HOW TO GET A NEW HEART                   Ezekiel 36:26-31 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. — Ezekiel 36:26 A friend who is a heart transplant cardiologist has an appreciation of Ezekiel 36:26 that not many of us can understand. Mike manages the pre-operation and post-operation care for heart-transplant patients. He’s […]

TRANSFORMED HEARTS                         Ezekiel 36:22-31 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. —Proverbs 4:23 During the early 1970s in Ghana, a poster titled “The Heart of Man” appeared on walls and public notice boards. In one picture, all kinds of reptiles—symbols of the vile and despicable—filled the heart-shaped painting […]

THE BEAUTY OF LOVE                                                 Proverbs 5 May your fountain be blessed. Proverbs 5:18 The “Jarabe Tapatío,” also known as the Mexican hat dance, celebrates romance. During this upbeat dance, the man places his sombrero on the ground. At the very end, the woman grabs the hat and both hide behind it to seal their […]

HE UNDERSTANDS AND CARES                        ISAIAH 53:1–8 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering. Isaiah 53:4 When asked if he thought that ignorance and apathy were problems in modern society, a man joked, “I don’t know and I don’t care.” I suppose many discouraged people feel that way about the world today […]

THE PRICE OF LOVE                                  Isaiah 53:9–12 He poured out his life unto death. Isaiah 53:12 Our daughter burst into tears as we waved goodbye to my parents. After visiting us in England, they were starting their long journey back to their home in the US. “I don’t want them to go,” she said. As I […]

REMEMBER THE CROSS                           Mark 15:19–20, 33–39  “Surely this man was the Son of God!” Mark 15:39 In the church I attend, a large cross stands at the front of the sanctuary. It represents the original cross where Jesus died—the place where our sin intersected with His holiness. There God allowed His perfect Son to […]

FORSAKEN FOR OUR SAKE                               Matthew 26:36–46 God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5 Does having a friend nearby make pain more bearable? Researchers at the University of Virginia conducted a fascinating study to answer that question. They wanted to see how the brain reacted to the […]

LET DOWN YOUR HAIR                                     John 12:1–8 Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. John 12:3 Shortly before Jesus was crucified, a woman named Mary poured a bottle of expensive perfume on His feet. Then, in what may have […]

THE GIFT OF GIVING                                Luke 3:7–14 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion. 2 Corinthians 9:7 A pastor breathed life into the phrase “He’d give you the shirt off his back” when he gave this unsettling challenge to his church: “What would happen […]

THE BATTLE OVER THE RESURRECTION 1 Corinthians 15:12-19 ‘If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!’ 1 Corinthians 15:17 NKJV In 2013, Fox News reported that an exercise in a university course textbook involved instructing students to write the name of Jesus on a sheet of paper, put the paper on the […]