Posts from 2025

The existence of enemies is a painful reality of the faithful Christian life, but not one that should surprise us. Our Lord had enemies. The Jewish leaders, Judas, and, of course, Satan himself all opposed Him and sought His ultimate failure and demise. The world hated Jesus and because it hated Him, it hates His people. Jesus said, If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the…

The statement, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” is part of an answer Jesus gave to an Old Testament scribe (lawyer) who came to entrap the Savior (Matt. 22:34-40). Such “lawyers,” as the one who would “tempt” Jesus, were expounders of the Mosaic code and considered themselves above others. In fact, to such a “lawyer” there were over sixhundred precepts in the law of Moses and a considerable number could not even be observed. So, those rabbis would make…

Over the course of a few short years the twelve men whom Jesus had chosen began to grow and mature into the material that God could, and would use to proclaim the gospel to a lost humanity. The more time they spent with Jesus, the stronger grew their faith. Their courage often amazes us; their weaknesses puzzle us. Consider the background of the request Peter made as expressed in the five words of the title of this article. The twelve…

When “opportunity knocks,” what is our reaction? Sometimes we are fearful. Sometimes we ignore it. Sometimes we do not even realize it is present. Unfortunately, opportunities do not always return when missed. Let us learn about opportunity from Paul’s statement to the Corinthians: But I will tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries (1 Cor. 16:8-9). The word “door” is often used as a metaphor for opportunity…

The Bible is a book that is filled with accounts of courageous men and women, people who faced down danger and death with lion-like boldness (Proverbs 28:1). Turning to our Old Testament we can read the story of Gideon, who had the courage to turn away from the false religion of his father. He threw down the altar of Baal and built an altar to the true and living God (Judges 6). We might also read of Esther, who had…

It is a sobering fact. It’s almost half-time at our house, and I’m talking about something far bigger than any ball game. Greater even than the Super Bowl, I am speaking about what could be called the “Soul Bowl.” You see, half of the time my wife and I have with our children before they go off to college and start their own lives is just about gone! We’ve been blessed to have the “home field advantage” for a number…

One of the unseen blessings of memorizing Scripture is that doing this opens the door to our souls. Solomon showed this when he said that a man is what he thinks in his heart (Prov. 23:7). What is perhaps even more remarkable is that what we memorized when we were children is so much a part of what we are today. We all know about what happened to Jack and Jill, Little Miss Muffet and the Old Woman Who Lived…

The football season is about to end. High school state champions for various size schools have been recognized. The colleges have crowned conference champions and will now play for the national title. This year there is the largest number of bowl games in history. In a few weeks there will be the crowning of the NFL Super Bowl winner. The awarding of trophies and crowns is not a recent practice. The victors in the ancient Olympic-like contests were awarded a…