Good Words for Today
We have fellowship with God through his Son, Jesus Christ. And only in Christ do we have fellowship with one another. What sets us apart from the country club is that we have fellowship with God. The church is a fellowship of men and women who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Jesus will return when everything is ready in God’s plan. Not a moment earlier, not a second later.
To call God our father means that we can trust him in every circumstance because he will do whatever needs to be done to take care of us.
Death is like a dark room that frightens us because we don’t know what’s in there. But the Bible tells us that Jesus has gone into every dark room ahead of us and tells us, “Come on in. I am here, and it is safe.”
Easter does not simply mean that 2000 years ago a man rose from the dead. This is true enough, but it is not the end of the story. Because he lives today, we live today. When he came out of the tomb, we walked out with him. Death will not have the last word. He is risen! He is risen indeed!
While the Jews try to keep Jesus in the tomb, a miracle is on the way. Pilate is about to receive the shock of his life. On Saturday, everything seemed hopeless. On Sunday morning, the whole world changed. Hang on a little longer. It’s Saturday, but Sunday’s coming.
“Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer” (Isaiah 53:10). Jesus died because his Father willed that he should die. The terrible suffering our Lord endured did not happen by chance nor did it happen solely because the Jewish leaders wanted it and Pilate cravenly caved in. Behind the evil deeds of evil men stands the Lord God Almighty. He and he alone sent Jesus to the cross. Until you understand that fact, the true meaning of the death of Christ will be lost to you.
Jesus never says, “Clean yourself up, and I will come in.” No, the invitation is always, “Believe in me, and I will give you a brand-new life.” The gospel gives you something much better than what it drives away.
When we come to Christ, he comes to us. When we trust in Christ, he dwells with us. When we say yes to Jesus, he makes our heart his home.
If you go to church long enough, you stand in great danger of believing you are better than you really are. You start to believe your own PR, and you go to church, hear a sermon, and say, “I wish so-and-so could hear this,” when in fact you need it more than they do. May God give us grace to hear the truth even when it hurts!
If your life is a mess, ask Jesus to deliver you. Admit you can’t change and then cry out for his mercy. Ask him to chase the demons out of your life. Ask him to take away the torment. Ask him to change you from the inside out. Come humbly to Jesus and ask him to be your Lord and Savior. Run to the cross. Lay your burdens, your cares, your worries, and your fears upon the Son of God. Lay your sins and faults and failures on his strong back. If you come to Christ, he will not turn you away. And when Christ answers, go and tell others what he has done for you.
It's one thing to believe in Jesus. It's another thing to stand up for him. Palm Sunday is a call to courage. We all have to choose where we stand in the moment of crisis. Make your choice so clear that no one can doubt whose side you are on.
When Jesus knocks on the door of your heart, run quickly to let him in. Do not think that he is obliged to come back again and again.
Give God time, and the ravens will come to supply what you need. (See 1 Kings 17:5.)
We are not saved by holding on to Christ. We are saved because Christ is holding on to us.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, that we don’t have to be perfect to come to you. If we had to be perfect, who among us would qualify? Help those who feel uneasy to yield to the gentle wooing of the Spirit. May they not be ashamed to say, ‘I have sinned’ and come to you for forgiveness. We pray for those who are still in the Far Country. Open the eyes of their heart so that light from heaven can come flooding in. Give us faith to keep on praying and not to faint. Bring all your children safely home at last. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Choose wisely today. We make our choices, and then our choices turn around and make us.
Heavenly Father, grant that we might be great risk-takers for the kingdom of God. Deliver us from crippling fear. Help us to live so that if we die today, we’ll be glad to meet Jesus. Shake us free from the love of the world. May we enter into the freedom that comes from living on the edge with you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Many people are open to Jesus as long as he keeps his distance. But when he comes too close, they get uncomfortable. They like the gentle Jesus of the picture books, but not the powerful Christ of the gospels. They like a marble Jesus they can touch for good luck, but they recoil from a Christ who demands their total allegiance.
If people knew us better than they do, they would condemn us even more than they do. They don’t know the half of it.
When we do our worst, God does his best. When Christ died, his blood covered all our sins, including the ones that embarrass us the most.
When we are tempted to despair about our loved ones who today are far from the Lord, remember that the Lord always has a fattened calf ready for the big celebration. Never give up! Never stop praying! May God help us to stay faithful until the day when our prodigals come home at last.
You can't live on hand-me-down faith borrowed from your parents. Borrowed faith may get you through the good times, but it will never last. When hard times come, you need a faith carved from the rock of God's Word, tattooed on your soul so that it will stand the test of time.
Don't brag. Your work speaks for itself. If you have to tell me how great you are, how great could you possibly be? "Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips" (Proverbs 27:2).
The call of Christ never comes at a convenient time. Jesus calls us when we are busy with our own plans. That should not surprise us because there is never a convenient time to go to the cross.
Go and tell. That’s what Jesus said to do. Anyone can do that. Don’t let anyone tell you can’t do that. You don’t have to learn a lot of verses or memorize a complicated outline. You don’t have to be a good speaker or a winsome personality. You don’t have to get permission from anyone to tell your story. You don’t have to write a book or a sermon. You don’t need a big audience. You can start with one person. Go and tell what Jesus has done for you!
It's hard to throw stones when you're busy washing feet.
"Faith makes all things possible. Love makes them easy.” D. L. Moody
When God forgives our sin, he chooses to remember them no more. Our Father will never hold against us any sins covered by the blood of Christ. When God forgives, he forgets!
It's easy to get angry at people who sin differently than we do. But truth be told, we are all sinners in desperate need of the grace of God. If God could save us, he can save those whose sin angers us. A good dose of honesty about our own sin might make us less judgmental about others and more willing to pray fervently for their salvation.
When the devil comes and knocks at your door—and, my friends, he comes again and again and again—when he comes, send Jesus to answer in your place. The devil will flee, for he cannot enter where Jesus has already moved in.
The road to heaven always goes by way of the cross. If you skip the cross, you’ll end up missing heaven too. A. B. Bruce pointed out that “if crosses would leave us alone, we would leave them alone, too.” But the cross of Christ will never leave us alone. It stands at the center of our faith. Take the cross out of Christianity and you’ve taken Jesus out as well. We are called to follow Jesus, and that means denying ourselves, taking up our cross daily, and following him wherever he leads.
A guilty conscience is a great blessing if it leads you to repentance.
Lord of the cloud and fire, I am a pilgrim marching through the wilderness on my way to the Promised Land. When I am discouraged and want to go back to Egypt, keep my feet marching toward Canaan. Amen.
“One word of truth outweighs the world.” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
May my heart be cheerful, my smile be genuine, and my words be kind today.
What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and yet loses his own family? I’ve never heard a man on his deathbed say, “I wish I had spent more time in the office.” But many men say, “I wish I had spent more time with my family.” God help us to learn this while there is still time to make a difference.
Father, I bless You that I am not what I used to be, nor everything I want to be, and by your grace I am not yet all that I am going to be. Amen.