Life is not like a children’s storybook. Things don’t always work out in the end. People don’t always walk off hand in hand living happily ever after. Sinful people living in a sinful world tend to break things and then learn to live with the consequences. This is not a new idea; you can see …
If you’d like to know more about the Bible, where can you start? It’s a big book. Sometimes the size of the Bible intimidates us and we never actually start reading because we don’t know how to do it. Here are some useful principles you should consider so that Bible reading actually happens instead of …
If you ask any Christian what the order of priorities is in their life, they will probably reply that Jesus comes first. Then family, then work, then everything else. It sounds like the right answer. It is easy to say and perhaps we will sound kind of virtuous when we do say it. But is …
In Matthew 13, Jesus compares his followers to yeast (with ‘leaven’ simply being an older word for ‘yeast’): 33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.” (Matt. 13:33 ESV) As far as parables go, …
For many Christians, regular attendance at church or Bible study is a somewhat scattered thing. There could be many reasons why this particular Sunday might not involve going to church, and being sick is only one of them. Maybe there is a special sporting event on. Maybe you have been invited to a birthday party. …
In the last blog post (which you can read here), we unpacked what it meant to train for godliness. Paul instructed Timothy not to assume that he would grow in his godly character but to work at it regularly and with intention. That meant that growing in godliness requires a plan and not just waiting …
In his first letter to his young protégé Timothy, the apostle Paul writes this instruction: Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. (1 Tim. 4:7-8 ESV) …
The Pharisees were the serious religious people of their day. They took morality seriously, they had the utmost respect for the law, and they were part of God’s historic chosen people. In other words, they thought they were the good guys. And so did a lot of other people. Yet, in Matthew 12, after a …
In his longest quote from the Old Testament in his gospel, Matthew describes Jesus in Matthew 12 as one who is gentle. In poetic form, he quotes: 19 He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; 20 a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick …
Many people trust scientists but think that Christians are backward and anti-scientific. After all, many Christians express doubts about evolutionary theory, which most assume to be correct. Christians also have different ideas about sexuality based on what the Bible says. It seems odd to many that there will be people in the modern world who …