Imagine that someone you care about calls you after a painful disagreement. They explain what happened, what was said, and why they were hurt. Their account seems reasonable, and by the end of the conversation, you feel certain that you understand the situation. Later, you speak with the other person, and the story sounds entirely different. The facts are the …
Maturing in Christ
Every so often, I have to stop and ask myself a hard question: Am I really maturing in Christ? It is easy to assume that I am. I can point to how long I have believed, how much Scripture I know, or how many responsibilities I carry. But maturity is usually revealed in moments that are far less impressive: when …
Pride: Why God Opposes the Proud
Few statements in Scripture are more sobering than the words, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). Pride was the first sin committed against God, which makes it especially important to recognize for what it is: a direct challenge to His authority. Most Christians understand that pride is wrong, but James says far more than …
What Are You Seeing?
As I reflect on my own spiritual journey, one truth has become increasingly clear over the years. My relationship with God and my Lord Jesus Christ is revealed far more by how I live and treat others than by what I claim to believe. Looking back, I can trace the patient work of God’s Word transforming my life through years …
What Are You Thinking?
A few days ago, I received an unexpected phone call from someone I had not spoken with in more than three years. At one time, we served together in ministry. Circumstances eventually led us down very different paths, and the relationship ended with hurt, disappointment, and unresolved tension. Since then, there had been no communication between us. When my phone …
God Speaks Well of You
There are moments in Scripture when God intentionally slows us down and invites us to look deeper. Ephesians 1:3 is one of those moments. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3) In this single verse, the word “blessed” appears three different …
A Prize Worth Pursuing: Knowing Jesus
Last night at our Wednesday prayer meeting and Bible study, one of the ladies spoke up after we had just read these words of Jesus: “For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.” (Mark 9:41) This sweet, elderly lady (who had just …
Act Like It Matters
If what we believe is true, it should show up in how we live. Not in theory or intention, but in action. It is easy to say something matters. It is much harder to live like it does. Most of us would say our faith matters, that God matters, and that what Jesus accomplished matters. Yet when I step back …
Feeding on the Word Daily
You’ve probably heard the saying that if you repeat a lie often enough, it eventually begins to sound like the truth. But what happens when the truth is repeated again and again? What effect does that have on those who hear it consistently? To answer that, we need look no further than God’s Word, the Bible. In John 17:17, Jesus …
Jesus’s Gethsemane Choice
Jesus of Nazareth was no ordinary human. He was extraordinary in every way, and he demonstrated the depth of his godly character throughout his life. This section of Hebrews is just one of many biblical testimonies to the depth of Jesus’ commitment to loving God and people. The author of Hebrews, after providing multiple examples of believers who lived and …