Worthy Words

Do you remember ever being invited to a picnic? The one who invited you told you something like, "Bring what you want to eat and we'll furnish the tea." Now as it happened, the day of the picnic you got home late from work. All you had to pack for your meal was just one dried up old piece of bologna and just enough mustard in the jar so that it got all over your knuckles when you tried to scoop it out of the jar—and two stale pieces of bread — the heals. S-o-o-o-o-o-o you made just a bologna sandwich, wrapped it in wax paper, put it in a brown paper bag and went to the picnic. When it came time to eat, there you sat at the end of the table you opened the brown paper bag and took out your pitiful bologna sandwich. Now the family sitting right next to you had a real spread. The wife was a great cook and had worked all day preparing the meal. She made fried chicken, baked beans, potato salad, green beans, home make rolls, sliced tomatoes, pickles, olives...

Easter Sunday is the most significant day in history. Were it not for Easter, our world would be unrecognizably different. Because of Easter, because of the resurrection, we know that Jesus is who he claimed to be. He is who the Bible says he is—God in the flesh. He has power over death and he has the power to change your life. Jesus died the worst possible death a man can die. He was ridiculed, mocked, spat upon, beaten, stripped and hung on a cross—the ultimate humiliation for a Jew. [Galatians 3:13] The end of his life ran just the opposite of what everyone expected would happen when the Jewish Messiah appeared. They believed the Messiah would usher in a political kingdom. Instead, they watched him become the ultimate victim. For most people it was unthinkable that God would be behind the events of Jesus' death. However, God was up to something — he had a plan. The death of Jesus would pay for the sins of the world. Through his death, all of creation would be reconciled to God....

Temptation is inevitable. Even respectable people are tempted. Even people who are Spirit-led are tempted. As a Christ-follower you can expect it. We have a tendency to think, when we face temptation, that God must have abandoned us or there must be something wrong with us, or else we wouldn't be experiencing temptation in our lives. Even Jesus was tempted when alone in the desert by the devil—Matthew 4:1. Temptation is inevitable, but it doesn't come from God. Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. (James 1:13) God's purpose is not to tempt us, but to give us power over temptation. Did you get that? Please realize more times than not temptation often follows a "peak" experience in our lives. Doesn't make sense, does it? But that's what often happens in our lives. After a peak experience, we often find ourselves alone in the desert. When things are goin...

God has created a big, beautiful world with so many wonderful things in it and yet those things, as fulfilling as they may seem, do not ultimately satisfy the deep hunger in our hearts.   Why is that? Long ago, Solomon wrote some of the most thought provoking words recorded in the Old Testament.   In Ecclesiastes 3:11 he observed, “God has made everything beautiful in its time.   He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Solomon had so much! The preceding verse demonstrates how a man who was created in the image of God comprehends how God accomplishes his plan and purposes in his time.   It seems Solomon is settled upon the sovereignty of God.   But yet, there was a restlessness and a longing deep within his soul that all of those pleasures couldn't satisfy! “Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after th...

Would it help you right now if I told you that God loves you? Would it cause you to stop and realize what his love actually does for you? In fact, if you don’t know, his love for you is perfect. It is strong, and pure, and true. It is unconditional and it is everlasting. He could not love you more, he will never love you less, and his love for you will never end. There's something tremendously valuable to understand about the way God expresses his love for you — it's like a father caring for his children. Not the father that some of you grew up with — irritable, irrational, always busy and never satisfied. God is a perfect father to his children: he loves you, he encourages you, he strengthens you, and he teaches you how to stand on your own two feet. God does love you but not in a passive way that says, "You go your way and I'll go mine." He loves you but not in a vindictive way that says, "When you disappoint me you can be sure I'll get even with yo...