Christian Living / Spiritual Growth

  • Proper Christian Growth

    Colossians 1:9-10

    It is all too easy for us to think that once we know the basics of the gospel we must then move beyond them for true spiritual growth. Yet it is not extrabiblical revelations and methods that mature us, nor ...Read More

  • Always Reforming

    Nehemiah 13

    Consistent preaching of the gospel both to ourselves and to the world around us is necessary if reformation is to endure. We need to be reminded of the gravity of our sin and the greatness of our Savior in order ...Read More

  • The Test of Personal Hardship

    Nehemiah 5:1-13

    God does not need our money and time to advance His kingdom, but He has chosen these means to help support the kingdom’s extension to the ends of the earth. He has called us to give of ourselves as ...Read More

  • Weeping for God’s People

    Nehemiah 1:4-11

    The most important reformation of all is the reformation of the church. When the people of God return to Him and submit themselves anew to the Word, then the Lord moves in powerful ways among them. Submission to the Word ...Read More

  • Restoration Fulfilled?

    2 Chronicles 36:22-23

    Even though the citizens of Judah returned to the Promised Land beginning around 538 BC, the restoration did not take place as God had foretold — on account of impenitence. Hundreds of years after the return, He sent His one and ...Read More

  • Fearing God

    Ecclesiastes 11-12

    Patience is a key virtue in the Christian life because of our need to take a long view of things. It can be difficult to remain faithful in suffering or to spend hours ministering with little visible return. When we ...Read More

  • Wisdom Through Suffering

    Ecclesiastes 7:1-13

    In his novel Redburn, Herman Melville writes, “Not till we know, that one grief outweighs ten thousand joys, will we become what Christianity is striving to make us.” Though Scripture is clear that suffering in itself is painful, it is ...Read More

  • The Face of Blessing

    Numbers 6:22-27

    It is impossible for us to be good enough to earn God’s pleasure; that is why faithfulness to His covenant means giving up our attempts to earn His favor and relying on Christ alone for salvation (Gal. 3:15 ...Read More

  • The Armor of God

    Ephesians 6:10-20

    John Calvin comments on this passage, reminding us that we should not let the “injurious treatment” of others provoke us to revenge, for those who bother us are merely darts from Satan’s hand. “While we are employed in destroying ...Read More

  • A Futile Striving

    Lamentations 2:1-5

    Because our Lord is slow to anger, we should not live in fear that He is always about to “get us” because of our sins. At the same time, we should understand that if we harden our hearts persistently, we ...Read More

  • Giving and Receiving

    Proverbs 11:24-26

    The honest production and sale of needed resources is an honorable way to meet the needs of others, and it therefore can bring with it a blessing. Giving away portions of our income to feed the hungry and support the ...Read More

  • The Bride and Her Husband

    Ephesians 5:22-33

    Jesus certainly loves us individually and justifies us via our personal faith in Him. However, the relationship between Christ and His bride is a relationship between the sovereign Lord and a corporate body. Jesus loves a people as His bride ...Read More

  • Ruth’s Righteous Husband

    Ruth 4

    Boaz was ultimately rewarded for his selfless deed when he was included in the line of David and thus the line of Christ (Matt. 1:1–17). He did not know that this would be his reward when he cared ...Read More

  • Coveting and Self-Destruction

    Proverbs 12:12

    In our market-driven culture, the temptation to covet that which belongs to others is constantly before us. Thus, we need all the help we can get to find contentment in those things we cannot change. We need Christian friends to ...Read More

  • The Tenth Commandment

    Exodus 20:17

    The answer to covetousness is not the absence of all desire, as in Buddhism, but rather the cultivation of contentment (1 Tim. 6:6–10). It can be a long journey on the way to discovering how to be content ...Read More