Sometimes the true test of a conviction comes when defending that conviction — or merely explaining it — causes someone else to view you as an enemy. When simply stating what the Bible says about an issue leads others to call you mean, repressive, or even un-Christ-like. When your efforts to teach someone the truth cause them to weep, not tears of regret or repentance, but the tears of someone who feels he is being treated unfairly. When a person paints you as being responsible for others’ heartache and suffering just because of what you…

“It’s broke, Daddy. Please, can you fix it?”

 Our daughter, age four, handed me the little ceramic nick-knack, her face full of worry. It wasn’t anything of value, but to her it was priceless. As I took the broken object from her hand, I realized just how much that little brown-eyed angel relied on me. I thought to myself, She believes I can fix anything.

It has been said that a child’s conception of God is based largely on what he sees in his parents — because they’re the…

2 Samuel 13 records a story filled with moral ugliness. Does it involve the denizens of some pagan city? A bunch of social outcasts? No, the players in this story are members of the royal family of David, king of Israel.

Amnon, the eldest son of David, became infatuated with his beautiful half-sister, Tamar (David’s daughter by another wife). Although the Biblical text uses the ordinary, broad Hebrew word for “loved,” it is clear that Amnon’s main interest in Tamar was sexual. But she was off limits to him. As the king’s…

2 Samuel 13 tells how Amnon, the son of King David, became consumed with desire for his half-sister Tamar. In order to get her alone, he pretended to be sick and requested of David that the princess come to his house to prepare food. Suspecting nothing improper, Tamar did as she was asked. She even brought the food to Amnon’s bedside at his request. But then her brother revealed his true intentions: he grabbed her and said, “Come to bed with me, my sister.”

Last week we contrasted Amnon’s lust with genuine…

2 Samuel 13 tells how Amnon, son of King David, became consumed with desire for his half-sister Tamar. Of course, his desire was a moral dead end; it could never be lawfully fulfilled. But Amnon dwelt on it until his frustration began to have a visible effect on him.

Amnon’s distress caught the attention of his friend Jonadab. The two young men were cousins, in fact: Jonadab was the son of Shimeah, a brother of King David. The Bible describes Jonadab as “shrewd” (Hebrew chakam). The word can mean skillful, wise, or prudent;…

A computer’s keyboard is a highly useful tool—provided everything is working properly.

But what if one of your hands is in the wrong position? All of a sudden, everutjomg ;ppls dofferemt.

Or what if one of the keys doesn’t work? Whn that happns, th whol pag looks lik this.

Or suppose a key made the wrong letter when you pressed it? (I remember having an old typewriter that sometimes did this.) Imagine if every time you hit “s” it typed “d” instead. It dure would medd thingd…

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him as a guest. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he said. But Martha was distracted with all the preparations she had to make, so she came up to him and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work alone? Tell her to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many…

When the apostle Paul arrived in the city of Athens, he was “reasoning…in the market place every day with those who happened to be present” (Acts 17:17). This soon brought him into contact with men from some of the schools of philosophy for which Athens was famous. When they heard Paul, some of the philosophers sneered, “What would this babbler wish to say?” (verse 18).

“Babbler” here is literally “seed-picker” (Gr. spermologos). The term pictured a bird flitting about, picking up scattered seeds, and became slang for a person who went around…

“Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension” (1 Timothy 2:8).

In many churches today it is common for people to lift their hands during worship. Does this verse command us to do that? What is it all about?

The subject of this passage, going back to verse 1, is prayer (probably in the assemblies of the church). “Lifting up holy hands” in verse 8 refers to the custom of lifting one’s hands in prayer, which appears to have…

“What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:5-7).

The Corinthian saints had a tendency to exalt their favorite preachers. People were saying, “I am of Paul,” “I am of Apollos,” etc., as if their loyalty were to this or that evangelist instead of Christ. The…

“In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise” (Proverbs 10:19). “The fool has no delight in understanding, but in expressing his own heart” (Proverbs 18:2).

I have to confess that verses such as these have often come to my mind upon encountering certain kinds of people.

• The person who has no filters on her speech—who says pretty much whatever pops into her head at the moment, seemingly without a thought to…

What do you think of when you hear the word religion?

Does that word bring to mind cold, shallow formality? Strict rules and requirements? Man-made attempts to earn favor with God? Self-righteous hypocrisy? Maybe even corruption or oppression?

Those are the things that religion suggests to many people. Which helps explain why it’s not uncommon to hear someone say, “I’m spiritual, but not religious.”

Often the person who says this considers himself a follower of Jesus, but he turns up his nose at “organized religion” (meaning…

Earlier this year we finished a six-month study of the gospel of John. Along the way I noticed something striking: When you compare the words of Jesus in John’s gospel with the apostle’s own words in his three letters, you find that John, perhaps more than any other New Testament writer, talks the way Jesus talked. Several passages in John’s epistles are clear echoes of things that Jesus said—and the way he said them—in the gospel of John. A few examples:

• Jesus: “These things I have spoken to you so that My…