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Labor to Exhaustion

The whole temperament of the world is to get away from our bodies making any kind of sacrifice. Our goal is to make our bodies comfortable. The health and wealth syndrome is predominant in our world today. We want to take care of the body and make it last forever. While we are making the body comfortable, Paul tells us to make our body a living sacrifice. Do we know w...

Don't Waste Time Defendin...

Jesus didn’t try to write a theological treatise to defend his messiahship. He didn’t send John a list of all the fulfilled prophecies of the Old Testament to prove that he was the Messiah. He said to John’s delegation, “Go back and tell John that the blind can see, the deaf ear, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the dead are raised....

A Daring Faith

Halford E. Luccoch said, “How sad, that we have not had the exhilaration of earthly explorers who marched off of their maps.” They had no maps in certain areas of the world in ancient days. There were certain waters that were not chartered. Earlier explorers had the joy and the exhilaration of going into areas that were yet unknown. Modern man generally pr...

Messing Up God's Plan

I had lunch with a man this week. At lunch as we talked, I shared the Lord with him and he made his profession of faith. His wife told me a little bit later, “I came by early to try to tell you not to ask my husband any of those questions because I thought it would make him mad.” But lo and behold, the Spirit of God had prepared his heart so he was ready a...

Persecuted for Christ

Christians have been liable to such ridicule since that time. Scribbled on the walls of Pompeii there is a picture of a man—a Christian kneeling before a crucified donkey-headed figure, and below it, there are scribbled the words, “Alexamenos worships his god.” If ever people make mockery of our Christianity, it will help us to remember that they did...

Sacrificial vs. Superfici...

One of the signs of the decadence of our church is that people have to be coaxed so much into giving what they ought to give freely. If you want to see the church coax people for gifts, turn on the television. You think I’ve got a thing against television preachers nowadays—and I am one. Write in and get TV Offer #37. Send us an extra gift, and we will sen...

Good Theology Is Good Liv...

Knowing the Bible can clear up a lot of the confusion and the clutter of life. I read the comic strip Peanuts sometimes. Lucy was frightened one day. It had rained and rained and rained and she was afraid that there was going to be another flood like in Noah’s day. Charlie Brown calmed her fears by telling her that God had promised in the Book that there wo...

Two-Handed Religion

In his interesting little book on Christian fundamentals, This I Believe, Louis L. Austin writes: “The Lord gave us two hands. One to hold to him, the other to our fellow man.” Two-handed religion. Loving God with heart and mind and soul—loving your neighbor as yourself. They go together and you cannot separate the two. Love is not mere sentiment and...

Keeping It Simple

Perhaps you have heard the story about the preacher who was delivering a deep theological sermon one day when his wife scribbled a note on a piece of paper, folded it up, and handed it to the usher who delivered it to the pastor while he was preaching. The pastor saw on the note the word “KISS.” He thought that was nice of his wife to send a love note whil...

Today's Devotional

Senseless Tragedies

Once we buried a young lady who was only 21 years old. She was killed in a head-on collision while on her way to church. The night before the funeral, my daughter asked why God allows things like this to happen.

I wish I knew. Things like this have puzzled saints, wise men, and philosophers since the world began.

There is simply no one easy answer as to why tragedies like this happen. The answer may lie in the fact that God made us free. He created us with the ability to make our own choices, and choices always involve consequences. If we are careless or foolish in our choices, or if others are, we may suffer because of them. If God did not allow us freedom, we’d be less than people. We’d be robots.

This may be the only explanation we will ever have for some suffering. However, we do not have to know why things happen in order to be victorious over them. On the cross Jesus cried out “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) But the heavens were as brass. God was silent. He didn’t even answer his own Son. Jesus might have despaired and become bitter against God. But instead he said, “Father, into thy hands I commend [entrust, hand over] my spirit” (Luke 23:46).

This kind of faith is far more important than any answer we might receive. In our lives, as in the life of Jesus, it is faith that makes the difference between victory and defeat.

So keep believing in God no matter what. Commit your life to him and regardless of what happens, God will help you.

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