Christian Living

Christian Living helps you follow Jesus in the everyday moments—at home, at work, and in your relationships. Here you’ll find practical, biblically grounded articles on spiritual growth, prayer, discipleship, character, and making wise decisions in a complicated world. Explore guidance for living with grace and truth, building healthy habits, navigating suffering and joy, and pursuing holiness without losing compassion. Whether you’re new to faith or have walked with Christ for years, these resources are designed to encourage you, challenge you, and equip you to live a life that reflects the gospel in real life.

March 1, 2021

Dave Stone

Truth + Love: The Balancing Act

My wife, Beth, and I had just met a young couple as we were leaving church. After visiting with these strangers for a few minutes, we invited them to go eat lunch with our family. We found ourselves laughing and devouring sandwiches and getting to know them. And that’s when it got awkward. After asking Matt what part of town he lived in, I innocently proceeded to ask the same question of Stacie. In between bites, in matter-of-fact fashion, she replied that they lived together. Two voices in my subconscious immediately began whispering to me. One unwavering, firm voice said,

March 1, 2021

Jerry Harris

Moving Forward

The year 2020 was extremely difficult for all of us, with challenges that reached into nearly every part of life and work. With most church buildings closed down for some time, it wasn’t surprising many church leaders allowed their Christian Standard subscriptions to lapse in order to cut costs and get past the pandemic, with thoughts of reassessing the relationship at a later time. We’ve been doing that same type of thing at Christian Standard Media—we’ve been figuring out ways to cut costs while providing the very best window into the world of church leadership and life in the Restoration

March 1, 2021

Michael C. Mack

‘Truth Is Something to Be Done’

Truth is personal to me. In my mid-twenties, I went on a journey seeking answers to the paramount questions, “What is truth and where can I find it?” My search took me on a logic-based study of various religions, spiritual beliefs, and systems of thought . . . and eventually led me to Jesus. In him I found the answers that nothing else in the world could provide. “What is truth?” is the foundational question for Christian faith, apologetics, and preaching. It’s especially important in today’s cultural climate in which the question has morphed to “Is there really any such

December 30, 2020

Christian Standard

Ordinary Guy

By John Caldwell (adapted from his new book) I am a pretty ordinary guy. I’m not dumb, but neither am I brilliant. While I love sports, I’m certainly not athletically gifted. I was a decent trumpet player in my high school and college days, but I was second chair, not first chair. I don’t light up a room when I enter it. Actually, I’m pretty much an introvert who, if given the choice, would sit in a chair in the corner and read a book rather than socialize. I’m not ugly, but neither would most consider handsome (my wife and

December 29, 2020

Michael C. Mack

New Year—New Jerusalem?

By Michael C. Mack Here’s some good news: 2020 is over! We can all breathe a sigh of relief . . . maybe. We can look at 2020’s problems in the rearview mirror . . . maybe. This year, 2021, will be much better; no more diseases, death, destruction, or political disarray . . . well, probably not. But our all-powerful God is still on his throne . . . definitely! The fact is, we don’t know what will come in 2021, which is why, as Christ followers, we trust God with whatever will happen. We remember that Jesus is

November 22, 2020

Caleb Kaltenbach

The New Year, No Fear Challenge

How You Can Begin 2021 with Courage and Understanding   This year-end article was written in mid-September. Due to the magazine’s production schedule, I simply don’t have the luxury of knowing if we’ve made strides toward loving each other well, who won the election, the state of the economy, or whether there is a coronavirus vaccine. As I type these words, my mother is suffering from COVID-19. She’s older, in poor health, and already fighting cancer, so I have no clue whether she will survive or go to be with the Lord. Remember the old saying, “hindsight is 20-20”? If

November 22, 2020

Michael C. Mack

The Missing Piece

The concept of peace was like a refrain in my early years. Every Sunday morning in the Catholic church where I grew up, we exchanged a “sign of peace.” I was an admirer of Mother Teresa, who often wrote and spoke about peace. “Works of love are works of peace,” she said. We regularly sang a hymn in our church that begin with the words, “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.” It’s a beautiful song with admirable sentiments. I truly wanted to “take each moment and live each moment” as a peacemaker. Yet, theologically

November 22, 2020

Marjorie Kruger Gordon

Inconvenient Christmas

I awoke to a picture-perfect Christmas. The world glistened under a blanket of sparkling white snow. The bad news. I had duty with the volunteer ambulance service that day. When my EMT neighbor discovered I was an RN, he talked me into joining his team. I never envisioned how my commitment might inconvenience my family. Our children, still in their fuzzy new pajamas, clamored to open Christmas presents. I hugged them. “I’m so sorry. I need you to help your dad and me shovel snow from our driveway. I’m on ambulance-call today and can’t get the car out.” We bundled

November 22, 2020

Doug Crozier

My Road to Peace

—This content is sponsored by The Solomon Foundation— As the pandemic unfolded in March, I quickly became concerned . . . about catching the virus, about our economy, and about churches. On March 9, during my last airline flight (from Detroit to Denver) before most everything shut down, it became obvious to me I was not the only one concerned. Before that week ended, our country was in total lockdown. I could feel the tension rising within me, and I could sense the tension in others. As with many others, my wife and I spent a great deal of time

August 15, 2020

Christian Standard

The Attitude that Makes the Difference

A Lesson from Stephen About Doing Church in a Time of Chaos By Caleb Kaltenbach UFOs . . . Harry and Meghan stepping away from the royal family . . . Carole Baskin . . . murder hornets . . . the Golden Gate Bridge making music . . . Zoom-using 95-year-olds . . . America, the land of homeschooling. . . . If you had asked me a year ago what all of these things would have in common, I never—in a million years—would have guessed 2020. Until this year, you probably didn’t say “in-person gatherings,” “flatten the curve,”

