Few of us would associate God’s love displayed at Christmas with war. But the Christmas story entwines these themes. The incarnate God, Jesus Christ, was and is the fulfillment of the ancient military promise of God recorded in Genesis 3:15. Just after the fall of Adam and Eve, the Lord God declared the serpent’s future …

From the beginning God made us humans to live in families. He commanded Adam and Eve to multiply and fill the earth, with one generation following another—fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, all in God’s own image, and shining his glory throughout the globe. But, right away, families became broken. Adam and Eve disobeyed God, …

Hope can feel hard to come by during the holidays, especially when you’re wracked with pain or weighed down with grief. Yes, it might be “the most wonderful time of the year” for some. But for others, it’s a season when wonderful times seem both far behind and far beyond them. Perhaps you fall into …

Advent is a time to ponder the humility of Christ and God’s plan to remake us in his likeness. To obey this call from the heart, we must first adopt the mindset of Christ.   When Jesus left heaven to come to earth, he refused to consider his personal glory “a thing to be grasped” (Phil. …

Is church hard for you? Do changes in your church or in your personal life make it difficult to show up, especially at this time of year? Have hurt or conflict discouraged you from worshipping on Sunday mornings? Thankfully, the Bible speaks honestly about these kinds of difficulties. The Christmas narrative itself contains a story …