We often discover the truth about ourselves at the very moment we feel most confident. Our commitment to follow Jesus was sincere, yet we fell so easily when trials came! Shame whispers that we’re finished, that we’ve exhausted God’s patience, but God doesn’t abandon us when we fall. He restores what is broken and uses our wounds to deepen our faith. As we learn to depend less on our own strength and more on His, even our worst failures can become opportunities for spiritual growth and a renewed calling to strengthen others.

The Danger of Dead Religion
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Jesus enters Jerusalem a few days before His crucifixion and examines the spiritual condition of the people. What He finds is a nation bustling with outward displays of religious activity, but beneath the surface, there is nothing but dead religion. He curses a fruitless fig tree as a sign of judgement against them, and then He throws the corrupt money changers out of the Temple for defiling His Father’s house. If Jesus were to examine our lives today, would He see a cold, dead heart beneath the outward religious appearance, or would He find fruit growing for His glory?



