“Mary gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7 NRSV). Paul Tripp, in Come Let Us Adore Him, writes that “the Christmas story; rather, the entire redemptive story hinges on one thing—the eternal willingness of Jesus.” He says: Without his willingness, you and I would be without hope and without God. Without his willingness, we would be left... Read more
The angels must have been stunned to see the second member of the triune God become a human being! The baby of Bethlehem was Creator of the universe, pitching His tent on the humble camping ground of our little planet. God’s glory now dwelt in Christ. He was the Holy of holies. People had only to look at Jesus to see God. When we look at the life of Jesus, we see something unparalleled in all human history. As a... Read more
Dennis Prager writes, “We tend to think that it is being unhappy that leads people to complain, but it is truer to say that it is complaining that leads to people becoming unhappy. Become grateful and you will become a much happier person.” When possible, we should take positive action to right what’s wrong. But when we complain about circumstances beyond our control, we’re telling God, “You don’t know what you’re doing; I know better than you.” If you’ve recently... Read more
One of our EPM staff was going through the junk folder for messages sent to my Facebook page, because sometimes what is screened out as spam or other junk shouldn’t have been! She came across this treasure of a message sent several months ago: Dear Mr. Alcorn, I am reading through your book Deadline for probably the 7th time since my mom first read it to me as a young teenager back in the day. I am 36 now, the mom of four... Read more
This is a year of “firsts,” that is, the first of many things without Nanci by my side. These weeks have included three of the very hardest firsts, followed quickly by Christmas and New Year’s. Then there will be Valentine’s Day, and March 28, the day of Nanci’s homegoing, where in God’s providence our whole family will hopefully be all together, for the first time since her memorial service, May 15. Last month was my first Thanksgiving without Nanci since... Read more
Rejoicing always in the Lord (see Philippians 4:4) may seem unrealistic at times. But we must remember that this rejoicing is centered not in a passing circumstance but in a constant reality—God Himself, and his Son, Jesus, who died for us and rose again. On the one hand, we might suppose that Scripture doesn’t command us to rejoice in our nation’s condition, our culture’s trajectory, our spouse’s attitude, our child’s struggle, our church’s conflicts, our job loss, or our poor... Read more
This is a wonderful video from Generous Giving. I love the warmth and family element to it, and also the realistic honesty that says life, child raising, and giving are sometimes quite hard, but always very rewarding: Here’s something I wrote in my book Giving Is the Good Life: Giving is more than a noble and compassionate act. It’s a giant lever positioned on the fulcrum of this world, allowing us to move mountains in the next world. When we die, we will see... Read more
Last month I spoke at the services of my home church, Good Shepherd Community Church. The subject was what God has been teaching me about loss and grief since Nanci went to be with Jesus March 28. Pastor Steve Keels did a great job asking me questions. Normally I don’t talk about the interviewer, but in this case I think I should. Other than Nanci, Steve’s been my closest friend for many years. In our 46 years of friendship Steve... Read more
When Kirk Cousins, starting quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, interviewed me, one of the great questions he asked was, “Will we have regret in Heaven when we finally see with an eternal perspective?” I really appreciated Kirk’s question because of his Bible-based recognition of a truth many Christians don’t often contemplate, that “each of us will give an account of ourselves to God” (Romans 14:12). While many Bible verses teach this, most of us fail to live daily with the eternal perspective... Read more
Jesus, in Matthew 10:42, makes a startlingly significant promise about a seemingly small act of service: “And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” In that verse, Jesus is referring to His apostles as “these little ones.” And later, in Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus broadens His statement about “I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink”... Read more
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