When the Problem of Evil and Suffering Becomes Real

Last updated on: August 18, 2024 at 4:31 pm By Randy Alcorn

The problem of evil and suffering moves from the philosophical to the personal in a moment of time. While researching If God Is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil, I read all sorts of books—philosophical, theological, practical, and personal. It’s one thing to talk about evil and suffering philosophically; it’s another to live with it. Three weeks after his thirty-three-year-old son, Christopher, died in a car accident, pastor and evangelist Greg Laurie addressed a crowd of twenty-nine thousand... Read more

No Place for Sin in Heaven

Last updated on: August 18, 2024 at 4:24 pm By Randy Alcorn

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I’m convinced that the Bible is clear that though we will have freedom to choose in Heaven, we will have no ability to sin. Consider Revelation 21:4-5: “Death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new’” (emphasis added). What follows the word for explains why the evil that causes death, mourning, crying, and pain will... Read more

Homesick for Heaven

Last updated on: August 9, 2024 at 11:59 am By Randy Alcorn

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Novelist John Updike tells the story of a fourteen-year-old boy named David. When it’s time for questions in his catechism class, David looks to his pastor for answers: “I asked Reverend Dobson about Heaven, and he said it was like Abraham Lincoln’s goodness living after him.” “And why didn’t you like it?” “Well, don’t you see? It amounts to saying there isn’t any Heaven at all.” “I don’t see that it amounts to that. What do you want Heaven to... Read more

Outrage Is Not a Fruit of the Spirit

Last updated on: August 9, 2024 at 11:54 am By Randy Alcorn

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In today’s digital world—and especially in an election year—it’s heartbreaking to see God’s people become a bickering, angry mob. (If you don’t believe me, spend a few minutes reading comments on YouTube, Instagram, or Twitter/X.) We are not called to be a herd of online bullies, rushing to judgment and egging each other on to defame our brothers and sisters. (Some of whom may well be more faithful and honorable in God’s sight than we are.) We desperately need the... Read more

No One Is Ever Too Old to Be Used by God

Last updated on: August 9, 2024 at 11:48 am By Randy Alcorn

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“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Becoming a new creation sounds as if it involves a radical change, and indeed it does! Hence, C. S. Lewis could say: “The Christian life is simply a process of having your natural self changed into a Christ self, and…this process goes on very far inside. One’s most private wishes, one’s point of view, are the things that have... Read more

Eric Liddell, Margaret Holder, How God Rejoices to Rescue Us

Last updated on: August 2, 2024 at 12:21 pm By Randy Alcorn

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f you didn’t read Wednesday’s blog about Olympian Eric Liddell, I encourage you to go back and read that one first. The following story was first told in my book The Grace and Truth Paradox, and touches on Eric Liddell’s life after he won Olympic gold. I asked Stephanie Anderson, who works on EPM’s staff and helps with my blogs, to do some research and fill in the blanks to share more of what life was like for the children in the prison... Read more

One Hundred Years Later, Remembering Olympian Eric Liddell

Last updated on: August 2, 2024 at 12:16 pm By Randy Alcorn

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This is the 100th anniversary of Eric Liddell winning the gold medal in the men’s 400m. He won it on July 11, 1924, but in this year‘s Olympics that event final is scheduled for August 7. And it is in Paris exactly as it was in 1924! Today’s blog is the repost of one I first shared about Eric in 2018, with the addition of a few paragraphs and some tweaks here and there. If ever we were going to reshare... Read more

Let the Love of God Be the Object of Your Contemplation

Last updated on: August 2, 2024 at 12:11 pm By Randy Alcorn

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I’ve been studying the love of Christ, and my heart has been touched first by Scripture, and second by great thoughts from God’s people. Hope you find these truths encouraging! Why not write out a verse or two, and a quotation or two, and post it where you can see it daily? “For when we were still helpless, Christ died for the wicked at the time that God chose. It is a difficult thing for someone to die for a... Read more

We Are Always Being Examined by God, the Audience of One

Last updated on: July 20, 2024 at 7:50 pm By Randy Alcorn

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The only appraisal of your life that will ultimately matter is God’s. One of the greatest things you can ever do is to decide that you’re not going to live for the applause of any particular group—not even well-meaning family members or friends who sometimes could get your eyes of the prize of following Jesus. You need to determine to live out your life before the Audience of One, doing what you believe is right in the eyes of your... Read more

Extending Grace to Others

Last updated on: July 20, 2024 at 7:47 pm By Randy Alcorn

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Jesus told of a servant whose debt to his master was 10,000 talents, the equivalent of millions of dollars. The servant begged forgiveness. Though the master had every right to imprison him for the rest of his life, he offered full pardon. Then this servant went out and found a fellow servant, who owed him a much smaller amount—1/600,000 of what he’d been forgiven. He demanded full and immediate payment. The debtor fell to his knees and pleaded for mercy.... Read more