“You in faithfulness have afflicted me.” Psalm 119:75. God brings our sins to the surface of our consciousness in order to remove them from our lives. He carefully applies pressure just where it’s needed. Never does He arbitrarily break us. On the contrary, His plan is to work on our sinful self-sufficiency, greed, lust, and […]
“Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” Luke 2:52 Jesus grew up in a small town: Nazareth. A man named Nathanael asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?:. Jesus proved that the answer is yes. Even though He grew up in an insignificant place, He was the most significant person […]
“Remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.” Luke 6:42 It’s a full-time job trying to get people to change. Oh what a perfect world it would be if only other people would do what we want! Maybe it’s my attitude that […]
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” II Corinthians 5:17. The apostle Paul knew something about deep transformation. He hated Jesus and persecuted His followers (Acts 22:4-5). But a personal encounter with Christ changed all of that, causing him to […]
“You are Peter, and on this rock, I will build My church.” Matthew 16:18. When Jesus renamed Simon as Peter (John 1:42) it wasn’t a random choice. “Peter” means “the rock.” But it took a while for Peter to live up to his new name. The account of his life reveals him as a fisherman […]