A person is not held accountable for operating-table thoughts. The same rule goes for dental chairs and delivery rooms. On any occasion when people stick needles in your arm, fingers in your mouth, or scalpels into your skin, the patient is not penalized for bizarre imaginings. At least that is the justification I give to…
Your Sins Are Forgiven
There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. —Romans 8:1 NIV The algebra of Heaven reads something like this: Heaven is a perfect place for perfect people, which leaves us in a perfect mess. According to Heaven’s debt clock, we owe more than we could ever repay. Our debt is enough…
A Cinderella Story: The God Who Gave His Beauty Away
Carrying His own cross, Jesus went out to a place called The Place of the Skull… There they crucified Jesus. They also crucified two other men, one on each side, with Jesus in the middle. — John 19:17-18 God between two thieves. Exactly the place He wants to be. Three men on three crosses, a…
The Challenge: Read the Bible Every Day
I was in the sixth grade when I heard it. Growing up in church developed my passion for the Bible. I remember setting down my pipe cleaners as a toddler in the pew to listen to what the preacher had to say. I remember in Elementary school becoming interested in weekly Bible stories. But I…
Come and Rest
Rest in Me, My child. This time devoted to Me is meant to be peaceful, not stressful. You don’t have to perform in order to receive My Love. I have boundless, unconditional Love for you. How it grieves Me to see My children working for Love: trying harder and harder, yet never feeling good enough…
Praying When the Unexpected Disillusions and Hope Wanes
Hope Is an Act of Defiance I don’t know where your hope is struggling. Maybe your beleaguered hope is for… A loved one to be saved A child to come home A marriage to be restored Your body to be healed Your finances to be restored Your career to be revived A home of your…
He Chose the Nails: He Chose to Be One of Us
God did what the law could not do. He sent His own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving His Son as a sacrifice for our sins. — Romans 8:3 NLT You alone are the God for us…
The Work of Christ
We Are Reconciled to God… Through Christ Today’s evangelicals often speak about the gospel as if it were a means of discovering one’s own purpose, a message about how to have a happy and prosperous life, or a method of achieving success in one’s relationships or business. In the minds of many, the best…
Letting Go: Love Has Teeth
If you live with a prodigal, you know what it means to love someone. Love is a means of survival. Love is what gets you up each morning and inspires you to serve someone who acts like they hate you. Loving this way means duty, sacrifice, responsibility, and resilience. Many years back, an R&B icon…
You Are Fully Understood and Unconditionally Loved
Bask in the luxury of being fully understood and unconditionally loved. Dare to see yourself as I see you: radiant in My righteousness, cleansed by My blood. I view you as the one I created you to be, the one you will be in actuality when heaven becomes your home. It is My Life within you that is changing you from…
- 1
- 2