Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 34

Studying God’s Word Will Change Your Life

It’s a great mystery that the Bible is an increasingly neglected book. Some who check social media, texts, and emails multiple times a day think nothing of going day after day without reading God’s Word. That’s why we are spiritually starved and lack the discernment to know what’s true and what’s false.

There is no virtue in having a Bible sit unread on a shelf or a Bible app sit unused on your phone. A Bible does us no good as long as it remains closed. Charles Spurgeon said, “If you wish to know God, you must know his Word.”

Luke makes a profound observation: “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11).

They searched the Scriptures—probing, not just skimming. And they searched them daily. (People died to get the Bible into our hands; the least we can do is read it!) And their searching God’s Word daily was a sign of noble character. Unless we establish a strong biblical grid, a scriptural filter with which to screen and interpret the world, we’ll end up thinking like the world. We desperately need not only Bible teaching, but group Bible study that explores the text and applies it to daily life.

My wife Nanci was a huge believer in not just Bible reading, but Bible study. She always surrounded herself with Bible study tools, both in her own time with God, and when writing and editing Bible study lessons for our church women’s ministry. It’s amazing how much time she and the women on the team have invested over the years in preparing these lessons, including many hours of direct study of God’s Word. It was very enriching for Nanci, and fun to see her at the dining room table day after day with open Bible and reference books.

After reading The Joy of Fearing God by Jerry Bridges, Nanci wrote in her journal:

I must study and know God.

I must respond to my awesome God.

I know He loves me.

I know I love Him, and I want to express it.

I want to trust this awesome God who has revealed Himself to me.

I thank Him for His provision, His protection, His guidance, and His compassion.

I will choose to trust Him!

Studying God’s promises is a treasure hunt resulting in great happiness. Some of the precious gems lie right on the surface; others require digging deeper. When we go to God’s Word, the joy of discovery awaits.

Nanci often quoted Psalm 119 in her journal. It has 176 verses, all of which allude to God’s Word and most of which celebrate its truth. Meditating on God’s Word brings us light, wisdom, and joy. “I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word” (Psalm 119:16).

Spending time with Jesus, by consistently and regularly reading His Word and praying, is an action we control. The choice may sometimes be difficult, but it is not impossible. It is a conscious action that allows us to renew our minds with the truth and to live well. But instead of fixating on the hard work of spiritual disciplines, focus on the great payoff of delight and finding “great spoil” in God’s Word (Psalm 119:162).

Scripture confronts sin in our lives, prompts us to obedience, and gives us delight in Christ. We need to go to God’s Word, open it, read it, meditate on it, and learn to delight in it. It will make us better, deeper, and happier people.

In this interview with author and speaker Jen Wilkin, she talks about the state of Bible literacy and how we can improve it, and shares how studying the Bible changed her own life. I hope it’s a help and encouragement to you.

Photo: Unsplash

As We Pray for and Support the People of Maui, We Anticipate the Coming Eternal Paradise

It’s been over three weeks since there were multiple fires on the island of Maui, including a devastating fire that destroyed historic and once beautiful Lahaina town. Please continue to pray for the thousands of people who have been affected. Because of dear friends freely opening their home to us for decades, Nanci and I often vacationed on Maui, getting to know and love people who live there, and sometimes speaking in churches.

It breaks my heart to see the burnt ruins of some of Nanci’s and my favorite places in Lahaina. But that doesn’t even begin to compare with the trauma experienced by the people who actually live there, and the extent of their heartbreak. Many have lost loved ones and friends, and others lost homes and businesses. Imagine the number of people who are out of work.

The official human death toll was 115 as of Wednesday this week, but an unknown number of people are still missing. CBS News reports that roughly 1,000 people are estimated missing by the FBI. It is hard to escape the conclusion that a number of these may have died. Even without counting the unknowns, this was already the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in more than a century.

Pray especially for the faithful Jesus-loving churches on Maui. The two I’m most familiar with are Hope Chapel in Kihei and Harvest Kumulani in Kapalua. Pray that they will continue to be a light to the people, a refuge and place of safety as they reach out to needy people in the midst of such loss.

Harvest has set up a Maui relief fund and Hope Chapel, Kihei has also set up a fund to help victims of the fires. EPM has sent funds to help Maui churches serve the needy. If you wish to give and for us to choose on your behalf where we think donations are most needed, we are glad to do so. To give online, select “Relief Fund” on our donation page. Or, if you wish to send a check, mail it to EPM, 39065 Pioneer Blvd., Suite 100, Sandy, OR 97055, and put “Maui fires” on the memo line. As always, 100% of what’s given to our special funds goes to the designated need, and online donations to our relief fund will go to Maui through September 30, 2023.

Ben Prangnell, lead pastor at Hope Chapel, wrote this week:

Here on our campus, we have received and ministered to over 500 families through our Donation Center and Kokua Fund to help them in this time of great need. The physical supplies and financial help are accompanied with a listening ear and prayer. There have been many tears shed and prayers offered with the hundreds who have been helped and ministered to.

…God has positioned us to meet great physical and spiritual needs and respond very quickly to those in need. Hope Chapel is here and committed to be the hands and feet of Jesus until he returns. The reality is that in the not-too-distant future, the media’s attention and the support from the government and national agencies will diminish. What then is left to stand with those who need it most? It will be the churches of Maui and those who partner with us to care for our island community.

And here’s a video and update from Greg Laurie with Harvest, showing side by side footage of Lahaina before and after:

We shot these 2 videos, placed side by side to show the utter devastation of the fire here in the city of Lahaina.

