Christian Living on Disappointment

Quote

Author

Keywords

No soul can be really at rest until it has given up all dependence on everything else and has been forced to depend on the Lord alone. As long as our expectation is from other things, nothing but disa...

illustration

Hearing God in our Deepest Struggles

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 34:17-18, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Hebrews 4:15-16, Hebrews 2:18, Matthew 26:38, Matthew 11:28-30

When do we hear God’s voice most clearly? It is often in our deepest struggles that we hear God’s voice. In the 1640s, George Fox, who would later establish the Quaker or Friends movement, wandered th...

Quote

Author

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 5:3-5, Hebrews 11:1, Psalm 42:11, Jeremiah 29:11, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Romans 8:24-25, Isaiah 40:31

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

Quote

Author

Billy Graham

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 147:3, Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 8:28, Psalm 34:18, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9

People by nature build, tear down, and rebuild. We build our hopes, get disappointed, and then search for renewed hope.

illustration

The Doubts of a Church Planter

Author

Peter Chin

Keywords

Scripture

1 Kings 19:1–18 , Exodus 3:1–12, Lamentations 3:19–26 , Luke 7:11–17, 2 Corinthians 12:9–10 , Psalm 73:21–26

In this first-person memoir, Pastor Peter Chin shares a story that most pastors can probably relate to, the reality vs the expectation of a church-planter or even the pastor of an established church: ...

liturgy

While God’s love never fails, our love does fail.

Author

Trinity Lutheran Church, Lisle, Illinois

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 13:, Lamentations 3:22-23, Psalm 103:8-12, Romans 5:8, Romans 8:1

Leader: While God’s love never fails, our love does fail. All too often, our experience of love is confused, distorted, and disappointing. That is due to the sin in the world and the sin in our own ...

illustration

Lifting the Rock

Author

Source Unknown

Keywords

One day a father decided to take his son to play at the local park. The boy quickly gravitated to the sandbox and found himself mesmerized by the colors and textures surrounding him. After a short tim...

illustration

Jonathan Swift’s Exhortation for Two

Author

Jonathan Swift

Keywords

While primarily known today as the author of Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift also served as an Anglican priest in his home country of Ireland. While his writing gained significant traction througho...

illustration

Not Until After My Death

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 45:1-15, Matthew 18:21-35, Ephesians 4:32, Romans 5:10, Mark 11:25, Colossians 3:13, Matthew 5:44

Frederick William I was a king of Prussia in the early 18th century. Personality-wise, he was described as exacting, frugal and austere. He was known to beat his children when they disappointed him. H...

Quote

Author

Billy Collins

Keywords

This is the middle. Things have had time to get complicated, messy, really. Nothing is simple anymore…. Disappointment unshoulders his knapsack here and pitches his ragged tent.

Quote

Author

Brennan Manning

Keywords

For those who feel their lives are a grave disappointment to God, it requires enormous trust and reckless, raging confidence to accept that the love of Jesus Christ knows no shadow of alteration or ch...

illustration

How Do You Mourn?

Author

Jonathan K. Dodson

Keywords

In his thoughtful book, Our Good Crisis: Overcoming Moral Chaos with the Beatitudes , Jonathan K. Dodson asks an important question: how do you mourn the losses in your life: How do you mourn? ...

illustration

Is it a Sin to Bore Adults with the Gospel?

Author

Gary A. Haugen

Keywords

Scripture

Ecclesiastes 1:1-11, Isaiah 40:28-31, Exodus 33:12-23 , John 10:10, Romans 12:1-2 , Psalm 63:1-5

Jim Rayburn, the founder of Young Life, a nationwide youth ministry, used to say, “It’s a sin to bore a kid with the gospel.” But what about adults? Is it okay to bore grownups with the gospel? I ask ...

illustration

The Church's Funeral

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 12:12-27, Ephesians 4:15-16, Revelation 3:1-3, James 2:17, Matthew 16:18, Hebrews 10:24-25, 1 Peter 2:4-5, Romans 12:4-5, Acts 2:42-47, 1 Corinthians 3:9

The story goes about a young man (or woman!) with dreams of growing a small church nestled in rural Oklahoma. Despite his relentless efforts, the church continued to teeter on the edge of extinction a...

liturgy

No Record of Wrongs, Inspired by 1 Corinthians 13:5

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 13:5, Genesis 45:1-15, John 8:1-11, John 21:15-19, Luke 15:11-32, Isaiah 49:16, Romans 8:1

Love keeps no record of wrongs. We keep to-do lists so we don’t forget We check them twice We carry them in our pockets Holding on to the pain The disappointment The failure Re-viewing the wrong Poi...

illustration

See What Happens

Author

Charles F. Stanley

Keywords

Do you ever feel as if God is far from you? Be assured, He is steadfastly near. Do not be disheartened because you don’t see Him in your circumstances. I saw an illustration of this during a photograp...

