Category: Holiness

Rethinking New Year’s Resolutions

Every year, there are lists of the “Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions.” They rarely change: lose weight, exercise more, save money, reduce stress, etc. There is nothing inherently wrong with these goals, but have you noticed they are usually self-centered and focused on temporary physical things rather than eternal ones?

Many people obsess over improving their aging and decaying physical bodies, while completely neglecting their souls that will exist forever. God says that bodily exercise has limited benefits, but godliness is profitable in every way (1 Tim.… Read more

A Tremendous Lack of Love

If we know the Truth but refuse to live by it, this reveals a tremendous lack of love on many levels.

• A lack of love for God: If we truly loved Him with all our hearts, we would be doing His will to please Him and to be with Him forever (Mt. 22:36-38; 1 Jn. 2:3-4; 5:3).

• A lack of love for Christ: If we truly loved God’s Son, we would be obeying Him out of gratitude for His selfless sacrifice: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (Jn.… Read more

What If Jesus Were Coming Back Next Week?

When asking the question, “What if Jesus were coming back next week?” understand that there is absolutely no way to know when Jesus will return. Jesus said we cannot know when He will return, and even Jesus Himself did not know when He would return: “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” (Mark 13:32). Paul wrote that there is no need to waste time speculating about “times” and “seasons” regarding Christ’s return: “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.… Read more

Men, Keep Your Shirts On

Many people now consider it socially acceptable for men to be shirtless in public, with much of their bodies on display. Is this pleasing to God? For many years, faithful Christians have taught that God set an objective standard for modesty that applies to both men and women when He clothed Adam and Eve in a garment that covered them from the neck to the knees. Scholars and commentators also note this same point.

In Packer and Tenney’s Illustrated Manners and Customs of the Bible, the Hebrew word translated as “coats” (KJV) or “tunics” (NKJV) in Genesis 3:21 is described as a garment that reached from the neck to the knees, and sometimes to the ankles.… Read more

Without Holiness, We Will Not See God

Many who claim to be Christians do not seem to take sin seriously. They joke about their disobedience and show little concern for living righteously—but sin is what nailed our Lord to the cross. There is nothing more serious than that, and true love does not rejoice in iniquity (1 Corinthians 13:6). Impenitent sin is just as deadly after conversion as it was before conversion (Acts 8:12–24; 1 Corinthians 10:11–12; James 5:19–20).

Jesus, the very one who died to save us, also commands us to take up our cross of obedience and self-denial daily (Luke 9:23).… Read more