I knew every square inch of this little town, and I had my favorite haunts. It so sad to see it gone. Worse than that, is the loss of human life, with many still… pic.twitter.com/cneLT3toaP

— Greg Laurie (@greglaurie) August 29, 2023

Last week I received an email from Warren & Annabelle’s in Lahaina, a place Nanci and I loved. We went there four times over the years to see their illusionist and card tricks show which was always hilarious. I will never forget Nanci, as well as our friends the Keels and Norquists who went there with us once, laughing uncontrollably.

The owner wrote, “One third of our employees lost their homes, their cars and their possessions. All of them now have no job or source of income and their lives have been shattered. It is heartbreaking.”

When I sent that email with a photo after the devastation to my son-in-law Dan Stump, he said, “It’s a gut punch.” Gut punch is the right phrase. For me, it’s been a reminder of what we know as believers, and yet so easily forget: that this world as it is now, under the Curse, is not our home. Not even close. “The present form of this world is passing away” (1 Corinthians 7:31). 

A far better world will be our eternal home, and I think we will always have precious memories of times in this world. But I realize now I had presumed that until Jesus takes me home to be with Him and Nanci, and all of God’s people, I would always be able to go to Lahaina and walk the streets and go into those shops. I thought I’d still be able to eat a cheeseburger in Paradise and Kimo’s, and look over at Warren & Annabelle’s and be flooded with precious memories of being in that town with Nanci and our daughters and their families, and dear friends we’ve vacationed with. The memories are still there, but the same physical places that stirred the memories are not and never will be again.

I would not at all be surprised if there is a New Lahaina on the New Earth, and who knows—perhaps some familiar places there will be recreated. In any case, it’s a powerful reminder to set our mind on things above, to live with one foot in this world that is passing away, and one in the world with untarnished beauty that will never pass away.

Meanwhile, God gives us glimpses of paradise. I am grateful for every glimpse I ever got with Nanci. And one day it will no longer just be glimpses. It will be our actual lives, without separation and loss and evil and pain. Eternal life, and countless new and resurrected worlds in the New Heavens no human being set eyes on in this life. That doesn’t just keep me going. It fills my heart with happiness.

Thank you, Jesus.

Photo: Unsplash

Hell Might Just Be the Most Unpopular Subject in the World (and Sometimes in the Church)

The evil of rebellion against God entered the universe through Satan, who dreamed of autonomy and of exalting himself above God. He sinned by desiring more power than God had given him.

Satan’s objective is evil and suffering—exactly what the Messiah came ultimately to defeat. From the beginning, God planned that his Son should deal the death blow to Satan, evil, and suffering—reversing the Curse triggered by Adam and Eve’s sin, redeeming a fallen humanity, and repairing a broken world.

We might think that a good and all-powerful God should disarm every shooter and prevent every drunk driver from crashing. But if He did, this would not be a real world in which people make consequential choices. It would be a world where people were happy to do evil as well as put up with evil, feeling no incentive to turn to God or to consider the gospel or to prepare for eternity. They would live with no sense of need—and then die, only to find themselves in Hell. Short-term suffering serves as a warning and a foretaste of eternal suffering. Without a taste of Hell, we would neither see its horrors nor feel motivated to do everything possible to avoid it.

Heaven and Hell represent God’s eternal two-part solution to the problem of the righteous presently suffering and the wicked presently prospering.

Jesus and Hell

In the Bible, Jesus spoke more about Hell than anyone else did. He couldn’t have painted a bleaker picture.

Jesus referred to Hell as a real place and described it in graphic terms (see Matthew 10:28; 13:40–42; Mark 9:43–48). He spoke of a fire that burns but doesn’t consume, an undying worm that eats away at the damned, and a lonely and foreboding darkness. Christ says the unsaved “will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12). Jesus taught that an unbridgeable chasm separates the wicked in Hell from the righteous in paradise. The wicked suffer terribly, remain conscious, retain their desires and memories, long for relief, cannot find comfort, cannot leave their torment, and have no hope (see Luke 16: 19–31).

Jesus’ words tell us plainly that Hell is a place of eternal punishment—not annihilation. Annihilation is an attractive teaching compared to the alternative—I would gladly embrace it, were it taught in Scripture.

On the contrary, Jesus said, “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (Matthew 25:46). Here in the same sentence, Christ uses the word “eternal” (aionos) to describe the duration of both Heaven and Hell. Thus, according to our Lord, if some will consciously experience Heaven forever, then some must consciously experience Hell forever.

Since Jesus taught the reality of eternal Hell, who are we to think ourselves too loving to believe there is such a place? Do we think we are more loving than Jesus? Do we think we should trust ourselves or our culture rather than Him?

Hell as Justice

Sometimes we cry out for true and lasting justice, then fault God for taking evil too seriously by administering eternal punishment. But we can’t have it both ways. To argue against Hell is to argue against justice.

When speaking of what a terrible notion Hell is, people talk as if it involves the suffering of innocent people. That would indeed be unjust—but the Bible nowhere suggests that the innocent will spend a single moment in Hell!

Even if we acknowledge Hell as a necessary and just punishment for evildoers, however, we rarely see ourselves as worthy of Hell. After all, we are not ruthless dictators or serial killers or raging terrorists. Yet we are utterly unqualified to assess how sinful we are. “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). We’ve never been anything other than sinful. If not for the testimony of God’s Word, as well as the conscience God has put in his image-bearers, we might have no clue of our sinfulness. Guilty people can always rationalize sin, but Hell exists because sin has no excuse.

