Personal change is hard. Yet by the Spirit, change is possible, for a Christian. But so often we Christians find change elusive, and the solutions offered by others to be unsatisfying. This is a frustrating, depressing place to be - to hear of "joy inexpressible" (1 Peter 1:8), to hear of others' victories, and find oneself wanting. Part of the problem is our complexity. ...

Alan Jacobs' famous essay "Attending to Technology" begins with this simple point: "Everything begins with attention." A breathtakingly broad and absolute claim, and more true than Jacobs lets on. Paul writes in 2 Cor. 3:18, ". . . beholding the glory of the Lord, [we] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another." Beholding is seeing with ...

The pursuit of holiness is tricky. We don't help ourselves when we pit truths against each another that were meant to complement each other. When we isolate one truth, separating it from another, complementary truth, the power of the Word is weakened. Two apparent "poles" that we can separate and pit against each other: contemplating God and "seeing" Him, versus laboring...