June 18 I have often heard people worry about finding God’s will for their lives. Sometimes, they worry that perhaps they have missed God’s will. Unfortunately, I have found that those who worry the most are often the same ones who seem to be the least likely to go to God’s Word first. No, you…
March 29 It’s surprising how much sway the Jewish leaders held over the common people. If you’ve seen a Christmas or Easter pageant, you probably saw the very same characters hail Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey on Palm Sunday (Mark 11:7–10) and cry out for Jesus’ crucifixion just a few moments later. But,…
January 3 John 3 is probably one of the most familiar chapters in the Bible. A big reason for this is that John 3:16 is the most familiar verse in the Bible. Unfortunately, most Bible translations don’t render this verse as accurately as they could for today’s readers. This leads to misunderstanding and misapplication of…
Paul paints a pretty grim picture of fallen mankind in today’s Bible reading*. We saw him paint the same picture a few weeks ago in the beginning few chapters of Romans. But God …. He says we were dead. He says we were alienated from God. He says we lived according to our fleshly desires (that’s all we had!). He…
Paul continues developing his thoughts on justification by grace through faith in today’s Bible reading. He says, “So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is justification leading to life for everyone.” Romans 5:18 (CSB) Each of us is responsible for our own sin, yet each of…
Again, I’ll highlight what I have said before, that when you see a word or phrase repeated in close proximity in the Bible, it’s a signal of its importance. In today’s Bible reading, Paul uses reconcile five times in only three verses. (2 Corinthians 5:18-20) The word reconcile is used in accounting. You may have reconciled your checkbook to make sure that…
