“People do not drift toward holiness,” wrote Canadian theologian D. A. Carson.
He continues, “Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord.”
Carson elaborates on this point, saying: Continue reading
Filed under Holiness, Passage To Ponder
“The man who walks with God always gets to his destination,” observed Christian educator Henrietta Mears.
Mears’s quote brings to mind the Old Testament character Enoch. Genesis 5:24 says, “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder
In the late 1950s, David Wilkerson, a young country preacher, entered the violent streets of New York City to share the gospel with teenage gang members. There he encountered Nicky Cruz, the hardened leader of the notorious Mau Maus.
Cruz cursed Wilkerson, spat in his face, struck him, and threatened to kill him. Wilkerson did not retaliate, answer with an insult, or retreat in fear. Instead, he looked at Cruz and calmly replied: “You could cut me into a thousand pieces, and every piece would still love you.” Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder
In 1967, seventeen-year-old Joni Eareckson dove into shallow water and broke her neck. In a single moment, the athletic teenager became a quadriplegic, unable to use her hands or legs.
During two difficult years of rehabilitation, Joni wrestled with anger, depression, doubt, and thoughts of suicide. Her circumstances did not quickly improve. In fact, she would spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair. Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder
What Is the Gospel?
Ask ten people, and you may receive ten different answers. Some will describe how Christians ought to live. Others will speak of loving God, loving our neighbor, helping the hurting, or going to heaven.
Those are important Biblical truths. But they are not Paul’s answer to the question. Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder
Recently, I was asked whether a Christian could lose their salvation.
It was a sincere question asked by a young Christian who was apparently being influenced by the Calvinist doctrine of “Perseverance of the Saints”—commonly called “once saved, always saved.” Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder
They thought they were going to die after their boat sank in the Caribbean.
This remarkable story about Dan Suski and his sister, Kate, sounds like something out of a movie. But it’s true. Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder
Imagine two employees. One works hard, keeps his word, treats people fairly, and does the right thing. The other cuts corners, takes credit for someone else’s work, manipulates people, and breaks the rules. Yet somehow the dishonest employee gets the promotion, the corner office, and the bigger paycheck.
We have all seen some version of that in reality. Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder, Psalms
“He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has,” once observed the 19th-century American minister Henry Ward Beecher.
His quote is reminiscent of a line from a more recent preacher who said, “We are rich in the things that perish, but poor in the things of the spirit. We are rich in gadgets, but poor in faith. We are rich in goods, but poor in grace. We are rich in know-how, but poor in character. We are rich in words, but poor in deeds.” Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder
Can 2,000-year-old seeds still produce?
Israeli physician Sarah Sallon believed they could.
Ancient date palm seeds had been recovered from archaeological sites near the Dead Sea. Although the trees themselves had disappeared nearly 2,000 years ago, Sallon persuaded skeptical archaeologists to let her plant some of those ancient seeds. Many thought the idea was impossible. Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder
