Sometimes, our lives can get so messy that we wonder if God can redeem them. Reading through Genesis 30 and 31, we see how God’s plan proceeds even through jealousies, envy, and the strivings of our human nature. Sinfulness cannot thwart God’s plan. Though the sinner is guilty, the Lord continues in his grace to … Continue reading Messy lives, Merciful Savior
In the same way our bodies can get out of shape, our minds can also grow sluggish. Our ability to concentrate can grow weaker, the level of reading we can retain can diminish, and even our ability to think quickly and logically can begin to falter. The mind is like a muscle. The more you … Continue reading Love the Lord with All Your Mind
We often hear the phrase, “There is power in prayer,” but what does prayer have the power to do? Here are five things.
Sin wants us to itself. We find this heart-stopping line in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s classic work, Life Together. “Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in … Continue reading Sin Wants Us Isolated
When trials hit our lives, how much noise do we make? Perhaps that noise is an indication of how fulfilled we are in God. In times of need, if we have God, we have what we need to be content. God dwells in us, and when trials and hardships hit our lives, we do not … Continue reading The Sound of Faith in Hardship
To borrow language from John Calvin, both “useless drones and faithful ministers” find their way into pulpits, and we must carefully distinguish between them. As believers, we must discover faithful ministers and place ourselves under their ministry. Still, we must be aware that there are others out there who have a form of godliness but … Continue reading 6 Characteristics of False Teachers
The good times are to be expected, and the hard times are surprising and strange. Perhaps that unconscious assumption is causing us grief. In his book Jayber Crow, Wendell Berry describes the “old-timers” in a way that seems lost on many people today. He says: “As much as any of the old-timers, he regarded the Depression … Continue reading Finding Strength in Hard Times
We may say we are fully content with God and that he is all we need, but we all wrestle with certain sinful attitudes and behaviors that communicate otherwise. They are characteristics incompatible with fulfillment in God, but there is hope. The more we grow in Christian contentment, the more these tendencies will lose their … Continue reading 8 Characteristics Incompatible with Christian Contentment
As Jeremiah Burroughs puts it, Christian contentment is a rare jewel. Every believer should strive to possess it, but often, we misunderstand what it is and expect it to do things it will never do. To summarize Burroughs, here are three things Christian contentment does not include. Firstly, Christian contentment does not mean we will … Continue reading 3 Misunderstandings of Christian Contentment
Based on how you lived last week, what was your primary pursuit? Was it career, money, recognition, promotion, family, pleasure, or something else? We often know what the correct answer should be, but our lives often paint another picture. We are all living for something; whatever it is, we believe it will bring us happiness … Continue reading Putting Jesus First in a World of Pleasures
The Fight of Faith 