The most famous opening line in any novel was in Charles Dickens’ classic A Tale of Two Cities : “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” How could it be both? This seeming contradiction is a truth about life that Dickens answers in this book. A comparable biblical phrase is “the...

As mentioned, there is a ditch on either side of the path of life, and they are opposites. Usually, legalism is on one side, and lawlessness is on the other. Many who fall off the path into one ditch often overreact and fall into the other ditch. Our goal must be to stay on the path of life and...

In Song of Solomon 2:15 we are told, “little foxes are ruining the vineyard.” It is not usually the big things that sidetrack us, but the little things can distract us and even steer us from the path of life. The days we waste can quickly add up to weeks, months, and years, and the years can add up...

Loving God more and getting closer to Him should be the top priority of our lives. Anything else that becomes a top priority is an idol. An idol can be anyone or anything we place our affection and trust in above God. Our most important resolution should be to keep Him first in our lives. This is a...

In I Chronicles 16:29, II Chronicles 20:21, Psalms 29:2 and 96:9, we find the phrase “the beauty of holiness.” In our time, the word holiness has come to mean legalism and the intolerance of the self-righteous. This reveals the level of deception the devil has been able to spread throughout the...

In I Chronicles 16:29, II Chronicles 20:21, Psalm 29:2 and 96:9, we find the phrase “the beauty of holiness.” There is a beauty to holiness to which all people are drawn. There is a repulsion in counterfeit holiness by which all people are repelled. To distinguish between true and false holiness is...

In II Corinthians 13:5-6, we are instructed, “ Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?” This is an important exhortation. However, I have asked many Christians and...

Christian denominations and institutions have been losing large numbers of people in recent decades. However, in the last few years, this has accelerated after national and international crises like the COVID pandemic. Though this may sound counterintuitive, this is a sign a great move of God is...

When Jesus was asked by His disciples about the signs of the end of the age, the first thing He warned them about was deception. It was a jolt when He explained some would claim that He, Jesus, was indeed the Christ, as we see in Matthew 24:4-5: “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will...

Jesus gave hope to sinners because He had come to save them. He is not coming back to destroy the world. He did not go to the cross to condemn the world, but to save it. He valued this world, including the sinners who had turned from Him, so much that He went to the cross to save them. This great...