If we’re clear on life’s three big questions (Where from? Where to? My purpose?), we’re sitting right in the middle of Jesus’ eternal love for us. It’s a perfect love marked by sacrifice, commitment and physical care. These are the three key elements of love for any relationship. Couples who practice love in these ways will enter marriage on the right path and stay on track to a life-long love. The Bible passage that sets the...

I’m now enjoying my long-awaited sabbatical! Heather and I are in a cabin in the Smoky Mountains near Pigeon Forge, TN. The mountains, trees, wildlife and flowers are beautiful. Heather and I have had some awesome hikes to rejuvenate after some long, grueling weeks of work. It’s a great place to read and catch up on a number of things I’ve had to push off until now. A big priority is preparing for the latter part of the...

There’s a fairy tale notion of love that we just “fall in love” when we meet the right person. If we find Mr. or Mrs. Right, then the result of such falling in love is living happily ever after. Not so. True love is based on a decision to invest in another person. Yes, it’s great to start with someone that you find attractive for various areas of common interest or outer beauty. But, for that relationship to grow and...

Incarnate. Not a word you hear used very often in common conversation. However, it’s a word that’s tremendously comforting. Incarnate literally means “in the flesh.” At Christmas, we celebrate that Jesus took on our human flesh. He was born with a body like yours and mine. He breathed, hungered, ate, thirsted, drank, grew weary, slept, shivered, suffered and died…in the flesh…for us. His love for us was not...

Icon = a person or thing regarded as a representative symbol of something. Every relationship in your life is to be an “icon” of the relationship between Jesus and His beloved bride, the church. The way you love others is to reflect the way Jesus loves you. Our love, like the love of Jesus, is to be sacrificial, unconditional and incarnational. We’re to give up our own self-love. We’re to love others no matter what....