When the prodigal son returned home, the Bible says that his father was “glad” when he saw him (Luke 15:32). Imagine those emotions. After Jesus’ resurrection, He appeared to His apostles and showed them His wounds, and the Bible says that they were “glad” when they saw him. Imagine those emotions. After we have suffered for the cause of Christ and He returns in “His glory,”…

The story of Adam and Eve sinning against God in Genesis 3 is no doubt the saddest (and most universally devastating) story in all of the Bible. God let the woman (3:16) and the man (3:17-19) know what their physical punishment would entail. Then the text says that “God sent him out of the garden…So He drove out the man” (3:23-24). I remember as…

I remember as a child when I got my first pair of glasses. We walked outside the optometrist’s office and I immediately exclaimed, “The trees have leaves on them!” Of course, I knew that fact already, but now I was able to see clearly something that I had not seen clearly in quite some time. I was severely nearsighted and was now enjoying a renewed…

James talked about the gifts that God gives (which are “from above” and come “down from the Father”), and he called them “good” and “perfect” (Jas. 1:17). The gifts of God are full and complete, lacking nothing. Eight verses later, he used the word again to talk about “the perfect law of liberty” (1:25). The gift of God’s Word to us is called “perfect”—full and…

The Jews and Gentiles were bitter enemies and would not have anything to do with one another. Yet, God had an “eternal” plan, once kept as a “mystery” to Himself, but then revealed through Christ. That mystery was that “the Gentiles” were to be “fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ” (Eph. 3:6). How in the world was God…

Everyone wants to be the “greatest.” We love it when someone tells us that we’re the “greatest cook” or the “greatest friend.” We give trophies for the “World’s Greatest Teacher” or the “World’s Greatest Grandma.” Even Jesus’ disciples were interested in being the “greatest” (Mark 9:34). What does the Bible have to say about being the “greatest”? Three key uses of the word “greatest” in the…

Was it right of the Jewish leaders in Jesus’ day to “approve” (Greek: suneudokeo) of their forefathers killing God’s prophets (Luke 11:47-48)? Of course not! Was it right of Saul of Tarsus to “consent” (Greek: suneudokeo) to the murder of Stephen (Acts 8:1; 22:20)? Of course not!  That same Greek word is found in Romans 1:32, after a long listing of “unrighteous”…

Sometimes in friendships, there is “the giver” and “the taker.” “The giver” is the one who goes out of her way to check on her friend, to be there when times are tough, to be available at a moment’s notice, to lend a listening and sympathetic ear, to help whenever and whatever the need might be, etc. “The taker,” on the other…