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Jon Bloom

Jon Bloom was a cofounder of Desiring God, wrote more than 750 articles, and continues to serve as a board member.

He Came to a World in Darkness: O Day-Spring

He Came to a World in Darkness

O Day-Spring

When the Son of God was born, the light of the world dawned on us. He broke upon a world in darkness and lit up the shadows of our hearts.

Satisfy Me to the End: Praying with Wisdom as We Age

Satisfy Me to the End

Praying with Wisdom as We Age

The longings of the saints do not lessen with age — they get stronger. As the world wears thin and years grow long, wise souls want more of God.

We Groan for Home: Waiting and Hoping Like Children of God

We Groan for Home

Waiting and Hoping Like Children of God

Christians can only be so happy in this world. Even our best seasons are accompanied by groanings for a home beyond this world.

Growing Wise as We Grow Old: How Hardship Teaches Us to Hope

Growing Wise as We Grow Old

How Hardship Teaches Us to Hope

Our lives are both shorter and harder than we expect. But for the believer, God designs these sorrows to teach us wisdom and hope.

Life Is Too Brief to Waste: Learning to Number Our Days

Life Is Too Brief to Waste

Learning to Number Our Days

When we learn to number our days, we see just how brief life is — briefer than we tend to assume, and far too brief to waste.

If the Men Aren’t Singing: Five Questions for Worship Leaders

If the Men Aren’t Singing

Five Questions for Worship Leaders

God made men to sing. But sometimes, our lyrics miss their hearts, our keys miss their registers, and as a result, our churches miss their voices.

‘Abraham, Take Your Son’: Wrestling with God’s Unsettling Test

‘Abraham, Take Your Son’

Wrestling with God’s Unsettling Test

God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son. How do we know he won’t call us to do the same today?

‘Be Perfect’? The Holiness God Requires of Us

‘Be Perfect’?

The Holiness God Requires of Us

“Be perfect,” Jesus tells us in his Sermon on the Mount. But what kind of perfection does he expect while we still deal with indwelling sin?

The Wild Glory of an ‘Ordinary’ Life

The Wild Glory of an ‘Ordinary’ Life

A typical human life is a lot like grass — brief, quiet, and apparently ordinary. But one day we will see that no human life could ever be considered ordinary.

The Strong Legacy of a Weak Father

The Strong Legacy of a Weak Father

Don’t underestimate the impact a debilitated father can have on his children. Sometimes, the strength our kids need to see most comes through profound weakness.

God Beckons Through Beauty: Where Our Deepest Longings Lead

God Beckons Through Beauty

Where Our Deepest Longings Lead

The longings we feel at the sight or sound of beauty point to something beyond the beauty itself. They point to the place and the person from which all the beauty comes.

When Love Takes You by the Shoulders: Embracing the Gift of Exhortation

When Love Takes You by the Shoulders

Embracing the Gift of Exhortation

Sometimes, the encouragement we need most is not tender but firm — not a shoulder to cry on, but someone to lovingly take us by the shoulders.

The Lost Son Who Never Left: Imagining the Older Brother’s Return

The Lost Son Who Never Left

Imagining the Older Brother’s Return

Like the older brother in Jesus’s parable, we can be lost in our moralism and condemned in our duties. He too needs to return home. Here is his story.

Why We Long for Revival

Why We Long for Revival

Why do earnest Christians long for revival? Because revival gives us more of our heart’s deepest desire and strongest delight: Jesus.

Hand Back the Fruit: Trusting God with the Mysteries of Evil

Hand Back the Fruit

Trusting God with the Mysteries of Evil

How can we respond when faced with profound and seemingly senseless evil? We can begin by cultivating the spiritual discipline of handing the fruit back to God.

The Joy of Being Left Behind: Releasing Children to Follow Jesus

The Joy of Being Left Behind

Releasing Children to Follow Jesus

When our children go far from home to follow Jesus, we have an opportunity for paradoxical joy. We can join the happy fellowship of the left behind.

Heart of My Own Heart: Why I Love ‘Be Thou My Vision’

Heart of My Own Heart

Why I Love ‘Be Thou My Vision’

Why do millions love to sing “Be Thou My Vision,” a hymn crafted from the words of an unknown poet? Because the lyrics paint the burning heart of a truly Christian life.

Tangible Acts of Christmas: A Missing Ingredient in Evangelism

Tangible Acts of Christmas

A Missing Ingredient in Evangelism

“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” What might it look like for us to actually show that kind of love to our neighbors this Christmas?

Apologetic of the Heart: Why Costly Love Captures Us

Apologetic of the Heart

Why Costly Love Captures Us

Even when arguments don’t win the mind, love may win the heart. Dying sacrifices speak to our deepest hopes and draw out our highest admiration.

‘The Shadow Proves the Sunshine’ How to See God in Spiritual Darkness

‘The Shadow Proves the Sunshine’

How to See God in Spiritual Darkness

“The shadow proves the sunshine.” Those lyrics are a profound window into reality, and might help lead someone out of the shadows of spiritual darkness.

A Brief Life Still Burning: The Unlikely Impact of Robert Murray M’Cheyne

A Brief Life Still Burning

The Unlikely Impact of Robert Murray M’Cheyne

What makes the brief life of Robert Murray M’Cheyne so compelling? He lived to the hilt. He burned with love for Christ. He was a truly holy man.

A Faithful Man Who Can Find?

A Faithful Man Who Can Find?

Where can we find a man true to his word — not just for a moment or some big occasion, but over a lifetime?

The Severe Kindness of Jesus: Hearing Mercy in His Hard Words

The Severe Kindness of Jesus

Hearing Mercy in His Hard Words

The same Jesus who invited the weary and heavy laden also called his followers to hate their families. How do we understand the hardest words of Christ?

How to Build (or Break) a Habit

How to Build (or Break) a Habit

Is there a godly habit you really want to start? Or an ungodly habit you really need to break? These four steps might help you press through.

When Sharp Disagreements Separate: Lessons for Churches in Conflict

When Sharp Disagreements Separate

Lessons for Churches in Conflict

Sometimes fellow pastors have such strong, diverging convictions that they cannot continue together. What can we learn from the splitting of Paul and Barnabas?

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