So many people try to quench their spiritual thirst by physical means: family…friends…job…possessions. Yet none of these earthly things can meet their heavenly need, as Augustine famously prayed centuries ago: “Our heart is restless until it rests in You” (Confessions 1.1).
To many people who seek something more from life, God seems remote, unreachable, silent. Yet others have overcome the obstacles of man-made religion to find true meaning through a personal relationship with the eternal God. What does that mean? How can we begin a relationship with God? How can we lead others to truly know Him?
The answer is Jesus Christ, who freely gives living water to all who thirst.
People ask this question because there is no reference to God or the Law in Song of Solomon and it seems explicit in celebrating sexual love. Through the centuries it has been one of the most controversial books in the Bible.
In reality, we all come before the mirrors to do business! We gaze hard in that painfully honest reflection with the purpose of doing something about what we see.
And it was this intensity that caused prayer to degenerate from a flowing spontaneity to a rigid, packaged plan, dispensed routinely by the religious leaders. Prayer changed from privilege to an obligation.
Why don’t we experience more victory in the Christian life? We have neglected the spiritual disciplines and opted for comfort and mediocrity. So now what do we do to find victory?
In his immortal work on the martyrs done in the 16th century, John Fox listed some of the epitaphs that appeared in the catacombs beneath Rome. Fox found other epitaphs on non-Christian graves. The difference is remarkable! So what accounts for the difference in these inscriptions? One word—resurrection!
Perhaps you never realized that it was Jesus’ attitude of unselfishness that launched Him from the splendour of heaven all the way down to a humble manger in Bethlehem…and later to the cross of Calvary.
Unless we view Bethlehem from the perspective of the cross, most of what we sing and celebrate at Christmas amounts to glorying in the cradle, not the cross.
In Ecclesiastes 9:11-18, each verse is a maxim, loosely connected to the next, comprising a whole chapter of contrasts: wisdom versus folly.
The culture in which we live, work, and play complains that God makes no sense, so how can He be trusted? They refuse to worship a God they can’t comprehend. My thought is the exact opposite.
Insight for Living is committed to excellence in communicating the truths of Scripture and the Person of Jesus Christ in an accurate, clear, and practical manner so that people will come to an understanding of God’s plan for their lives, as well as their significant role as authentic Christians in a needy, hostile, and desperate world.
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