Study Guides by
Gary Thomas
3 discussion guides available
Cherish
Gary Thomas's Cherish begins with a simple but revolutionary premise: most Christian couples know they are supposed to love each other, but far fewer have learned to truly cherish each other. Drawing on the language of the traditional wedding vow — "to love and to cherish" — Thomas argues that cherishing is a distinct and essential practice, not merely a synonym for love. To cherish someone is to hold them as precious, to go out of your way to honor and protect them, to make sure the world sees the value you place in them. This is not a passive feeling but an active, daily choice — one that can transform a marriage from a state of mere survival into one of genuine flourishing.
View Discussion GuideSacred Parenting
Most parenting books ask the same question: How do I raise better children? Gary Thomas dares to ask a different one: What is parenting doing to me? In Sacred Parenting, Thomas argues that God designed the parent-child relationship not only to nurture children but to sanctify parents — to use the relentless, exhausting, humbling, and glorious work of raising children as one of His most powerful tools for shaping us into the likeness of Christ. Just as Thomas's earlier book Sacred Marriage reframed marriage as a path to holiness rather than merely happiness, Sacred Parenting reframes parenthood as a sacred discipline, a school of the soul that no classroom or retreat can fully replicate. The thesis is simple but transformative: God is doing something profound in you through your children, and the struggles you face as a parent are not interruptions to your spiritual growth — they are the means of it.
View Discussion GuideSacred Marriage
Gary Thomas opens Sacred Marriage with a question that reframes everything: "What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?" That single question is the engine of the entire book. Thomas argues that marriage is not primarily a romantic arrangement for personal fulfillment — it is a spiritual discipline, as rigorous and transforming as fasting, prayer, or solitude. Every frustration, every moment of tenderness, every season of boredom or passion in a marriage is raw material in God's hands for shaping us into the image of his Son. Sacred Marriage does not promise a better marriage by the time you finish it; it promises a better you — and a richer, more honest relationship with God.
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