value most is threatened, we act out in anger to prevent losing it. Is your anger revealing something you are fearful of losing? What does your anger reveal that you treasure most? The next time you get angry, learn to ask, “Why?” Allow God to show you what is really driving your anger. God wants to change us from the inside out. Not just our actions, but our hearts.

  Do not let the sun go down on your anger. [Ephesians 4:26]

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Written by Janice Mayo Mathers, a contemporary speaker and author. This is an excerpt from her book “Discovering God’s Good News for You.

Lord, because of your glory and excellence, you have given me great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable me to share your divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. You have given me the gift of peace of mind and heart; it’s a gift that doesn’t come from the world; and because of it, I never have to be troubled or afraid. You take care of me and supply all my needs from your glorious riches, which ou have given to me in Christ Jesus.

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. [2 Peter 1:3-4]  

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Written by Mark Roberts, a contemporary author and pastor.

As a pastor, I have been privileged to listen to people who, after years of struggling with guilt, have finally been able to confess their sin to God. The resulting experience of forgiveness and peace often leads to exultant joy. The very sins that haunt us the most, the sins for which we most need to experience God’s forgiveness, are usually the ones we have the hardest time confessing. Our shame over our failure keeps us from telling God the truth of what we have done. Yet, by the power of the Holy Spirit, when we are set free to be honest about our worst offenses, then we are finally able to know the transforming power of divine forgiveness… God will not just forgive us, but also cleanse us from all the ways we are not right with God and each other. Now that’s what I call good news.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. [1 John 1:8-9]

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Written by C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) a British writer, theologian, and literary scholar. This is an excerpt from his book “Mere Christianity.”

Imagine yourself a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps you can understand what he is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is he up to? The explanation is that he is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but he is building a palace. If we let him—for we can prevent him, if we choose—he will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a…dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright, stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) his own boundless power and delight and goodness.

A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. [Ezekiel 36:26]

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Written by Carl Trueman, a contemporary professor.

The challenge for religious communities—the challenge for the church, the challenge for Christians—is that we need, in the coming generation, to be a community that’s certainly connected to the world. We’re still going to have mortgages, student loans, et cetera, et cetera, but a community that is able to be so strong that it fosters and informs the way that Christians imagine the world to be—that is what will allow them to resist the enticements and the plausibilities of the world around us. What that looks like, I don’t know. It may look different in different circumstances, but I’ll leave you with this thought: I think it looks local. I don’t think it looks national. Not yet, anyway. I think Christianity has been so rapidly disemboweled and so rapidly shunted to the margins of Western society that the hope for a national transformation has to be very small at this point. The place where we can work against this most effectively is in our families, in our churches, and in our local communities.

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. [Matthew 5:15-16]

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