Christian Life

Changing Unwanted Thoughts (with Esther Smith)

Kirk E. Miller

Are you burdened by anxious thoughts? Does your mind race uncontrollably? Are you prone to ruminate? Maybe you are wearied with thoughts of hopelessness, self-deprecation, unpleasant mental images, or a range other unwanted thoughts. At some point or another, all of us experience some form of mental anguish or distress. In this episode, Esther Smith, seasoned counselor and author of A Still and Quiet Mind: Twelve Strategies for Changing Unwanted Thoughts, provides us a multi-faceted, Biblically-integrated approach for dealing with the battles in our minds.

Access the episode here. (Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more.)

The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness by Timothy Keller (Book Recommendation)

Kirk E. Miller

Our culture elevates self-esteem and self-worth. But this results in anxiety and insecurity as it leaves us needing constant validation. Instead, Tim Keller points us to 1 Corinthians 4 to propose that true peace is actually found by shifting the focus away from ourselves, freeing us from the tyranny of self-concern. By understanding and embracing the gospel message, we are released from obsessing over our own successes, failures, and what others, or even what we ourselves, think of us.

Marriage as Death

Kirk E. Miller

The following was a wedding homily, which I’ve adapted here for written and public format.

“Marriage is…(fill in the blank?)” I wonder how we would finish that sentence, using just one word. “Marriage is (what?).” If we had the time, it’d be interesting to survey a range of people and hear all the different ways folks would answer that question.

Maybe some would say, especially at a wedding, “Marriage is… beautiful.” Or maybe others would say, “Marriage is a gift.”

And both of those are true. But what if I told you that we could also finish that sentence this way, “Marriage is death”?

Now if marriage is something of a death, I suppose that means a wedding is in fact a funeral. And if you’re the ones getting married, that means on your wedding day you’re actually attending your own funerals!

That’s what I would like us to consider: marriage as a death.

1. Leaving & Cleaving

First, marriage involves the death of two independent lives, as husband and wife come together to form “one flesh.”

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