We may be impressed with what Jesus’ miracles say about God’s existence, and we may even understand that they are evidence of His power and authority. However, we don’t always see what these signs say about God’s nature and His purposes.
In the end, it will be seen that our outward actions were the result of our knowledge of God — or the lack of that knowledge. This knowledge is the soil out of which our lives grow, and if the soil is barren, our harvest will not be bountiful.
God has given each of us our abilities because those are the resources needed to do the work that belongs to us — right where we are. It’s tempting to think we could do a better job if we occupied someone else’s place, but that is probably not true.
As “self-actualized” people it is hard for us to learn self-denial. Yet somehow we must learn it. We must recover the old-fashioned virtue of sacrifice — the willingness to let go of everything except that which most greatly glorifies God.
For every step we take toward something valuable, there will always be an easier step we could take toward something less valuable. In the spiritual life, we have a practical need for constant vigilance. Our focus needs to be rechecked frequently.
We may become so consumed with intellectual activity that we disconnect ourselves from the people around us and from the active responsibilities of daily living. Spiritually speaking, we can’t afford the luxury of living in an ivory tower.
There is a gap between where we are and where we want to be. Depending on whether we think of that gap as a problem to be worried about or as an opportunity to be embraced, there will be a corresponding impact on our spiritual growth.
God’s wisdom far exceeds our own, and so His gifts and His answers are not always supplied according to our timetable. When we’re faced with either God’s “inaction” or His “silence,” we need to hold our tongue and also watch our attitude.
If investments in our spiritual lives don’t require us to give up anything of real value to us, they aren’t really investments and the results won’t be worth very much. In the end, God’s value to us will be indicated by what we’ve exchanged for Him.
If we frequently experience either anger or anxiety, it is probably time to ask ourselves whether it is really our Father whom we are seeking. We must have the honesty to admit how often emotions like these are the result of frustrated self-seeking.
It may be that the truly “big” tests of life are the “little” ones, the many daily decisions that call for us to remember our promises to the Lord and ...
Shall we neglect such a great salvation and simply drift away from it? Whatever may have changed in our lives, here is one thing that will never change: the powerful ...
Oftentimes, wisdom hurts us before it helps us. Although its benefits are enjoyable, wisdom usually requires some painful adjustments — starting with the admission that our present situation is not ...
Ponder this statement by Eric Greitens, with which I agree: “Remember that deciding is not doing, and wanting is not choosing. Transformation will take place not because of what you ...
Jesus calls us to make a radical choice. The choice Israel needed to make was a prefiguring of the greater choice that confronts us today. The very worst decision we ...
God’s call to “Return to me, and I will return to you” (Zechariah 1:3) invites us to repentance, a choice only we can make. Despite past distance, God’s love and ...
What we need is not the “freedom” of more lawlessness, but to return to the will of God and find our rest therein. In comparison to the yoke of the ...
As Peter wrote to his beloved brethren, we should be “waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God” (2 Peter 3:12). Oh, to hear the glorious, triumphant ...
No moderate remedy will do. In sin, we took our hearts away from our God, so we must give them back to Him. For after all, there are only two ...
The Berean Jews knew that the ultimate test of Jesus’ messiahship was scriptural: if this Jesus was the person the Hebrew prophets had spoken of, everything about Jesus would interlock ...
We haven’t “chosen life” if we’re not doing the kinds of things Moses commanded Israel to do in Deuteronomy 30:20, “loving the Lord your God, obeying His voice and holding ...
“Henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,” said Paul. It is only the rugged who will receive this crown, those who have fought and run and ...