The Bible is clear that attitude is important. Though many religions in the world reduce righteousness to mere external actions, God tells us in his word that even good works done with the wrong heart attitude are displeasing to God (e.g. Isa 29:13; 1 Cor 13:1-3). The question might therefore arise: should I refrain from…
For our recent elder Q&A, we received some Bible questions that we did not have time to answer. This week, therefore, I decided to try out using the Midweek Meditation for Bible Q&A. Here’s today’s question: What does Matthew 6:22-23 mean? The NASB95 translation reads, “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then…
This past Sunday, we heard from Solomon in Ecclesiastes 7:15-18 that righteousness and wisdom, while God-glorifying and the best ways to live life, do not always result in earthly blessing. While this is a hard truth, the perhaps even harder truth to accept is that God may choose to bless other persons, who seem just…
As I have gotten older, I’ve learned to be suspicious of anything offering a fast, easy, and good result. Such promises frequently appear in advertisements and online click-bait articles: “I lost 50 lbs. on this diet plan in just six weeks!;” “Killer tips from young entrepreneur who made 500K in just three years;” or “My…
One of the most dangerous ideas to the soul is that a person can sin now and just repent later to avoid judgment. This thought fortifies many unbelievers in their refusal to submit to the gospel but also trips up genuine believers. We Christians can so easily think, “I know I shouldn’t say these hateful…
One of the most basic human struggles we find both in the Bible and in our Christian lives is the struggle to trust God. Life is hard and full of uncertainty. Moreover, when tragedy does strike, we often cannot discern any good purpose in the terrible event. Our hearts, therefore, are constantly tempted towards worry,…
I am really grateful for my wife. I am grateful for her for many reasons, but one is that she is really good at noticing little beautiful things. We go on walks together, and on these walks I am constantly surprised at how many pretty blossoms, cute animals, and interesting architectural details she is able…
Thinking more on Pastor Babij’s Sunday sermon about the coming day of the Lord, I found myself pondering the apostle John’s intriguing statement about antichrist in 1 John 2:18, Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that…
When we look around at the world today, it would be easy for us to come to the conclusion that the eschatological end is very near. Western society has reached new levels of celebrating evil, persecution is rising in America and is already prevalent throughout the world, and the church has largely abandoned the true…
As I think more this week about the sermon and Ecclesiastes 5:13-20, I’m reminded of how we Christians must guard against a certain kind of material-spiritual philosophical dualism. One idea popular in the ancient Greco-Roman world was that the material world was inherently inferior or evil and that spiritual world was inherently superior or good.…