Articles

On one occasion, Jesus asked, “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth?” (Luke 12:51). Ask that question about Jesus to the average person today, and they will respond, “Well, yeah, of course!” Many people rightly understand that Jesus is a champion of love, forgiveness, and harmony. That’s why His own answer to the question is so surprising: “No, I tell you, but rather division.”

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Evangelism and salvation are supremely God’s work. God created the world out of nothing; similarly, He is the one who gives us faith. And although we can imagine Him doing this with a simple “Let there be…” as in Genesis 1, that is not how He has chosen to work.

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The certainty of death brings clarity to the living of life. For every single one of us, our days will soon be over, and the wise among us will take this reality to heart (Ecc. 7:2). Our mortality ought to awaken us to the truth that as we walk this earthly sod, we are all leaving a legacy.

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More than one hundred years ago, just before the outbreak of World War I, Congress passed a resolution to honor mothers on the second Sunday in May. For the last century, we have celebrated Mother’s Day as a day of reverence for the unique and sacred institution of motherhood.

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As Jesus traveled to Jerusalem for the last time before His crucifixion, many thought He would be crowned as a king and immediately begin ruling over Israel (Luke 19:11). Jesus addressed this assumption with a parable, which is recorded in Luke 19:12–27. In Jesus’ story, a nobleman leaves his servants at home as he travels to receive a kingdom, giving each of them money to invest in his absence. His servants and citizens respond to these circumstances in different ways—some in rebellion, some in disobedience, and some in faithfulness.

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You can probably think of someone who seems like just the sort of person God would use—someone, say, with fantastic gifts and an attractive personality. Perhaps you’ve wished you were like that person or that you had this gift or that quality so you could be more useful for Christ. Yet while it’s good to want to grow, we must remember: we often don’t measure usefulness the way God does.

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It’s hard to fathom Jesus Christ’s final, agonizing hours upon a Roman cross. The floggings, the torture, and the humiliation He had endured were reserved for the worst of criminals. It is no wonder, then, that with His last breath, Jesus cried out in a loud voice “Tetélestai!”—“It is finished” (John 19:30).

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The historicity of Jesus’ death by crucifixion is widely accepted. Jesus’ resurrection, on the other hand, is still met with doubt. Everyone dies, after all, but very few people in history, even as the Bible records it, have experienced someone coming back from the dead. So from the beginning, the resurrection, and particularly its implications, has proven a stumbling block for many.

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The central message of the book of Hebrews is the superiority of Jesus Christ. Chapter after chapter declares that Jesus surpasses all that came before Him and all that exists in creation. This glorious truth leads the writer to conclude that the new covenant Jesus inaugurated is superior to the old covenant with its laws, regulations, priests, and sacrifices—including in the way it deals with a guilty conscience.

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In Philippians 3:20, Paul lays down a principle that has been a great hope for each ensuing generation of believers: “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Peter puts this concept another way in his first letter, calling the Christians to whom he writes “sojourners and exiles” in their own country (1 Peter 2:11).

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