25 Woods Lake Road, Building 8, Greenville, SC
Most of us would not feel comfortable being dropped in the middle of a forest at night with no flashlight. There is nothing fun about being lost in the dark! But this is even more true spiritually speaking. The Bible says we are either walking in darkness or we are walking in the light. Where are you?
What a month this has been! The entire world has turned its attention to the outbreak of the Coronavirus, panic is widespread, cities look like ghost towns, and national economies are facing collapse. Times like these reveal what people have been trusting in for their sense of security and hope. Good health, a steady job and financial stability can all be gone in the blink of an eye, so make sure you are depending on the one thing that will never let you down.
Our lives are fueled by hope. The decisions we make, the goals we pursue — in fact everything we do is driven by the hope that our efforts will make life better tomorrow than it is today. Often we search for hope in all the wrong places. We mistakenly think that we will find hope in a new relationship, or by having a particular experience, or if our current circumstances were different. But none of those things can ever give us hope. There is only one place hope can be found. Have you found it yet?
Scripture promises a new heaven and a new earth for followers of Christ. Peter reminds us of how this promise should impact our lives today. The goals that we are striving for in the future will always impact our choices in the present. Knowing that we will one day see Christ should motivate us to live holy lives here and now. Are we looking forward to that day, and are we living expectant, intentional holy lives in light of it?
Any life that is going to be used by God must be humbled and broken first. This is God’s process of showing us who He really is, and who we really are by comparison. But we fight against this process because we don’t want to be humbled; we don’t want to be broken. And so we continue trying to live in our own strength, by our own resources, and in doing so, we miss out on what God wants to do through us. Are you still resisting this work of God in your life?
For many people, Christmas is their favorite time of the year. They enjoy fireplaces, hot chocolate and gatherings with family and friends. But for others, Christmas is the most difficult time of the year. For them it stirs painful memories of a broken relationship, or a loved one who is no longer alive. When Jesus came into the world, He brought us the gift of comfort. If you’re hurting today, you don’t have to suffer alone. Jesus longs to give you this gift of comfort!
At some point in life, every believer will go through seasons when they feel bruised and beaten down by trials. During those times, discouragement can cause our spiritual fire to dwindle and almost burn out. How wonderful to know that Christ has promised He will never break a bruised reed or snuff out a smoldering wick! He comes to the weakest of us with mercy and grace, gently lifts us up, and lovingly restores us to himself again.
Starting with the fall of Adam and Eve, we see clearly the sobering consequences of sin. To know the truth is to know that our God is unchanging about sin. He is holy and righteous, and our sins cannot be overlooked. But God has provided a way for us to be saved from our sins. He offers this path of salvation through a new covenant; the Messianic Covenant. We either accept this new covenant and abide by the terms, or we reject it altogether and choose our own path; a choice that Jesus described as leading to destruction. Join us as we uncover the truth about God’s New Covenant offer, and the reason it is described as such good news!
How do you come to God in prayer? Do you see Him as a distant being who probably has little or no personal interest in you, or perhaps as a stern boss you are reluctant to approach? The opening line of the Lord’s Prayer teaches us the correct view we must have of God. He is our loving Father, but He is also the holy God of heaven, and in that, we find both the comfort and the confidence we need to pray.
Look at the news headlines any day of the week and you’ll see a world filled with terrorism, war, hatred, violence and fear. Yet sometimes the worst kind of turmoil and unrest can be found in our own lives! We say we’re saved, but we have no peace in our heart. Isaiah promised that Christ would be our Prince of Peace. Do you truly have His peace today?
The birth of Jesus would have been very different if you and I had arranged the details. We would have chosen a better place for Him to be born instead of an unsanitary stable. We might have chosen a different time in history, a different city, even different parents. But God knew exactly what He was doing when He chose such lowly circumstances, and our lives are forever changed because of it.
In the deepest part of our hearts, we all long to find endless love. Songs and books have been written about it, movies have been made about it, and yet none of us have ever known a perfect, unbroken endless love from another person. But the Bible tells us about a love that will never come to an end, not even when we die. Have you ever received this gift of everlasting love?
