Temptation often comes through the pride of life, and the pride of life is of the world: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, … [Read more…]
In both the epistle to the Romans and the epistle to the churches of Galatia, the apostle Paul speaks of justification. To be justified is to be declared not guilty or to be declared righteous. There must be both a justifier and one who needs to be justified. God is the justifier. Every accountable man … [Read more…]
Someone has said, “If you love the flowers, you have to hate the weeds.” And just as we must give all effort to love God, the truth, and others more, we could all use a little more hate too. “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil” (Proverbs 8:13) Four times in the 119th … [Read more…]
My mother used to tell of the days when she worked at a bank and signatures on checks were verified by the process of matching signatures to a signature record on file. A mismatch would most likely mean forgery. The person forging a signature on a check is pretending to be someone he is not. … [Read more…]
1 Chronicles 21 David had sinned in taking a census of Israel and had confessed his sin to God. But the punishment, which David chose among three options, was a plague of three days upon the land. Seventy thousand men of Israel fell in the plague before David begged that the Lord’s hand be against … [Read more…]
With the new year often comes new year resolutions. A resolution is “a course of action determined or decided on” (American Heritage Dictionary). While the coming of a new year prompts us to think of changes we want to make in our lives, what does the Bible say about when the right time is to … [Read more…]
Physically, children and youth can hardly wait to “grow up.” “When I grow up, I’ll do this or that,” they say. Growing up is a positive thing and highly desired. Spiritually, we ought to have the same desire – to grow up. God is interested not only in our salvation (1 Timothy 2:4) but in … [Read more…]
“Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: ‘The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, “What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?” So he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I … [Read more…]
In no uncertain terms, the Bible teaches children of God to “flee fornication” (I Corinthians 6:18). To flee is to run away from a place or situation of danger. What is involved in fleeing? In Genesis 39:7-13, Joseph’s dealing with a seductress, Potiphar’s wife, teaches us much about fleeing fornication. Determine To determine is to … [Read more…]
Hebrews 11 teaches us that the faith that pleases God is a faith that hears the truth, believes it, and acts upon that belief. The writer of Hebrews speaks of Rahab’s salvation from the destruction of Jericho in this way: “By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when … [Read more…]