Real Worship
Real worship is not easy. The difficulty is usually commensurate with the amount of pride in our hearts. Worship is hard because it requires that we attribute to another what our flesh desires to receive – the credit! At the core of worship is the reverential attribution that God is the reason and cause of the good that we experience (Jms.1:16-17).
Our flesh struggles to relinquish such praise. We would like to think we are the cause of the advantages we receive, but God says it’s not so. He clarifies, “You may say to yourself ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced wealth for me.’ But remember Yahweh your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth” (Dt.8:17-18).
Whether it’s a comfortable income, a capable mind, good health, loyal relationships or the forgiveness of our sins, the Bible is clear that God is the generous Benefactor who specifically chooses to grant such things. We are left with the humbling task of “remembering” and respectfully saying, “Thanks!” May our worship today be appropriate, sincere and well pleasing to him!
Anger
Anger is admittedly a volatile and dangerous emotion. But it is important to note that it is not always a sinful emotion, and it certainly isn’t always expressed in sinful ways. God gives us adequate warning that…
Superstitions
While Christians affirm that God is supernatural, we of all people should not be superstitious. Yes, we recognize that from time to time in biblical history God has spectacularly suspended natural law as a strategic way to display…
Sola Scriptura
Just before one of the strongest statements regarding the uniqueness and sufficiency of Scripture, the Bible warns us that as time marches on “evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse” (2Tim.3:13). The threat of “evil people” opposing the truth has…
Tolerance
We live in a society where the advocates of “tolerance” are increasingly intolerant. We should be careful not to miss this hypocrisy. These loud and angry voices decry views and beliefs that fail to conform to their own. Under the banner of “freedom” modern secular voices emphatically denounce the freedom of Christians to assert their …
Exiles
“Exiles!” There’s a word that doesn’t feel good. Consider the ache and frustration of being trapped in a foreign land against your will—barred for a time from your homeland. As uncomfortable as it sounds, “exiles” is precisely what the Bible says we are as God’s people scattered throughout this present world (1Pet.2:11; Heb.11:13-16; Phil.3:20). Much …
Outlook and Attitude
It doesn’t take long to discover that the Christian life is certainly not a continuous experience of fun and laughter. And yet, we ought to be careful to acknowledge a serious problem when our Christian life deteriorates into a chronic series of joyless days and melancholy weeks. While we’re obviously not exempt from severe loss …
Repent
Like a lot of preachers, Amos confessed he had no aspirations of being one. He told his critics that he was happy being a simple farmer, but that God had pressed him into service and commissioned him to call his generation to repentance (7:14-15). Being the unassuming man he was, he put his convicting sermons …
Perspective
Solomon’s refrain that everything the world has to offer is “utterly meaningless” (Eccl.1:2) becomes easier to affirm the older one gets. It seems that with increasing age comes the increasing realization that the world is truly a rip-off…
Suffering and Trust
If we read through the God-breathed songbook of Israel we’ll find plenty of psalms which remind us that in this life God’s favored people are in no way exempt from serious pain and intense suffering. It is how the psalmists’ deal with their pain…
Let There Be Light
Sometimes the important analogies presented in the Bible are so frequently echoed in our worship, our prayers, and even our conversations, that God’s intended meaning gets lost in our minds somewhere along the way. Consider the frequent…