The Successful Christian Life

How do you live a successful Christian life? What does that even mean? One of the most common metaphors for the Christian life is running a race. This metaphor is an important reminder that true Christianity is not an easy stroll free of any difficulties; it’s a hard race filled with many obstacles. This metaphor is also a useful tool in identifying what success looks like by asking two simple questions: What hinders you in the race? And what helps you in the race? What hinders you in the race? Isolation — One of the things that can hinder Christians […]

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Loving The Local Church

What’s so great about the local church? Why should you bother to go into the four walls of a church and risk being hurt or misunderstood? What would compel you to “strive to excel in building up the church” (1 Corinthians 14:12)? Here are five reasons to love the local church and be an integral part in it. They’re not exhaustive, but they’re a start. The church is the picture of God’s ultimate plan. Wouldn’t it be nice to know where the world is heading? You can. God’s ultimate plan is to unite all things under the rule and reign […]

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Strength In Weakness

How do you view your weaknesses? Do you boast in them? Weaknesses and hardships are not typically something people boast about, but they can be. You wouldn’t naturally think that your weakness is an asset, that your trial is a gift or that your problem can actually make you more effective in life, but it’s true. The Apostle Paul once had a “thorn in the flesh,” some weakness that was harassing him, but he learned how to boast in it and be content with it, and you can too. The problem of weakness One of the problems of weakness is […]

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Overcoming Regrets

Have you ever said something or done something that you regret? Have you ever wished you could go back and change the past? Have you ever felt trapped in wanting to undo what can’t be undone? Often the failures of yesterday become the regrets of today. So what is regret and how do you overcome it? The regrets of life In the English language, regret is often used as a synonym for being sorry, but regret is one step further than remorse over the past; regret is a rehearsal of the past. Regret is a rewinding of the tape, imagining that […]

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The Credibility of Christianity

Is Christianity really credible? Or is Christian faith just a blind leap in the dark? Is Christianity a reasonable position to take? Or is it simply a convenient crutch that millions of mindless people use to get through life? Many people consider Christianity to be anti-intellectual. They say things like, “Well if it works for you to believe then great but not us modern scientific minds.” But here’s why Christianity is the most rational approach to life possible. The basis of Christian faith You may find several people who are skeptical to Christianity saying, “There are times when I just […]

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A Vision for Unity

Before Jesus went to the cross, he gave the world a vision for unity. He prayed, “That they may all be one.” Yet there seems to be a lot of confusion about what this vision for unity actually is and how it should be realized in the world. For example, people can be frustrated with all the doctrinal differences and denominations in Christianity and conclude that Christians are not following Jesus’ vision for unity. But does Jesus have in mind a one-world church with no more denominations? What is this unity? And how is it realized in the world? What […]

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The Marks of a Christian

Christians are meant to live with an assurance of their salvation. It’s God’s desire that all of his children know that they are his children. God doesn’t just want to save a person; he wants that person to know that they’ve been saved. So how do you know that you’re saved? How do you know that you’re among the eternal people of God? What are the marks of a Christian? In John 17, Jesus describes the Christian, and he gives four irreducible marks of every genuine believer. In other words, there are more than these, but there are never less […]

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Why God Desires Your Worship

Why does God want people to praise him? I was recently talking with a skeptical gentleman about the greatness of God, but when I invited him to church he said, “I don’t get why a God that is so great would need me to come to church and praise him. How self-centered and egotistical could God be that he constantly demands people to praise him?” This gentleman is not alone. That is a very common objection to Christianity.  Many people throughout the centuries, including C.S. Lewis prior to his conversion, have wrestled with God’s constant insistence for our worship. All […]

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Living the Good Life

How do you live the good life? What do you need to know or do in order to really live life as it’s meant to be lived? Jesus taught that, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). This means that there are two ways to pursue this sense of life to the full. There’s one approach that works and one that doesn’t. What you can’t live on What does Jesus mean by “live” and “bread”? The Greek word he uses for live is zoe, and it means […]

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Money Lessons to Master

One of the greatest lessons someone can learn is how to biblically handle money. Your use of money affects more than you may realize. The Bible teaches that there is a direct connection between your spending and your spiritual growth. Jesus once told a parable about the importance of faithfully handling money. A manager had wasted his master’s possessions and, knowing he was about to be fired, he quickly went to his master’s debtors and cut their debts by 20 percent and some by 50 percent. He did this so that he would have friends that would give him a […]

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