We should accept our particulars, and even be grateful for them. Even if we’ve made poor choices in the past, there is good work yet to be done — work that can be done best by a person who has just our set of particulars. Warts, scars, and all.
We can’t give serious consideration to God’s greatness without being appalled by the huge chasm between His perfection and our imperfection. To be awed by God’s grandeur is to be moved to turn away from anything inconsistent with His glory.
Joy is what God wishes to restore to us in His Son. So for the Christian, the ideal life is the joyous life, whether it is attended with “happiness” or not. Indeed, it may only be through unhappiness that a person’s joy in Jesus Christ can be found.
If we approach the discovery of truth with any intent other than to obey the truth, it is not likely that we’ll find the truth we’re looking for. Getting the right answers to our questions depends greatly on our reasons for asking those questions.
Jesus asked some of his followers, “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?” True seekers are not content until their knowledge has become godly action. What we learn in the library must be lived in the neighborhood.
Is there anything a wise person wouldn’t give up in order to have God? The privilege of knowing God through Christ so far surpasses the value of everything else that Paul said he would gladly “count all things loss” in order to have this one thing.
In Christ, it is important that we see God as our Friend. God is not only lovable; He is also likeable. We may not only adore Him; we may also trust Him. It is not only our duty to worship Him; it is our privilege to spend time with Him.
In the long run, that which we receive from God will turn out to be the thing we’ve most honestly and deeply wanted, not what we’ve pretended to want. God acts on the basis of what He sees when He looks into the very depths of our true will.
Those who love God will keep His commandments, certainly. But more than that, it is only those who genuinely love God who will find His commandments easy. That which would be burdensome to willpower alone is found by love to be light indeed.
The ugly, painful hardship of human experience does not contradict or call into question the love of God. Rather, that is where we learn God’s love the best. The way to God is not over, under, or around our difficulties — it is through them.
Thomas declared that he would need to see Jesus for himself in order to believe He had been raised from the dead. But later, when Jesus appeared and Thomas was ...
The apostle John wrote to his brethren urging them to ground themselves in what they had been taught by the apostles (1 John 1:1-4; 2:24; 4:1,6). If they left this ...
The apostles were eyewitnesses of Jesus after His resurrection. And they were not just disciples of Christ; they were the definitive, authoritative emissaries of Christ. They could regulate the practice ...
God’s plan is to repair the damage of sin (its “corruption”) and transform us into people who think and act as creatures made in His image. In fact, He plans ...
Whatever sins we have done outwardly, it is from our hearts that such deeds have come. We need to be saved not just from the penalty for our sins, but ...
God has reached across the gap and reintroduced mankind to the truth about Himself. So the record in the Scriptures of this revelation is extremely profitable to us: “for teaching, ...
Christ opened the door to a life much better than what we call “life” right now. Although it is ironic that He gave us this life by dying, that is ...
If we follow Jesus, our concern must be for the eternal welfare of people’s souls. Let’s not lose our focus. By God’s grace, let’s do what Jesus told His apostles: ...
As Jeremiah said, the human heart is “deceitful above all things” (17:9). So when we find ourselves doing something for multiple reasons, do we have the honesty to ask, “Deep, ...
The Incarnation was a necessary miracle. Out of all our problems, there is only one that required God to become flesh: the problem of sin. To fix that problem God ...
When we are emphasizing the graciousness of God’s forgiveness, we may lead people to think that salvation has nothing to do with our conduct. But, in fact, it has very ...
If we don’t turn around, we’re going to spend eternity in a place where, without any hindrance from God, we’ll be completely “free to be ourselves.” And it will be ...