“…but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect…” (ESV – Read the chapter)
This is perhaps the chief theme verse for the discipline of apologetics. Apologetics is, of course, the discipline of making arguments in defense of the Christian faith. Much has been written about this verse. Let me make three observations here. Read the rest…
“For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Peter wrote to a group of believers who were facing unjust suffering. He wrote to them to offer them encouragement to keep on in their faith in spite of the things they were enduring. His message was and is so powerful that 1 Peter is still a favorite book of the Bible among people who are facing persecution today. Read the rest…
“Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
James advises patience here until the coming of the Lord Jesus. Now, many people think about patience as a mostly idle waiting for something to happen. We want something to do while we wait. We don’t really practice patience today anymore. Instead, we practice being distracted by entertainment so we don’t have to think about the fact that we can’t have something else we want immediately. Read the rest…
“But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
The fear of the Lord is a poorly understood concept even among His people. This is quite simply because we think about fear only in a single sense: terror. To be afraid of something isn’t good. Thus, while perhaps we should fear the Lord because we’re told to do so over and over and over again in the Scriptures, this isn’t something that ultimately draws us closer to Him. We fear Him so that we’ll do what He says. Once we develop the pattern of doing what He says, then we begin to grow closer to Him, at which point we don’t need to fear Him any longer. The logic here seems just about airtight…and it’s just about completely wrong. Read the rest…
“Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.'” (ESV – Read the chapter)
How do you make plans? How attached to those plans are you? What James offers here is a reminder that all of our plans must be made contingent on what the Lord has planned. All of them. We can strive for whatever we want, but nothing will happen that He does not allow for some reason. The question then becomes: What does God have planned? Read the rest…
The Nexus 