Repenting isn’t about piety per se. It’s about being a healthy, self-aware human being. It simply means we possess the common sense to recognize we’re imperfect. It means that when we miss a target we don’t deny it; instead, we meet our failures head-on, look for better ways of being and change course as needed.

In my observation, core spiritual truths are applicable to nearly every arena of life, not just to religion but also to business, education or politics. They’re as beneficial to those who don’t believe in God as to those who go to church three times a week. They’re woven into the world we inhabit as surely as the law of gravity. One of these universal truths is the principle of balance.

The Pentecostal/Charismatic revival is the fastest-growing religious phenomenon on the planet, bar none. Reliable statistics for it are hard to pin down, but estimates range from a half-billion to as many as one billion. What we know for sure is that more and more adherents worldwide are gathering together to worship in home churches and tiny storefront churches, all the way to massive megachurches.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 19.1% of U.S. adults have had an anxiety disorder in the past year—and 31.1% have had one at some point in their lives. This method of praying not a magic wand. It may not replace anti-anxiety medication. But boy, it does help. If you’re a fellow anxiety sufferer, try this. It can’t hurt you. It has no unpleasant side effects. It may do you great good.

There have been perhaps five times when the supernatural burst headlong into my mundane, drone-bee existence. For me, on average that figures out to one visitation (or whatever you want to call it, I’m not a stickler about terminology) every 12 or 15 years, although my experiences haven’t been that predictable.

We butt into other folks’ affairs too often. Even with good intentions, minding our own business often demonstrates way more mercy and grace than trying to play the savior does.

Forgiveness doesn’t mean denying or minimizing harm. It means releasing feelings of resentment or vengeance toward the person who did the harm. And doing that sets us free as much as we set free the other person.

“I can’t legislate world peace. I can’t press peace on my neighbors or parishioners. But if I can become peaceable enough within myself, maybe that will both help me and others, too.”

We should give everybody the benefit of the doubt until all the facts are in. And then, when the facts are in, even if the facts are damning, we should offer some benefit of the doubt anyhow.

Having our faith deconstructed—or even blown to smithereens—can be the best thing for us. Until you’re forced to release your past assumptions, it’s really hard to learn anything better.

“Repent,” translated from the original Greek into English, means “change your mind.” This ancient concept tells us that progress comes from being willing to rethink and reconsider.

Pastor Prather takes a look at the book of Job, which he considers the best guidebook he knows for dealing with suffering and loss. As he says, it is an ancient work with timeless applications.

We’re living in a stressful age. Paul Prather offers some reminders about dealing with presidential indictments, global warming, nightmarish customer service, artificial intelligence, road rage, grouchy spouses, and troublesome offspring.

Questioning, doubt and bewilderment are norms of faith, not indications that you lack it. Ideally, they’re the prods that keep us searching, reading, praying and eventually lead us into a deeper, more seasoned relationship with God, others and ourselves.

One problem with Christianity specifically and the whole world generally is that many people seem not to comprehend how radically and unconditionally they are loved by God.

What if mysticism isn’t confined to holy people living in monasteries? What if the mechanic at your local car dealership has received the same visitation as Bernard of Clairvaux?

We can’t know why God grants some requests and not others. Sometimes we simply sit in the great cosmic silence and allow ourselves to be quietly transformed as the Lord deems best.

Lesser known to the world than his older brother, Thomas, is the remarkable life of John Paul Merton. John Paul makes appearances in “The Seven Storey Mountain” but mainly seems overlooked, a footnote in the Thomas Merton legend.

New York Times opinion writer Nicholas Kristoff interviewed the Rev. Russell Moore, a former Southern Baptist Convention official who’s now editor of Christianity Today magazine.