“Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.”  -  Exodus 20:9-10Work is good. We know that. God calls us to diligence, and we’ve seen in Proverbs how He warns against laziness. But here’s the truth: there’s more to life than work. God doesn’t just care about how hard we work; He cares about how well we live. His Word reminds us that we ne...

"But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." - Isaiah 64:6 (NKJV)Sin isn't just breaking the Ten Commandments, though it includes that. James 2:10 says if you break one commandment, you're guilty of breaking them all. It's like hanging over a fire by a ten-link chain. How many...

"Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others." - Ephesians 2:3 (NKJV)In our very nature, we were children of wrath, or we deserved wrath in our nature. Not just because of what we have done, but because of what we are. We are born in a state of sin and aliena...

"We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one." - 1 John 5:19 (NKJV)Satan is described as the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4), and Ephesians 2:2 says, "you once walked according to the course of this world," which is stating that our lifestyle has been based upon the principles of this present world, with its material, fleshly values. We adopted the w...

"And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins." - Ephesians 2:1 (NKJV)Ephesians 2:1-3 emphatically testifies to the lostness of all humanity. As Paul looked down on the world, he saw one vast spiritual cemetery, and inscribed on every grave-marker was this phrase, "dead in trespasses and sins." He doesn't say that they simply have needs, that they are sick, feeble or blundering; He ...