Faith in God is also faith in ourselves. This is not faith in our righteousness, wisdom, or even faith, but faith that His work in us is sufficient for anything He calls us to do. False humility is a rejection of God’s adequacy in us and is an affront to Him.

        When we criticize other people’s children, are we not criticizing the parents? When we criticize the Lord’s children, are we not criticizing Him, or saying we don’t approve of the way He is raising them?...

        Some have called the Christian life an acquired balance between two paradoxes, and the path of life a tension between two paradoxes. There are the counterbalancing teachings of Scripture that are needed to keep us in the Way. Faith can be very close to pride, and to walk in greater faith brings us even closer to this thin line between them.

        This may seem complicated, and it can become complicated, if we do not hold to the exhortation of II Corinthians 11:3: “But I...

       The most important decision we can make to affect our future is to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness” (see Matthew 6:33). The promise to those who do this declares everything will be added to them. Nothing can so impact our lives for good than to keep seeking the Lord and His kingdom first and making this the primary factor behind every decision we make.

       We are told in Proverbs 28:1, “But the righteous are bold...

       If our knowledge of God is not affecting our choices, then we certainly do not have a high enough opinion of Him. That is why He said to the Laodicean church in Revelation He would rather they be cold or hot than lukewarm. Indifference is the highest form of contempt in a relationship. To be indifferent about God is one of the highest forms of contempt for Him. We must resolve not to allow this lukewarm spirit in our lives.

       How can we know God and...

       Romans 11:22 exhorts us to, “Behold then the kindness and severity of God….” This does not imply that God is kind one day and severe the next. He does not change. He is both kind and severe all the time. Many are only able to behold His kindness, and because of this, they become open to distorted, extreme, and false teachings about His grace and mercy. Others tend to only see His severity and are therefore deceived and unable to grasp His grace and mercy. To see...