We often have to make a hard choice: when others are falling by the wayside, do we keep going or join the crowd and give up? The hardest thing to endure is the sight of those around us not enduring. We must finish the race, even if we run alone.
As we faithfully enter into the various assignments the Lord has for us, we should expect to be assailed with sorrows and uncertainties. It is perfectly natural to respond to the difficulties of our duty like Jeremiah: with a broken heart.
In addition to knowledge, we need courage. Fighting on the Lord’s side is not for the fainthearted. And we must understand: courage does not mean not being afraid; it means that we go ahead and do whatever needs to be done, despite our fear.
Shouldn’t our minds be attracted to the wealth of God’s wisdom? We should be fascinated by it, pulled in by its power and majesty. What right-thinking person could get a glimpse of God’s wisdom and not be moved to meditate upon it and contemplate it?
We must deal realistically with the fact that the day of our death is coming. Too often, it just doesn’t seem real. “So teach us to number our days,” Moses prayed, “that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” May our own death be real to us — right now.
The main issue here is evangelism, and the question is whether our reputation is helping or hurting the gospel. “What other people think of me is becoming less and less important; what they think of Jesus because of me is critical” (Cliff Richards).
Some things are worth beginning, even if we can’t see how they may be finished. What we need is not more knowledge or ability but the courage to take the next step, the one that lies right in front of us. We need the courage to get started.
As long as God is our Master, we need not doubt that His next order is going to be good. It may be disruptive and inconvenient, but it will be good. Our next “assignment,” may be different than what we had in mind — and it may come at any minute!
Prudence counsels caution when we face the unknown, but faith counsels courage. Here be dragons, you say? Fine. I’m eager to see them and, if need be, fight them. Whatever else it may be, life in Christ is never dull. It is truly the Great Adventure.
Reaching forward is not optional. When we obeyed the gospel, we committed ourselves to it. We made a public promise to strive for heaven the rest of our lives. And if we ever quit doing that, we’ve broken the most important promise we ever made.
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 ...