Humility

“How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks ” (Matt. 12:34) In the first part, we saw how eloquence can have a place in Biblical preaching only when it takes the role of servant not master. The master is the Bible. Any form of eloquence that...

Where do we turn when we are brokenhearted? Some of us turn to entertainment to distract us. Others of us throw all our time and attention to a hobby we’re good at. We may call a couple of good friends and share why our heart is broken in hopes they will cheer us. We may take a trip to the grocery...

When the Apostle Paul is outlining the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, he lists joy as the second fruit, directly after love. There seems to be a rather compelling reason for this. In Matthew 22:34-40, when Jesus is asked what commandment is the most important, He responds that the...

Elisabeth Cruciger – The First Lutheran Female Hymnwriter Elisabeth Cruciger is considered the first Lutheran female hymnwriter. Born around 1500 as Elisabeth von Mezerite to a noble family in Pomerania (a region in today’s Poland), she entered as a child the cloister at Marienbush Abbey, near...

Adam and Eve were tempted to believe, “You will be like God,” and that lie has been deceiving us ever since. We may not self-identify as deities demanding sacrifices and overt worship, but we may fall for subtler versions. One variation combines ideas that are very common today: I have no limits. I...

Liu Jingwen and Her Quiet Strength The saying is well-known: “Behind a great man there is a great woman.” In the case of Chinese pastor and theologian Wang Mingdao, someone suggested that eighty percent of Wang’s achievement was due to his wife. Was it an exaggeration? A Mature Young Lady Liu...

“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” – Romans 8:9-10...

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles...

My bookshelf is lined with prayer journals covering the years of my life beginning with childhood. Rereading them brings both joy and heartache, but most of all an overwhelming sense that I have had the privilege to bow my knees before my heavenly Father and cry out to Him in the midst of sin,...

Be Hospitable! In Romans 12:13, Paul says, “seek to show hospitality.” When we think of the “one-another” commands of Scripture, certainly the idea of hospitality comes to mind. The word itself comes from the Latin hospes , meaning guest, visitor, or stranger. Sometimes talks and books on this...