Jesus said, “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:25). We do ourselves a favor, and we show the greatest honor to God, when we loosen our grip on our lives in this world.
Our destiny hangs upon our decision as to what to do about the light. Either we’ll accept the momentary pain of repentance, or we’ll suffer the eternal pain of regret. Jesus said it is the truth that will make us free. Is that what we seek or not?
In the end, it will be evident that most of the “urgent” matters that tried to claim our attention were simply inconsequential. Before it’s too late, we need to stop our frantic fixing of things “out there” and start working on things “in here.”
We were created to desire unity, but there is very little of it to be found in the present world. Here, the norm is enmity, not unity. We don’t have to look any further than the daily news (or in the mirror) to know that many things have gone awry.
When we suffer, we can be thankful not for the pain but for its result: a heart more joyously fixed on God. Slowly but surely, God is conforming us to His character. Sometimes with pleasure and sometimes with pain, He is teaching us what love is.
Defying the devil, let’s keep going. He would like to drown us in despair, but we can refuse that option decisively. When we’re hurting and the hurt seems nearly unbearable, we can take at least one more step. Our God is worth that and much more.
We aren’t told what the future holds. Our life’s journey may take us along any number of different routes, none of which we can predict or be prepared for. So no map is given to us, only a Compass, and we must be content to be guided by God.
Sometimes we are defeated by discouragement. But the great hope of the gospel is that, while life lasts, none of us is a lost cause. Our defeats need not be final. Our failures need not be fatal. Real change for the better is always possible.
Our problem is not a lack of ability but an unwillingness to hear. As an old maxim puts it, “The truth is not always what we want to hear.” And even when the problem is a lack of ability, that lack of ability may be the result of neglect on our part.
Falling backward is a habit we all have. So we need more than an improvement in our moods — we need to get a fresh grip on our commitments every day. Significant spiritual progress comes from the frequent remaking of our promises to God.
There is one thing we can always do: we can determine that we will be faithful. We can keep ourselves in the love of God. That is the decision we ...
It is not just our behavior that needs improving. We ourselves (our deepest thoughts and motives) need fixing. So Christ came to bring us an entirely new kind of life. ...
Having demanded to do as we please, we’ve sold ourselves into slavery. And as painful as it is, there is no better day than when we cry out, with Paul, ...
God’s plan is an amazing plan. In Christ, we can make better DECISIONS because our FEELINGS are more appropriate, and we can do that because our THOUGHTS are more truthful. ...
Sin has broken apart everything that was meant to be together, but through Christ all is being brought back into harmony. Our disintegration — our broken-to-pieces-hood — is being healed. ...
If Jesus truly was the Son of God, we would not expect that truth to be obvious to us if our “eyes” can only see things that this world considers ...
In the biblical account, we are dual creatures who straddle the physical and spiritual worlds. We have a brain, but we also have a mind — a reasoning faculty that ...
While there is a need for patience, we also need to be diligent. Our transformation will not take place automatically, by divine decree. We have to embrace the process actively ...
If faith without works is insufficient (James 2:14-26), so is baptism without conversion. If we do not make the decision to walk in “newness of life” (Romans 6:4), it is ...
All the good things in life require committing ourselves to them. Hesitancy, doubt, and tentativeness will cut the very heart out of our discipleship to Christ. Distrusting God, we will ...
However “nice” my outward life may be, when I measure my heart (my thoughts, attitudes, and intentions) against Jesus’ teaching, I am ashamed. His teaching disturbs me greatly, if I ...
If the congregation we’ve been a part of is not faithful to Christ, we need to worship elsewhere. But even if we’re surrounded by others who are faithful to Christ, ...