Though we grown-ups tend to forget it, being a kid is sometimes tough. Children can feel unimportant when they are overlooked or dismissed by the grown-ups around them. How often as parents have we told our children, “Not now, I’m too busy,” or “Sorry, I don’t have time right now; I’m working on something very…

Robert Murray M’Cheyne said this about prayer: “What a man is alone on his knees before God, that he is, and no more.” Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14) shows us the true character of two men – what they are, and no more – through their respective prayers in…

Martyn Lloyd Jones wrote, “Everything we do in the Christian life is easier than prayer.” How true that is! Prayer not only requires time and sustained attention, precious commodities in our distracted age, but it is a work of faith, a spiritual exertion of the heart. The biggest challenge to prayer is not that we’re…

The Scriptures have much to say – though not always as clearly as we might wish – about the return of Christ. Christians will continue to debate the timing and circumstances of his Second Coming, probably up to the day he does return. But the Bible’s testimony is unambiguous about this: Jesus is coming again.…

The Good Samaritan of Jesus’ parable in Luke 10 enjoys the fame and prestige of the honor attached to his name. Though in the minds of first-century Israelites, “good” and “Samaritan” were two words that couldn’t possibly belong in the same sentence, the Samaritan who helped the beaten and left-for-dead Jewish man lives on as…

Jesus’ teaching in Luke 17:7-10 is a reality check for our easily-inflated sense of self-worth. Lest we think our lives as Christians entitles us to God’s blessing, or that we are somehow doing God great favors by our following Christ, Jesus emphatically reminds us of this truth: we are mere servants. And unworthy ones at…

We call Jesus’ arrival to Jerusalem at the end of his earthly ministry the “Triumphal Entry.” And rightly so, for the scene was one of triumph. As Jesus approached the Holy City, he was met with the jubilant praises of the crowds. They laid down their cloaks on the road for a royal welcome, joyfully…

In Luke 16:14-18, a very brief section of teaching, Jesus addressed a difficult subject: the relationship between the law and the gospel in the salvation and life of the Christian. The better we understand his instruction on this, the greater love we’ll have both for God’s grace and for God’s commandments. In v. 16, Jesus…

Jesus’ most famous parable, the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32, is really a story about two sons, the younger and the older (v.11). The younger son had enough of life at home. He did the same dreary chores every day and saw the same old things every day. Worse, the rules and…