Salt and Light
The biblical concept of “sin” has rightly been described as an aberration or deviation from the way things ought to be. Part of being “salt and light” in this world (Mt.5:13-16) is to strategically say and do the kinds of things...
Priorities
So often we discover that the challenge of the Christian life is to stay focused on the big picture of what’s eternally significant. While the demands of everyday life shout for our attention, it’s the issues of supreme importance that usually...
Thinking Christians
One of the great things about real Christianity is that it calls us to sincerely engage our minds and always check out the facts. Unlike those who say that “faith is something that is to be embraced in spite of the truthfulness of the particulars,” the Bible tells us
Thankful Always
First Thessalonians 5:18 requires that Christians “give thanks in all circumstances.” While to some this may seem crazy or at least a strange kind of spiritual masochism, the Bible has good reason for directing us to be grateful even when...
Future Peace
You cannot have a peaceful heart if your expectations about life are inaccurate. When we seek to achieve a calm and contented spirit by asking God to fix all our problems we can be certain our lives will be filled with angst and anxiety. While it may be intuitive...
Intellectually Engaged
Jesus told us that we are to love God “with all of our mind” (Mt.22:37). Of course, he listed other aspects of our humanity with which we are to love God, but this one (our mind) may seem odd, especially in a day when...
Return of Christ
This could be the year. Perhaps on God’s eschatological calendar he chose this year as the time for the completion of his Son’s work of assembling to himself a people for God’s possession. Maybe this year the Church will reach...
Vindication
The “problem of evil” with which we intellectually grapple and are personally burdened will one day be a distant memory. God will “take his great power and begin to reign” (Rev.11:16). The world’s attempts...
Uplifting Church
When, in Psalm 73, the psalmist finds himself frustrated by his daily struggles and aggravated by the inequities of life, it is amazing how quickly and simply his angst is resolved. This is especially true when...
Thankfulness
Because we live in a world that isn’t great at saying “thank you,” we tend to think that gratitude is an extra-credit Christian virtue. Like our temptation to send a “thank you” note in response to someone’s “thank you” note, we might secretly believe that God should...
Open Door of Mercy
I remember reading of an old-time preacher who wrote of God’s “open door of mercy” in his appeal to his readers. It may sound like an antiquated phrase, but I hope it is a perspective that will never be lost for those of us who seek to talk to our friends and coworkers about Christ. So often these days...
Invisible War
There is a lot going on in the room in which we sit that is very real yet unseen. Not only are we surrounded by a huge spectrum of electromagnetic radiation carrying hundreds of radio programs, television channels, text messages, and cell phone conversations, the Bible says that there is an abundance of spiritual agents, both good and bad, vying to...
A Disconnect
Many say they love God, and yet are seemingly indifferent about the departure from and rebellion against the principles and precepts of God’s word that we see all around us. “To each his own,” “Live and let live,” “We can’t cram our convictions down other people’s throats,” you’ll hear them say. And yet the claim of sincere love coexisting with complete indifference toward mutiny against someone would be an unthinkable pairing in any other arena of life. If you sincerely love your wife...
Discernment & Acceptance
Acceptance is a virtue that is easy to applaud. It feels good for everyone involved when we are approving, supportive, and accepting. Often that is precisely what life calls for—a broad, sympathetic, and inclusive heart that embraces someone even when they don’t deserve it (Rom.15:7; Col.3:13). But there is a complementary virtue that Jesus frequently taught us to possess...
Worship the REAL God
Worship and good theology must go hand in hand. When Jesus dialoged with the woman at well in John 4, he reprimanded the Samaritans with the words, “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know” (John 4:22). Paul did the same when he spoke to...
Proverbs and Parenting
When we read through the Proverbs we often forget that much of the book is framed as a parental plea to children. The collection commences with the words, “Hear, my son, your father’s instruction and forsake not your mother’s teaching” (Proverbs 1:8). Of course we ought to go to the Proverbs for God’s wisdom regarding our own lives, but what an overlooked resource when we fail to prayerfully read this inspired book with our children in view. Solomon boldly warns...
