It’s easy to see that our failures hurt others. People hurt us, and we hurt them. But why does the Bible say that our failings offend God (Rom. 3:23)?
Speaking the Truth in Love
Speaking the Truth in Love
Sermons by David Wright (Page 23)
Satan tells God that no one serves him for nothing. A God-worshiper is merely manipulating heaven, praising the Lord to keep the blessings coming. But Job’s beautiful faith argues otherwise (Job 1:20-22).
The best-known parable of Jesus tells of a foolish Jewish boy who wastes his father’s wealth and suffers the degradation of tending hogs on a Gentile’s farm (Luke 15:11-20). This story conveys important truths about sin – and how to find forgiveness.
Skeptics want to know why we believe in biblical miracle stories, like the account of the talking donkey (Num. 22:28-30). Are Christians mindless idiots, or do skeptics have a dirty little secret?
On our Teacher Appreciation Day, we gratefully acknowledge that schoolteachers are a great blessing to our community and to our families. The apostle Paul, a teacher himself, reveals what is in the heart of every good instructor.
Many young people (and older people too) reject Christ because they see hypocrisy in the church. But does the church have a corner on the hypocrisy market? Can hypocrisy be escaped simply by avoiding the church?
After the wall of Jerusalem was rebuilt, Nehemiah and the Jewish people assembled to dedicate it and celebrate what God had done for them (Neh. 12:27). Their joy teaches us how to make our church family more appealing to outsiders.
Resenting Elisha’s interference in his plans to assault Israel, the king of Syria sent an army to capture the prophet. Elisha’s servant was terrified. And so Elisha prayed that God would open the young man’s eyes and let him see the situation from heaven’s viewpoint (2 Kings 6:17).
After the reconstruction of Jerusalem’s wall was finished, the people gathered in the square before the Water Gate and worshiped God (Neh. 8:1-6). Their example helps us understand how to worship in a way that is pleasing to God and meaningful to us.
Asaph knew that God had done good things for his people. But he wrestled with the painful reality that the wicked often fared just as well or even better — until he saw things from God’s viewpoint (Ps. 73:17).