Calvin on Romans 12:1

Paul’s entreaty teaches us that men will never worship God with a sincere heart, or be roused to fear and obey Him with sufficient zeal, until they properly understand how much they are indebted to His mercy…Paul…in order to bind us to God not by servile fear but by a voluntary and cheerful love of [...]

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We’ll Never Get Better, We’ll Only Get Bitter

Until we see God-sent storms as interventions and not punishments, we’ll never get better; we’ll only get bitter.  Some difficult circumstances you’re facing right now may well be a God-sent storm of mercy intended to be his intervention in your life.  You’re in danger, and either you don’t realize it or you’re in denial. – [...]

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Would It Have Been Better for Jonah?

Would it have been better for Jonah if God had left him alone (Jonah 1)?  No, it would have been far worse.  It was an act of mercy for God to send the storm.  As C. S. Lewis reminded us in Surprised by Joy, “The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, [...]

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The Answers to Important Questions

Furthermore, the church has as its answer to every important question the good news of the person and work of Jesus…: Jesus is our victor who conquered Satan and demons on the cross so that we could live a life free of slavery to sin, of vain regrets for past sin, of condemnation and torment. Jesus [...]

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Paul’s Ultimate Answer

This is Paul’s ultimate answer to how God regenerates sinners.  God is good.  God is loving.  God is merciful.  (Titus 3:4-5) – John Piper, Finally Alive, Christian Focus Publishers, copyright 2009, page 93

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Christmas Was Not Optional

Christmas was not optional.  Therefore, God – being rich in mercy, out of the great love wth which he loved us, while we were dead in trespasses – sent his Son into the world to live without sin and die in our place. – John Piper, Finally Alive, Christian Focus Publishers, copyright 2009, page 74

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We Get a Glimpse of God’s Joy

When we see the Master forgive the prostitute and nullify all her sins because of her great love (Luke 7:47), we glimpse God’s joy in finding us again; we discover that this joy is capable of submerging all the evil we can commit.  We can finally stop wondering about the past, the extent of our [...]

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We Make Christianity too Easy and Take Away its Meaning

If we wink at the radical demands of the New Testament in our teaching and ignore the embarrassing implications of the precept of universal love, we make Christianity too easy and take away its meaning.  We become as guilty as the Pharisees, ignoring the weightier matters of the difficult laws of charity, mercy, and faith [...]

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The Greatness of Your Sins is no Impediment

If you had as much guilt lying on each of your souls as all the wicked men in the world, and all the damned souls in hell; yet if you come to God for mercy, sensible of your own vileness, and seeking pardon only through the free mercy of God in Christ, you would not [...]

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How Presumptuous We Can Be

Have you not taken encouragement to sin against God, on that very presumption that God would show you mercy when you sought it?  And may not God justly refuse you that mercy that you have presumed upon? – Jonathan Edwards, On Knowing Christ, The Banner of Truth Trust, copyright 1990, page 134

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