Ah, but where is it taking us? Passion is so powerful it can undermine, tarnish, even destroy great promise. It can take us places we never imagined…and would never choose to go. Such is one of the lessons from the life of Samson. Imagine the sense of hope in the heart of his parents. The…
You ever been the victim of a rumor—a particularly juicy bit of gossip that gets passed around the office, your church, or within your extended family? Only trouble is, it’s not true. Undoubtedly it caused you a great deal of anguish, and probably someone else some embarrassment when the truth was discovered…that is, if the…
A casual reading of Numbers 32 could lead one to think that the tribes of Reuben and Gad were either selfish, lazy, or chicken. It seems, initially at least, that they’re trying to get out of crossing the Jordan and fighting the Canaanites; they’d be just as happy to stay on the east side and…
Every true believer in Christ will produce fruit of some kind, in some measure. Jesus makes that quite clear in John 15, where He declares, “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away…” (v. 2). Then He describes what becomes of such branches in v. 6, “If anyone does not abide…
When reading the parable of the sower in Luke 8, it’s natural to try to figure out which of the “soils” is truly born again. But actually, that misses the point. Surely we can say that the last type of soil represents a genuine believer’s heart because there’s lasting fruit. But again, the main point…
One lesson that comes out in Numbers 22-24 is that, as a whole, God’s people are invincible. In those chapters, Balak, the king of the Moabites, and Balaam, a pagan seer, tried their best to put a curse on Israel so that the Moabites could then destroy them. God overruled. Every time Balaam spoke, it…
To the scribes of Jesus’ day, His powerful displays of healing and casting out demons were most frustrating. These made it difficult to convince people that Jesus was an imposter, a charlatan, who was simply attempting to drum up a following for personal aggrandizement. More offensive than that, though, was Jesus’ declaration of someone’s sins…
One of the truly commendable qualities of anyone would be the ability to know and acknowledge his limitations. This isn’t a popular thing to do today. Oh, it may be OK to have an idea within yourself, but you certainly wouldn’t want to admit it to someone else! This is the age of self-assertion…of self-promotion…of…
It’s a sobering thing to realize that many who profess to know Jesus Christ as Savior really, in fact, do not. Jesus makes this abundantly clear in Matthew 7:21ff. These unconverted religious people will know the language to use and the works to ape, yet the Lord Jesus declares them workers of iniquity who will…
Those who know the Lord God as Savior are aware that He is a God of grace, even when we experience some of the less desirable truths of Scripture. Events in Jacob’s life in Genesis 31-32 illustrate that, even though we reap unpleasant fruit from sinful seed, God’s grace sustains His own. Jacob, of course,…