Abounding Love

Philippians 1:9–11

Only by faith do we lay hold of Christ’s righteousness, which alone gets us into heaven. Yet we can also get additional rewards in heaven if we serve God faithfully. These rewards, however, are still grounded in faith because ...Read More

After You Have Suffered

1 Peter 5:10–11

In the light of eternity, all of our suffering takes on a new perspective. When we truly understand and trust that we will enjoy the glory of God forever, we will be all the more enabled to endure bravely and ...Read More

A Gift to Unworthy Servants

Luke 17:7–10

The abundance of God’s grace is seen not only in that He declares sinners righteous through faith in Christ alone but also in that He rewards His justified children for their obedience, imperfect as it is. We do not ...Read More

A Living Sacrifice

Romans 12:1–2

Most of us are accustomed to the reading of sacred Scripture, but how many of us take the time to meditate on it, to take a passage and spend some time mulling it over, considering what it teaches and how ...Read More

An Attitude of Contentment

Romans 7:7–8

Western culture does everything it can to stoke the fires of discontentment. Politicians pander to class envy. Advertisers depict products in a way that makes us think we must own them if life is to be worthwhile. Hollywood tells us ...Read More

An Oblivious Father

Genesis 27:1–4

When we seek our satisfaction apart from God’s will and make our own happiness an end in itself, we can end up, consciously or not, plotting against Him. For example, we may consider marriage for purely selfish reasons, thereby ...Read More

Asking, Seeking, Knocking

Matthew 7:7–11

We persevere in prayer knowing that our Father in His goodness will never withhold from us what we really need. We also need to recall, Matthew Henry says, that “we often ask that of God which would do us harm ...Read More

A Spiritual House

1 Peter 2:4–5

While it is true that each individual believer becomes a temple of God, we do not do well if we neglect passages like this that emphasize the corporate nature of the people of God. Currently, we are being built into ...Read More

Assured by Love

Romans 5:6-8

We tend to think secretly (perhaps subconsciously) that God must have loved us for some reason within ourselves. But Scripture says there was nothing in us to love. Have you begun to understand the amazing nature of divine love? Pray ...Read More

A Stronger Union

John 6:41–59

We are not advocating the Roman Catholic view of transubstantiation or the Lutheran view of consubstantiation when we affirm the true presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper. As we will see, we simply mean that we meet with ...Read More

A Tender Heart

1 Peter 3:8–9

John Calvin says that though it is quite difficult to bless our enemies, “we ought to imitate in this case our heavenly Father, who makes his sun to rise on the unworthy.” Even our Lord pours many earthly blessings on ...Read More

Avoiding a Hardened Conscience

Pray this prayer with the psalmist David: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps. 139 ...Read More

Avoiding Stagnated Growth

Where are you spiritually? Have you leveled off at a plateau of stagnated spiritual growth?Read More

Be Angry, Do Not Sin

Ephesians 4:25–32

It is easy for us to think we are being righteously angry when we are really just manifesting unjust ire. It is also easy for us to get so wrapped up in a righteous cause that we forget to pray ...Read More

Be Angry, Do Not Sin

Ephesians 4:25-32

We can too easily fall back under the sway of sin, which makes our hearts “deceitful beyond all things” (Jer. 17:9). We can trick ourselves into thinking our anger is godly when it is not pleasing to the Lord ...Read More