Genuine vs. Counterfeit Righteousness

       Everything of great spiritual value has its counterfeits.  Obviously, righteousness fits into the category of precious because Satan offers an imitation of it.  To be genuinely righteous before God, your righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:20).    Send…

Spiritual Hedonism

       Hedonism is the belief that pleasure ought to be the goal of one’s life.  Spiritual hedonism is the belief that one’s life ought to be one continuous joy ride in communion with God.  Neither belief is taught in God’s word.    Send article…

The Holiness of the Holy, Holy, Holy God

A fundamental difference between the true and living God and the false gods of human imagination is that of Jehovah’s utter, uncompromising, pristine holiness.  As pointed out by sociologists Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist in their 2005 book Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives…

What Living by Faith Looks Like

     One of Edgar Guest’s more famous poems begins with the line “I’d rather see a sermon.”  Like sheep, humans need a leader to follow; like young students in school, humans need a pattern to imitate.  When Jesus was asked “Who is my neighbor?”…

One of God’s “Nicknames”

     There is no Bible book that has any more frequent and more picturesque descriptions of God than does the book of Psalms.  Such metaphors as shield, rock, refuge, shelter, fortress, stronghold, shepherd, light, defense, hiding place lavishly nourish a hungry, meditative soul.  Because…

God’s Response to His Unpopularity

     Unlike frail humanity, Jehovah is not fazed by white-hot hatred.  While civil rulers and multitudes of their citizens chafe at Jehovah’s sovereignty and resent Christ’s universal authority (Matthew 28:18), their plotting and scheming to break away from the immutable chains of the moral…

Why is the God Who so Loved the World so Hated?

     Long before the loving and innocent Son of God was taken by the hands of lawless men and brutally crucified, David (according to Acts 4:25) asked the same question in Psalm 2:1–“Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing?” …

Earthly Beings with Heaven’s Point of View

       Some of the best advice I have ever received was told to me shortly after I entered college: In every month that has 31 days read one chapter a day from the book of Proverbs.  In two days, we begin the month of…