John 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” One of the things that I find so interesting when reading about Jesus’ ministry in the New Testament is that He did not try to lure people into following Him by promising them prosperity or comfort. In fact, He often discouraged people from following Him by emphasizing the fact that the path to which He called them was difficult. The spiritually curious were challenged to take up their crosses, […]

“I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” Isaiah 43:25 Israel is a mess. The kingdom is divided. The dual thrones have been weakened. Idolatry and wickedness are running rampant through a land that God had wonderfully, miraculously preserved and given to His people just a few short generations before. And yet, here is God promising forgiveness for all of their sin–not only forgiveness, but eradication of their sin. Notice that God does not forgive them for their sake. He forgives them for His own sake. Why would […]

Isaiah 40:31 “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” I share with you these thoughts from a friend who is a long distance runner. Running a marathon is hard. It requires a huge amount of preparation and training just to be able to complete a race like that, let alone to finish well. Training starts months in advance to build endurance, strength and stamina. It includes many miles on the road as well as cross-training […]

I Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.” For those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ, we know that the greatest expression of His grace to us was His death on the cross. The sinless One took our sin on Himself, so we would not have to! But look again at this amazing verse. Notice how the Holy Spirit inspired Peter to describe the purpose of Christ’s sacrifice and our salvation: “that we might die […]

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ…… For each will have to bear his own load.” Galatians 6:2, 5 Paul challenges the Galatians believers to bear each other’s burdens. Then, three verses later, tells them to bear their own burdens. So which verse is right? When we look at the passage carefully, we see that in the first three verses of the chapter, Paul is talking about believers who are caught in sin. When we see that happen with our brothers and sisters, it is our responsibility as Christ followers to care for them, encourage them and challenge them to come […]

“But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs allow him not to defile himself.” Daniel 1:8 Every generation of Christ followers has a tendency to think that they are enduring the most difficult era of humanity in regard to maintaining their testimony and standards. There is certainly ample evidence that evil is alive and well in our world today. Yet, a stroll down through history reveals that living according to God’s standards has always been counter-cultural. Daniel is perhaps best known to […]

“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” II Timothy 3:12 When looking for encouragement and strength for the day, I rarely read II Timothy 3:12. My reward for pleasing God is a guarantee that I will face opposition? “Listen- if you want to be the person God has called you to be, you will be persecuted for it.” It seems to be the opposite of what the Holy Spirit would inspire Paul to write to a young man (Timothy) just getting established in his life of service for God! However, Jesus did the same thing- “Want to […]

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Deuteronomy 29:29 This is one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible. I remember sitting in theology class listening to the conversations going around and around as we discussed the Trinity, or election versus free will, or the eternal generation of the Son (I could go on!). To plumb the depths of the character and the holiness of God is something that only God Himself can do fully. “The secret things […]

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence.” II Peter 1:3 We finally decided to take the plunge. It was time to buy a flat screen TV. We had a 19” tube TV that was on its last legs, and I had found a nice 32” LCD. Wow! What a difference that was going to make for Red Sox games and movies. We saved up the money, brought it home and 5 seconds after I got it plugged in, everyone started selling the next […]

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” Revelation 4:8b Heaven. The very word conjures up so many images in our heads. Some of us instantly think of chubby little angels playing harps, or people floating on clouds, or maybe kids running down streets of gold. When we ask questions about heaven, we typically ask, “How big will our mansions be?” or “How old will we be?” or “Can I ask God all the questions I’ve been wondering about?” Our curiosity is natural. There is so much the Bible does not tell us about what heaven […]