So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. - Luke 14:33 Jesus says some pretty radical things in the Gospels. From "unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you" (John 6), to "unless you hate your parents, spouse, children, and your own life you cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14). Why does He use such strong and provocative language? It wasn't simply to offend people, and it certainly wasn't arbitrary. It was

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. - 1 John 3:16 Thank You Jesus for revealing what true love is. Your love is confirmed for us, not through our circumstances, but through the Cross. There You declared Your eternal love for the entire world once and for all. With Your arms stretched wide, You called forth all mankind to come find shelter in Your embrace. Even to this day Yo

Preserve me O God, for in you I take refuge - Psalm 16:1 God of all creation, You indeed are our refuge. You are like an impenetrable fortress in time of war. You are like the wings of a mother bird covering her chicks. You are like the strong arms of a loving Father wrapped around his son. We are at home in You, O God. Nothing can ultimately harm us when we abide in You, Jesus. There is safety in Your presence, and comfort under Your mighty rule. Your heavenly love casts out

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also - Matt 6:21 Our heart is our life. What we love is who we are. Life is not about accumulating material goods, or even about accumulating spiritual knowledge. Life is about the transformation of our hearts. It is about becoming men and women whose hearts love God and love like God. In the end, we will not be judged based upon how smart we were, how hardworking we were, or how many good deeds we did, but upon how well we

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. - Heb 11:6 According to the writer of Hebrews, there are two conditions that must be met before someone will seek after God. First: belief that He exists. If someone does not believe God exists, then they cannot possibly seek after Him. No one spends time investing into something they think is fake or illusory. Second:

But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. - Romans 14:23 Here Paul gives us a very interesting definition of sin. According to Paul in his letter to the Romans, sin is "whatever does not proceed from faith." The NLT renders this phrase, "If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning." Now this is not the only definition of sin, but it is an extremely valuable one. These

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me - Galatians 2:20 When Jesus died, He did not just die for us, but in a certain sense He died as us. His crucifixion is our crucifixion. His death is our death. And therefore, His life is now our life. The epitome of the Christian life is contained within this one verse, and there

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart - Psalm 91:4 We were not created to go through this life apart from the protection of God. Just as a baby chick was not created to leave the protection of its mother immediately upon birth, if we step outside of God's will for our lives, we should only expect danger and destruction. However, the difference between birds and us is that we never outgro

He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. - Matt 28:6 Each year on Easter, we celebrate the historical event of Jesus Christ's Resurrection. It was a tangible event that happened in real time and space almost two thousand years ago. But it is also an ongoing, ever-present reality. Today that very same Resurrection Power of Jesus Christ dwells within every person who believes in Him. But in most of us, most of the time, it lies dormant. Why? Becau

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself - John 12:32 Jesus spoke these words directly after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem only a few days before He would be handed over to crucifixion. Death by crucifixion was known in the Roman world as the most shameful and horrific of deaths, fit only for slaves and the worst of criminals. And yet Jesus - the Son of God, the King of kings, and the most innocent man who ever lived - was about to freely

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. - 2 Peter 3:9 The context surrounding this verse is that Peter is addressing some people's concerns that Jesus had not yet returned. Even in the first-century, people were having debates about whether the "end was near." The truth is that the end indeed was, and is, near, though not necessarily in Chronos tim

He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. - Isaiah 25:8 After He rose from the dead, Jesus walked the road to Emmaus with two disciples. At one point during this walk, Luke tells us that Jesus opened up the true meaning of the Scriptures to them – He revealed where the coming Messiah had been foretold throughout the Law and Prophets. Whil

Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” John 11:40 Our world says I'll believe it when I see it. But Jesus says that you'll see it when you believe it. The world wants us to base our faith on what we can see, touch, prove, examine etc. Jesus wants us to base our faith on His faithfulness alone. He says that unless we become again like little children we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Most of us tend to overcomplicate thin

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. - 2 Cor 5:16 Not everyone in the world has found their true identity in Christ. There are many people who still identify themselves completely with their flesh. They think that the carnal desires they feel are truly "them," rather than merely their fallen nature. Christ enlightens us to the truth that our fallen ego is not

My son be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings - Proverbs 4:20 Father in Heaven, Before the beginning of time, you spoke into the nothingness, "Let there be light," and there was. That Divine Word still reverberates throughout all of creation, and resonates in every ear able to hear. And so we ask you O God, make our ears those which hear. We know you have spoken. We know you are speaking now. We know your Word echoes through Eternity. We know that your

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. - Romans 8:9 When Paul speaks of being "in" the spirit or being "in" the flesh, he is speaking of being in two separate places - similar to how we could be, for example, in the kitchen or in the bedroom. However, unlike being in two separate rooms, the two states Paul speaks of are not spatial but spiritual . In other words, it does not matter where our physical bodies are, we

And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. - Matthew 18:3 No matter how old you may be, everyone has at least vague memories of what life used to be like as a child. We all used to live in a miraculous world where there were adventures awaiting us around every corner; a world where nothing was impossible. Then something happened. We grew up. We were told by adults that the magical world we liv

Do not be anxious about your life - Matt 6:25a When God gives a command, He does so with the intention of us obeying that command. Now He knows our weaknesses, and He knows that in our flesh we are but dust of the earth. So while God absolutely expects us to obey His commands, He absolutely does not expect us to be able to do so on our own. If we want to have any hope of fulfilling what God expects of us, we must first come to terms with the fact that we can't. Once we have r

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation - 2 Cor 5:18 Jesus Christ is the great reconciler between God and man. Through His divine-human identity, He gives us full access to the glory of God. Through Christ we are able to have clean consciences, our guilt and shame fully removed. We are given a hope that is not based upon earthly circumstances or flimsy emotions, but on the unshakable truth of God's Eternal W