Hell is morally good. Why? Because a good God must punish evil. That sounds like nonsense to Hell-hating moderns, but it makes perfect sense once we recognize and hate evil for what it is: an egregious offense against an absolutely righteous Creator.

If eternal Hell seems disproportionate punishment, it is precisely because we have no sense of proportion about what it means to sin against an infinitely holy being.

If we better understood both God’s nature and our own, we would not feel shocked that some people go to Hell. (Where else could sinners go?) Rather, we would feel shocked—as perhaps the angels do—that any fallen human would be permitted into Heaven.

We may pride ourselves in thinking we’re too loving to believe in Hell. But in saying this, we blaspheme, for we claim to be more loving than Jesus—more loving than the One who with outrageous love took upon himself the full penalty for our sin.

Good News

Our culture considers Heaven the default destination. (When did you last attend a funeral in which a speaker pictured the departed in Hell?) But since “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and “without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14), none of us will enter the presence of an infinitely holy God unless something in us radically changes. Until our sin problem gets resolved, Hell will remain our default destination. And that sin problem can be resolved only through faith in Christ. Only then will we find the doorway opened into Heaven.

Here’s a summary of what God calls the gospel or “the good news”:

Sin has terrible consequences, but God has provided a solution: “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Jesus lived a sinless life (see Hebrews 2: 17–18; 4:15–16) and died to pay the penalty for our sins (see 2 Corinthians 5:2 1). On the cross, he took upon himself the Hell we deserve, in order to purchase for us the Heaven we don’t deserve. When he died, he said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). This is the Greek word for canceling certificates of debt; it meant “paid in full.” Jesus then rose from the grave, defeating sin and conquering death (see 1 Corinthians 15:3–4, 54–57).

How many routes can take us to the Father in Heaven? Peter declared, “Salvation is found in no one else [but Jesus], for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). That’s an exclusive statement, but Jesus made it. Do you believe him?

No Christian has the right to claim on his own authority that Jesus is the only way to God. It is Jesus himself who claimed this. He was either right or wrong. I can trust in myself and think “well, I wouldn’t send anybody to hell for eternity” and “I wouldn’t make just one way people can come to God.” But my opinion doesn’t matter, since I’m not God! If Jesus was and is God, we had better trust what he said, not what we would prefer or what our culture thinks!

“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). To believe in Him, is to trust Him, to embrace Him, to give ourselves over to His lordship.

Free Gift

Righteous deeds will not earn us a place in Heaven (see Titus 3:5). Christ offers us the gift of forgiveness and eternal life: “Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17). If you haven’t accepted this gift offered by Christ—at such a great price to him—what’s stopping you?

“To all who received him [Jesus], to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).

If you get it right about Jesus, you can afford to get it wrong about secondary issues. But if you get it wrong about Jesus, in the end it won’t matter what else you got right. 

More Resources

Here are several videos I’ve done on this topic, for further study:

The Reality of Hell (2 minutes)

Is Hell Just? (2:40 minutes)

What’s the Purpose of Hell? (3:27 minutes)

Will There Be Degrees of Punishment in Hell? (3:08 minutes)

Heaven, Hell, and the Afterlife: A Conversation with Sean McDowell (1 hour 6 minutes)

Answering Tough Questions About Heaven with Sean McDowell (1 hour 4:37 minutes)

I have chapters on Hell in my books Heaven and If God Is Good (see Hell: Eternal Sovereign Justice Exacted upon Evildoers, chapter 29 of If God Is Good). And I have one Hell scene in most of my novels, each a bit different than the others.

Photo: Unsplash

Ways Parents and Grandparents Can Pray for Children as They Head Back to School

Note from Randy: These are some thoughtful back-to-school prayers from Melissa Kruger with The Gospel Coalition. May they serve as reminders to pray for the children in our lives. Sometimes it's the only thing we can do for them. But it’s always the best thing, since God is on the throne, and our power is so limited.

Melissa writes, “Amid all the hustle and bustle of a new school year, one of the best ways we can prepare our kids is by praying for them. A few years ago, I ended the summer by reading through the Psalms and Proverbs. As I drank in the wisdom of these two books, I put together a list of Scriptures to help me pray for my children as they headed back to school.”

I pray that my children would understand their need for Jesus and rejoice in the good news of the gospel. “Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Our God is a God of salvation, and to GOD, the Lord, belong deliverances from death” (Ps. 68:19–20).

I pray that my children will love learning, that their hearts would seek to understand the world you’ve created. “The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly” (Prov. 15:14).

I pray that as they learn about your world, they would behold the majesty of your glory. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge” (Ps. 19:1–2).

I pray that you would surround them with friends who make wise choices and encourage their faith. “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm” (Prov. 13:20).

I pray that their teachers would be wise and gentle. “The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly. . . . A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit” (Prov. 15:2, 4).

I pray that they would work with diligence and put forth their best efforts. “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied” (Prov. 13:4).

I pray that they would be thoughtful with their words and respectful in their replies. “The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things” (Prov. 15:28). 

I pray that you would free them from the pressure of trying to be like everyone else, instead instilling in them the confidence to know they’re uniquely made by you. “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well” (Ps. 139:14).

I pray that they would receive correction well. “The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise. Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence” (Prov. 15:31–32).

I pray that they would share their faith with others. “They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom” (Ps. 145:11–12).

