Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom (Song of Solomon 2:15, esv). Sometimes the biggest things we worry about are not the biggest things to be worried about. This is true in life, in business, in church, and in every endeavor of any importance. […]
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13, esv). What happens when life doesn’t go the way you want? Your answer will reveal where your hope lies—where it’s truly anchored. We can try to […]
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things […]
“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing” (Luke 15:4–5, esv). Would this picture […]
The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say” (John 8:3–5, esv)? The […]
Not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up, but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another (Psalm 75:6–7, esv). How do you feel about your job? Love it? Hate it? Wish you could quit? Terrified of being fired? Listen: it doesn’t […]
For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people (1 Peter 2:15, esv). We’re all natural-born rebels with a built-in resistance to submission. To complicate matters, the concept of submission has been hijacked by some selfish-minded, even cruel authoritarians who have twisted and […]
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins (Isaiah 40:1–2, esv). “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God,” the prophet Isaiah recorded. Let those words […]
Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord (1 Samuel 2:12, esv). A permissive father says, “Whatever you want!” An abusive father says, “Whatever I want!” The passive father simply says, “Whatever.” He is not really engaged or connected. He watches his children hurt themselves and self-destruct, and he […]
“Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up” (Hosea 6:1, esv). God invites you to come back to Him. No matter how far away you’ve wandered or how long you’ve been gone, Hosea 6:1 opens […]