Galatians 5:22-23 says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. They are not some selectable traits but a single whole-person character that reflects Jesus in thoughts, attitudes, feelings, words, and behaviours. Paul certainly had the Lord Jesus in mind when he described these qualities. He distinguished…

Tim LaHaye in his book, You and Your Family, writes about the family trees of two men who lived in the 18th century. One of them was Jonathan Edwards, the great puritan preacher who shook new England for the Lord Jesus Christ. The other was Max Jukes, a contemporary of Jonathan Edwards. The latter was…

If you are worried enough to ask this question, chances are you shouldn’t worry about being saved! Why? Because in our Presbyterian understanding of election, we recognize that God saves sinners who do not in themselves even want to be saved. As Paul writes, we were once dead in our transgressions and sins (Ephesians 2:1),…

“You Christians are very lucky! For you, salvation is easy. For me, it is very hard!” so exclaimed a relative from a different religion. Is his statement true? Mankind, which includes you and me, are in dire straits. We are all sinners and have fallen “short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Therefore, all…

Much of the world around us gives us only two choices: it’s either black or white, night or day, right or left, up or down. And with that prompting from nature around us, we also think about our faith in this way: we either have faith, or we don’t; we either have doubts, or we…

The good news that God so loved the world that He sent us His Son calls for an appropriate response, a response of repentance and faith. Repentance and faith are different sides of the same coin. Repentance is turning from sin. Faith is turning to God. They are instruments through which God saves us through…