I pray that when they do what’s wrong, they would bear consequences that lead them to repentance. I pray that when they do what’s right, you would bless their obedience that they may learn to love your ways. “The backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways, and a good man will be filled with the fruit of his ways” (Prov. 14:14).

I pray that your Word would be on their hearts and in their minds as they learn. “Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD” (Prov. 16:20).

I pray that they would be kind to others. “Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honor” (Prov. 21:21).

I pray that you would give them the grace of self-control. “A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls” (Prov. 25:28).

I pray that your grace would rest upon them. “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” (Ps. 90:17).

I pray that you would protect them from all evil. “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?  My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life” (Ps. 121:1–2, 7).

More than anything else, may their lives glorify you. “I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever” (Ps. 86:12).

O Lord, hear our prayers! Amen.

Download the PDF of these prayers. The Gospel Coalition is also offering a back-to-school sale on resources for parents and churches.

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Will There Be Technology in Heaven?

A reader asked our ministry, “Will people have technology in Heaven?”

Technology is a God-given aspect of human capability that enables us to fulfill His command to exercise dominion. Something in the human constitution loves to create, tweak, experiment, and play with machinery. This isn’t a modern development; it was true of ancient people as well.

We will find harps, trumpets, and other man-made objects in the present Heaven. What should we expect to find on the New Earth? Tables, chairs, cabinets, wagons, machinery, transportation, sports equipment, and much more. It’s a narrow view of both God and humans to imagine that God can be pleased and glorified with a trumpet but not a desk, computer, or baseball bat. Will there be new inventions? Refinements of old inventions? Why not? We’ll live in resurrected bodies on a resurrected Earth. The God who gave people creativity surely won’t take it back, will He? The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable (Romans 11:29).

In this two-minute video, I share some thoughts about technology to the glory of God.

When God gave Eden to Adam and Eve, He expected them to develop it. He’ll give us the New Earth and expect the same of us. But this time we’ll succeed! This time no human accomplishment, no cultural masterpiece, no technological achievement will be marred by sin and death. All will fully serve God’s purposes and bring him glory.

On this earth, we seek comfort and invent ways to get it. On the New Earth, comfort may seek us. It may be built into the environment so that our efforts can be spent on other concerns. Of course, we’ll have the technological knowledge and skills to control our environment, so if we can make ourselves more comfortable, we will.

If mankind had never sinned, would we have invented the wheel and created machinery? Certainly. On the New Earth, shouldn’t we expect machinery made for the good of mankind and the glory of God? On the New Earth people might invent machinery that could take us to the far ends of the New Milky Way, to other galaxies and beyond. Why not? Is this notion more unthinkable than it once was to imagine sailing a ship across an ocean or flying a plane across the world or landing a spacecraft on the moon? Because people in this fallen world have extended their dominion beyond our current Earth, might we not expect people on the New Earth to extend their Christ-exalting reach into the new universe?

With advanced science and technology, it seems we will build far greater things on the New Earth than we can on the old. Paul Marshall points out, “The Bible never condemns technology itself. . . . It does not make the modern distinction between what is ‘natural’ and what is ‘artificial.’ Both are seen merely as aspects of what is ‘creational,’ a category that includes both the human and the non-human world in relation to each other.”

Even under the Curse, we’ve been able to explore the moon, and we have the technology to land on Mars. What will we be able to accomplish for God’s glory when we have resurrected minds, unlimited resources, complete scientific coopera­tion, and no more death?

Browse more resources on the topic of Heaven, and see Randy’s related books, including Heaven and The Promise of the New Earth.

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John Piper on Why We Confess Our Daily Sins

Note from Randy: While we have a settled once-and-for-all forgiveness in Christ, we also have a current ongoing relationship with Him that is hampered by unconfessed sin. We should keep short accounts with God. When we sin, we should confess immediately, relying on God’s grace and mercy for forgiveness. Otherwise, we’ll become desensitized and go another step further before our dulled conscience objects. Delayed confession is the next worst thing to no confession.

Ask Pastor John is one of my favorite podcasts, and I encourage you to listen to it. The following is an excerpt from the episode All My Sins Were Canceled — So Why Continue to Confess?

Since we are conformed to Christ progressively and not all at once, therefore Christians are going to sin. There are no sinless Christians in action. “If you say you have no sin, you’re a liar,” John said (see 1 John 1:8–10). What should our attitude be, then, toward our ongoing acts and attitudes and words of sin?

No genuine Christian who loves Christ can be cavalier about the very thing Christ died to abolish — namely, our sin. That would be one mistake we could make: we could be cavalier in our attitude. “Well, he died to forgive them all, so they don’t really matter, because they’re all covered by blood.” No true Christian talks like that about his own sin.

But the other mistake would be to panic and feel that with every sin, there needs to be a new redemption, a new sacrifice, a new penance. …“I have to pay something, right? I see it. I have to pay something. I have to make this right.” That would be a great mistake. The payment was perfect. You can’t add to it at all. You can’t add to your sin-covering at all.

Instead, what the New Testament says, in 1 John 1:9, is this: “If we confess” — and I’m underlining that word confess. Repentance or penance might not be the most helpful word here. Just stick with John’s word. Confess means “agree with,” “see it the way God sees it,” “feel about it the way God feels about it.” So John says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

So confessing is not a payment. It is simply an agreement with God that this was an ugly and unworthy thing for me to do, and I’m ashamed of it. I’m sorry for it. I turn from it. I embrace the finished, complete, perfect, once-for-all work of Christ afresh. I rest in it. I enjoy the fellowship that he secured.

By John Piper. © Desiring God Foundation. Source:  desiringGod.org

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A Two-Point Checklist of Christlikeness

John 1:1, 14 tells us Jesus is full of two things: grace and truth.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.... The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Not “full of patience, wisdom, beauty, compassion, and creativity.” In the list there are no commas and only one conjunction—grace and truth. Scripture distills Christ’s attributes into a two-point checklist of Christlikeness.

The baby born in a Bethlehem barn was Creator of the universe. He pitched His tent on the humble camping ground of our little planet. God’s glory no longer dwelt in a temple of wood and stone, but in Christ. Jesus was the Holy of Holies.

But when He ascended back into the wide blue heavens, He left God’s shekinah glory—that visible manifestation of God’s presence—on Earth. We Christians became His living temples, the new Holy of Holies (1 Corinthians 3:16–17; 6:19).

People had only to look at Jesus to see what God is like. People today should only have to look at us to see what Jesus is like. For better or worse, they’ll draw conclusions about Christ from what they see in us. If we fail the grace test, we fail to be Christlike. If we fail the truth test, we fail to be Christlike. If we pass both tests, we’re like Jesus.

A grace-starved, truth-starved world needs Jesus, full of grace and truth.

What does this hungry world see when it looks at us?

Surprised by Grace

First-century Jewish culture understood truth far better than grace. Grace comes first in John 1:14 because it was more surprising.

When Jesus stepped onto the world’s stage, people could not only hear the demands of truth but also see Truth Himself. No longer fleeting glimmers of grace, but Grace Himself. “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29, NASB).

When God passed in front of Moses, He identified Himself as “abounding in love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6). The words translated love and faithfulness are the Hebrew equivalents of grace and truth.

Grace is a delightful, fragrant word.

It intrigues.

Attracts.

Compels.

Dazzles.

It also confounds. It’s as though God said, “You know about truth. It’s taught in synagogues every Sabbath. But let Me tell you about grace...”

The Old Testament teaches the fear of God, spelling out the horrendous consequences of disregarding truth. It presents truth relentlessly.

There’s certainly grace in the Old Testament—lots of it—but it was overshadowed by truth. The Pharisees, God’s self-appointed gatekeepers, never emphasized grace. Christ’s hearers had seen truth in the law of Moses, but it was Christ who gave them their first clear view of grace.

The law could only reveal sin. Only Jesus could remove it.

Achieving Balance

Today, many of us embrace truth but need a heavy dose of grace. (Spend ten minutes on social media if you need an embarrassing eyeful of examples.) Others talk about grace but forget their need for a heavy dose of truth.

Truth-oriented Christians love studying Scripture and theology. But sometimes they’re quick to judge and slow to forgive. They’re strong on truth, weak on grace.

Grace-oriented Christians love forgiveness and freedom. But sometimes they neglect Bible study and see moral standards as “legalism.” They’re strong on grace, weak on truth.

When I invited a lesbian activist to lunch, she hammered me for an hour, telling of all the Christians who’d mistreated her. She seemed as hard as nails. I listened, trying to show her God’s grace, praying she’d see the Jesus she desperately needed. She raised her voice and cursed freely. People stared. But that was okay. Jesus went to the cross for her—the least I could do was listen.

Suddenly she cried and sobbed—broken. I reached across the table for her hand. For the next two hours the story spilled out, of her heartsickness, her doubts about the causes she championed. I told her about Christ’s grace.

After four hours we walked out of that restaurant, side by side. We hugged.

In our conversation, truth wasn’t shared at the expense of grace, or grace at the expense of truth.

With only one wing, birds are grounded. Likewise, the gospel flies only with the wings of both grace and truth.

The apparent conflict isn’t because grace and truth are incompatible, but because we lack perspective to resolve their paradox. The two are interdependent. We should never approach truth except in a spirit of grace, or grace except in a spirit of truth. Jesus wasn’t 50 percent grace, 50 percent truth, but 100 percent grace, 100 percent truth.

Countless mistakes in marriage, parenting, ministry, and other relationships result from failures to balance grace and truth. Sometimes we neglect both. Often we choose one over the other.

It reminds me of Moses, our Dalmatian.

When one tennis ball was in his mouth, the other was on the floor. Large dogs can get two balls in their mouths. Not Moses. He managed that feat only momentarily. To his distress, and our great amusement, one ball or the other spurted out onto the floor.

Similarly, our minds don’t seem big enough to hold on to grace and truth at the same time. We go after the grace ball—only to drop the truth ball to make room for it. We need to stretch our undersized minds to hold them both at once.

A paradox is an apparent contradiction. Grace and truth aren’t really contradictory. Jesus didn’t speak truth and suddenly switch to grace. Jesus constantly and permanently engaged both. And so should we.

There is always one answer to the question of what Jesus would do: He would act in grace and truth.

Tim Keller wrote, “'Truth’ without grace is not really truth and ‘grace’ without truth is not really grace.”

Truth without grace breeds a self-righteous legalism that poisons the church and pushes the world away from Christ. Grace without truth breeds moral indifference and keeps people from seeing their need for Christ.

Jesus doesn’t need publicity agents; He wants followers. Attempts to “soften” the gospel by minimizing truth keep people from Jesus. Attempts to “toughen” the gospel by minimizing grace keep people from Jesus. It’s not enough for us to offer grace or truth.

We must offer both.

Adapted from Randy’s book The Grace and Truth Paradox .

