The idea of sinning against God by seeking to do something good seems irrational, maybe even ridiculous. Yet God’s Word warns us about being presumptuous. God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours. His sovereign will can involve us doing something completely counter-intuitive, and the Bible is littered with such...
Divorce is on the rise. It is not unusual for people to enter into marriage nowadays with the idea, “I can always get a divorce if this marriage doesn’t work out (according to my expectations).” “Irreconcilable differences” and “failure to consummate the marriage” are grounds for divorce in court. Some couples even...
The Bible shows us that people began to preach a “different “Jesus not long after He ascended into heaven. The same can be said today, some 2,000 years later. Blatantly false Christs are easy to spot. Most times, we fall for a different Jesus when we see Him through our own lens and...
The world puts many labels on us, and we all go along with common earthly stereotypes; “I’m a wife.” “I’m Japanese.” “I’m from a poor family.” “I’m a lawyer.” Yet none of these identities will get us into heaven or have any meaning in eternity. Hopefully, each one of us...
God is spirit. Anyone who accepts Jesus Christ as Saviour receives a deposit of His Spirit in their hearts. This represents a change in our spiritual position, not necessarily a physical or dramatic occurrence. God’s powerful Spirit is unseen, gentle, and quiet. We are called blessed if we believe in Him without seeing...
Jesus came to give us abundant life and promised all His followers an abundance of knowledge of God’s Kingdom. At the same time, we are told that we will share abundantly in Jesus’ suffering and comfort too. How do we reconcile these seemingly opposing truths? John 10:10 ESV The...
Fear, anxiety, and striving are signs that we may be drifting too far away from God. When we follow the Holy Spirit closely, we will experience great joy and peace. We can rest in the knowledge that the One who knows all our tomorrows will lead us safely and assuredly,...
A good and healthy fear of God brings immense blessings. It is the lack of fear, or even an exaggerated fear of God, that can destroy us. God is capable of incredibly tender and loving patience. At the same time, He is capable of intense fiery judgment. Just consider the...
Every human heart has been implanted with a God-given conscience. Even as toddlers, we instinctively know that we should not lie, steal, or abuse others, as written in the Ten Commandments. Yet the Bible also warns us that our consciences can be misled or even killed off by “deceptive spirits...
What is the most important God-given empowerment? Miracles? Healing? Prophetic gifts? Supernatural strength? Speaking in tongues? God’s Word explains that it is love. We can be surrounded by songs, movies, and ideas about love and yet not know how to practice the purest form of love. What does God, the Originator...
Imagine being trapped inside a raging fire, filled with the nauseating stench of sulphur and rotting flesh. Your lungs are choking. You have lost your eyesight but you can still hear people screaming all around you. Horror fills your heart as you realise you are burning too. Unfortunately, this is...
God refers to Himself as light. Light illuminates, sustains all life, and is found everywhere, even in darkness. From quantum physics to geology and biology, many things cannot be fully understood without taking light into account. Light is paramount to our existence, and the qualities of light give us wonderful...
Loving God is the first commandment for any believer. Many things in this world jostle for our love and attention, notwithstanding our own church communities. Churches become our idols when we feel more connected and devoted to them than to Jesus. This drifting away from loving God first in church...
It is not a sin to be tempted. It is only a sin when we give in to the tempter, Satan, and rebel against God – whether knowingly or unknowingly. Yet we ought not to glorify the devil for his potential to deceive us. It is God, in fact, who...
Jesus called us to become childlike in order to experience God and His Kingdom. Imagine a child holding its arms up to call for his daddy or running as his father calls. There is such innocence, awe, and expectation in its radiant smile. Is that the kind of faith we...
Protests, revolts, and violent confrontations are on the rise around the world, as ordinary civilians stand up against injustice, social ills, and oppression. Jesus Christ was also born into a time of severe oppression and social injustices. Yet He stood against His political oppressors in non-violent ways. What can we...
The ninth commandment in the Bible calls us not to testify falsely against someone. What if that someone is ourselves? At some point in time, we have all denied or downplayed some stressful emotions and thoughts to avoid drawing attention to ourselves. In other words, we testified falsely against ourselves....
No matter how long we expect to live, the truth is we will have the same life span – that is eternal. We tend to look at our lives as the number of years we have in our physical bodies on earth when in reality, our souls live on and...
Every workplace promotes a set of corporate values that it expects its employees to follow. Yet no matter how altruistic an employer’s values may be, it will always be in the company’s interest to promote some selfish ambition and greed. Greed may not have to be about money, it can...
Parents and guardians will normally pay more attention to certain qualities in their children for different reasons. Even when they try their best to love all their children well, their subconscious biases will manifest and lead to unintended outcomes. Unfortunately, favouritism breeds comparison, guilt, and insecurity in children over time. Whether favoured...