Each day, like providential fireworks, God’s grace lights up our lives. Just like John the Baptist, each exploding glory is meant to call us out of our spiritual stupor. Each testifies to our soul about the light. Yet more often than not, we are deaf to these calls and blind to their brilliance.   “Praise... Continue Reading

Nehemiah’s response to the fear tactics of the enemy was to turn to God. “O God, strengthen my hands” (Neh. 6:9). He did not cower but he did realize his need for God. The Lord was his refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. The strength needed was not simply to withstand but to... Continue Reading

To think little or not at all about the centerpiece of history, is to guarantee that you will have no place in heaven. It is not enough to merely be religious by going to church on holidays or even every Sunday, or doing a few other well-meaning duties. It is not religion that makes you... Continue Reading

Birth and burial. In Luke’s Gospel, the scene of Jesus’s birth involved him being wrapped and laid, and the scene of Jesus’s death involved him being wrapped and laid. Mary wrapped him in Luke 2:7, and Joseph of Arimathea wrapped him in Luke 23:53. In 2:7 Jesus was laid in a manger, and in 23:53... Continue Reading

The peace and mercy of God are only for those who place their entire confidence only in what Christ has done for them and not in anything that they are able to do. You see, the beauty of the new creation is that it is like the original creation in the sense that the creation... Continue Reading

When Solomon built the temple in 1 Kings 6, he paid attention to some intricate details. If I’m honest, I often blow past them. After all, what does the width of doors, or the kinds of wood and stone used for the interior of the temple, have to do with me today? I believe the... Continue Reading

God knew what was coming. He would one day send His Son, the Adam of a new Kingdom to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. He was born into this earth as a man, lived and died, and rose again to pay the penalty for our sins so that we could... Continue Reading

Spurgeon points to the sorrowing Savior to defend those of us who experience depression from people like Job’s friends, friends too hasty with their help. Is another’s sorrow and fear warranted and proportional to what he or she is experiencing? After all, to cry about crying things and to feel frightened by frightening things are... Continue Reading

The bottom line is that the Sabbath’s moral component is two-fold: first, the purpose of the Sabbath is for rest and worship (with allowance – as Jesus taught – for genuine works of necessity and acts of mercy/piety); and, second, one-seventh portion of time is to be consecrated to God (Exodus 20:8-11).   For brevity’s... Continue Reading

Maybe you failed significantly this year. Maybe you feel like you’re wandering in a purposeless wilderness. But don’t be “governed by present appearances”! The truth is far better: God “works all things after the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11). You can’t mess up his plan. And there is a plan, even in the small... Continue Reading