Let’s say “Yes!” to life and all the good things in it. Even in a broken world, there are still many good things that can claim our attention. Yes, there are some things to be against, but the things we can be for are far greater. Let’s affirm them!
Our word “comfort” comes from the same root as “fortify.” Its literal meaning is “to strengthen.” When we comfort, we often do no less than pull the comforted one back from the brink of despair, or even death. We need to comfort others more often.
Respect is valuable in every relationship, and absolutely essential in some. Since it’s hard to replace when it’s lost, we shouldn’t take it for granted. We must not act in ways that make respect more difficult, either for us or for those around us.
Recognition is motivating. When specific praise is given to someone in a way that is thoughtfully appropriate to their personal situation, great good comes from that. So let’s recognize one another. Let’s do it thoughtfully and regularly!
When others share with us the wisdom they’ve learned, common sense says we ought to be “instructable.” We need to learn from others’ mistakes because, as the old saying goes, none of us will live long enough to make them all ourselves.
“The finest fruit of serious learning should be the ability to speak the word ‘God’ without reserve or embarrassment” (Nathan M. Pusey). The godly mind is receptive to the possibility that God may be more real than we have ever thought.
We may take advantage of somebody today and think we’ve gotten away with it, but eventually that person will see that we’ve been unfair, and the repercussions at that time will outweigh any short-term benefit we may have received from our injustice.
It is simply not true to the Scriptures to say that a prayer like the “Sinner’s Prayer” is sufficient. We don’t find in any of the conversions to Christ in ...
For eternal salvation, where else can we go but to Jesus Christ? As Peter said when Jesus asked him if he and the other disciples were going to turn away ...
When, at judgment, we hear the Lord say the worst words imaginable, “Depart from me,” fellowship with God will then be out of our reach. But for the time being, ...
If we’re not willing to see (1) what God teaches us in the Scriptures, (2) the true status of our relationship with God, and (3) the true motives behind the ...
“While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). And lest I think of “sinners” as the whole human race, I need to understand this: if I were ...
The gap between the events in Jesus’ life and the books recording those events was not two or three centuries; it was only a few years. The last of the ...
What sense would it make for evangelists of the faith in the first century to hang their whole case on the fulfillment of the Old Testament in the events in ...
The Bereans in Acts 17 had the right idea. They listened eagerly as Paul argued that Jesus was the Messiah, but as they listened they were “examining the Scriptures daily ...
What distinguished Zacchaeus from so many others who crowded around Jesus was not that he was lost, for every person Jesus ever met fell into that category. But Zacchaeus recognized ...
The “gospel” is the greatest of all proclamations: not one concerning Caesar, but the very King of the universe. God is establishing the kingdom predicted by the prophets, offering the ...
Even to the Jews who took the prophets seriously, it needed to be shown that the death and resurrection of the Messiah were predicted by the prophets — and that ...
The One whom David foresaw in Psalm 16:10 is the only person in the world who, having been killed, did not “see corruption.” His resurrection proved Him to be the ...