Posts with the category “bible-reading-plan-2026”

As we've made our way through both letters to the Thessalonians, we've heard Paul repeatedly call believers to remain steadfast in hope, grow in holiness, and encourage one another. Now we see what that looks like when faith meets the practical demands of everyday life.   Read More

Truth isn't something we possess so that we can win arguments or establish superiority over others. We receive the truth of Jesus Christ so that our hearts and lives may be transformed.   Read More

Growing faith. Increasing love. Steadfast hope. These aren't abstract religious achievements. They're evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in an ordinary community of believers who are learning to follow Jesus together.   Read More

It's possible to believe in Jesus, participate in worship, and know the right things to say while gradually allowing our attitudes, priorities, and relationships to reflect the surrounding culture more than the character of Christ. Paul's answer isn't fear or frantic religious activity. It's a steady, faithful life grounded in faith, love, and hope.   Read More

What does a life that pleases God actually look like?   Read More

When life becomes difficult, our trust in God can be tested. We may begin to question what we believe, wonder whether God is still present, or become tempted to compromise our convictions for the sake of an easier path. Those struggles aren't unique to the Thessalonians. They're part of the experience of following Jesus in a world that doesn't always welcome his kingdom. And that's why Timothy's mission was so important.   Read More

We can become so focused on communicating the right message that we overlook the importance of the lives through which that message is communicated. We can speak about grace while withholding it from others. We can teach holiness while failing to demonstrate the patience, humility, and love that holiness produces.   Read More

It's interesting that Paul doesn't describe an organized campaign to make the Thessalonian church famous. Their reputation spread because people could see the difference the gospel was making. They were becoming known for their faithfulness. There's something worth considering here for our own lives and for our church.   Read More

As we finish Colossians, perhaps the most fitting response is to recognize that the fullness of life we have received in Christ was never intended to be lived alone. We belong to Christ, and in Christ, we belong to one another. Our prayers strengthen the fellowship. Our words reveal the grace we've received. Our faithful service participates in God's ongoing work. And together, we become a living witness to the transforming love of Jesus Christ.   Read More

Yesterday, Paul reminded us that we are rooted and complete in Christ. Today, he shows us what grows from those roots. We belong to Christ, and by grace, we're becoming more like him.   Read More

Sometimes we're tempted to measure spiritual maturity by how much we know, how many religious activities we participate in, or whether we've experienced something remarkable. Those things may have value, but none of them can replace a life grounded in Jesus.   Read More

The Christ who holds creation together is also present within the lives of those who belong to him. The power sustaining the universe is not distant from the ordinary struggles, relationships, and responsibilities of our lives.   Read More

Toward the end of the letter, he writes words that have ended up on countless signs, shirts, and athletic posters: “I can endure all these things through the power of the one who gives me strength” (v 13). But Paul isn’t talking about accomplishing anything we set our minds to. He is talking about contentment.   Read More

Grace comes first. Everything that follows—obedience, holiness, perseverance, mission—is Paul’s response to the Christ who has already claimed him.   Read More

Christian confidence doesn't require us to call suffering good, pretend disappointment doesn’t hurt, or insist that every circumstance happened because God wanted it. Paul can acknowledge the hardship while trusting that hardship does not have the final word. God is still at work.   Read More

Christian perseverance is not powering through until we become spiritually tough enough. Holiness has never meant proving how strong we can become on our own. We stand because grace has already surrounded us with everything we need to remain faithful.   Read More

God’s grace doesn’t only forgive what we have been. The Holy Spirit renews the way we think, speak, work, respond, forgive, and love. We cooperate with that grace by taking off habits that belong to the old life and practicing ways of living that resemble Jesus. And we do this together.   Read More

Christ takes people who were far away and brings them near. Christ takes people who were separated and makes them family. Christ takes people who were spiritually dead and makes them alive. Then the Holy Spirit begins forming those people together into a place where the presence of God can be seen in the world.   Read More

We may sometimes wish that power looked more spectacular. But resurrection power often works quietly before it works visibly. It breaks the power of sin. It teaches us to forgive. It forms patience where anger once ruled. It creates generosity where fear once held tightly. It makes a divided group of people into the Body of Christ.   Read More

The gospel isn't God's program for polishing up the old life. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God has begun something new. The Holy Spirit is already bringing that new creation to life among people who belong to Christ. And that new creation becomes visible when a church lives differently.   Read More

God’s grace comes first. The Spirit is already at work. Christ has already set us free. And because grace is at work, we can respond. We can surrender old desires. We can practice obedience. We can choose reconciliation over rivalry, service over selfish ambition, gentleness over anger, and love over the need to prove ourselves. Over time, what began as obedience becomes increasingly characteristic of who we are. That is sanctification.   Read More

