You get up and you preach a sermon and people walk away thinking what a great guy – and that’s a failure as a pastor. Our job is to proclaim Christ.
God will make right all that is wrong, He will take away the lingering effect of sin and what’s not right in our lives. He knows how painful life in this world can be.
A defining reality for me is what Scripture teaches in Hebrews 12, that God is our father, and that a sign that he loves us is that he disciplines us, he takes us through hardship to build character in us that could not be shaped apart from difficulty.
We can each rest in the knowledge that God is sovereign over our life’s situation. No matter where we are today or what mistakes we’ve made in the past, He has given us everything we need to glorify Him right now.
Intimacy without commitment, like icing without cake, can be sweet, but it ends up making us sick.
If you’re not ready to consider marriage or you’re not truly interested in marrying a specific person, it’s selfish and potentially harmful to encourage that person to need you or ask him or her to gratify you emotionally or physically.
Wisdom in relationships involves a selfless desire to do what’s best for the other person.
I am a sucker for romance and I love girls and that is a terrible combination, because romance has the ability to overwhelm your perspective.
You are so amazed by grace, you’re not picking a fight with anyone, you’re just crying tears of amazement that should lead to a heart for lost people, that God does indeed save, when he doesn’t have to save anybody.
I’ve come to learn that theology matters. It matters not because we want to impress people, but because what we know about God shapes the way we think and live. Theology matters because if we get it wrong then our whole life will be wrong.
If you want to grow, find men who provoke you.
I’m looking for someone who will light candles, not just curse the darkness.
Instead of rushing foolishly into a marriage because of impatience or one day looking back at our season of singleness with regret, let’s commit to using our singleness to its fullest potential. Singleness is a gift. Let’s rejoice in it and enjoy its opportunities today. Let’s practice trusting God by pursuing His kingdom and His righteousness with all our hearts and by leaving the planning to Him.
He chose to love us. He chose to lay down His life for us. The danger of believing that you “fall in love” is that it also means you can “fall out of love” just as unexpectedly. Aren’t you glad that God’s love for us isn’t as unpredictable?
She began to notice his servant’s heart, his humility, and his leadership. This attraction felt different from her prior experiences of liking guys. “Before it had always been, ‘Here’s the guy I want!’ But this time I thought, ‘Here’s a man I could follow.
If Jesus loves the church, you and I should, too. We can’t use the excuse that the church has messed up too many times or that we’re disillusioned. Jesus is the only person who has the right to disown and give up on the church. But He never has. And He never will.
No matter where we are today or what mistakes we’ve made in the past, He has given us everything we need to glorify Him right now.
There is nothing more unloving than to be silent in the face of lies that will ruin another person.
1. List your own top three lust triggers. How can you avoid them? 2. What time of day or week are you most tempted by lust? What can you do to prepare for those times? 3. Which locations are the most tempting for you? How can you limit your time in those places? 4. What five little battles do you need to be fighting more faithfully? Describe in detail what it looks like for you to fight – and win – these battles.
We should never use spiritual activities as a way to grab for more intimacy than is appropriate for our relationship.
John Calvin wrote, “The evil in our desire typically does not lie in what we want, but in that we want it too much.