Living Like We’re Not in Control
The Christian way to live is to acknowledge our ignorance and inability to control life.
James says that we’re unaware of what tomorrow brings, and that our lives are too insignificant and short to think we can control the future. I’d be tempted to conclude that our efforts don’t matter. But that’s not where James goes. “Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or... Continue Reading
Maturity Changes Our Desires
Often, when we look at popular descriptions of what unbelievers think Heaven would be like (if they believe it exists at all), it is full of all the kind of things that they enjoy right now.
If God designs sex for marriage, and there is no giving in marriage in Heaven, then there is also no sex. Others deny that latter point. But it at least seems possible that there won’t be sex in Heaven, even if that being the case isn’t entirely clear. But that inevitably leads to the question, how... Continue Reading
Desperately Searching
God offers not only true sustenance; He offers abundance and delight.
God knows how gullible and desperate people are in their need, led astray by the promise of help. So He asks: “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?” (Isa. 55:2a). God urges them to take stock of what they are giving themselves over to... Continue Reading
Learning to Worship From the Cave of Isolation
Even the troubles of God’s people are a means to God’s glory being amplified.
A true humble recognition of trouble for the Christian includes recognizing the world as a place of brokenness and still trusting that God’s purposes will be completed in our lives. This can only be set as true in our minds and hearts if we know the covenant keeping, stedfast love and faithfulness of a God... Continue Reading
What Makes It Possible for the Christian to Rejoice in the Midst of Pain and Anxiety?
What is the rock-solid principle by which life can be lived?
As I live out the travail that follows life on this side of glory, hardly a day goes by that I am not forced to look at Romans 8:28 and remind myself that what I’m experiencing right now feels bad, tastes bad, is bad; nevertheless, the Lord is using this for my good. If God were... Continue Reading
What Does Jesus’ Death Have To Do With Me?
What if the defining moment of your life is actually someone else’s death?
Turns out humans separated from God are not the super-beings we would like to be. Curved in on ourselves we become black holes of selfishness, draining the life from everything around us as we ourselves have lost God’s life within us. The symbol of Christianity is a cross. It may look shiny and perfectly... Continue Reading
Reopening The Nation Is Now Necessary To Save Lives
We are used to the illusion that we can control everything in comfort.
Those who advocate for earlier business re-opening are often accused of devaluing human life. Yet, on April 16, the United Nations warned that the economic downturn would cause tens of millions to fall into extreme poverty and that hundreds of thousands of children could die. “First, do no harm.” It’s a saying almost as... Continue Reading
5 Helpful Things to Do to Kill Envy in Our Hearts
Chief among those sins that we tend to tolerate in our lives are covetousness, jealousy and envy.
At the root of covetousness, jealousy, and envy is pride. Pride lay at the root of our first parents’ sin, and it continues to be the root of all of our sin. When we feel as though we deserve better, we think what we want, say what we want, take what we want, and do... Continue Reading
Does God Hate People?
Even God’s wrath underscores the bounty of divine love.
Of all people, it may be of some interest to see how John Calvin (1509–1564) answered this question because he, in the minds of many, was a theologian of God’s wrath. While he certainly emphasized divine wrath, he (against some modern expectations) prioritized God’s love for humanity before wrath—indeed, for Calvin, passages about God’s wrath... Continue Reading
Elizabeth Barrows Ussher—Caring for All During the Armenian Resistance
"She showed forth the Christ within her.”
Grace H. Knapp, another missionary at Van, wrote about her friend: “Mrs. Ussher literally laid down her life—not for her friends in the earthly sense of that word—but for members of the race that shortly before had threatened her, and all those that she loved, with a merciless death. In 1915, the buildings belonging... Continue Reading
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