July 15, 2020

Gary Johnson and Jared Johnson

Legacy

Like father, like son. He’s a chip off the old block. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. These well-worn phrases still impart truth. Life is lived in and through generations. From beginning to end in the Scriptures, we read of generations of people. The genealogy of Jesus is listed in both Matthew and Luke. Today, there are five living generations: builders, boomers, gen X, millennials, and gen Z. Despite the untold volumes written and conferences held about the qualities and particularities of these generations, a far greater concern is each one’s legacy. Many people think of generational legacy

June 8, 2020

Stuart Powell

Has-Beens

By Stuart Powell The term has-been is a demeaning way to describe the diminished status of once-popular personalities—athletes who can no longer compete, actresses who have not aged well, singers whose vocal ranges shrank with their fan base. A has-been’scurrent status is a dim shadow of what it once was. As Christians, maybe we should consider becoming a has-been as a liberation rather than a demotion. Compare the “glory days” of our life prior to knowing Christ with the abundant life of our present faith. Would we willingly adopt the term has-been to become more like Jesus? In 1 Corinthians

May 1, 2020

Megan Rawlings

Megan Rawlings

Lessons from the Bonsai Tree

By Megan Rawlings I have always wanted a bonsai tree. The whole concept absolutely fascinates me. Unfortunately, I was born with a black thumb. When I enter a greenhouse, the plants lean away from me, scared for their lives. It’s so bad, a friend once asked me to come to their house to touch their grass so it would stop growing. OK, so I am not a farmer, but it did not stop me from researching bonsai trees. When You’re Planted in a Small Container Bonsai is an umbrella term for small trees—not dwarf trees—that are clipped and tied in

April 6, 2020

Christian Standard

The Science of Memory

By Jon Wren As modern science learns more and more about the human brain, some of the biggest findings have centered on memory. New research is helping us understand not only how we remember things, but also why we remember some things more than others. Interestingly, new findings show that nothing creates a stronger memory than experience and repetition. For example, when we meet someone and learn their name, that information goes to a specific part of the brain called the hippocampus. That’s where the brain stores facts and figures. But the circumstances about where, why, and how we met

February 4, 2020

Michael C. Mack

Propelled by Love

By Michael C. Mack Want to really impress your Valentine’s date this Friday? Explain to your sweetheart that what we now know as Valentine’s Day was first celebrated in AD 496 by the Romans. They called it Lupercalia; it was held in the middle of February, which apparently was the beginning of their springtime. The tradition, it’s said, was that boys would draw the names of girls from a box, and they’d be boyfriend and girlfriend throughout the festival. Sometimes they’d even get married. The system was probably more successful than most modern dating apps!   Our tradition these days

December 25, 2019

Christian Standard

Christmas Poems from 1877

(Christian Standard featured poetry for many years. This Christmas Day we share three poems by Marie Radcliffe Butler. All of these poems appeared at the top left column of the front page of the December 22, 1877, issue of the magazine. Fun fact: Butler’s poem “The Christian Standard — on the Field of Armageddon” was in the very first issue of Christian Standard, April 7, 1866, and occupied that same top-left position.) _ _ _ (Written for the Christian Standard.) CHRISTMAS POEMS. _ _ _ MARIE RADCLIFFE BUTLER. _ _ _ WHEN SHILOH CAME. (Luke i. 7.) A light in

December 24, 2019

Christian Standard

The Birth that Changed the World

 (We go back just a few years for this article, which appeared on p. 4 of the December 21, 2008, issue of Christian Standard. Previous to that, our sister magazine, The Lookout, shared it with their readers.) The Birth that Changed the World By Victor Knowles In Frank Capra’s acclaimed and heartwarming 1946 film, It’s a Wonderful Life, God sends an angel named Clarence to earth to show George Bailey (played by Jimmy Stewart) what life would be like if he had never been born. The moral of the movie (this is when movies had morals!) is that each person’s

December 23, 2019

Christian Standard

The Festival of the Second Mile

(This editorial appeared on p. 10 of the December 25, 1930, issue of Christian Standard.) The Festival of the Second Mile Christmas . . . is a special glorification of unselfishness. Essentially the Christmas spirit is the spirit of doing, at least to one’s loved ones, the things that will make them happy. We study for a month or so the wishes of these friends; we endeavor to learn from their own actions and from the observations of those near them “what they want;” then we proceed to give them what they want. And we find an unwonted happiness in

December 22, 2019

Christian Standard

A Strange Birthday Celebration

(This essay by John Greenlee appeared on p. 7 of the December 19, 1982, issue of Christian Standard. At that time, Greenlee served as minister with First Christian Church, Thousand Oaks, Calif.) A true story of Christmas . . . There was once a great king. His love for his people knew no limits. Although the kingdom was very large, the king knew every person by name. Everything the people of the kingdom had was a gift freely given by the loving king. So, to show their love and appreciation to the king for all he had done for them,

December 15, 2019

Christian Standard

How’s Your Christmas I.Q.?

We plan to post a few Christmas-themed articles from Christian Standard’s archives during the days leading up to the celebration of Jesus’ birth. We’ll start with this Christmas quiz from 1974. _ _ _ How’s Your Christmas I.Q.? December 15, 1974; p. 12;By Maxine Fream You’ve heard the Christmas story ever since you were a small child and you know it backwards and forwards, right? So you should have no trouble answering the following few questions, right? Watch it! True or false?— 1. Joseph and Mary were both descended from King David. 2. Joseph thought Mary’s child was illegitimate and

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