I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:11). How much do your worldly friends really love you? Movie or music stars you look up to? The employer who wants you to devote your life to climbing the corporate ladder? The cars, gadgets, carpet, or designer outfits you spend so much time dreaming about or delighting in?
To Be Free, Flee
My beloved, flee from idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:14). Idols have a way of disappointing those who trust them. Because only God is God, everyone and anything that we put before God will fail us. Nothing and no one is as strong and faithful and good as God.
I Thank God For You
I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:4). There is a theological point to make from this verse, because Paul is thanking God for his grace to believers. As he does continually in his letters, Paul is reminding the saints at Corinth that their faith, and their faithfulness, is by God’s grace and through Jesus Christ. Yet there is also a personal point not to be missed in this passage:
God Is Happy! (And So You Should Be Too)
Although we often think and talk about God being good, loving — and even wrathful — the truth is that God is also supremely, perfectly, and always happy. One of the best modern equivalents for the idea of “blessedness” in the Greek language is “happy.”
A Penitent Heart, the Best New Year’s Gift
Allow me to make one last new year’s observation, with the help of George Whitefield. As we enter into this new year, many resolutions will be made regarding better diets and more exercise. But what we need most — as always — is to feed on Christ and to exercise ourselves unto godliness. The preeminent preacher of the Great Awakening in America, George Whitefield reminded his audience in a New Year’s message entitled “A Penitent Heart, the Best New Year’s Gift” that “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). Not exactly your typical warm and fuzzy holiday
Knowing Christ In the New Year
This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (John 17:3). It is common, as each year begins, for people to make New Year’s resolutions … which is not a bad practice. As we look back over the past year(s), it is appropriate to wonder if we accomplished what we should have, if our life was as useful and happy as we would like it to be — and then, as a result of that assessment, we resolve to do better in areas in which we feel like we have
Psalm 25 and the New Year
The old British divine Matthew Henry refers to the practice of praying God’s Word back to God as “wrestling with God in his own strength.” For this reason, I love to peruse the Bible for prayers to make my own. And one of my favorite passages to pray is Psalm 25. As we look forward to a new year, I don’t know what changes, purposes, or opportunities await each of us, but I am confident that “good and upright is the LORD” and that, “therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and
Lord, Save Me From My Sins
My wife and I were struck by this recent devotion from C.H. Spurgeon’s Checkbook of Faith — so much so, in fact, that we’ve printed out a copy, framed it, and hope to make it a regular part of our prayer life. Nothing is more potent or refreshing than praying God’s promises back to him! From Every Sin “He will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
Getting the Word Out
You became an example to all the believers … [because] the word of the Lord sounded forth from you (1 Thessalonians 1:7-8). What is the church of Jesus Christ supposed to look like? There are many different descriptions given in Scripture, and many different saints and congregations held up as examples to follow.
When They Saw the Child, They Worshiped
And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh (Matthew 2:11) There is a library full of lessons in this single verse of Scripture.
Why Such a Lowly Birth?
And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn (Luke 2:6-7). Jesus was born when “the time came.” The time came, not just for the fulfillment of Mary’s pregnancy, but for the fulfillment of God’s pre-world plan to become a divine human being. Think of it! The Bethlehem prophecy alone (Micah 5:2) reminds us that God had hundreds of years to plan this event! How will
The Big Point of the Big Boat
Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits (Genesis 6:14-15). The Big Boat The dimensions of the ark were about 450 feet long, by 75 feet wide, by 45 feet high. Such a huge vessel would have had a total storage capacity of almost one and a half million square feet.
The Bible Makes Science Good
A biblical worldview not only enables you to do science well—”Thinking God’s thoughts after Him,” as Johannes Kepler put it—a biblical worldview enables you to do science with goodness. A great deficiency of secular science is that it ignores the problem of the human condition. The fact is, the Nazis were among the most scientifically advanced people of their generation, making huge leaps in many areas of science. But look what they used their knowledge to do! The Holocaust is just one reminder that science alone not only does not eradicate the problem of evil—it can actually be used to
Stewards Must Be Faithful
It is required of stewards that they be found faithful (1 Corinthians 4:2) There is a crucial balance represented here. On one hand, stewards only manage things that have been given to their care. A steward is someone who is entrusted with property that is not his or her own. As Paul points out later in this passage, everything we have and do as Christians is merely using the strength, the giftedness, and even the faithfulness that only comes from Christ.
If We Confess Our Sins
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). We have no idea how deeply damaging the unconfessed sin in our life is. But we also cannot imagine how powerful and wise God’s forgiveness and cleansing will be.