Healing Grace
Because of God’s grace, our lives are full of potential usefulness for Jesus Christ. God has a proven track record of consistently reaching out to restore his stumbling servants. Proverbs 24:16 compares the “falling” of
Change
Though most of us are inherently opposed to it, change is an important part of God’s good plan for his children. You and I may prefer the cozy security of familiarity, but both the advancement of the church and personal sanctification usually involves large quantities of change. Throughout the Bible we see God
Trustworthy Tongue
Nothing may be more difficult in the Christian life than avoiding sin in the things that we say. James diagnoses the tongue as a “restless evil, full of deadly poison” (3:8). We experience plenty of circumstances and emotions every day that can easily set off a powder keg of demeaning and destructive words. And while we can’t control many of the
Deliverance and Gratitude
It is easy to simplistically assume that if we trust in Christ and are considered by God to be his favored and adopted children then all should go relatively well for us—but of course that is not what the Bible teaches. Throughout the Bible we are reminded of the wide variety of reasons God chooses to providentially lead
Fear of God
Here is one of the most simple, yet most serious warnings found in the Bible: “God is opposed to the proud” (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5). The last thing we as God’s children should want is to dabble in the archetypal sin that was the initial cause of all the rebellion and corruption in the universe (Ezekiel 28:14-17). We are shown in God’s word that pride’s antithesis and remedy is the fear of the Lord (Romans 11:20; Jeremiah 44:10; Proverbs 8:13). For those who have repented of their sins
Tree of Life
Proverbs 13:12 says that “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” While that principle holds true for all varieties of hopes and desires, the ultimate hope of the Christian life is bound up in the arrival of Christ and his kingdom (Titus 2:13). That is one reason the “tree of life” finds a prominent place in the descriptions of our eternal home in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 2:7; 22:2, 14, 19). So then, if our supreme hopes
The God Who Is
God, by definition, is “Almighty.” In our desire to “humanize” God and relate to the softer and gentler side of Deity we often lose sight of the fact that the God who actually exists is a God who possesses all authority, all power, and all dominion. He is a Being who is unchallenged in his rank, sovereignty, and supremacy. He speaks things into existence, and at will chooses things to come to an end. There are times in life when we sense the profundity of
Love Like Jesus
Having spent years walking through Israel with Jesus, having listened to him teach, and having seen him heal the sick and even raise the dead, the Apostle John distilled Christ’s love into this intriguing statement: “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us” (1 John 3:16a). Without reference to any warm feelings or emotions, John elevates the painful sacrifice
Life’s Detours
We all experience life’s detours—those unexpected twists and turns which disappoint and frustrate us because they’ve disrupted our well-laid plans. When the next one comes our way, let’s be careful how we respond. If the disappointment turns into anger and bitterness, then we know we’ve clearly lost sight of one of the central tenets of biblical Christianity—namely, that God is sovereign. Of course this is not some kind of fatalism that gives us license to
Bible Truth
As C. S. Lewis said about Jesus’ claims (i.e. he is either a lunatic, a liar or Lord), something similar could be said about the choices we face when we consider the book in which those claims are recorded. Either the Bible is a collection of error-laced letters penned by delusional authors...
Three Kinds of Prayer
There are three primary settings for biblical prayer which should have priority in our lives. The first is a focused type of scheduled prayer (Mt.6:6). This is the kind where, like Daniel’s three times a day or Jesus’ predawn appointments, we plan
Patience
It should not come as a surprise to those of us who make it our practice to ponder timeless biblical principles and worship an eternal God, that many aspects of the Christian life are going to require a lot more waiting...
Christ’s Return
The Bible warns that many will ridicule us for our confidence in the second coming of Christ. “Where is he?” they will scoff, “It seems to be taking him a long time” (cf. 2 Peter 3:3-4). While we may respond defensively...
Giver of All Good
The Bible tells us that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father” (James 1:17). God is certainly benevolent and generous to us. He gives a variety of good things, from the gift of life in a newborn baby, to the satisfying experience of a good meal after a long day’s work. No matter how profound or how seemingly mundane