Grace does more than change our status before God. Grace begins changing who we are. The Spirit who assures us that we are God’s children is also at work shaping us into the likeness of the Son.   Read More

Everything has been moving toward Christ. That's why Paul’s warning is so strong. Going backward to the law as the basis of belonging would not be spiritual progress. It would mean treating something temporary as though it were the destination.   Read More

It is possible to believe the gospel correctly and still live in ways that contradict it. We may confess that salvation is by grace while quietly deciding who belongs most comfortably among us. We may say that every believer is part of the Body of Christ while gravitating only toward people who look, think, speak, worship, vote, work, or live like we do. We can proclaim an open door while maintaining invisible boundaries inside the room.   Read More

As we begin Galatians, Paul gives us something worth holding onto through the entire letter: Don't add to the gospel. Don't subtract from the gospel. And don't confuse the fruit of grace with the price of grace.  Read More

Is Christ's grace shaping the way we respond to weakness? Is God's love shaping the way we see other people? Is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit shaping the way we live together?   Read More

God’s grace is sufficient today. Not sufficient because suffering is good. Not sufficient because weakness doesn’t matter. Sufficient because Christ remains present and Christ’s power is not limited by our weakness.   Read More

The Corinthians have been measuring Christian leadership using the standards of the culture around them. Paul wants them to measure everything by Christ. And once Christ becomes the standard, strength begins to look different.   Read More

What does success look like? What makes someone important? Whose approval matters? What makes a church strong? What makes a leader worth following? What determines whether our lives are going well?   Read More

When grace is shaping us, our hands gradually become more open. We begin to see our money, possessions, time, and opportunities differently. They’re no longer things we must protect at all costs. They become gifts entrusted to us that can participate in what God is doing. And when we release them faithfully, the harvest may reach farther than we ever see.   Read More

Grace turns people toward God. Grace loosens our grip on what we possess. Grace teaches us to notice the needs of others. Grace moves us from good intentions toward completed faithfulness. Grace builds unity across differences. And grace teaches the church to handle what has been entrusted to us with integrity.   Read More

God doesn't reveal sin so that we remain crushed beneath it. The Holy Spirit brings conviction because grace is already calling us toward something better. God exposes what is destroying us so it can be surrendered, forgiven, healed, and transformed.   Read More

God’s grace does more than forgive what has been. The Holy Spirit works within us so that even suffering, disappointment, criticism, and opposition become places where Christlike character can take root. Paul’s circumstances were often beyond his control. His faithful response within those circumstances revealed whose life was shaping his own.   Read More

The holiness of Jesus moves toward broken people with truth and grace, calling them into restored relationship with God and with one another. That is the life Christ is forming in us. The old world says protect yourself, defend your side, remember every offense, and keep people in the categories where you placed them. New creation says something different.   Read More

We follow a crucified and risen Lord. So our lives will sometimes bear the marks of the cross: weakness, sacrifice, suffering, surrender. Yet the cross is never separated from resurrection. Even while death appears to be doing its work, the life of Jesus is at work too. That changes how we understand our weakness.   Read More

Paul points to the Corinthians themselves. And considering everything we’ve read about this church, that’s a bold move. They’ve struggled with division, pride, sexual immorality, worship, spiritual gifts, the Lord’s Supper, and their relationship with Paul himself. Yet Paul can still look at this complicated community and say, in effect, Look at what God has done here.   Read More

Some wounds require time, wisdom, boundaries, and patient rebuilding of trust. Paul isn't asking the church to pretend nothing happened. He's asking them to recognize what God is doing now instead of keeping a repentant person permanently trapped in what happened then. Paul even warns that refusing restoration gives the enemy an opportunity. A church can be damaged by ignoring sin, but it can also be damaged by refusing grace.   Read More

Paul says the Holy Spirit is already at work within us as God’s seal and the guarantee of what is still coming. The God who raised Jesus has not abandoned the work of new creation. God is forming us, strengthening us, and leading us toward the life Christ has opened for us. That means our suffering doesn’t have to become wasted pain.   Read More

“Stay awake, stand firm in your faith, be brave, be strong. Everything should be done in love.” (vv. 13–14) We could easily emphasize the first four and overlook the fifth. Be alert. Stand firm. Be courageous. Be strong. Those sound like fighting words. But Christian strength is always governed by Christian love. Standing firm doesn't give us permission to become cruel. Courage doesn't require arrogance. Strength doesn't justify domination. Faithfulness to truth cannot be separated from becoming like Jesus. Everything should be done in love.   Read More

We may not know exactly how God will gather all those acts of love, obedience, service, creativity, compassion, and witness into the kingdom that is coming. Paul doesn’t explain that. He gives us something better than an explanation. He gives us a promise. Your labor in the Lord is not wasted.   Read More