1 Corinthians 1:27 “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” Love has a way of breaking down barriers… Take Rick. A teenager from Michigan. Forced by his parents to attend church, he Continue Reading…
Luke 5:8, 10 “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, ‘Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!’ Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.’” Without heart-rending, gut-wrenching, fall-on-our-knees conviction of sin we can’t repent. Continue Reading…
Matthew 12:25 “…Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.” Divide and conquer. It’s one of the enemy’s most successful strategies against the human race. It’s intensifying. I can’t remember a time when the fissures have run so deep. Continue Reading…
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Condemn. Condone. Compromise. These seem to be Continue Reading…
1 John 1:6 “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” Love without sacrifice is like food without nutrition. No sustenance. No life. Christianity rests on the foundation of sacrificial love. Continue Reading…
Mark 10:8 “ and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh.” My wife just left me. She was my best friend. The love of my life. Those were the painful words spoken to me recently by an acquaintance. I knew this man viewed his Continue Reading…
Luke 6:37-38 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.” Money, resources, Continue Reading…
Ezekiel 33:10 “…Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?”‘ In 1976 Francis Schaeffer published his classic work, How Then Should We Live? Twenty-eight years later Charles Colson wrote what he considered to be his most important book, Continue Reading…
Revelation 2:4 “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.” Good works. Check Perseverance. Check Purity of doctrine. Check Endurance for the sake of Jesus’ name. Check Maintaining love for God….whoops. The believers at Ephesus boasted a pretty impressive resume, but a resume that fell short Continue Reading…
Galatians 5:6 “… The only thing that matters is faith expressing itself through love.” Two things. Just two things. Some of us have a penchant for making life complicated. We parse every word, speculate on every motive. We assess ourselves, our spouses, our friends. Our finances, our failures, our futures. I Continue Reading…