The holidays can bring back the empty chair, the family hurt, the memories of when everything felt joyful—and before long, sorrow and anxiety begin to take over. The words of Romans 8 help us in times when grief feels stronger than truth.
Rules, hypocrisy, conflict—those are the words people most often reach for when they describe the church, and if we’re honest, we’ve sometimes given them reason to. Galatians 5 doesn’t flinch from that indictment; it sets the works of the flesh against a vision of the church so different, so beautiful, that it could only come from one source.
Too often, we think the Holy Spirit is just a feeling. He’s much, much more.
Jim Krenning takes us to back to Acts 2 to think about how God gives His Spirit to us.
Most of our days do not feel like turning points in history; they feel like errands, obligations, and familiar routines, leaving us to wonder whether our lives matter in any story beyond our own. Those on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in Acts 2 might have wondered the same thing.
Thanksgiving takes planning, or you’ll fill the plate and miss the pie you were waiting for. Advent works the same way. The Gospel of Mark skips the manger and the angels and jumps right to the one the Gospels proclaim: Jesus. Do we get caught up in the details or get to Him in our own preparations?
Do we just want to replace the most obviously broken parts of our life or are we willing to have God completely renew us?
Conventional wisdom leads to conventional failure, but Jesus calls us to set our sights heavenward and experience God’s salvation.
Nicodemus came to Jesus wanting to sample His take on God’s Law. Jesus calls both Nicodemus and us to something more.
Do you believe the end is near? We are told to be prepared and to be patient. But in that patience, we also need to be urgent! Because the end is coming.