Photo: Pixabay

We Are Not Dying Out; We Are Hastening on to a More Glorious Life

During the four years my beloved wife was dying of cancer, she read daily from Spurgeon’s messages and books. I searched “Spurgeon” in the typed manuscript of my Nanci’s last four years of journals. I knew they were full of Spurgeon quotes, but I wasn’t prepared for the total—170! The only person she quoted more often was God, from His Word. It’s no exaggeration to say that other than her Creator and Redeemer, and her immediate family and closest friends, no person spoke to her more powerfully than Charles Spurgeon!

Nanci quoted from Spurgeon’s devotional Faith’s Check Book several times. (You can read it online here.) Here is December 14’s devotional:

"And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new"  (Revelation 21:5).

Glory be to His name! All things need making new, for they are sadly battered and worn by sin. It is time that the old vesture was rolled up and laid aside, and that creation put on her Sunday suit. But no one else can make all things new except the LORD who made them at the first; for it needs as much power to make out of evil as to make out of nothing. Our LORD Jesus has undertaken the task, and He is fully competent for the performance of it. Already he has commenced His labor, and for centuries He has persevered in making new the hearts of men and the order of society. By and by He will make new the whole constitution of human government, and human nature shall be changed by His grace; and there shall come a day when the body shall be made new and raised like unto His glorious body.

What a joy to belong to a kingdom in which everything is being made new by the power of its King! We are not dying out: we are hastening on to a more glorious life. Despite the opposition of the powers of evil, our glorious LORD Jesus is accomplishing His purpose and making us, and all things about us, "new" and as full of beauty as when they first came from the hand of the LORD.

Nanci copied down longhand Spurgeon’s words: “We are not dying out: we are hastening on to a more glorious life. Despite the opposition of the powers of evil, our glorious LORD Jesus is accomplishing His purpose…” Then she wrote, “I would not trade my cancer journey for anything because of the growth in my love, adoration, and trust in my God.”

Though I never read anything by Spurgeon in Bible College or seminary, once I discovered his books (and especially his sermons) he became one of my greatest sources of eternal perspective, joy, and insight. But even if I’d never read a sentence by Spurgeon, the effect he had on my wife in her greatest years of need would have forever changed not only her life but mine.

P. S. If you haven’t met Charles Spurgeon, introduce yourself to him by reading his classic devotional Morning & Evening, which Nanci loved. I also recommend Spurgeon Gems, 280 short quotations mostly gleaned from his sermons. I have the Charles Spurgeon collection (an incredible 149 volumes, including over 3,500 sermons), one of my favorite add-ons to my Logos Bible Software, an amazing resource I use often in my research.

If you want to read what I selected as the best Spurgeon insights on Heaven and the New Earth (most of them excerpts from his sermons), see my book We Shall See God, which is 60% Spurgeon’s words and 40% mine. (The expression “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission” came to me often while writing that book, since Spurgeon wasn’t available for me to ask if I could co-author it with him! Though it seemed a bit presumptuous on my part, when Nanci introduces me to him in Heaven I don’t anticipate him being offended!)

Photo by Matthew Hicks on Unsplash

Quality Resources to Teach the Bible to Children

A friend asked me for some recommendations for resources on teaching the Bible to children. I researched and found some, but also thought I would include some resources for kids to read and discuss with their parents, which would help them understand God’s Word and hopefully get them excited about it. I also threw in some quality videos.

Our duty to our children is clear: “Bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). I hope parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and those involved with children’s ministry find this list helpful. What could be more important?

7 Ways of Teaching the Bible to Children: Includes 25 Lessons, Plus Activities That Satisfy Different Learning Styles.

Leading Little Ones to God: A Child’s Book of Bible Teachings, emphasizes the role of parent and teachers.

The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name, by Sally Lloyd Jones, my favorite book of Bible stories for kids.

The Beginner’s Bible: also good Bible stories.  They’ve made a video series based on the book. Here’s one of them: The Greatest Story.

The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes: this is by Ken Taylor, who Nanci and I knew and loved. He was the founder of Tyndale House, one of my two major publishers. This is a classic, long-time bestseller among children’s Bible stories, now updated.

The Biggest Story: Kevin DeYoung has written a delightful book that both young and old will enjoy. It is a small treatment of a huge theme—God’s drama of redemption, centered on Jesus Christ. Kevin’s words are fresh, engaging, playful, and biblical. Many Bible storybooks offer pearls without a string. This one puts the pearls on a string—the right one. The result is magnificent and memorable.

The Gospel Story Bible: I know and love Marty Machowski, a pastor with a heart for children.

Kingstone Comics published two of my graphic novels, and they have some great stuff for older kids. They do cover some more challenging aspects of the biblical narrative, so it would all depend on what you think is age appropriate, and I would recommend looking them over first before giving them to your kids.

The Kingstone Bible Trilogy: a very large and well done 3-volume series. Violence is depicted where there is violence in the Bible, but it’s usually not gratuitous. There is an occasional image that I think could’ve been toned down for kids, but that’s a matter of taste, and kids aren’t their only audience, so people in their teens 20s and older adults really can benefit from these. (I was raised in an unbelieving home and loved comics, so that format appeals to me.) This big set is a terrific resource for families where they could be reading and looking at stories and choose in advance which ones they think are best. It is very biblically oriented. A southern Baptist pastor, Art Ayris, heads up the whole project, and has become a good friend of mine. The two graphic novels I did, at least parts of both, are in this big Bible set as are most of the other products they produce. If you get this set, you get a lot of the things that they sell in smaller forms.

