Pierce Taylor Hibbs's Blog, page 4

On Transience

We keep believing that we’ll live forever, but it’s a secret buried deep under the sediment of experience. Cancer can wash away that sediment, or Leukemia, or a thousand other calls of death. But given enough time, the sediment settles again. The blinding truth of our transience is covered by tiny bits of rock . […]

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Job and the Deadly Spiritual Equation

Job is one of my favorite books of the Bible. That usually catches people by surprise. Why would a book about a holy man falling prey to Satanic torment be something you want to read? Despite the initial fear the book induces, it’s extremely comforting and relevant for our understanding of trauma and suffering. Job […]

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I’m after the More. Are You?

I have spent weeks writing a memoir about the early death of my father. Something came out in the last chapter that I had to share with you. I was writing about our transience and limitation as humans, and here’s what ended up falling from my pen: I’m going to do everything from a certain […]

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The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

I have said it before, but it bears repeating: classics are classics for a reason. In The Four Loves, Lewis sets out a description and exploration of one of the most basic human experiences: love. This work has influenced countless Christian minds over the years. In our day, I often hear Tim Keller quoting from […]

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The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Classics are classics for a reason. Many pastors and theologians had recommended Lewis’s Screwtape Letters to me before I got around to reading it. I wish I would have read it sooner. For me, this is where Lewis’s understanding of indwelling sin and the potential workings of evil come beautifully to the fore. It should […]

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Advent Reading 5: Golden Geese

So many moments of deep beauty in life seem to jump out and grab your hand when you aren’t paying attention. That’s why we’ll always need children. They aren’t afraid to clutch your fingers and pull you into the moment. That is what happened with the golden geese yesterday afternoon. I can’t believe I almost […]

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Thought Exercises for Christians

My Christian mind needs a good workout . . . regularly. And so does yours. But it won’t happen simply by reading books. One of the disappointing realities for our time is that people seem to count knowledge as a virtue in itself. Reading books about theology and the Christian life is then automatically deemed […]

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We Go to Give: Why We Show Up for Church

You are a lens. And so am I. We’re either convex or concave, either bent in on ourselves (concave) or bent outward towards others (convex). John Calvin referred to the former as being incurvatus in se, curved in on oneself. The Latin makes it sound so much more serious, doesn’t it? It’s like a diagnosis […]

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Advent Reading 4: Appearing in the Dark

It isn’t a coincidence that Christ was born at night. Not all light comes through our corneas. There is another kind of light, light of . . . hope. Christ in us is called “the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). And Christ is also the light that shines in the darkness (John 1:5). Hope shines. […]

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The Way of Suffering Love

There are two portraits of love I experience on a daily basis. The first I call Mona Lisa love. Think of the painting. It’s calm, settled, and content. With its subtle smile, this sort of love (expressed in words and actions) aims to make everyone happy, to offend no one, and to dissolve all tension. […]

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