“Our God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes.” (Psalm 115:3) Nothing is a surprise to God, not even our slightest trials. His plan may seem unfair, but that’s because we dwell in the here and now. We lack the vertical view. In fact, we sometimes quarrel with God, as the prophet […]
Read MoreTag Archives: Romans
Beyond Our Comprehension
Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the LORD’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? (Romans 11:33–34) Despite all of our searching and study of the Scriptures, we’ll never be able to see […]
Read MoreCommon Responses to Mistreatment
Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. (Romans 12:9) It’s been my observation that when we’re treated unfairly, we respond with three common, knee-jerk reactions. First, there is the aggressive pattern: we blame others. This reaction not only focuses on the person who […]
Read MoreAccountability
What do we mean by accountability? In the simplest terms, it is answering the hard questions. Accountability includes opening one’s life to a few carefully selected, trusted, loyal confidants who speak the truth—who have the right to examine, to question, to appraise, and to give counsel. People who are accountable usually have four qualities:
Read MoreHope
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned. —Romans 5:12 (NASB) The theme threaded from Genesis to Revelation is the plague of death, and all humanity has the disease. Being fallen creatures, we don’t want to face it. […]
Read MoreThe Paradox
So the soldiers, their commanding officer, and the Temple guards arrested Jesus and tied him up. —John 18:12 (NLT) Jesus’ first three trials were religious in nature. The accusation was blasphemy, which was an offense that was admissible only in a Jewish court of law. So when Jesus stood before Annas, Caiaphas, and the Sanhedrin […]
Read MoreEncounter on the Damascus Highway, Part One
Various methods are employed to communicate the good news of Christ to the lost. Some of the approaches appear to be successful and effective on the surface, but underneath they leave much to be desired. Take the Harvard Approach, for example. The thinking behind this method is: Let’s all discuss the world’s religions. Because it’s reason centered, it attracts both genuine and pseudo intellectuals.
Read MoreStaying Alert
Your mind is a muscle. It needs to be stretched to stay sharp. It needs to be prodded and pushed to perform. Let it get idle and lazy on you, and that muscle will become a pitiful mass of flab in an incredibly brief period of time. How can you stretch your mind? What are some good mental exercises that will keep the cobwebs away? I offer three suggestions: READ.
Read MoreA Rare and Remarkable Virtue
Perhaps you’ve uttered the American’s Prayer at some anxious moment recently: Lord, give me patience . . . and I want it right now! This rare and remarkable virtue is within the and-so-forth section in Galatians chapter 5. You know how we quote that passage . . . “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, and-so-forth.” That lazy habit has caused a very important series of virtues to become forgotten.
Read MoreDangers at Christmas
IN THIS SEASON OF EXTREME BUSYNESS, we Christians need to stay alert to any potential dangers. I’ll mention only four of them . . . along with some strategies that will allow us to combat each risk. First is the doctrinal danger of substituting the temporal for the eternal. Paul explains: Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. ROMANS 12:2
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