Every activity now being carried on in the name of Christ must meet the last supreme test: Does it have biblical authority back of it? Is it according to the letter and the spirit of the Scripture? Is its spiritual content divinely given? That it succeeds proves nothing. That it...

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”–Eccles. 3:1. DO NOT be in too great a hurry. There is time for everything that has to be done. He who gave you your life-work has given you just enough time to do it...

The Bible doesn’t offer a sanitized version of life or our reactions to it. Dark, shocking, and painful stories abound. Scripture shows us people who think, act, plan, decide, and speak just like we do. If the Bible left out these real-life stories of murder, rape, famine, disease, judgment, depression,...

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23 Through his word Christ removes the heart and mind’s old routines of thought, feeling, action, imagination, conceptualization, belief, inference and puts in their place something else: his thoughts, his attitudes, his...

Some of our favorite teachers may have helped us package our faith in neat little boxes and even handed us the wrapping paper and bows, as if we need not know another thing. We think we’ve got God in those boxes, but we don’t. God doesn’t fit in boxes. However...

The writer to the Hebrews ends this wonderful book of worship and instruction by underscoring to us that marriage should be honored by all. We live in a fallen world, and many have suffered a broken marriage. The whispering that comes from the enemy of our soul does not honor...

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Matthew 6:7 Christians can use words and activities superstitiously, especially when speaking or acting without understanding how the kingdom of God functions. For example, some Christians get...

A man’s steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way? Proverbs 20:24 Some people feel discouraged because they have to struggle to understand what God is saying to them. Even focusing on the Bible requires persistent and energetic work to understand it. But such...

It’s dangerous to become too confident in the maturity of our own faith. Our pride is like the spring of a jack-in-the-box: Just when we think it’s broken or that we’ve gotten the lid on tight, it springs back to life. It rears its ugly head, bobbing around like a...

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12 God often speaks to us in obscure ways to allow us the room...