We must not only desire to know the truth; we must actually intend to obey it. If we’re honestly looking for information that will help us improve our own obedience, then we have God’s assurance that we’ll get the information we need.
We can improve our ability to discern the Lord’s will, and if we’re at all serious about seeking God, then we’ll surely set that as a high priority. Indeed, the only higher priority would be improving our doing of the Lord’s will after we discern it!
“Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,'” Jesus asked, “and do not do the things which I say?” There is more to Christianity than simply listing it as our religious preference. Jesus Christ is not really our Lord if we don’t do the things He says.
Neglect is responsible for some of the most awful suffering in the human race. The damage that is done by simply failing to act may grow so slowly that we don’t see it increasing, but in the end, the cumulative effect is devastating.
The law of sowing and reaping applies to us. The same laws that have always governed the universe will govern the declaration of our final destiny. There is no successful way to defy these laws. Not even God Himself is at liberty to set them aside.
If we don’t summon the courage to reject the opposite of life, then life in Christ cannot be ours. Like all other good things, the joys of life in God are the consequences of having a character that is not afraid to make big sacrifices.
The truth about God is not so hard to understand that it is beyond our reach. If we forfeit the privilege of seeing God someday, it will not be for a lack of ability or opportunity. It will be for a failure to make life’s basic choice.
While obviously sorrowful, the remembrance of our sins is a necessary part of our humility, gratitude, and even our joy. “The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. Joy and sorrow are inseparable” (Kahlil Gibran).
We should adopt real reverence toward God and commit ourselves to carrying out His instructions. “Respect and obey God! This is what life is all about.” Compared to this priority, nothing else even tips the scale. This is our all, our everything.
To defer dealing with God until we are out of our youth is a costly error. And if we’ve not yet decided whether we’re going to take God seriously, there is something we need to know: the question only gets tougher the longer we put off answering it.
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 ...
Christ’s kingdom can’t be measured by any of the criteria the world uses to judge how powerful something is. And because it is spiritual, Christ’s kingdom is not vulnerable to ...
If we have not accepted the lordship of Christ before the day of judgment, it will be too late for an acknowledgement at that time to save us. In reality, ...
It was not merely by being humble that Jesus procured our salvation — it was “by becoming obedient” (Philippians 2:8). We have learned nothing of Jesus Christ and His gospel ...
Out of all we have learned from the Scriptures, only a fraction of that has truly been “received.” Today, let’s determine that we will not let pride keep God’s word ...
There is nothing about any of us that is not known to God (Hebrews 4:12,13). What if God made known to the public everything He knows about us, even the ...