Darlene Cunningham

God the Father is the composer, and the Holy Spirit is the conductor, giving each of us the music to play as we keep our eyes on Jesus. Maybe I have a tiny little piccolo flute, which has a small but distinct sound. But what if I get jealous of the drummer because he has such a loud, emphatic sound to his drums? If I begin to focus on him, I will mess up the part I’m supposed to play. When the conductor gives me the cue to play my piccolo, I will miss my notes because I’m focusing on someone else’s instrument. I cause disharmony in the orchestra and the music isn’t what it is intended to be because my part is missing. Every contribution is important. God designed you to play a special part. Just use whatever gifts He gives you for His glory. You can’t create orchestra music alone. We need each other. And when we play in a beautiful spirit of unity, people will surely see and glorify Jesus.

Lysa TerKeurst

Over time, the more we read and study the Bible, the more we will learn and grow. God created our minds for logical comprehension and spiritual discernment through the power of the Holy Spirit. But even when we don’t immediately understand what we are reading, we can rest assured that just the taking in of God’s Word for ourselves will nourish deep places. We don’t have to understand all the inner workings of our stomach for our body to be nourished by physical food; spiritual food is much the same.

T.J. Green

Historically Christian protesting and boycotts have only fuelled the arguments that probably would have gone away long ago. Christianity has become famous for what we stand against, and we have lost authority in what we stand for. God teaches us how to take over cities by going low and washing feet. Pilot entered Jerusalem on a war horse and chariot. Jesus entered meek and lowly riding on a donkey.

John Bevere

The Bible doesn’t tell us to speak truth in anger or self-righteousness—only to speak the truth in love. As God’s children, let’s never speak with an attitude that says “I told you so” or “I know more than you” or “I’m better than you.” When we bring correction in a mean-spirited way, we demonstrate a lack of compassion for those we address. That’s so tragic and costly. All of us must be motivated, moved, and even consumed with love when we speak into someone’s life, or we should not speak at all.

Kevin DeYoung

There is an eternal difference between regret and repentance. Regret feels bad about past sins. Repentance turns away from past sins. Regret looks to our own circumstances. Repentance looks to God. Most of us are content with regret. We just want to feel bad for awhile, have a good cry, enjoy the cathartic experience, bewail our sin, and talk about how sorry we are. But we don’t want to change. We don’t want to deal with God.