Category: Uncategorised

Love gives. This is the central characteristic of love: it gives and goes on giving. “Beloved if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another” (1 John 4:11). Do we have this type of love for our family in God? —R. E. Harlow

When David sang his lamentation over Saul and Jonathan’s death (II Samuel 1:17-27), three times he said, “How are the mighty fallen” (vv 19, 25, 27). His greatest grief, it appears, was the loss of his best friend, Jonathan. But he includes his enemy, Saul, in that lament (vv17, 23, 24). This was the same Saul that repeatedly tried to kill him; the same one that had a bounty on his head. But despite all the turmoil that Saul caused him, David was gracious to him in death. May we all be so gracious in the lives, and deaths, of those who have harmed us. —N. Craig Funston

The faith of the saints in Thessalonica was well known (1:8). And with that faith came love because God Himself taught them to love one another. This is not something that can be taught by man; to love as Christ loved requires divine intervention in our lives. Such brotherly love is an encouragement to saints and a powerful, indeed unarguable, Gospel to sinners. —Roy Hill

The phrase “Him which is, and which was, and which is to come” is not to be found elsewhere in the New Testament. The Jehovah of the Old Testement is the Jesus of the New Testament. He is the I Am of Moses as well as the Christian. What holy joy fills the soul to know there is a Man in the glory who links heaven and earth, the Old and New Covenants and is sufficient for my every need in the past, present and future. —Les Rainey

Unlike his brother Aaron, Moses was not a powerful speaker. God made it clear that both needed, and would receive, His help. Whether we are overwhelmed by a responsibility, or feel that we can handle it, we must not forget to commit it to God, seeking His power. Failure to do so can lead, in the one case, to a hopeless giving up, or in the other case to proud success without reward. —David Logan

Who gave—a supreme sacrifice! Himself—an enormous cost! For our sins—a heavy burden! That He might deliver us—a great rescue! From this present evil age—a satanic environment! According to the will of God and our Father—a divine purpose! To whom be glory forever and ever—an eternal joy! —Jim Paul

The moral beauty of the Lord Jesus can be seen actually in the Gospels, doctrinally in the Epistles, and typically in the Tabernacle with its furniture and vessels, its sacrifices and offerings. The flour of the meal offering was the finest of fine flour, with no coarseness at all. It was made fragrant with frankincense and was offered in sweet savour to God. So was the life of the Saviour, a perfect blending of every moral virtue and every pleasing feature, a cloud of precious human incense ever ascending from Him to heaven. —Jim Flanigan

Satan has whitewashed sin. Human society smiles upon evil and readily indulges in it. But God has not changed. The sinner must be washed, not whitewashed, by the fountain that was opened through the death of Christ at Calvary. That washing justifies; so that the sinner is made clean; and is seen by God as being in Christ. If you are in Christ, you know it. If not, you are in your sins, and far from God.—Doug Kazen

When the Lord separates me from ones dear to my heart and identity, let me also trust, quickly accepting His will and anticipating multiplied blessings and fulfillment. —M. MacMullen