We can embrace whatever comes our way with a new confidence. Believing it is God’s will for us to deal with it, whether easy or hard, we can dive into it and give it all we’ve got. There need be no holding back for those who live within His will.
The role of the Creator is different from that of the creature. As creatures, our role is to “trust and obey,” and that is quite enough to keep us busy. As for God, we can always rest in His sovereignty, knowing that He will do His work very well.
Let us resist the temptation to take the pen out of God’s hand and write the story ourselves. Let us rather wait and see how it all comes out. “It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (Lamentations 3:26).
It helps to be reminded that growth, whether physical or spiritual, is an “incremental” process. An increment is a small change in something, so small as to be barely perceptible. And that’s how growth usually occurs: by small changes.
In one way or another, all have suffered. But those who have grown toward God are those who, when faced with suffering, have chosen the upward path rather than the downward. Transformation to greater glory is not automatic. It’s a choice.
Many of us may be happier than we think we are, based on the abundance in our lives of the little things that happiness is really made out of. Let’s not despise the little sources of happiness. Let’s not miss what is available to us.
Some of our tasks seem impossible. And so we do nothing. Fearing failure, we fail to act at all. But like the unfaithful servant who was rebuked for having done nothing with his master’s money, we may hear our Lord’s rebuke for what we didn’t do.
There is an irony here. The less time we have to think, the more we need to think! So I recommend to you my discovery: I’ve found that I need an hour each day just to think — except on extremely busy days, when I’ve found I need two.
Most of us are made the tiredest not by activity but by the avoidance of activity. We are worn out by the constant pressure of what we don’t do. After all, procrastination is a very hard road to travel — its emotional toll is exceedingly high.
Belief in the resurrection is not an appendage to the Christian faith. The resurrection is the indispensable fact of the gospel. Without it, the gospel is not good news. It is not even helpful religious philosophy. It is simply nonsense.
Despite the negative aspects of “warfare,” it is a fact that strength, as well as gratitude, is generally built up through struggle. Danger is certainly one of the “good and ...
Heaven won’t be for those who have earned it by their own success in being good people; it will be for those who have been rescued by the Great Redeemer. ...
For all Job knew, he was going to die from his afflictions, but if so, he was unconcerned: “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he ...
Confronting the awfulness of our sin, without self-pity or evasion of responsibility, we should grieve how we’ve rebelled against God’s love. And we should yearn to be with Him in ...
We tend to see people only through the lens of their past. And unfortunately, if a person’s past is so sinful that we deem them unfit candidates for God’s grace, ...
Human beings have always faced an ultimate choice. Do we lay aside our self-sufficiency and trust in our Creator, or do we double down on our self-sufficiency and trust in ...
Rather than dismissing the distinction between godliness and ungodliness by saying, “Only God knows who His people are,” we need to be growing in our ability to make this distinction ...
Let’s avoid thinking that “eternal life” is different only in that it lasts longer than our earthly life. It is indeed “eternal” because it is unending, but more than that, ...
The fact that, as Joseph knew, sin is always against God should weigh more heavily in our thinking than any social consideration. Social consequences are serious, no doubt, but separation ...
We can stay where we are, which is easier, at least in the short run, or we can let the Great Deliverer begin to break our chains. Between now and ...
As with Israel’s deliverance (Exodus 12), our salvation from sin depends on doing certain things God requires before He delivers us (Acts 2:37,38). The gospel must be obeyed to be ...
When we ourselves are among the unfaithful, what is our response? Hearing the message that we are under the penalty of death for our sins, are we tenderhearted enough to ...