101 Questions about the Bible and Christianity: Another great Kingstone product. It is essentially apologetics for the young, but also for the old. I recently gave it to two of my teenage grandsons. Again, some of it is too advanced for really young kids but parts of it would be helpful to upper elementary school kids. You just have to choose what questions apply to them and read in advance and decide when you want to share it with them. (If you have younger children, trust me, your kids will be teenagers before you blink your eye! My daughters are 43 and 41, and it seems like yesterday they were elementary school, and the day before that they were born!)

The Bible Project: an amazing and ever-growing collection of relatively short videos, most in the five to seven-minute range, some of which are very appropriate for children, and all of which are great for adults. Nanci and I used to watch these together in the evenings and talk about them. It’s a fun way to learn as a couple, and as the kids get older, for the whole family together.  Also, your Bible study group could use them where you say, “Let’s listen to this video or these two videos this week and talk about them when we get together,” or you could just simply watch them and talk about them together on the spot.

The Gospel Project: This is a systematic curriculum for teaching the Bible to kids both young and older, often used in churches. Trevin Wax supervises this as managing editor; he’s a good friend and rock solid. I’ve endorsed several of his books. Here’s an interview with Trevin where he explains what it’s all about.  

Tim Challies, a friend I deeply appreciate, lays out the distinctives of The Gospel Project in an interesting and informative article. This may be the single best thing for use in churches. Here’s one of their videos for kids on Jesus and the Samaritan woman. For sure it sticks closely with the text of Scripture. The Gospel Project for PreSchoolers is just one of their many products. This video explains it.

Route 66 Book: The 66 Books of the Bible for Kids, Grades 2-5 .

“What’s in the Bible?” is a fun and excellent resource for kids from Phil Vischer, who created Veggie Tales but went much deeper with this.

Shai Linne is a rapper and a pastor, and he is rock solid. Check out his Bible teaching to kids through song. Here’s more Shai Linne stuff for kids.

Some more recommendations of resources are on this page.

Do you know about the Christian children’s video subscription called yippee? It has all kinds of videos and stuff for kids. Not all Bible teaching, but good stuff.

Truth and Grace Memory Book

Doorposts: If you haven’t seen this resource, you might want to check it out.

Here are some resources my assistant Amy recommends:

Big Truths for Young Hearts by Bruce Ware: encourages and enables parents of children 6-14 years of age to teach through the whole of systematic theology at a level their children can understand.

Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers (series) by Joey Allen: The most foundational teachings of the Christian faith are presented in the Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers series at a level preschool and elementary children can understand. 

Big Theology for Little Hearts (Board book series by Devon and Jessica Provencher): Each book in the Big Theology for Little Hearts series introduces a big idea from the Bible with concise definitions and engaging illustrations to help young minds gain a foundational understanding of God’s word.

My First Books and More by Carine MacKenzie:  a year’s worth and more of Bible readings, devotions, and memory verses.

The Daily Grace website has great resources for kids and families, including Theology Cards for Kids and A to Z Promises of God Kids Cards.

And my thanks to Ashley Roethlisberger who gave me these great suggestions:

Our kids love listening to Adventures in Odyssey at bedtime or in the car. (Some of them do get pretty intense though, so we had to stop them at bedtime.)

They also enjoyed listening to The 7 Habits of Happy Kids in the car.

Their favorite Bible stories on video by far are The Superbook Show.

My newest source for teaching children a biblical worldview is Foundation Worldview. They have many resources, including 20-minute videos for children 4-8 years old that my kids have enjoyed and that give us practical things to discuss throughout the week.

Last idea would be the book The New City Catechism for Kids. They also have an app. My 3-year-old nephew has already started memorizing those! Biblical doctrine Q&A made simple.           

Finally, my thanks to reader Wendy McCloy for suggesting Danika Cooley's website: Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible - Thinking Kids (thinkingkidsblog.org)

I watched Danika's interview with Focus on the Family. Great stuff! She also has a prolife book for children titled Wonderfully Made, which she reads online.

May we, as parents and grandparents, have a passion for the things of God and for teaching our children what will truly matter for eternity!

“Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh” (Joshua 24:15).

Photo: Pexels

Reading about the New Earth Changed Her View of All Creation and Gave Her Hope

Our ministry received this letter from a reader of the Heaven book. In her own way, she captures the essence of what has happened in the lives of countless people who for many years were held in bondage by the false view of Heaven and eternity that has been widespread in Bible-believing churches. There are still many people who think that way, though I would say definitely less than 20 years ago when I wrote Heaven. I am very, very grateful that the message is getting out. But I can’t tell you how many conversations, letters, emails and texts I’ve received—including from pastors and other serious Bible students—that echo what this woman wrote to tell us.

I wanted to tell you how much your ministry has touched me. I was a veterinary assistant for three years, and I’ve had to be a part of many euthanasias. As much as you become used to it, the pain you see in the owners’ eyes as they say goodbye to their beloved pets will never stop affecting you. I’ve seen horrific things as a VA, and every time it reminds me it was never supposed to be this way. We were never meant to watch people and animals suffer like this.

I used to believe what you’ve coined as Christoplatonism. I was utterly devoid of any hope for the world, and I just thought the only creation that will benefit is those who follow Jesus. I always thought that was so unfair because in reality, animals and plants and the globe itself never did anything wrong—it was us. Even some non-Christians have a sense of how the world suffers because of the sins of people.

For 22 years of my life, I believed that God would just destroy the earth one day and then Christians’ spirits would be taken to Heaven, and we’d forget everything that ever happened and be disembodied spirits that only sang for the rest of our lives. I did not understand why Christians so anticipated the second coming.