Quote

Author

Chuck DeGroat

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 3:7-11

When I teach on the dynamics of real change and maturation, I often describe a “furnace of transformation” each of us must pass through for the sake of growth and refinement. I’ve never seen real grow...

Quote

Author

Richard Rohr

Keywords

Without transformation, you can assume you're at a high moral, spiritual level just because you call yourself Lutheran or Methodist or Catholic. I think my great disappointment as a priest has bee...

Quote

Author

George Wharton James

Keywords

But silence speaks of solitude, and to some persons there is an oppressive sense of sadness wherever human beings are absent. Solitude is so awful to them. . . . Some men flee to solitude through bitt...

illustration

Free Tickets and Grace

Author

Jeff Volkmer

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 19:9, John 14:6, Matthew 22:1-14, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 5:8

My wife and I did a portion of our honeymoon in Central Oregon, and as an English major in college, I desperately wanted to attend a performance at Ashland’s renowned Shakespeare Festival. As newlywed...

illustration

A Need to Heal the Past

Author

Ronald Rohlheiser

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 147:3, Jeremiah 30:17, Matthew 11:28-30, James 5:16, Psalm 34:18, Psalm 51:10, Jeremiah 33:6

One of the challenges, at least in the western church, is an inability to deal with our wounds in a healthy way. Our training as Christians has been focused on Bible studies, small groups, and Sunday ...

liturgy

Lord and God, sometimes we have

Author

C. Hassell Bullock

Keywords

Lord and God, sometimes we have thought, even said, that you were nowhere to be found, when life’s insecurities, disappointments, and crushing defeat left us empty and full of despair. In our desolati...

series

Psalm 22 | Feeling Forsaken by God

Author

Scott B. Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 22:, Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34, Hebrews 2:12

Ancient lens What’s the historical context? A Structured Complaint The Psalmist organizes his complaint against God in three sections. The first two sections dramatize the complaint (vv. 1-11 and...

liturgy

God of Grace–Father, Son, and Holy

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 62:8, Isaiah 53:4-5, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Matthew 28:18-20, James 1:5

God of Grace–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: You are good and You are almighty. You alone are worthy of our faith and trust and so we come to You with our hopes and hurts, our disappointments and dreams...

liturgy

A General Thanksgiving

Scripture

1 Samuel 2:1-10, Luke 17:11-19, Job 1:21, Acts 16:25, John 6:11

Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery ...

liturgy

Lord—You are coming in power

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Lord—You are coming in power someday—and You are already here, near at-hand. You know us entirely—you know our wants and needs, our dreams and hopes, our disappointments and griefs--and yet You are no...

illustration

Who Do They Think We Are?

Author

Os Guinness

Keywords

Perseverance

The day after Christmas would normally have been a quiet day in Washington, D.C., above all on Capitol Hill. But December 26, 1941, was different. It was only nineteen days after the Japanese attack o...

illustration

Finding Peace

Author

Paul David Tripp

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 26:null

So you ask, “Where is peace to be found?” This question is answered clearly and powerfully in Isaiah 26: You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust i...

illustration

Taking Responsibility for Our Lives

Author

Adele Ahlberg Calhoun

Keywords

We can rightly ask, What does it mean to take responsibility for my life in response to the way God has made and called me? The response to this question is that we learn how to work with the hand tha...

illustration

God’s Inexhaustible Mercies

Author

Paul David Tripp

Keywords

Mercy

Scripture

Lamentations 3:22-23, Psalm 103:17-18, 2 Corinthians 4:16, Isaiah 40:31, Psalm 23:3, Romans 8:38-39, Hebrews 4:16

One of the stunning realities of the Christian life is that in a world where everything is in some state of decay, God’s mercies never grow old. They never run out. They never are ill timed. They neve...

illustration

illustration

liturgy

illustration

illustration

illustration

illustration

illustration

illustration

liturgy

illustration

illustration

illustration

liturgy

series

liturgy

liturgy

liturgy

illustration

illustration

illustration

illustration

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

Genesis

Exodus

Leviticus

Numbers

Deuteronomy

Joshua

Judges

Ruth

1 Samuel

2 Samuel

1 Kings

2 Kings

1 Chronicles

2 Chronicles

Ezra

Nehemiah

Esther

Job

Psalm

Proverbs

Ecclesiastes

Song of Solomon

Isaiah

Jeremiah

Lamentations

Ezekiel

Daniel

Hosea

Joel

Amos

Obadiah

Jonah

Micah

Nahum