Come with me to the world’s most oppressive prison. The name of the prison? You’ll see it over the entrance. WANT! The prison of want. They want something bigger. Nicer. Faster. Thinner. They want just one thing. One new job. One new car. One new spouse. They want just one. And when they have “one,” they’ll be happy. But then it happens. The new car smell passes. The new job gets old. The new spouse has bad habits.

Are you in prison? You are if you feel better when you have more and worse when you have less. But there’s good news. You have a visitor—with a message that can get you parole. “I have a secret to tell you,” he whispers., “the secret of satisfaction.”

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want!” What you have in God is greater than what you don’t have in life!

From Traveling Light

The cross is the universal symbol of Christianity.  An odd choice, don’t you think?  Strange that a tool of torture would come to embody a movement of hope. It’s design couldn’t be simpler. One beam horizontal—the other vertical. One reaches out like God’s love. The other reaches up, as does God’s holiness. One represents the width of His love; the other the height of His holiness. The cross is the intersection. The cross is where God forgave His children without lowering His standards. God treated His Son as a sinner, so that Christ could make us acceptable to God. Why would He do it?

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world.” Aren’t you glad the verse doesn’t read:  For God so loved the rich?. . .the famous? Or the sober or successful? No, it simply reads: “For God so loved the world!”

From He Chose the Nails

Are a bride and groom ever more married than they are the first day? The vows are made and the certificate signed—could they be any more married than that? Imagine fifty years later. They finish each other’s sentences, order each other’s food. They even start looking alike– a thought which troubles Denalyn deeply. Wouldn’t they be more married on their 50th anniversary than on their wedding day? Marriage is both a done deal and a daily development.

The same is true of our walk with God. Can you be more saved than you were the first day of your salvation? No. But can a person grow in salvation? Absolutely. Like marriage, it’s a done deal and a daily development. Do you feel so saved, you never serve? The fact is, you and I are here for a reason, and that reason is to grow and glorify God in our service.

My dog Salty knows he isn’t supposed to get into the trash. But let the house be human free, and dark side of Salty takes over. If there’s food in a trash can, the temptation is to
great. That’s what happened the other day. I got mad, but I got over it. I cleaned up the mess and forgot about it. Salty didn’t! He kept his distance. When I finally saw him, his tail was between his legs, 
his ears drooping. He thinks I’m mad at him. He doesn’t know I’ve already dealt with his mistake.

Somewhere, sometime, you got tangled in garbage…and you’ve been avoiding god. You wonder if you could ever feel close to God again.The message of his torn flesh on the cross is — you can. The door is open. Don’t trust your conscience. Trust the cross. You’re welcome in God’s presence!

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

from He Chose the Nails

Scripture often describes our behavior as the clothes we wear. In 1 Peter 5:5, Peter urges us to be “clothed with humility.” David speaks of evil people who clothe themselves “with cursing.” Garments can symbolize character, and like His garment, Jesus’ character was seamless. The character of Jesus was a seamless fabric woven from heaven to earth—from God’s thoughts to Jesus’ actions. From God’s tears to Jesus’ compassion. From God’s word to Jesus’ response. All one piece. A picture of the character of Jesus.

But when Christ was nailed to the cross, He took off His robe of seamless perfection and assumed a different wardrobe. He wore our sin so we could wear His righteousness.

From He Chose the Nail