Holiness is a higher priority than happiness. It should rank higher in our scale of values than happiness, and maintaining its presence in our lives should be a matter of more pressing concern. The pursuit of holiness should be what we’re known for.
Through the gospel of Christ, we can have all that the word “life” was ever meant to convey. And the amazing thing is, the life that is available to us right now in Christ is, at its very best, only a foretaste of the fuller life that awaits us.
We say we’re reaching forward, but the pull of nostalgia can tug at our hearts so strongly that we catch ourselves trying to make the world like it used to be rather than the way it ought to be, as if “used to be” and “ought to be” were the same.
Is it really God we’re reaching forward to or are we preoccupied with lesser things? These questions aren’t just important; they are urgent as well. If we’re not busy about the Father’s business, our conduct is not going anywhere — it’s aimless.
Most of our deeds have to be done without any foreknowledge of their outcome. Hope doesn’t mean confidence that things will work out as we wish, but confidence that God’s purposes will be accomplished, even if we have no idea what is going to happen.
We are a busy people with little time to meditate on God. But do we have so little longing for God because we’re busy, or are we so busy because we have little longing for God? Once we answer that with integrity, things will start looking up.
When we’re counting our blessings we need to count those times when we’re forced to face our need for God. Any episode of “hunger” that disrupts our sense of self-sufficiency and brings us back to the reality of our need is to be appreciated.
Thinking rightly about the God who is our Creator is vital. Remembering — rather than forgetting — what God has done in the past is the key to dealing reverently with God in the present and to thinking clearly about His promises in the future.
When we’re young, we haven’t lived long enough to look at events from anything but a very short perspective. Later, we can judge the value of things much more easily, because we can see them within a larger context. Age widens the lens of life.
We should pray that God will bring to naught any course of action on our part that is inconsistent with His purposes. And we ought never to be more grateful than when He has defeated the foolish little kingdoms that we set up in defiance of His.
If we’re thinking rightly, we will drink in every bit of truth that God has shared with us about Himself, eagerly wanting not only to know it but to act ...
The godly sorrow that leads to repentance is critically important. It requires humility, certainly. But if we’re willing to bow before God in the honest recognition of our sins’ seriousness, ...
Although the apostles are no longer preaching in person, the foundation has been laid and the record stands firm. The gospel, as preached and confirmed by the apostles, is just ...
Here is the truth: we haven’t really been liberated or “saved” if, for all practical purposes, we continue to live in “Egypt.” God requires that we leave our chains behind, ...
Theoretically, a person might change his ways for a number of reasons that have nothing to do with God. Repentance, however, is the reformation of one’s self because of godly ...
When mankind rebelled against Him, God subjected the world to “futility” (Romans 8:20,21), preventing us from controlling everything we want to control. He lets us learn from the humbling experience ...
The fact is, we have to be taught what our greatest needs are. We think we know what these are, but our priorities can become dangerously disordered. We have to ...
Often our words serve the purpose of saying what we WANT to be true. Yet we need to be careful. Surrounded by other religious people, it’s easy to say nice ...
Converted to Christ, we set Him apart as our Lord. But living consistently under that lordship takes time. We must yield our hearts completely to His direction. At our baptism, ...
Jesus urged us to “count the cost” of discipleship (Luke 14:25-33). If we won’t throw the doors open and give God access to EVERY room in our hearts (even the ...
God must be TREATED as holy, with respect for His commandments, but He will also DISPLAY His holiness in His dealings with those who come near — even by punishing ...
There is a link between the CHARACTER of God and the COMMANDS of God. When God has given any instruction to regulate our behavior, we cannot disrespect His WORD without ...