As I was growing up, my family could have said, with the disciples of John the Baptist whom Paul discovered at Ephesus, "We haven't even heard that there is a Holy Spirit" (Acts 19:2). More »

How often God chooses the most improbable people to move forward his purposes! A cowardly Jonah fled from God's commission to preach to the Ninevites (Jonah 1:1-3). Israel's great King David committed adultery (2 Samuel 11:2-5). More »

Much of Matthew's gospel deals with the question of faith, and it offers a climactic answer with the proclamation of Jesus as "the Messiah, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). More »

"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin." More »

Luke 9:28-36 Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. More »

"The pearl of great price and the treasure hidden in a field were a reminder of the vastness of what is at stake. Compared with that, all other successes are meaningless; men will make the kingdom their own only if they are willing to sacrifice everything else for it." (Frank Sheed, To Know Christ Jesus) More »

Thomas knew with a certainty that Jesus was dead. All of Jerusalem knew that the rabbi from Galilee had been crucified and hastily buried. How then, he reasoned logically, could he possibly give any credence to the other disciples’ report that Jesus had returned to life and appeared to them (John 20:19-20, 24-25; see also Luke 24:36-43)? More »

You’ve got to be kidding!" I protested hotly. "How could this possibly be all about me?"