Read our latest slideshows on Christianity.com.  Copyright https://www.christianity.com 2025, Christianity.com Wed, 16 Apr 2025 06:14:21 -0400 https://www.christianity.com/wiki/slideshows/ways-to-get-your-whole-family-excited-to-go-to-church.html https://www.christianity.com/wiki/slideshows/ways-to-get-your-whole-family-excited-to-go-to-church.html Clarence L. Haynes Jr. https://www.christianity.com/author/clarence-l-haynes-jr/ What's Sunday morning like in your house? If you're like many families, it might be an exercise in extremes. The enthusiasm your family has for going to church lands somewhere between can’t wait to get there to do we have to go? One child is eager to see their friends at church, while the other is buried under the covers, claiming exhaustion and needing more sleep. If you are married, your spouse moves at a turtle’s pace, and you wonder if you will ever get out of the house even to make it to church.There are also those Sundays when you feel like worshipping at Bedside Baptist or Warm Pillow Tabernacle. Getting out of bed to attend church is the last thing you want to do. If you are reading this on a Sunday morning, you may feel that way right now.If this describes you or your family, then what can you do? How can you make attending church a moment your family eagerly looks forward to rather than a weekly ordeal to overcome? Let's explore seven practical ways to excite your family to attend church.Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Rawpixel Tue, 15 Apr 2025 08:00:00 -0400 2025-04-16T06:14:21-04:00 https://www.christianity.com/wiki/slideshows/8-ways-to-renew-your-mind.html https://www.christianity.com/wiki/slideshows/8-ways-to-renew-your-mind.html Britt Mooney https://www.christianity.com/author/britt-mooney/ “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” - Romans 12:1-2The apostle Paul writes the first part of Romans to defend against critics of the Gospel he preaches. The famous Romans 8 concludes his argument, which is why Christians over the centuries have found so much truth in that chapter. He spends a couple of chapters exploring the role of Israel and the Gospel. In chapter 12, he begins another section talking about living the Christian life. He shares a secret. We have a choice. We can either be conformed to the ways of the world (its ideas and deceptions and weakness unto death), or we can be transformed. How will we be transformed rightly? By renewing our mind. Our behavior comes from what we believe. About God first, then ourselves and others and how the world works. Some scholars call this our worldview. Behavior modification, or legalism, doesn’t work. That only addresses the outer life and fails. Through the new covenant, God addresses the heart, the thinking, and in so doing, we can live a divine life leading to eternal blessings. But how can we do this? Here are 8 ways to renew your mind. Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/Takako Watanabe Mon, 14 Apr 2025 14:20:00 -0400 2025-04-16T06:14:21-04:00 https://www.christianity.com/wiki/slideshows/why-is-physical-exercise-important-to-our-spiritual-health.html https://www.christianity.com/wiki/slideshows/why-is-physical-exercise-important-to-our-spiritual-health.html Amanda Idleman https://www.christianity.com/author/amanda-idleman/ God mysteriously created and intertwined our mind, body, and soul to create one being. Each piece of us is connected and precious in the sight of the Lord. How we care for our physical bodies directly impacts our spiritual lives. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies.”Jesus died not only for our souls but for the redemption of our bodies. When we live again, we will still be embodied creatures. Philippians 3:21 tells us, “Who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” The version of us to come will be a perfected body. Bodies matter now, and they will continue to matter for eternity. Bodies are a fundamental part of God’s design, and as embodied beings, we are called to steward the skin we’ve been given well. When we live slothful, overindulgent, unsafe lives, we are held back in our pursuit of holy living. Exercise is just one vital piece of this stewardship puzzle, but one we often dread, put off, or disconnect this practice from our spiritual walk. It’s exciting to see a wave of ministries, such as the Men's and Women's Alliance, and an emerging conversation in the Christian world that seeks to more concretely connect our bodies to our souls. We are awakening to the fact that God cares about the skin we are in, and we should, too. Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/RyanJLane Mon, 14 Apr 2025 13:50:00 -0400 2025-04-16T06:14:21-04:00 https://www.christianity.com/wiki/slideshows/bible-verses-to-help-the-entire-family-trust-god-this-easter.html https://www.christianity.com/wiki/slideshows/bible-verses-to-help-the-entire-family-trust-god-this-easter.html Vivian Bricker https://www.christianity.com/author/vivian-bricker/ Trusting God is something that we have to learn to do, even during the Easter holiday. Although we trust Him with our salvation, it can be hard to trust Him with life's daily stressors. Even though this is common, we need to start trusting God with every part of our life. Whether going through a hard or an easy time, we need to trust God. He knows what He is doing, and He can be fully trusted.You can learn more about trusting God together this Easter as a family. Parents can help teach their children about God’s trustworthiness and faithfulness. Through their own experiences, parents can educate their children about times when God has shown Himself to be trustworthy in their own lives. This will help children be more involved and interested in learning about God, and they will be more prone to trust Him if their parents do.Photo Credit ©GettyImages/FREDERICA ABAN Mon, 14 Apr 2025 08:00:00 -0400 2025-04-16T06:14:21-04:00 https://www.christianity.com/wiki/slideshows/is-the-apostle-john-still-alive-today.html https://www.christianity.com/wiki/slideshows/is-the-apostle-john-still-alive-today.html Britt Mooney https://www.christianity.com/author/britt-mooney/ Some verses spark great imagination. Tales of giants and leviathans run through the Old Testament. Even in the New Testament, we find some curious passages that make us wonder and ask seemingly crazy questions. These moments remind us that God’s Word is not only truth, but also rich with depth, beauty, and mystery.God often speaks in ways that invite us to seek Him more deeply—not always giving clear-cut answers, but always pointing us toward greater trust in His wisdom and purpose.One such passage recounts an encounter between Jesus and his disciples after his ascension. While Jesus corrects Peter, he suggests John might live until Jesus’ later return. Since Jesus hasn’t returned yet, is the apostle John still alive? Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/small smiles Mon, 14 Apr 2025 06:30:00 -0400 2025-04-16T06:14:21-04:00 https://www.christianity.com/wiki/slideshows/easy-ways-to-share-your-faith-in-the-days-leading-up-to-easter.html https://www.christianity.com/wiki/slideshows/easy-ways-to-share-your-faith-in-the-days-leading-up-to-easter.html Whitney Hopler https://www.christianity.com/author/whitney-hopler/ Easter is all about the source of our hope as Christians: Jesus as the world’s Savior who offers eternal life. But even though Easter is a sacred holiday, the people around us often celebrate it as a secular holiday. We can’t assume that people will understand how Easter relates to our faith just because they celebrate some Easter traditions like Easter egg hunts.Easter is a wonderful season to share our hope in Jesus. But we need to do so in ways that feel natural and meaningful. Here are five easy ways to share your faith in the days leading up to Easter.Photo Credit ©GettyImages/Boonyachoat Wed, 09 Apr 2025 08:00:00 -0400 2025-04-16T06:14:21-04:00 https://www.christianity.com/wiki/slideshows/a-scripture-to-meditate-on-each-day-of-holy-week.html https://www.christianity.com/wiki/slideshows/a-scripture-to-meditate-on-each-day-of-holy-week.html Michelle Treacy https://www.christianity.com/author/michelle-treacy/ As we approach Holy week and think upon the events that took place on the run up to Jesus dying and rising from the dead. Here are some verses we can mediate on this week that coincide with the events of each day. A Meditative Scripture for Palm SundayHoly week begins on Palm Sunday. Here we see Jesus arrive in Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives to shouts of “Hosanna!” The people lay palm leaves on the ground, and cloaks, and Jesus parades through the scene on a donkey as king (John 12, Matthew 21, Luke 19). It would not be long before those shouts of Hosanna are turned into shouts of Crucify