During the course of this past year we published well over a hundred blog posts here and on our sister site.

The list below gives the 12 posts that were most popular on this site, so check out the list to see how it compares with your own favorites and to see if you missed any of these posts ...



Being Encouraged by our Discouragement

Puah and Shiprah:  The Sanctity of Life

The Message behind the Message in Jude

The Three Things that Matter Most

Sowing and Reaping in Galatians 6

The Gifts and Fruit of the Spirit

The Priest, the Plot, and the Parable

What We Love and What We Don’t

Four Ways to Please God

Putting a Price on Forgiveness 

Growing the Two Directions of Love

Peace of Mind in the First Epistle of John
 
You might also like to see the parallel list of most popular posts this year on our sister site: 
www.TacticalChristianity.org .
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The star that appeared to the wise men in the East announcing the birth of Christ and which led them to him (Matthew 2:1-9) shone brightly till its purpose was fulfilled, then it disappeared from view.  In a similar manner, John the Baptist, who was called the “greatest of those born of women” (Matthew 11:11), accomplished a short intense ministry aimed also at announcing and pointing to the Christ, then likewise faded from view.  

The star that heralded Jesus’ birth, bright as it appeared, was to be obscured by the one to whom it pointed – the Messiah himself.  Here we also see a parallel with John the Baptist.  As Christ affirmed, “He was a burning and shining lamp” (John 5:35), but John nevertheless  came only as a witness because “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world” (John 1:8-9). Once Jesus’ ministry began,  John’s  “light” was dimmed by the rising of his successor.  As John himself said using this very analogy, “He must wax, but I must wane” (John 3:30).  But like the heavenly star that also preceded the Messiah’s birth,  John the Baptist’s job was fully accomplished in the short but intense work which God intended for him. Both were powerful witnesses to the coming of the Messiah.

How does this apply to us?  Although we may not live in the age which saw a heavenly light or a great prophetic “light” like John the Baptist pointing to Christ, the apostle Peter reminds us that “We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19).  That “morning star”  is Christ himself (Revelation 22:16); and the “prophetic message” is not so much all of prophecy as it is the prophetic message regarding the meaning and purpose of the coming of Christ.

The star of the nativity, the “lamp” of John the Baptist, and the “light shining in a dark place” were different announcements made available to different groups of people: the first to only a select few, the second to all who heard John, the third to all who come in contact with the word of God throughout the whole world.    The three forms of announcement also increased in the level of understanding they provided those to whom they were given.  Bright as the heavenly star may have appeared, powerful as John’s testimony may have been, we can be thankful that the announcement that has come to us is the fullest, clearest and most profound light of all. ​

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​The Prophet Elijah was certainly one of the greatest figures of the Old Testament. When Christ appeared in the Transfiguration before his key disciples, the vision they experienced involved Jesus speaking with Moses and Elijah – doubtless representing the very personifications of the Law and the Prophets of Old Testament revelation (Matthew 7:1-13).

Yet Elijah was just as subject to human problems and the need to learn as you and I are (James 5:17). The Old Testament records many stories about the prophet, and one is particularly fascinating regarding lessons that Elijah perhaps needed to learn and from which we certainly can profit. The book of 1 Kings tells us that after Elijah delivered an unwelcome message to Ahab, king of Israel:
 
Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.” So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.  Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to him: “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” So he went to Zarephath (1 Kings 17:2-10).

It's a small story, but one packed with lessons and reminders that apply in our own lives. Here are just five that are immediately clear:

1) The first thing we learn from this story is that sometimes God protects us, and sometimes he encourages us to flee. God protected Elijah on numerous occasions, but on this occasion he specifically informed the prophet to flee and “hide” (vs. 3) until God was ready to have him speak truth to power again.  This is an important principle found throughout the Bible (see our article, “Should Christians Flee?”), and Elijah was either taught the lesson or given it as one of many examples recorded in Scripture for our benefit.

2) Sometimes God lets us look for what we need, and sometimes he brings it to us.  God did not instruct Elijah to try to forage for food or to miraculously replace the same food, as he did on another occasion (1 Kings 17:13-16). Rather, God sent what Elijah needed directly to him by means of birds – ravens. Sometimes we have to learn to let God provide, also. Interestingly, Jesus used ravens as a means of teaching this very lesson (Luke 12:24).