My dad actually recommended your book Heaven to me to help understand the physical and spiritual redemption of not only humanity but the whole world. I was shocked! It changed my perspective on a lot of things. I started realizing that there are a lot of very good things in the world that are often just polluted with sin. Things like reading, writing, painting, laughing, athletics, drama, etc. All of these things are good, but sin often pollutes them into being used for evil.

I had thought, “Well, God wants me to use my gifts now, but that won’t be a thing once we are in Heaven with Him. We’ll just be too focused on Him that we won’t do anything else.” Once I learned we will work, eat, worship, and experience endless pleasures (I learned this from your book and Scripture) my mind was completely changed. I started seeing God in a different perspective, and not as a dictator who wants to punish mankind and whose original idea lost to Satan. I realized God doesn’t have a plan B; He’s going to make sure His original plan is reinstated and much better. I see that as a huge win!

I used to think (because my Sunday school teachers who didn’t care for animals told me so) that if I ever had a dog, when they died, that was it, and there’s no way I’d ever see them again. They just cease to exist. It never settled well with me. I prayed about it many times and when I’d pray about it, it never felt like God was affirming what these people told me, quite the opposite. I’m not saying God ever told me directly what He plans to do; more that He gave me this sense that what I’ve been told wasn’t exactly true.

The older I’ve gotten and more I’ve studied and read, I firmly believe that God will redeem all of creation. I sincerely hope and am fairly certain all the animals I’ve had to watch suffer and eventually be put to sleep will one day get to play on God’s New Earth and many will be reunited with the owners they made so happy here!

Even with my own dog, who as of now is still fairly young and very healthy, it makes me sad to know someday he’ll pass away, but I have hope that it’s not the last time I’ll see him. I’m not someone who would put my dog’s life over another person’s, but I surely do love him. He’s been a great comfort to me and companion to me as a single woman. I truly believe God sent him to me, because I got him when I was going through an extremely rough time. I believe that God wouldn’t just let him cease to exist, and I think animals who bring joy and comfort to humans here and now are special to Him.

Basically, I just want to thank you for helping me change my perspective and for seeing the value in all creation. It’s disheartening to hear Christians speak so terribly about animals and treat them like trash. It’s lovely to see a fellow Christian who believes in the humane treatment of animals and loving them the way God loves them. May God continue to bless your ministry!

When I was reading over 150 books and researching the subject of Heaven in 1999-2003, it was remarkably difficult to find much at all about the New Earth, and especially much that was biblically grounded and made sense. It was maybe 1% of what I read, if even that. What I did find jumped out to me as biblical truth that I had never been taught in an evangelical church, Bible College, or seminary. In my conversations with people, it was shocking what pastors and Christian leaders believed and did not believe about Heaven.

I have had people tell me (and I hope they’re right) that the Heaven book has had a major effect on changing the perspectives of evangelical pastors and laypeople on the subject of the New Earth. I’m humbled and grateful. When the book came out in 2004, it was regarded as unique and radical. Some thought it was off-the-wall, but others resonated with it, and began looking into what Scripture had taught all along. I think I believe more in its truth now than I even did when I first wrote the book. (I would not have written it had I not believed it!) But it was so different than 98% of what I was reading. I could only find references to the New Earth in mostly obscure books and a few reformed systematic theologies. 

Many have been influenced not only by my book but by Surprised by Hope, by N. T. Wright. It came out four years after my book Heaven, and to my surprise and delight, world-class theologian Tom Wright not only read my book but wrote to me to express his agreement. (He only objected to me calling the New Earth the future Heaven, since he thinks only the present Heaven should be called that, though I think Heaven won’t cease but be relocated to the New Earth, where God’s dwelling place with His people and this throne will be—hence the New Earth will be Heaven on Earth.)

I’ve had many people ask if I based my book Heaven on N. T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope. Fortunately, mine was published in 2004 and his came out in 2008, otherwise given the number of times we cite the same quotations about the New Earth it might appear that I leaned heavily on it! But I really do like what Wright did, and he’s an excellent and creative communicator with an audience that includes many readers not in mine.  

I have noticed a striking difference when I speak to groups today than when I spoke to them 20 years ago. Despite the clear teaching of Scripture, the  pushback against the New Earth used to be very strong, now it’s milder and some are totally onboard. I still have many people say, “I’ve never heard that before,” but noticeably fewer. When people ask me what I consider my most influential books, I often say those related to Heaven and the New Earth. I add to that my books on giving, prolife issues, those on suffering, and those on happiness. (Though many people have been more influenced by my fiction than my nonfiction, and I’m grateful for that also.)

But more than anything, I hear from people that they have a transformed picture of Heaven and the New Earth that’s helped them fear death less and focus less on bucket lists and more on the blood-bought promises of Jesus about the wonders of eternal life with Him and His people. If the belief that God’s people will never pass their peaks and really will live happily ever after as resurrected people living on a resurrected earth is a significant part of my legacy as a writer, I’ll certainly be happy and grateful to God!

If you’d like to read more about Christoplatonism, here’s a video, and here’s the appendix I wrote about it in Heaven. (I coined the term “Christoplatonism” to capture how Plato’s notion of a good spirit realm and an evil material world hijacked the church’s understanding of heaven. From a Christoplatonic perspective, our souls occupy our bodies like a hermit crab inhabits a seashell.) And here’s an excerpt from the book: Will Animals, Including Our Pets, Live Again? And in this article, I address Eight Myths Many Believe about Heaven.

Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash