Joe Barnett

His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.          —Matthew 5:1–2 Jesus pinpointed eight character traits and said, “Blessed” are those who have them. Some translations say “Happy” rather than “Blessed.” Barclay notes that in Aramaic, the language in which Jesus spoke the beatitudes, the word “Blessed” was an […]

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.                          —John 15:13 Jesus loves me! This I know, For the Bible tells me so. These well-known words first appeared in Anna Warner’s novel Day and Seal in

Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.                 —Psalm 115:3 Are you spiritually nearsighted? Has your short-term view blurred your long-term vision? God says he is in control. Some Christians seem to doubt that. “What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. . .

Trust in the Lord and do good.               —Psalm 37:3 The graduating class decided to write in their yearbook what they wanted to be doing in twenty years. Entries included playing professional football, practicing medicine in Hawaii, and being a foreign news correspondent. How about you? What do you

The unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.                                 —Proverbs 11:3 Political campaign promises rarely survive the first term in office. It must be contagious, because broken promises seem to be epidemic: deceptive advertising, shabby maintenance, unreliable pledges. Time for a

You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.                 —James 4:14 Among his many compositions were 41 symphonies, 18 sonatas, and 6 partitas. He lived most of his life in poverty and died in obscurity at the age of thirty-five. His official name

You are in me, and I am in you.                  —John 14:20 Are you old enough to remember television before remote control? To turn it on or off, change channels, or adjust the volume, you got some exercise; took a hike to the set, punched buttons, and turned

The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly.            —1 Timothy 1:14 Paul never got over the gift of God’s grace. Late in life, he wrote a note to his young protégé Timothy, saying he thanked the Lord “that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service.

It is by grace you have been saved.                   —Ephesians 2:8 We may hope to rack up enough points to be pronounced righteous. But pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps is an impossible spiritual contortion. God, praised be he, reversed the procedure, declaring believers justified and

There is no one righteous, not even one.                        —Romans 3:10 We want to be as good as we can be. But we’re in for a rough ride of fear, frustration, and failure if we expect to attain justification by being good enough. Our behavior