How does Jesus challenge our fickle faith? One way he does this is by speaking hard truths. Jesus knew that some of his followers were only there for the benefits they received from following him. They were wowed by his miracles and diligently sought him only to get their “fill…

Everyone agrees that the Golden Rule is a good ethic to follow. Everyone agrees that it’s a principle they seek to live by. And yet, how often do we practice it? If we’re being honest, it doesn’t really seem that often! Rather, retaliation or manipulation seem to be the ethics…

Can you imagine grappling with God? Can you imagine wrestling with him, going toe-to-toe, mano a mano? We may use that language to express struggling with God, say in prayer. But Jacob physically wrestled with God. Let’s look at this strange encounter in Genesis 32 that occurs while Jacob is…

Who will go first? That’s probably a question that’s been asked countless times on the playground or in the backyard. While most of those occasions create a feeling of excitement or thrill, there are some that can cause a sense of trepidation or even dread. No one wants to be…

Jesus used vivid and memorable images to describe his followers. In his most famous sermon, he calls his followers the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world” (Matt. 5:13, 14). In the Believer’s Bible Commentary, William MacDonald unpacks how those who original heard Jesus’ teaching understood these…

How should we understand the unfolding of God’s plan of redemption throughout human history? One of the ways some theologians answer this question with the system known as dispensationalism. A key and influential proponent of this system was C.I. Scofield. Let’s learn a little more about how Scofield articulates the…