If someone spoke a truth in a particularly apt way, then those words still stand, even if the messenger has fallen. The beauty and power of the truth do not depend on the personal faithfulness — or the eternal salvation — of the messenger.
Here are ten suggestions that will help you get more out of the time you spend studying God’s word. And if you think you’ve advanced to the point where you don’t need these tips, just ask yourself how often you really APPLY these to your own study. Be honest!
After we’ve done everything we are capable of doing, our plans still may not materialize. Even when we’ve done everything exactly right, the Lord may keep us from reaching our objective. He may have other (and better) plans.
There is no use denying it: life outside of Eden is a frustrating, dissatisfying business. God intends it to be that way; His desire is that this kind of world will turn us back in His direction.
We shouldn’t quit saying “God is good” when things turn out as we wish, but let’s learn to be just as thankful (if not more so) when God says, “No, I have in mind a path that will be better, although more difficult, than the one you have asked for.”
Faith says, “Go ahead and act in the direction of goodness and truth, even if it may not be clear to you how God will use those actions to accomplish His purposes. Just act in the confidence that He will use them.”
We lose out on a lot of valuable truth when the only sources we’re willing to learn from are those we think are “credible.” The most profitable question we can ask is not “Who said it?” . . . but simply “Is it true?”
I worry about some individuals and some congregations in the same way that I would worry about a football team that spent all of its time in the huddle. And to change the metaphor, we’re the salt of the world, and some of us need to get out of the salt shaker!
Help me, O Lord, to respond to Your grace by living soberly and righteously this whole day through, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts. May Your grace have its proper effect upon me and make me more obedient to You, in the joy of gratitude for Your mercy.
What divorced people need is to be loved. They need those who will be agents of the Lord’s love in their lives. It may need to be tough love, depending on the divorced person’s need for repentance, but in all circumstances, it needs to be love.
Human beings have always faced an ultimate choice. Do we lay aside our self-sufficiency and trust in our Creator, or do we double down on our self-sufficiency and trust in ...
Rather than dismissing the distinction between godliness and ungodliness by saying, “Only God knows who His people are,” we need to be growing in our ability to make this distinction ...
Let’s avoid thinking that “eternal life” is different only in that it lasts longer than our earthly life. It is indeed “eternal” because it is unending, but more than that, ...
The fact that, as Joseph knew, sin is always against God should weigh more heavily in our thinking than any social consideration. Social consequences are serious, no doubt, but separation ...
We can stay where we are, which is easier, at least in the short run, or we can let the Great Deliverer begin to break our chains. Between now and ...
As with Israel’s deliverance (Exodus 12), our salvation from sin depends on doing certain things God requires before He delivers us (Acts 2:37,38). The gospel must be obeyed to be ...
When we ourselves are among the unfaithful, what is our response? Hearing the message that we are under the penalty of death for our sins, are we tenderhearted enough to ...
There is no damage to our souls that Christ cannot repair. But He will not be manipulated by fake repentance on our part. If we expect His forgiveness and help, ...
In Christ, we may come confidently before God’s throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16), but we had better not come with anything less than a no-strings-attached commitment to change our ways. ...
God should be more than a “maybe.” Our hearts must be inclined to Him. We must fix their minds on Him. We must — and here is the main idea– ...
The man in Psalm 10 is doing what Satan wants us all to do: manage our own lives. And that pride is what led us onto the downward slope of ...
Sometimes holiness requires physical separation (and we are foolish if we don’t understand this). But with or without physical separation, holiness requires that our principles, our values, and our decision-making ...