Love Truth Blog

On the first Christmas, the angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased” (Luke 2:14). I wonder what could have gone on in the minds of those shepherds tending their flocks that night after encountering the angel of the Lord. Fear, wonder, awe, and excitement are a few words that come to mind. Most of all, I think there would have been the joy of receiving Good News to hear the words “today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). The shepherds heard that the long awaited Messiah of their people had been born, and they were witnesses to his birth. Now the Messiah did offer more than what could have ever been expected. Certainly, many people of that day would have yearned to be a nation free of tyranny. The shepherds would have understand the children of Israel were living subjugated by pagan foreigners. Since the time Jerusalem fell in 587 BC, the Jewish people had, for the mos...

We are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ. What is faith? Simply put, faith is knowledge, agreement, and trust. Faith involves the knowledge of certain facts about the Gospel in order to be saved. Paul writes, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). So it is necessary for a person to have a basic understanding of the Gospel. The Gospel is simply this: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4). The knowledge of the Gospel must also be coupled with an agreement that it is true. One cannot become a Christian if they believe the teaching about Christ death, burial, and resurrection is pure myth, or a copycat of other pagan mythologies. It is more than just a feeling, but the resurrection of Jesus Christ is something that occurred in history and out of this event stems all of Christian doctrine. However, saving fa...

The ocean for me always brings up images of sandy beaches with clear blue water and the cool salty breezes. But I am also aware of the ocean’s dark side, and words spoken like “hurricane” and “tsunami” conjuror up images of utter destruction and devastation. The ocean then is also associated with darkness, chaos and death. For fishermen like Peter, James, and John the sea was something to be respected, and it offered no forgiveness for sailors caught in stormy waters and sucked down below. Just those on a ship would need to keep their wits about in navigating treacherous waters, so the Christian must make Christ their focus. Matthew 14 reminds us of this truth in the telling of Jesus walking on water. After hearing about the death of John the Baptist, Jesus sought to find a secluded place to be alone, but once people got wind of where He was staying, the crowds began to form. Jesus then spent the day healing the sick, and when evening came, He miraculously fed over five thousand peop...