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Christ Is More Powerful Than We Realize
Dear Downhearted, This year, 2020, has been one of the toughest and most troubling. It doesn’t seem to be ending well either. We are seeing a far greater number of Covid-19 cases than before. With new lockdown measures in Philadelphia, many have new concerns about their job security. It seems that the waves of troubles …
Accept Jesus’ Invitation for True Rest
Dear downhearted, I have been thinking about you… how Christmas is normally your favorite time of the year and how much you love the hustle and bustle of the season. However, the uncertainty and stress of this year have contributed to you feeling tired, stressed, and worn out. So many areas of life seem hard …
God Is With Us In Our Loneliness
Dear downhearted, I remember that one very difficult period of loneliness in my life came as I was graduating seminary and transitioning into the work world. I had grown really close to a small group of friends in my program after spending three years together. We became like a little family. As graduation came near, …
Comfort from the Psalms
Dear Downhearted, You are not alone in feeling weariness in this season. This year has been uniquely challenging, and the holidays have a way of bringing this pain to the surface. Thank you for persevering, for pressing on, and for seeking encouragement. I want to encourage you that, when you feel crushed, fatigued, reluctant to …
God Grieves Too
Dear Downhearted, You’re experiencing grief in this season. The holidays can make this experience more poignant. If you’ve recently lost a loved one, maybe this is the first Christmas season you have gone through without them. However you’re experiencing it, grief is a complex process. In light of that, I do not want to take …
What Does God’s Word Say Is True?
Dear Downhearted, There are times and seasons in life that make you feel the burden of your humanness. Often there seems to be more questions than there are answers, more worries than there are joys, and more uncertainties than there are assurances. Fear and uncertainty come natural to us. I recall a certain season not …
Jesus Was Weary Too
Dear downhearted, Jesus was weary too. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and …
A Cure for Discontentment
Dear downhearted, A lot of us are feeling discontent this year. As I think about it, the feeling of discontentment, as common as it is to our human experience, is actually intimately connected to who we are as people created in the image of God. The reason we are discontent, at bottom, is because we …
What is Loneliness?
At Citylight Church, we strive to be a culture shaped by the gospel. As a gospel culture, we look to the gospel for solutions to our problems and one of the most significant and common problems we face today is loneliness. What is loneliness? Dr. Stephanie Cacioppo, director of the Brain Dynamics Laboratory at …
Be Thankful for Jesus
I’m thankful for Jesus. I don’t mean to sound trite, or simplistic or self righteous. I want to pass along something simple God is teaching me this year. In Colossians 1:12-14, Paul prays that the church would “[give] thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in …
Abraham Lincoln and a Covid-19 Thanksgiving
I’ve lived in the United States of America my entire life. As a result, every year of my life, on the last Thursday of November, I’ve gathered with at least some family or friends and celebrated the holiday we call Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving isn’t a holiday in the Bible; you’re free to do nothing at all …
Easter Reveals Our Hope
Unprecedented times. A phrase I’m sure we’ve heard 1000 times over the past month. I understand why. In many ways, we have never experienced anything like this. In one sense, this really is a unique time in history. But I find myself thinking about how, in another sense, it’s not all that different after all; …