Reflection (December 21)
If we are people with crowded schedules, full of useful work, that is not necessarily a bad thing, but we need to take time for reflection. We need to pause and reconsider our values. We may need to improve our principles.
Childlikeness (December 20)
Things like pride and cynicism can interfere with the quality of our lives, often tragically, and the only way to avoid them is to hang on to a healthy measure of childlikeness. Our children can teach us how to be better adults.
Refreshment (December 19)
Refreshing people are worth their weight in gold, and we need actively to cultivate friendships with them. But even more important, we need to cultivate the qualities of refreshment in our own characters. We need to be refreshing people!
Passion (December 18)
When we see passion as a force that helps us rightly relate to other people, we’ll want more of it. Much more is involved in our passion than selfish desire. We honor — and help — those around us when we care deeply about the things we care about.
Joviality (December 17)
There’s really nothing in life more pleasant than shared joy. So at this time of year, we need to be grateful for those with whom we have the privilege of being jovial. Winter is just beginning. Before it’s over, we’ll need the memory of some mirth!
Sanctuary (December 16)
If we won’t extend unconditional love, we need not be surprised that others don’t feel safe in our protection. But we can grow in love, and there isn’t a better reason to grow in them than the desire to offer other people a sanctuary in our hearts.
Daring (December 15)
It’s a plain fact, life often comes to us as a challenge. And if we back away from it, we shrink our stature and constrict our character. The abundant life is not for wimps. It’s for the brave, and “fortune sides with him who dares” (Virgil).
Encouragement (December 14)
Much of the time, what other people need consists of things we can’t provide. But encouragement is something we can always provide. It’s the most doable thing in the world. It doesn’t take genius and or wealth. It only takes a caring heart.
Remembering (December 13)
We must reach forward, but if we disconnect ourselves from the past, we risk making some very foolish mistakes. We dare not forget where we’ve been and what we’ve experienced. If we forget our past, the present can hardly lead to a better future.
Betterment (December 12)
We ought to improve every situation we deal with, if only in some small way. And when we’re dead and gone, may we have set such an example of betterment that even our memory will motivate others to strive for better things in their own lives.
Why We Study the Scriptures (March 3)
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 to see if these things were so." The Scriptures were their final arbiter.
Zacchaeus: A Lost Soul Needing to Be Saved (March 2)
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 that he was lost -- he knew he needed the forgiveness of his sins.
The Gospel of God’s Kingdom (March 1)
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 forgiveness of sins to everyone who will submit to His Son.
This Jesus Is the Christ (February 29)
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 Jesus had fulfilled not just some of the messianic prophecies but all of them.
The Resurrection of the Messiah (February 28)
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 Son of God. It proved everything about the gospel to be true. Therein lies our hope.
Perfection, Corruption, Restoration (February 27)
Although God might have let justice run its course, He was not willing to leave us lost. If we had ruined the perfection He had created us to enjoy, He would allow us to come back to Him -- even if He had to take the punishment for our sin.
Alive Together with Christ (February 26)
If we've obeyed the gospel, we are not any more alive physically, but we certainly possess a spiritual life we didn't used to have. When we were baptized, God "raised us up with [Christ] and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus."
Adam’s Helpless Race (February 25)
Sin is not a problem we can work our own way out of. Having alienated ourselves from God, we were absolutely helpless. What we needed was not simply encouragement or a better moral example. We needed a sinless Savior who would die on our behalf.
Out of Zion Shall Go Forth the Law (February 24)
What began to "go forth" from Jerusalem on Pentecost was the preaching of the truth about God's means of saving the world in Christ. Since then, anyone who has heard that message -- and obeyed it -- has come into a forgiven relationship with God.
They Shall All Know Me (February 23)
One way we might define those who are God's people in the new covenant is that they are those who know God. And don't misunderstand: they are those whom God knows to be those who know Him. "The Lord knows those who are his" (2 Timothy 2:19).
Written on Their Hearts (February 22)
In the prophets, God's judgment upon sin was always accompanied by a message of great hope for those who would come back to Him. In our study of the "new covenant" in Jeremiah 31, let's look today at what was said about the "hearts" of God's people.
A New Covenant (February 21)
It was a privilege for Israel -- as the family of Abraham, the family God used to bring the Messiah into the world -- to be the first to receive the new covenant, the gospel of Christ. But thanks be to God, the invitation is now for all of us.