Read James 4:1–6 You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. James 4:2–3 The essence of sin is selfishness. Selfish desires are dangerous things. They...
Read 1 Corinthians 13 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:3 It was Jonathan Swift, the satirical author of Gulliver’s Travels, who said, “We have just enough religion to make us...
Read Romans 1:18–32 Although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Romans 1:21 Man knew God; this is clear. But man did not want to know God or honor Him as God....
Read 1 Corinthians 2:1–5 I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2 My wife was driving on our trip to Chicago, and I was in the copilot’s seat reading another author’s book a publisher had asked me to review....
Read Romans 11:1–15 What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened. Romans 11:7 For centuries people have been puzzled by the nation of Israel. The Roman government recognized the Jewish religion, but it still called the nation secta nefaria—a “nefarious sect.”...
Read 1 John 1:3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 1 John 1:3 Most people are dissatisfied today because their total personality has never...
Read Hebrews 12:7–29 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11 I am sure that few children believe it when their parents say, “This hurts me more than...
Read Job 4—5 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: “If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? But who can keep from speaking?” Job 4:1–2 Job’s friends were silent for seven days (2:13), and Job later wished they had stayed that way (13:5). Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered...
Read 1 Peter 1:13–16 Prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:13 “Prepare your minds for action” (or, “Gird up the loins of your mind” KJV) simply means, “Pull your thoughts together!...
Read Romans 7:14–25 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. Romans 7:15 The law cannot give life—it can only show sinners that they are guilty and condemned. This explains why legalistic Christians and churches...