Become New with John Ortberg

A reflection on why some treasures grow when shared while others shrink when hoarded. Stories about sobriety and service illustrate how helping others strengthens what matters. A look at Aquinas’ idea of goods that expand with giving. Encouragement to fix your eyes on unseen, eternal realities like joy, gratitude, and humility.

A reflection on why collective memory matters and who gets to shape it. A call to 'remember redemptively'—to learn, let go, and cultivate gratitude. Readings from Psalm 103 highlight remembering God’s benefits. Thoughts on grace, healing, and avoiding hollow pursuits that won’t endure. Practical prompts to practice remembering forgiveness, service, and love daily.

A talk about why discomfort is essential for real growth. Storytelling moments illustrate choosing growth over comfort. Honest confrontation and tough love are framed as loving tools for change. Biblical imagery and practical reflections encourage committing to discomfort and trusting God amid uncertainty.

A focused reflection on rooting the mind in a sustaining thought. Honest talk about evil in current events and how the soul can turn away from the good. A clear contrast between love as willing good and evil as willing harm. Practical prompts to choose good in daily life and the cross as the model for responding with forgiveness.

Rick Blackman, a therapist and longtime friend of the host, offers clinical insight on recovery and emotional health. They explore how naming hidden things contains them and begins healing. Conversations cover shame, trauma inventory, choosing trustworthy people, and how telling your story can speed recovery.

A reflective look at suffering through the story of Job. Questions why pain happens and explores personal struggle and confusion. Examines the heavenly challenge that tests faith and the reality of immense loss. Considers meeting God as an encounter that transforms. Ends with hope that suffering can be redeemed into something beautiful.

Explores breath as the source of life and its links to spirit and creation. Guides simple paced nasal breathing exercises and prayerful breaths. Discusses health research on mouth versus nose breathing and why proper breathing matters. Offers reassurance, rhythmic practices to release toxicity, and reminders to breathe throughout the day.

A reflection on how creation orders the world by separating and joining to enable flourishing. Conversations about human connection to God, others, and the created world. Exploration of marriage as two becoming one and the harms of enmeshment versus healthy differentiation. A look at societal unity, flow, and how reconciliation restores right relationships.

Ron Johnson, seasoned retail executive who created the Apple Store concept and Genius Bar, and led companies like JCPenney and Enjoy. He talks about bringing virtues like courage and wisdom into work. He describes practical daily habits to sustain enthusiasm. He celebrates beginnings, wonder, beauty in nature, and how curiosity can deepen a sense of the divine.

A reflection on a broken journey to recovery and the gentle persistence that helped bring healing. A story about returning to old places and imagining who one might have been. A meditation on coincidences as subtle signs and on noticing small, surprising interventions as evidence of care. A call to ask for eyes to see protective presence all around.