[Heath Lambert recently edited a collection of biblical counseling essays that will be released in October as A Call to Clarity. This article is an adapted version of his introduction to that book.] Wishing Wells and the Word of God One of the most famous and funny accounts from the lore of the Lambert Family involved a debate over the existence of a wishing well. The conflict began when my daughter was just old enough to speak in choppy sentences. She insisted that there was a wishing well by the long, winding road that led to our house in those days. Her older brother thought she was full of beans and was bold enough to say so. He reasoned to his younger sister that he had been driving down that road longer than she, and he had never seen one. Furthermore, he assured her that wishing wells...

Disappointment and Disgust I learned of Steve Lawson’s “inappropriate relationship” the way I usually learn of news in evangelicalism: through text message. I was in a meeting when my phone started shaking with texts from friends all over the country. Those messages fit into the broad categories of disappointment and disgust. Some were heartbroken by the news of disqualifying sin in the life of a man who had meant so much to them. They know this creates pain in the lives of everyone involved and feel overwhelmed by it all. Others were angered by the latest black mark on the reputation of the church from a man who was not what he appeared to be. The nature of Lawson’s sin is unclear, but for many of us, these problems are starting to feel like an epidemic destroying individuals, families,...

I distinctly remember a time during college when I was with an open-air evangelism team doing some street preaching in New York City. As I was doing my best to explain the gospel – both the bad news of sin, death, and hell, and also the good news of Jesus, salvation, and eternal life – I was interrupted by someone passing by. He yelled to me and the small crowd that was listening, “I’m not worried about going to hell, all my friends will be there too, it will be one big party.” Sadly, I don’t believe that perspective on hell is an anomaly. So many today have no fear of hell if they believe it even exists. It’s either considered to be not that bad, or it’s reserved for only the very worst of humanity, which everyone assumes doesn’t include them. The flippancy by which many speak...

College football is a really big deal! When the fall season is upon us, there are very few things that capture more of the attention of our country than this great sport. One of the most important things fans obsess over is the ranking system. Which team will be #1? Is it Alabama? Is it Ohio State? Or might it even be our beloved Gators? People care about the rankings because being #1 means that you are the best. Ranking Your Relationships: Getting the Order Right When it comes to our family relationships, especially with the extra members who come with a marriage, there is also a ranking system. It is important to realize that one relationship is most important and that all others are to fall in line accordingly. Coming in at #1 is our relationship with the Lord. It is always good to be...

What Is Your Relationship with God Like? I want to share an easy indicator of your relationship with God. This indicator has nothing to do with how much you read your Bible or how often you go to church. It’s not about the verses you have memorized, how long you prayed today, whether you go on mission trips, or work with the homeless. These can all be helpful, but it’s not the indicator I want you to think about. The indicator I want to emphasize is how you handle relational drama. Our lives are filled with drama. From the teen that fights with his parents about curfew, to the gossip at work about why she got the promotion instead of me, to an icy atmosphere around the dinner table after one spouse snaps at another – we all have drama. What we do with that drama gives a clear indication...

Ever since I learned I was going to be one, I’ve been thinking a lot about grandparents. My excitement over my grandchild in a few months is verging on obsession. My daughter and I have always been very close, and I am looking forward to the wonderful new things that will come to our relationship with the addition of her child and my grandbaby. But over the years, I’ve been aware of many strained relationships between parents and the grandparents of their children. I have seen the birth of a new baby initiate conflict between that child’s parents and grandparents. An important blog could be written about how grandparents can be unhelpful and unwise as they relate to their children and grandchildren.  But that is not what this blog is about. This blog is about how parents can be cruel, unloving,...

A Common Problem When was the last time you told someone that you were busy? If you are like most of us, you need only think back a few hours or a couple of days at most. A friend at church asks, “How was your week?” You respond, “It was good. Just busy, busy, busy.” Your spouse sends you a text, “How’s your day going?” You text back, “So busy.” Your child says, “Look at my drawing.” You reply, “Just one second. I’m busy.” A family member calls and asks, “Would you like to come over for dinner this weekend?” You respond, “Sorry, I’m busy then. How about next month?” The reality of our busyness is undeniable. We go about our days working long hours, rushing from one extra-curricular activity to the next, scrolling through our ever-repopulating social media timelines, responding to one urgent...

Prayer is hard. Christians know they should pray, but many have a complicated relationship with it. For some, prayer lives in the background of a busy life. The hectic pace of work or family pushes prayer to the periphery. These Christians often feel guilty about prayer. A convicting sermon or conversation leads them to try harder. They make a list, get up earlier, and try to follow the ACTS model (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication). But before long, their list is missing, they hit snooze again, and as soon as they start the act of adoration, the tasks of the day flood their mind, and prayer fades into the background of church and mealtimes. Prayer is hard, and the thought of trying to grow leaves them feeling ashamed. The good news is that even though prayer is hard,...

Have you heard it said that someone is “too heavenly-minded to be of any earthly good”? Perhaps that’s true of someone, but I’ve never encountered that person. I think that the opposite is often the case for most of us. We don’t think enough about heavenly realities but instead focus too much on what we can see in the here and now. However, the Bible actually commands us to think about heaven. Colossians 3:2 says, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth.” Our ability to be maximally helpful here on earth now is connected to our efforts to think often and think rightly about heavenly realities. To help you “set your mind on things above,” here are seven words that you can remember. Each word answers a different question we often have about heaven. God:...

How Can God Exist When the Evidence is Against Him? Answering atheism can seem like a daunting task. If you do any amount of Google searching about the evidence surrounding God’s existence, you’ll find page after page of atheists claiming to have proof that God isn’t real. They’ll cite studies about the ways our brains work, about social constructs that were generated as coping mechanisms, about new data from physics and chemistry that seem to indicate that the universe created itself or is just a part of a multiverse of universes. Do we need to be scientific experts in all of these fields in order to defend God’s existence and deal with the evidence atheists are throwing our way? How can God exist when the evidence is against him? I want you to see from the Bible that God believes that...