Checking and double-checking to validate what we’ve heard is hard work, and many will not take the time to do it. But factualness is a part of truthfulness. It is a part of honesty. People of integrity will not settle for less than what is true.
Do your friends think of fortitude when they think of you? If others can look to you for “strength to defend,” then you are a blessing to them. And if by the simple example of your courage you impart courage to them, they will thank God for you.
What most people reject is not ritual itself but “mere” ritual — ritual that is nothing more than empty formalism. Yet when it is accompanied by virtuous character and heartfelt emotion, ritual is a good thing that we should not rashly throw away.
Confronted with difficult, unpleasant, sorrowful, or painful conditions, we can cave in and become mere victims, we can accept the world with a bleak fatalism, or we can use our freedom to find constructive ways of adapting.
We should work diligently toward agreement, but not all our differences will be ironed out in this world. So in addition to pursuing agreement, there is something else: in our disagreements, we must remember the things that we still agree on.
Just being willing to act is important. But it’s even more important to interact, that is, to interweave our lives with the lives of people around us in ways that are beneficial. Interactiveness should be a habit and even a character trait.
More important than our own dignity is the dignity and worth of other people. And it is through the exhibition of authentic love, including traits like gentleness and kindness, that we help others see what they’re really worth. Let’s give this gift.
Of all the gifts we may give to others, morality ranks as one of the highest. It marks a huge step in our growth when we see that our friends and loved ones will be blessed by our personal decision to do what is right, simply because it is right.
Our sinful past will try to pull us back — and sometimes the pull can be very strong. We wouldn’t have been what we used to be if there weren’t ...
The more we learn to love our Father, the more our hearts are going to hurt when we realize we’ve failed Him. The person who rarely sees any sin in ...
“Nominal” Christians are Christians in “name only.” They are the modern embodiment of the mentality God spoke of in Isaiah’s day: “[They] draw near with their mouth and honor me ...
God will help us and discipline us (Hebrews 12:5-11). But having been disciplined by God, we will have to discipline ourselves. We will have to exert ourselves to go uphill ...
When we start following our own will in the “secular” parts of life, we tell ourselves that we won’t let these “other things” get out of hand. But we are ...
Wonder of all wonders, God is willing to forgive us of our treason against His rightful rule over us. But His grace requires that we begin doing what we have ...
Very people few are willing to “seek first the kingdom of God,” even among professed believers. Especially in the modern culture of so-called “Christian nations,” very few do more than ...
Confession of sin comes from “a broken and contrite heart” (Psalm 51:17), and it hurts. But the joy of forgiveness is on the other side of this sorrow, and the ...
Are we willing to accept God in general matters like love and faith, but when it comes to His instructions in the Scriptures about how these principles are to be ...
As creatures living in a world broken by sin, we have never experienced what it is to be a human being — not fully and perfectly. But God does not ...
It is only in Christ that we can be refreshing in the ways that people most seriously need refreshment. We should see being a Christian not only in terms of ...
It’s a huge step in our return to God when we acknowledge that our sins against Him have been deliberate. If all we can say is, “What I did was ...