3) God provides, but often not more than we need.  The story tells us that twice a day the ravens brought enough food for a half day.  It is clear that God sent a number of ravens, and we know that these large birds can carry quite large objects and weights with ease – but God only had them deliver food for Elijah’s immediate need.  This is similar to the way in which God provided manna to the Israelites on a daily basis, and it is clear that he was teaching them lessons in that situation, also (Exodus 16:4-27).

4) Sometimes God lets things happen to move us on. The story ends by telling us that the small stream that provided water for Elijah dried up.  This was God’s way of preparing Elijah for the news that it was time to move on, and it’s a reminder we can all remember.  Sometimes God ends something good to give us something better – in Elijah’s case, it was a better opportunity to serve others who needed help and that may sometimes be our situation, too.

5)  Perhaps the most important lesson or reminder we can take from this story is one that applies to all the points we have considered above.    In each aspect of this story, God acted in an unexpected way.  In every case we are reminded that God’s way of doing things is often not what we would have expected.  It may not be what we would have done or even chosen. Humanly, we could question every aspect of this small story.  Why didn’t God just protect Elijah – why did he have to flee?  Why did God send Elijah to an area with no food within many miles and then force him to just sit and wait to be fed?  Why did God not provide at least a whole day's food at one time?  Why did God have the stream dry up – why not just tell Elijah it was time to go back? 

Whatever the answers may be to some of the questions that are raised by this story, we see that things worked out –  God looked after Elijah and Elijah was able to fulfil God’s purposes. Our own lives are really no different.  The greatest lesson we can learn from this small story is that, like Elijah, we can always accept on faith what God commands or does (1 Kings 17:5, 10).  It is a story that reminds us even if we do not always know why God does what he does in our lives, we can be sure he has a purpose and that he always knows what he is doing. 

The first epistle of John displays a unique writing style. One of the most characteristic aspects of this apostle’s letters is the way in which he frequently compares or contrasts spiritual situations.

​In 1 John 1:9-10, for example, he contrasts “If we confess our sins” with “If we claim we have not sinned.”  As we continue through his letter we find that he compares “Whoever loves his brother” with “whoever hates his brother” (1 John 2:10-11); “The one who does what is right” with “The one who does what is sinful” (1 John 3:7-8); “Every spirit that acknowledges … Jesus …” with “every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus” (1 John 4:2-3), and so on.

This frequent use of comparison or contrast lends a dynamic force to what John writes –  it is straightforward, to the point, and unequivocal.  But sometimes the lesson behind the comparison is not quite as easy to see, and we may miss it if we do not keep an eye open for occurrences of the pattern. A good example of this is found in the third chapter of John’s letter:

This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God … (1 John 3:19-21).

The immediate contrast between “If our hearts condemn us” and “if our hearts do not condemn us” is clear enough, but the lesson John points to here is perhaps not as obvious.  At face value it might seem that John is simply saying if our hearts or “consciences” condemn us, God is greater than our hearts (vs. 20); but what does that mean?
 
To understand the contrast John is making, we must widen our view to look at the context in which these verses appear.  Beginning in verse 10 of chapter 3, all the way up to verse 19 where John begins to talk about our consciences condemning or not condemning us, John speaks continually about whether we love one another or not: “This is how we know who the children of God are … Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another….  We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other… Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:10-18).

John then states that “This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: if our hearts condemn us …” (vs. 19-20).  Knowing that “we belong to the truth,” as John puts it, is not a result of what he says next –  our hearts condemning or not condemning us – because we cannot always trust our own conscience to be a judge of our behavior (Jeremiah 17:9). Rather, John refers to what he has just said:  that we love others in our behavior and in truth (vs. 18); and to what he says after this verse, that we have confidence before God because we keep his commands “… to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us” (vs. 23).  

The theme of love is really the main point of the third chapter and of John’s entire letter, and this immediate context allows us to paraphrase the point of 1 John 3:19-20 something like this:

“… because we demonstrate our love for one another in actions and in truth, we know that we are the children of God and this sets our conscience at rest… Even if our conscience sometimes causes us to doubt our standing before God, we know our conscience is not the final judge and that God, who sees the love he has placed within us, accepts us and hears us – for ongoing love of others in our lives is the proof that God does not reject or condemn us, and that he hears us.”
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We all occasionally groan under the weight of conscience and in our most discouraged moments we may wonder if we are really a child of God, or if God hears us.  But John’s message shows us that the outgoing and ongoing love God places in us through his Spirit is the proof that we are indeed his children.  It's a tremendously encouraging lesson, but –  like many of John’s lessons –  it is one we can only see properly when we consider what he wrote in its full context.