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Other People Don’t Decide Your Value
There are few pains more personal than rejection. It hurts when strangers reject you.It hurts when family and friends reject you.It hurts when people who share your confession, your language, and your history reject you. And when that happens, the temptation is obvious. You begin to wonder whether their rejection says something final about you.…
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Is God Really Good?
We often imagine God as a harsh, distant, or easily disappointed dictator. But that picture doesn’t come from God himself. It’s not how his Word reveals him. In fact, that picture comes from our sin. In the Garden, Satan introduced the idea that God has bad intentions towards us. In the form of a serpent…
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God Is Not A Bully
One of the most striking differences I have observed between people who have faith and those who don’t is the different ways they view God’s power. Yes, God is powerful. My atheist friends find this idea offensive, antagonistic, and morally repugnant. If God is powerful, then evil must be his fault, suffering must be his…
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How to Listen to the Bible When Christians Disagree
When Christians disagree about doctrine, it is very easy to begin with the passages that seem to support our own position. That is understandable. We all do it. We notice a verse, a phrase, an image, or a promise, and we begin to ask whether it proves the point we already find compelling. But that…
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How to Stop Worrying: Trusting the God Who Cares for You
You’re anxious, because you think it hangs on you. You look at the future, the money, the diagnosis, the conflict, the people who might hurt you, the problems you cannot fix, and you feel as though you are the one who has to deal with it. And if you don’t deal with it, who will?…
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People’s Opinions Don’t Define You (The Prayer of Jabez)
Other people have incredible power over things that matter to you. They can physically hurt your body. They can discourage and distract your soul from looking at Jesus. They can steal and take your possessions. And they can also slander and libel you to destroy your reputation. I’ve spent a lot of time reading Luther’s…
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Why Should I Believe in Jesus?
Many people expect the answer to be: because the evidence is strong, because Christianity makes sense, because the Church says so, or because faith will improve your life. But none of these things give faith. The Bible gives a deeper answer, with two parts. It says you should believe in Jesus because God tells you…
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Universal Justification But Not Universal Final Salvation
I was recently asked a series of excellent questions about universalism. The questions arise from a real tension. The Bible teaches that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. God genuinely reconciled the world to himself through the blood of Christ. He sincerely desires the salvation of every person. Does that mean that…
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Who Can Forgive Your Sins?
Muslims and Christians both speak about forgiveness.But the Qur’an and the Bible present Muhammad and Jesus very differently. We see that clearly when we compare what they say about forgiveness. The Qur’an (Surah 47:19):* ١٩- فَاعْلَمْ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّـهُ وَاسْتَغْفِرْ لِذَنبِكَ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ ۗ وَاللَّـهُ يَعْلَمُ مُتَقَلَّبَكُمْ وَمَثْوَاكُمْ 19. Know, therefore, that There…
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Sanctification Is Knowing God’s In a Good Mood with You
Many Christians think sanctification means becoming less disappointing to God. That’s why self-help books are quite popular with lots of Christians. And why many Christian books are quite similar to self-help books. Because if you view sanctification as essentially moral improvement, it is essentially “self-help.” Many of these same Christians rightly affirm that sanctification is…