For every believer in Jesus today there are costs to following him. One possible cost is that of opposition from family members. How should believers respond when these conflicts occur and their love for the Savior is challenged by those they are closest to?
Believers in Christ belong to each other as members of his body, with each member being interdependent on the others. They all share God’s love, and that love is expressed in many ways. How they relate to each other within the church is important to the Lord, and that’s why the apostles admonish us in every one of their letters on how to love our brothers and sisters. Many of these admonitions are expressed as “one another” or “each other” commands.
God is transcendent and exists beyond the physical universe we live in. His ways are higher than ours and his thoughts are high above ours. But in what way are his thoughts and ways higher? Can we ever hope to understand him? Do his ways even make any sense to us? Or does he operate by a completely different logic as some Bible teachers claim?
Jesus taught that God hears and answers our prayers because he cares for us. But how does God answer prayer? In other words, how do we know when he is answering? Does he always answer in the way we expect?
Throughout history misguided religion has been the source of much evil in the world. We find strange, questionable, or fruitless practices even among Christians. Is there such a thing as pure religion? The Bible says that there is, and it’s described in James 1:27.
The world is so full of human conflicts, failure, and negativity. And personal problems and disappointments can assault our lives. How can we be free from the constant chaos that floods human existence? Is there a way we can rise above it all and live in peace? A good start would be to heed the apostle Paul’s practical wisdom in Philippians 4:8—thinking about whatever is true, noble, right, and pure.
Faith is so important to the believer in Christ. It’s by faith that we receive salvation. And it’s by faith that we live an obedient Christian life and survive the trials and storms that come against us. But how do we increase our faith? Did Jesus say anything about this? In this article we’ll see the connection between a strong faith and knowing God.
The gospel stories often include closeups of individuals that highlight their responses to Christ and his ministry. Mary of Bethany and Judas Iscariot were two followers of Jesus that had two greatly different responses. Matthew and John artfully contrasted them in their gospels to teach us some important lessons about faith, love, devotion, and obedience to God.
One of the greatest disputes in the Church today is how Christians should relate to the Mosaic laws. Some maintain that none of the Mosaic laws apply to us anymore because we are under the New Covenant. Others say they all apply since the Old Testament is God’s eternal Word and doesn’t change. Should Christians obey the Law of Moses? Or, are there some that apply to us and others that don’t?
Our Lord began his famous Sermon on the Mount with we now call the Beatitudes, arguably some of the most beautiful words ever spoken. What are the Beatitudes? They are promises of blessing to God’s people.