him when they realise that He is not going to do what they thought He would. He would save them, but not by overthrowing Roman rule, but by overthrowing the weight of sin. Its interesting how often we can get annoyed at God for not saving us as we thought He would. Maybe today, with that in mind, we could meditate on the words of Isaiah 55:8-9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."In doing so, we remind ourselves that God is omniscient, all-powerful, all-knowing, and He knows best. His ways are higher, and His ways are better than ours. This week, let's start the week by reminding ourselves that God knows best. We must lay down our will like the Jews did their cloaks and cry our Hosanna to the one we can trust above all else because everything that God does is good. Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Alex Sava  Tue, 08 Apr 2025 17:30:00 -0400 2025-04-16T06:14:21-04:00 https://www.christianity.com/wiki/slideshows/3-prayers-for-young-adults-living-with-a-disability.html https://www.christianity.com/wiki/slideshows/3-prayers-for-young-adults-living-with-a-disability.html Michelle Treacy https://www.christianity.com/author/michelle-treacy/ Today, we are lifting up young adults who are living with a disability in prayer. Whether it's you, someone you love, or someone who lives in your community who struggles with a debilitating illness, reading these words may help or equip you to pray for the daily struggle that long-term, incurable illness entails. At 37, I still struggle, myself, with symptoms that began when I was 18. It’s been a long two decades medically. I hate using the word disability to define myself. I do not consider myself disabled, but differently abled. Many sympathize with the daily journey through disabilities, some of which are visible, and others that loom under the surface. God knows every page of our story, and the pain we experience. Let's pray today for those who are suffering here on earth with an incurable disability or disease. Photo Credit: Image created using ChatGPT2025 Tue, 08 Apr 2025 15:30:00 -0400 2025-04-16T06:14:21-04:00 https://www.christianity.com/wiki/slideshows/simple-ways-to-bring-the-bible-into-your-familys-daily-life.html https://www.christianity.com/wiki/slideshows/simple-ways-to-bring-the-bible-into-your-familys-daily-life.html Jaime Jo Wright https://www.christianity.com/author/jaime-jo-wright/ It can be challenging to bring the Bible into your family’s life without feeling as though you’re force-feeding or pushing it on your children. But whether you start young or in your middle years, there are ways to make Scripture unique, needed, and, yes, a discipline.Let’s explore some ways to bring the Bible into your home:Photo Credit ©Getty Images/Palidachan Tue, 08 Apr 2025 00:00:00 -0400 2025-04-16T06:14:21-04:00 https://www.christianity.com/wiki/slideshows/9-surprising-facts-about-the-apostle-luke.html https://www.christianity.com/wiki/slideshows/9-surprising-facts-about-the-apostle-luke.html Michelle Treacy https://www.christianity.com/author/michelle-treacy/ Luke's Gospel is positioned as the third gospel in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It is one of the most intricate gospels. Luke wrote the longest gospel account, including more of Jesus' life than the other gospels, announcing the birth of John the Baptist, including the census of Caesar Augustus, Jesus’ circumcision, the conversations with Simeon, and Jesus' trip to the temple, where he goes missing at age 12. The gospel also ends later as Luke covers the ascension to heaven, which is not found anywhere else. 1. The Gospel of Luke Is a Synoptic Gospel. Luke, Matthew, and Mark are three of the four gospels in the New Testament and are often referred to as the synoptic gospels. The word Synoptic is used to define them as they are all of similar structure, content, and wording. They could literally be set side by side and used to confirm the stories in each. Not all the gospels hold all of the same information but there are many stories which cross over. Scholars would suggest that around 50% of Mark's gospel is included in the gospel of Luke. Despite their apparent similarities, each author writes based on their own viewpoints, and so there are also many qualities unique to each gospel that teach us more about Jesus. Photo Credit: @Unsplash/Laura Nyhuis Mon, 07 Apr 2025 17:30:00 -0400 2025-04-16T06:14:21-04:00