The Doctrine of the Trinity—that God is One in Essence and Three in Person—is one of the most ancient and well established beliefs in Christianity. It is also one of the most perplexing, confusing, and seemingly irrelevant beliefs about who God is. Why has the church...
It’s almost inconceivable to think of jealousy as a virtue. It’s an undesirable attitude to be avoided at all costs. But as we get to know God, we soon discover that He is jealous. How can jealousy be wrong for us and right for God?
All who believe in Jesus are transformed by God from sinner to saint! The Apostle Paul’s letters in the New Testament often referred to the believers as saints. So if God (and Paul) sees believers as saints, why is the behavior of so many Christians unsaintly? As...
Trust can be a difficult matter to talk about depending on your upbringing and your life circumstances. Understandably, many people have difficulty trusting others because they have been hurt many times. Even approaching the subject of trust we may begin to stiffen...
On the adventure of getting to know God, we soon discover that God is a father. But God is no ordinary father. He exhibits the best things of fatherhood in a perfect way. And He invites you into a relationship as His child.
It’s possible we can embrace ideas about God that are entirely incorrect. People often live in a way that implies God is distant and disinterested. What if the opposite is true about God? We can enjoy a completely different experience when we understand we can know...
At salvation we’re entrusted with a gift that we can invest and enjoy or ignore and squander. But one thing is for sure: we will give an account of our lives before God. Living for Jesus never goes unnoticed by Jesus. He promises to faithfully reward those who have...
Understanding the difference between salvation and discipleship is one of the most critical distinctions in the entire Bible. At the heart of this discussion is the question of our behavior. What is required of us to keep our salvation and how much sin is “allowed”...
Once you understand the distinction between salvation and discipleship you’re poised to make more sense of the spiritual life. A major piece of the Christian life puzzle centers on the time it takes to get salvation and the time it takes to grow. Get this wrong and...
It’s clear that God wants to communicate with us. But sometimes the things of God can be difficult to understand. When we look carefully at the concepts surrounding the spiritual life, we discover a simple, basic distinction that profoundly informs our understanding...
While many Christians admit that salvation occurs apart from the keeping of the law, they hasten to insert the law as a standard for living the Christian life. What is the purpose of the Old Testament law? And more specifically, what does it mean to be under grace and...
Because every person is born separated from God, we are in trouble. But God has come to the rescue. Salvation is offered to all as a free gift - a gift received by belief that Jesus has died in our place. After receiving this gift, we have the choice to invest our...
People often struggle with the blatant simplicity of the free gift of eternal life. It is a gift without cost given freely through God's grace. But at the same time, Jesus calls us to pay the price of following Him. Can this apparent contradiction be reconciled? The...
Some people make salvation harder to get than it really is. And similarly, some people insist salvation is harder to keep than it really is. Can salvation, once received, ever be lost? If so, how? If salvation is a free gift, does the recipient get charged after the...
When you take a close look at grace you might be overwhelmed with the generosity of God or disgusted by its simplicity. God offers salvation as a free gift received by belief. We are declared righteous (justified) before God apart from any promise, commitment or...
No questions are more important in life than, "What is the Gospel?" and "How do you get it?" Unfortunately, for many, the message of salvation and the path for obtaining it have become shrouded in a confusing fog. Some of the most ardent warnings in Scripture revolve...