“Nominal” Christians are Christians in “name only.” They are the modern embodiment of the mentality God spoke of in Isaiah’s day: “[They] draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29:13).

God will help us and discipline us (Hebrews 12:5-11). But having been disciplined by God, we will have to discipline ourselves. We will have to exert ourselves to go uphill rather than downhill, doing a good deal more than what comes “naturally.”

When we start following our own will in the “secular” parts of life, we tell ourselves that we won’t let these “other things” get out of hand. But we are deceiving ourselves. We have let something else sneak back onto the throne of our hearts.

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 not been doing: obey His will. He must become our Master, our Ruler . . . our LORD.

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 add a little “Christianity” to their busy lifestyles.

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 process of confessing our sins and properly grieving them should not be rushed through.

Seeking God can never be a merely intellectual pursuit. Having thoughtfully read what God reveals of Himself in the Scriptures, we then have to take those truths and investigate them in our most practical relationships, such as our home and family.

It is reasonable to want to understand the world, and it does take a certain amount of information to do that. But if we’re not careful, we’ll be drowned in a sea of useless “news.” We need to learn about what is old as well as what is new.

Most of our lives would profit from some serious simplification. We are over-committed and strung out. We try to do more than one person can do effectively. And the result ought to alarm us: we are at a disadvantage when it comes to the devil.

We preach the Prince of Peace, and it’s right that we emphasize the peace He wants to give us. But this Prince brought a sword (Matthew 10:34), and this sword must sever us from our self-righteous selves — a most disturbing thing indeed.

When the whole truth comes out, as it surely will eventually, are we absolutely sure that it will show us to be in the right? Self-honesty is not an easy thing for most of us, and it may turn out that we were the ones hiding from the truth.

The glory ahead will be out of all proportion to the often dull and unexciting affliction that will have produced it. We should not underestimate ourselves. The humdrum appearance of our lives often conceals the fact that something great is going on.

God will help us, it but it is still we who will have to die. “No matter how close to yours another’s steps have grown, in the end there is one dance you’ll do alone.” So what will we do when we have to do this thing that no one can do for us?

Jesus would have dealt with the storm when the time was right; meanwhile the disciples should have hung on. So we need to learn the lesson of the tempest: we should let God decide when the situation has grown dangerous enough to warrant His action.

The question is not at what point we are satisfied, but at what point God is satisfied. And He will not be satisfied until we have been returned to the perfectly glorious image of holiness that He had in mind when He created us.

The trumpet-blast of the Lord’s return will arouse us to a life that will be life indeed. If we are found in Christ, the thunderous voice of the archangel will open our eyes to the real life we were created to enjoy, and we will enjoy it forever.

The Lord’s first appearing occurred “when the fullness of the time had come,” and His final appearing will also be timed perfectly. Meanwhile, we can wait in faith and hope and love. We can be faithful in His work, ready and waiting to see His face.

When we see life’s sun setting and we know our time is running out, we tend to see what’s important more clearly. But in truth, we don’t have to wait until old age or a dire doctor’s report. We can concentrate on what’s most important right now.