There are many reasons to obey what God commands us in Scripture. Here are five of them I’ve reminded myself of over the years: 1) God said it. 2) God knows better than I do. 3) God is in charge, and I am not. 4) Whenever I have obeyed God, I and my family have ultimately benefited. 5) Whenever I have done it my way instead of God’s, with all my rationalizations and excuses that I’ve considered sound reasoning,... Read more
My book It’s All About Jesus includes this great quote from Glen Scrivener, a British minister and evangelist: “Christians believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. Materialists believe in the virgin birth of the cosmos. Choose your miracle.” Glen directs the evangelistic ministry Speak Life. He responded to an interview with atheist Richard Dawkins, and mentioned some similar things to the quote above: Christians believe that Jesus emerged, alive again, from the tomb. But Richard Dawkins believes that *all* life emerged from non-life—and without a... Read more
The Puritans, Charles Spurgeon, John Wesley and a host of others constantly spoke of a God-made happiness. As I have traveled the world, I’ve met more suffering people who are happy in Jesus than I have ever found in America! This is exactly what I talk about in my book Happiness, as I go through over twenty Hebrew words and fifteen Greek words used in Scripture that are part of the same semantic domain. They are happiness synonyms and can be readily translated... Read more
Scripture commands us to set our hearts on Heaven: “Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1). And to make sure we don’t miss the importance of a Heaven-centered life, the next verse says, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things [alone].” We cannot anticipate, or set our minds on, what we cannot imagine. That’s why, I believe, God has given us glimpses of Heaven in the... Read more
Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). So what is our treasure? A. W. Tozer suggested we may discover the answer by responding to four basic questions: What do we value most? What would we most hate to lose? What do our thoughts turn to most frequently when we are free to think of what we will? What affords us the greatest pleasure? Based on your answers to these four questions, what’s your treasure? Many would... Read more
We often think of the Apostle Paul as the Lone Ranger, gallivanting solo about the empire, leading everyone to Christ, never afraid, never struggling, often alone, but never lonely. Scripture corrects this impression as Paul recounts for the Corinthians one of his recent stresses: Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find... Read more
In our side yard a tree has survived ice storms, heavy snows, and howling winds. Several times in the decades we’ve lived here, I thought it would fall. Now I expect it to long outlast me. I’ve taken pictures of my preschool daughters in that tree, and of their children, my grandsons. It has lost many thick limbs, but others have grown, and harsh circumstances have made it stronger. In contrast, many protected and untested trees have long since fallen.... Read more
I doubt many people have talked together more about eternity than Nanci and I did. I spent twenty years of our life together researching, writing, and speaking about Heaven, so we had lots to talk about! We found great comfort in anticipating abundant life in God’s presence. (I encourage you to talk openly with your loved ones and help prepare each other for your eternal home.) Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you . . . that you also... Read more
Our perspective today is informed by the reality that resurrection awaits God’s children. According to God’s Word, the best is yet to be. We who love Jesus do not pass our physical and mental peak in this life, nor do we reach it. Our peak, or its beginning, will come in the resurrection, not before (Revelation 21-22): Understanding that our peak doesn’t come in this life should radically change our view of deteriorating health, which otherwise would produce discouragement, regret,... Read more
I’ve heard it said, “There’s no wrong way to grieve.” I disagree. Certainly, there are different ways and lengths of time to grieve. We should not rebuke or lay guilt on the brokenhearted! The Bible says this about grief: “And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to... Read more
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