Biblical Optimism for the New Year

Last updated on: January 3, 2025 at 11:58 am By Randy Alcorn

Regardless of our expectations or resolutions, this new year, like every year since we were evicted from Eden, will bring both wonderful and profoundly difficult moments. What we need is a perspective on our coming year that’s hopeful, yet grounded in eternal certainties. No Christian should be a pessimist. We should be realists—focused on the actuality that we serve a sovereign and gracious God. Because of the reality of Christ’s atoning sacrifice and His promises, biblical realism is, ultimately, optimism. If... Read more

What Love Looks Like

Last updated on: January 3, 2025 at 11:53 am By Randy Alcorn

0 Comments

When a religious leader asked which command was the greatest, Jesus responded, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands” (Matthew 22:37-40, CSB). Love isn’t something we display on a wall hanging; it’s something we do: “Little children, let us love... Read more

The Comfort and Friendship of Jesus in Our Grief

Last updated on: January 3, 2025 at 11:50 am By Randy Alcorn

0 Comments

Over the four-plus years my beloved wife Nanci faced cancer, there were many good reports and many bad ones. We rode a roller coaster of emotions throughout her three surgeries, three rounds of radiation, and three rounds of chemo. I vividly remember the day when the doctor said it was now stage-four cancer that had spread to her lungs. That night we prayed together, and then I went downstairs, got on my knees by the couch, buried my face in... Read more

What Are Treasures in Heaven?

Last updated on: December 16, 2024 at 11:10 am By Randy Alcorn

0 Comments

A reader on my Facebook page asked this question about the nature of treasures in Heaven: “What does that even mean to ‘store your treasures in heaven’? What treasures are we storing up?!” The Greek word translated “treasures” or “riches” in Matthew 6 normally means “accumulated wealth in the form of money, jewels, or other valuables.” That’s exactly what Christ’s disciples would have immediately thought of: tangible wealth, valuable assets, precious possessions. It’s true that when Jesus speaks about “treasures... Read more

Heaven: 20 Years Later

Last updated on: December 16, 2024 at 10:28 am By Randy Alcorn

0 Comments

Note from Eternal Perspective Ministries: October 2024 marked the 20-year anniversary since the release of Randy’s book Heaven. By God’s grace, over one million copies have been sold. In this interview, Randy reflects on writing the book and what has changed since it was first published. What prompted you to study and write about Heaven? A close friend of mine, Greg, died when I was in high school. I was a brand-new Christian, and it affected me profoundly. Then after I’d... Read more

One Conspiracy Theory That Is Grounded in Scripture

Last updated on: December 16, 2024 at 11:15 am By Randy Alcorn

0 Comments

Evangelist and author Greg Stier shared this on X: WHY I’M A CONSPIRACY THEORIST! Behind every evil in this world there is a closely knit network of highly resourced influencers who manipulate the system (Hollywood, politics, media, etc.) and are conspiring to take down evangelical Christians and destroy the global church. It’s not the Illuminati. It’s not extreme left wingers. It’s not the Deep State. It’s deeper than that. It’s Satan and his invisible army of fallen angels, nicknamed “demons.” They... Read more

The Benefits of Following Jesus Always Outweigh the Costs

Last updated on: December 16, 2024 at 11:05 am By Randy Alcorn

0 Comments

Every sacrifice we make in following Christ will always result in our long-term good—but it’s more than that. It will also most often result in our short-term happiness. Listen carefully to the words of Jesus to His disciples: Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time,... Read more

Does Scripture Show God Has Emotions?

Last updated on: November 29, 2024 at 10:20 am By Randy Alcorn

0 Comments

I wrote about God’s emotions in my Happiness book, but recently ran across this past video, answering a question about whether God has emotions: Some people suppose happiness is uniquely human, unrelated to God’s nature: as He gave us a body and hunger, which He doesn’t have, He gave us a capacity for happiness, which He also doesn’t have. I believe something radically different—that God wants us happy because He’s happy! He treasures His happiness and treasures us, and therefore He treasures... Read more

For Richer, for Poorer: How to Steward Money in Marriage

Last updated on: December 31, 2024 at 7:53 am By Randy Alcorn

0 Comments

Were you to survey married couples about their money-management goals, most answers would focus on some form of financial success. Most people strive to accumulate better houses, nicer cars, more toys, and bigger retirement accounts. But when it comes to the dream of financial prosperity and security, we should ask, “Whose dream is it?” It may be the American dream—but is it the dream of the risen Jesus? And since what glorifies him is also for our good, is it... Read more

When I Write About Abortion or Sexual Purity, What About…?

Last updated on: November 21, 2024 at 9:40 am By Randy Alcorn

0 Comments

I shared this on my Facebook page: The Bible clearly teaches that God’s very best for our lives involves our purity and obedience to Him. This includes forsaking all sexual sins—heterosexual and homosexual—outside of the marriage covenant between a man and a woman. If this message is “hate speech,” then the Bible is hate speech, and no one can preach the whole Bible without being guilty of hate speech. “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach... Read more