Finding God's Forgiveness

Confronting Ourselves
We all fall short of the glory of God (see Romans 3:23). But admitting our sins to ourselves is only the first step. We must learn how to take our guilt, our anger and our pain and transform it into love and compassion. We must learn how our sins can be washed clean so that we can once more become clean in the eyes of God. We must, as Jesus tells Nicodemus in the Gospel of John, be “born again” (John 3:7). This new birth is about casting off our old, mortal life and entering into a new kind of life: the eternal life! By putting our trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, by accepting the beauty of the truth that he has died for our sins, we can start the process of Christlike growth (maturity).

Confessing Sin
   The confession of sin is critical to the Christian life and the process of new birth. If we refuse to admit that we are sinful, we refuse to acknowledge our need of a Savior and we cannot be cleansed from the sin in our lives. The Bible tells us that “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). We don’t deserve God’s forgiveness, but when we confess our sins and ask for forgiveness, he freely gives it to us by his love and his grace (see Ephesians 2:3–4).

We know that our lives are the most precious things we have—the whole world is not enough to make up for the stain of sin on our lives (see Mark 8:36). And in order to keep our souls clean for God, we must pray, as the sinner on the cross prayed, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13). This prayer—and the humility that accompanies it—is the first step toward a redeemed life.

(The above originally appeared as an article I provided for the Essentials of the Christian Faith New Testament, published by Zondervan. Used by permission.)

Finding Contentment

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”(Hebrews 13:5)

Contentment is an important part of the Christian walk. Contentment shows that we trust God to provide for us, that we know God is control and that we are happy to live within God’s will for our lives.

A big part of contentment is knowing and believing that God will never leave us or forsake us. If you spend some time with this thought, that God is with us always, it becomes difficult to be discontent. We have God—what more could we want?

Still, we live in the world, and the world is always preaching discontent. The enemy always wants us to want more, more, more—more stuff, more money, more activities—because he knows that this “stuff” will separate us from God.

Hebrews tells us to keep our lives free from the love of money. The best way to do this is to focus on the fact that no matter what, God will never, ever leave us. No matter what, God has our back with his almighty power, a power to which earthly wealth cannot compare.

Dear God, thank you for providing for us. Thank you for never leaving us or forsaking us. Please help us to be content with what we have and to keep our lives free from the love of money. Amen.

This devotion was written for Once a Day: At the Table Family Devotional. This is a family-oriented devotional book written by my writing team & me. Reprinted with permission.

Don't Feel Close to God?

Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4:8)


In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve enjoyed a personal relationship with God.  It was such a close friendship that he would walk with them through the garden  during the cool of the day. 

We know what happened to that relationship, how sinned messed it up. We  also know how Jesus restored that relationship by taking the punishment for our sin and making it possible for us to be sinless in God’s eyes. We can and should praise God for that. But let’s not forget that God’s plan all along was for us to have a personal  relationship with him. That really is what he wants. He’s always ready to come near  to us. All we have to do to make that happen is to come near to him.

We come near to God through worship. When we praise him and show him  we understand how incredible he is, God comes near to us. He rewards our worship by giving us more to worship him for.

If you don’t feel close to God, try spending some time in worship. Focus on him—who he is and what he’s done. Give him the glory that he is due. 


Dear God, thank you for coming near to us. Your presence gives us courage, comfort and peace of mind. We will worship you forever. Amen.

This devotion was written for Once a Day: At the Table Family Devotional. This is a family-oriented devotional book written by my writing team & me. Reprinted with permission.

Jesus' Terms

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.” (John 11:25)

People say that when you’re given something for free, it doesn’t mean as much to you as something you work hard to earn. While there’s certainly some truth to that theory, there are exceptions. For example, if your grandfather gave you a valuable family heirloom, you’d probably treasure the gift, even though you did nothing to earn it. 

The same goes for eternal life. The salvation that leads to eternal life is a gift. We can do nothing to earn it; all we can do is accept it. That doesn’t mean it was free, though. Our eternal life cost Jesus his earthly life. He gave himself to save us because no one else could. Our sin required a perfect sacrifice, and he’s the only perfect person who ever lived.

That’s why eternal life comes through Jesus and Jesus alone. Jesus is the resurrection and the life because death could not conquer him.

Anyone who wants eternal life must agree to Jesus’ terms. But that’s good news because all he asks is that we believe in his power—and his power alone—to save us.

Dear God, thank you for sacrificing your Son for us. We put our faith in him alone to save us from sin and give us eternal life. Amen.

This devotion was written for Once a Day: At the Table Family Devotional. This is a family-oriented devotional book written by my writing team & me. Reprinted with permission.

Video Broadcast: The Bible--100 Ways It Can Change Your Life, pt 1

How many ways can the Bible change your life? We explored a number of them in part of this broadcast. Check it out!

Book Giveaway and Webcast

My team and I are celebrating the release of this book with two events:

FREE BOOK GIVEAWAY
I'll be giving away my first five copies of this book during the week of June 2-9. Sign up here.

FREE WEBCAST
I will be hosting a series of webcasts that teach some of the biblical principles found in this book. Each 30 minute session will highlight a few key topics that the Bible addresses.

The first will be Thursday (6/6) @ 3pm (CST)
 RSVP here to reserve your spot.

For more information on this book, click here.



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