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A Difficult Thing For Good People To Do And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, "These things says He whohas the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars:  'I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.'" Revelation 3:1 It is difficult for good people to see that they need to seek God beyond the boundaries of their comfortable lifestyle.  The church in Sardis, for example, was made up of people who saw themselves as respectably good.  And others also saw them as praiseworthy.  We ourselves would...

The Emptiness of Autonomy Hell and Destruction are never full;So the eyes of man are never satisfied. Proverbs 27:20 When God does not occupy His rightful place in our hearts, one result is that we spin our wheels in a frustrating search for satisfaction.  Independence and autonomy seem like they would be more satisfactory than a constant state of neediness, but their promise turns out to be empty.  The more we take control of our own fulfillment, the more fulfillment seems to slip away from us.  What began as an adventure becomes an exhausting grind.  "All things are full...

Does the Bible Contradict Itself?by Wayne JacksonInfidels frequently claim:  "The Bible is filled with mistakes and contradictions!"  Yet when they are challenged to cite such contradictions, critics will usually generalize by suggesting, "Oh, there are many of them."  Or else they will introduce a difference between passages, which will not, in fact, constitute a contradiction at all.It ought to be initially observed that the principle of "innocent until proven guilty" surely must be applied to the Bible.  As we normally assume a person to be truthful until it is demonstrated otherwise, so also, a book - including the Bible -...

Failing To Take God Into Account Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.  Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that."  But now you boast in your arrogance.  All such boasting is evil. James 4:13-16 When we disregard the reality...

Captivated For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:4,5 In the warfare between good and evil, it is the knowledge of God that is at stake.  And the truthfulness an fervency of our beliefs about God will determine our destiny, either as the slaves of Satan or as the free subjects of the True King.The quality of our lives is governed by...

Continuance . . . eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality. Romans 2:7 Patient endurance is an underrated virtue.  Qualities like love and courage and wisdom get most of the attention, but the simple willingness to keep on moving ahead is no less grand.  And continuance - that plain, workmanlike ability to keep at our task - happens to be in short supply in these days of frantic change and constant uncertainty.  But if we intend to seek God seriously, we must not forget how to hold a steady...

Seeking God, Serving Others For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ dies for us. Romans 5:6-8 When we seek God, we are also to serve others.  These two things are always linked together in the Scriptures.  When Jesus was asked what was the most important part of the Law of Moses, He said, "You...

Solid Self-Respect I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7 Few things are given any more attention in our culture than the question of "self-image."  We use a variety of terms to discuss it - self-esteem, self-worth, self-respect, etc. - but our basic point is usually the same:  a person ought to be able to view himself or herself in a positive way.  We believe this to be very important, and in fact it is very important.  But at this point our thinking often jumps the track, with...

Particular People By the grace of God I am what I am . . . 1 Corinthians 15:10 One of the most important steps we ever take toward wisdom and maturity is taken when we accept the specifics of our own individuality.  Much of the first half of life is spent in the luxury of limitless possibilities.  There is no place we might not go before we die, no accomplishment we might not achieve, and no character trait we might not develop.  As we turn toward life's latter stages, however, it becomes obvious that we'll not live long enough...

Awed By God's Grandeur How awesome is this place!  This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven! Genesis 28:17 On some level, every human being can understand the amazement of Jacob when he realized what he was seeing.  As he slept that night at Bethel, fleeing from his brother's wrath and with a stone as his pillow, he dreamed of "a ladder [that] was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it" (Genesis 28:12).  Above the...

The Ideal Life . . . strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy. Colossians 1:11 When we envision the kind of life we would most like to have in this world, what kind of life is it that we imagine?  In a culture where "feeling good" is the unquestioned criterion by which all things are judged, we usually assume that the "good life" would be one free of any significant pain or unpleasantness.  But in terms of biblical values, wouldn't the ideal life be one in which we were drawn...

Getting The Right Answers The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 2 Thessalonians 2:9,10 Not only is obedience more important than understanding, it also happens to be the key to understanding.  If we approach the discovery of truth with any intent other than to obey the truth once we discover it, it's not likely that we'll find the truth we're looking for. ...

What Are We Seeking? . . . always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 2 Timothy 3:7 There is a certain satisfaction in coming to know things that we've never understood before.  Whether it's pride (the perverse pleasure that comes from knowing things not widely known by others) or it's simply the natural pleasure we feel when we make progress, it feels good to learn new things.  We need to be careful, however.  If our intent is to seek God, we must seek more than the simple pleasure of knowledge by itself.We live...

What Good is God's Friendship? Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Philippians 3:8 Could we possibly put a price tag on God's friendship?  Even among all the good things that are available to us, is there anything that a wise person wouldn't give up in order to have God?  The privilege of knowing God through Christ so far surpasses the value of everything else that Paul...

Friendship As An Ingredient Of Love There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment.  But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. 1 John 4:18,19 In our culture, it may not be unusual to think of God in terms of love and friendship, but these are radical, even revolutionary, thoughts indeed.  We should never lose our sense of wonder at this fact:  our Creator, though awesomely powerful, is One whom we may contemplate with love rather than with fear.  The...

The Problem of Heartless Prayer May He grant you according to your heart's desire, And fulfill all your purpose. Psalm 20:4 David wished for us a significant blessing from God when he simply said, "May He grant you according to your heart's desire."  We must learn to look deeply into our own hearts and be careful about our desires, for God is quite likely to grant us our "heart's desire."  Ultimately, that is the only thing He will grant.  In the long run, that which we receive from God will turn out to be the thing we've most honestly...

What Faith Makes Possible, Love Makes Easy So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her. Genesis 29:20 Life can be hard no doubt, but we often make it harder than it has to be by attacking our problems in the wrong way.  By the brute power of will, we try to force doors open that would yield quite easily to desire and affection and love.  Driven only by "have to," we lose the boundless energy of "want to."One of the most cherished of...

Where God's Love Is Best Learned Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:10 God's love is a strong thing, and strong things are not fully appreciated until we are surrounded by weakness.  The ugly, painful hardship of human experience does not contradict or call into question the love of God.  To the contrary, that is where we learn God's love the best.  The way to God is not over, under, or around our difficulties - it is...

The Servant's Opportunity When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom. Proverbs 11:2 Pride is the archenemy of wisdom.  For that reason, anything that stirs up our sense of pride and self-sufficiency is something that will hinder our wisdom, while those things that humble us and remind us of our dependence on God are those that increase our wisdom.  Whatever increases pride, contributes to foolishness.Ironically, even our learning can get in the way of our wisdom!  The more we learn and the wiser we think we are in comparison to ordinary people, the less wise...

Stewardship of the Emotions Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23 God has given us many good gifts that need to be handled carefully, and the one that perhaps needs the greatest care is the mind.  We know that the mind, or heart, is made up of three basic faculties:  The intellect, the emotions, and the will.  Ideally, all three of these should work together to promote the good things for which we were created.  The roles of the intellect and the will are commonly acknowledged, and they are...