Show Notes
What can still grow in your life after you’ve been hurt? John Ortberg explores that question through a story author James Michener remembered from childhood: an aging apple tree, eight rusty nails, and an unexpected harvest. Years later, after heart surgery and other painful health challenges, Michener returned to that image. He resolved to keep bearing fruit. John connects his story with the poetry of John Milton and the lives of Hank and Jan, a couple whose faithful care for one another be...
More from Become New with John Ortberg
How does humility make us wiser? John Ortberg explores the subtle ways pride affects our faith, relationships, and ability to see ourselves clearly. Drawing on Proverbs 11:2, Cornelius Plantinga, and C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, John distinguishes healthy satisfaction from excessive self-congratulation. He considers how insecurity can fuel self-promotion and how pride can sneak into even our attempts to become humble. John closes with a familiar song, “Jesus Loves Me,” and an invitat...
Is having a bad thought a sin? John Ortberg explores the difference between an unwanted thought, temptation, and the intention to do wrong. Drawing on Cornelius Plantinga’s Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be and insights from Dallas Willard, John begins with shalom: the biblical vision of life flourishing as God intended. He explains why sin matters, how pride damages that flourishing, and why the thoughts that occur to us are different from the choices we make about them. Through Romans 8:6, Co...
Is pride running your life in ways you don’t recognize? John Ortberg explores pride as an alignment problem: the gap between what we know is good and the desires that pull us in another direction. In this opening teaching focused on pride, John shares a story about his first car, a personal moment of defensiveness, and an unexpected lesson from a four-year-old singing a Rolling Stones song. Through 1 Peter 2:11 and the image of the Lord as our shepherd, he examines how approval, comfort, mon...
Why does telling yourself “Don’t do it” sometimes leave you stuck on the very thing you want to avoid? John Ortberg uses a golf analogy to explore the thoughts shaping our character and a simple way to invite God into everyday life. In episode six of Become New’s series on sin, the seven deadly sins, and grace, John traces the framework’s history through Peter Jones’s Self-Help from the Middle Ages. He considers sin as distorted love, Dante’s compassionate confrontation with human weakness, a...
John Ortberg challenges the quiet belief that our everyday choices don’t matter and explores how good intentions can give way when we feel pressured, insecure, or afraid. Drawing on Christian Miller’s The Character Gap and Langdon Gilkey’s Shantung Compound, John examines the difference between wanting to do good and developing a character that keeps choosing love under difficult circumstances. He shares the example of Eric Liddell, the Olympic runner depicted in Chariots of Fire, whose selfl...