When the World Events Seem Crazy
Today’s Reflection GOD, THE WORLD SEEMS CRAZY RIGHT NOW.It’s frightening how many things are going wrong:wars, natural disasters, economic crises.We see suffering all around.I worry for my friends and family,for our safety, for job security.I worry about our earth, what is going to happen next.Help me remember that you are present in everycircumstance, with every [...]

Nothing To Do but Wait
Today’s Reflection WAITING MAY BE one of the most maddening and difficult moral and psychological challenges life presents. When all we can do is wait, we feel consigned to passivity, uncertainty, and powerlessness. To wait for housing or food or water or a blanket for a shivering child may rightly inspire outrage, not patience. And [...]

The Fullness of God’s Hope
Today’s Reflection PRAYING THE SINNER’S PRAYER is not the end goal of the Christian life. Praying one prayer, or having one experience of God’s grace, is not the fullness of what God hopes for us. Please don’t misunderstand me: having an initial experience of God’s grace by faith is absolutely essential, but it does not [...]

God Loves Us Still
Today’s Reflection THE CHRISTIAN FAITH teaches that God wants to save us when we are at our worst. God loves us still. God is not ignorant of our sin; God sees it more devastatingly than we do. But God loves each one of us and sees someone whom God wants to redeem and make new. [...]

Our Noisy Lives
Today’s Reflection THE HAMMERING STACCATO OF NOISE … so infuses our daily lives that we have forgotten we have a choice: we can choose to disconnect from the world’s chatter. Disconnecting from the noise allows us to plug back into our quiet selves and to reconnect with God. Our souls, our minds, our bodies all [...]

Are You Ready To Be Poured Out As an Offering? (1)

If I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all—Philippians 2:17

Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for the work of another believer—to pour out your life sacrificially for the ministry and faith of others? Or do you say, “I am not willing to be poured out right now, and I don’t want God to tell me how to serve Him.…

The Compelling Majesty of His Power

The love of Christ compels us . . . —2 Corinthians 5:14

Paul said that he was overpowered, subdued, and held as in a vise by “the love of Christ.” Very few of us really know what it means to be held in the grip of the love of God. We tend so often to be controlled simply by our own experience.…

Becoming the “Filth of the World�

We have been made as the filth of the world . . . —1 Corinthians 4:13

These words are not an exaggeration. The only reason they may not be true of us who call ourselves ministers of the gospel is not that Paul forgot or misunderstood the exact truth of them, but that we are too cautious and concerned about our own desires to allow ourselves…

The Compelling Force of the Call

Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! —1 Corinthians 9:16

Beware of refusing to hear the call of God. Everyone who is saved is called to testify to the fact of his salvation. That, however, is not the same as the call to preach, but is merely an illustration which can be used in preaching. In this verse, Paul was…

The Call of God

Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel . . . —1 Corinthians 1:17

Paul states here that the call of God is to preach the gospel. But remember what Paul means by “the gospel,” namely, the reality of redemption in our Lord Jesus Christ. We are inclined to make sanctification the goal of our preaching. Paul refers to personal experiences only by way…

Are You Ready To Be Poured Out As an Offering? (1)

If I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all—Philippians 2:17

Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for the work of another believer—to pour out your life sacrificially for the ministry and faith of others? Or do you say, “I am not willing to be poured out right now, and I don’t want God to tell me how to serve Him.…

The Compelling Majesty of His Power

The love of Christ compels us . . . —2 Corinthians 5:14

Paul said that he was overpowered, subdued, and held as in a vise by “the love of Christ.” Very few of us really know what it means to be held in the grip of the love of God. We tend so often to be controlled simply by our own experience.…

Becoming the “Filth of the World�

We have been made as the filth of the world . . . —1 Corinthians 4:13

These words are not an exaggeration. The only reason they may not be true of us who call ourselves ministers of the gospel is not that Paul forgot or misunderstood the exact truth of them, but that we are too cautious and concerned about our own desires to allow ourselves…

The Compelling Force of the Call

Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! —1 Corinthians 9:16

Beware of refusing to hear the call of God. Everyone who is saved is called to testify to the fact of his salvation. That, however, is not the same as the call to preach, but is merely an illustration which can be used in preaching. In this verse, Paul was…

The Call of God

Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel . . . —1 Corinthians 1:17

Paul states here that the call of God is to preach the gospel. But remember what Paul means by “the gospel,” namely, the reality of redemption in our Lord Jesus Christ. We are inclined to make sanctification the goal of our preaching. Paul refers to personal experiences only by way…