Couples living together seems pretty normal in the world today. There is this try-before-you-buy mentality, thinking that living together will help a person decide whether or not they want to marry their boyfriend or girlfriend. Yeah, that sounds great and all, but in all honesty, living in the same house or apartment together serves but one main p

“The First Noel, the Angels did sayWas to certain poor shepherds in fields as they layIn fields where they lay keeping their sheepOn a cold winter's night that was so deepNoel, Noel, Noel, NoelBorn is the King of Israel!” These are the opening lyrics of the Christmas hymn The First Noel. If you haven't heard the song, do a search on Spotify or YouT

The Bible describes Jesus as being our brother three times: Hebrews 2:11, Romans 8:29, and Mark 3:34-35. How can Jesus be our brother if He is our Lord? Easy—He's both! Some may feel it's wrong to call Jesus our brother, but context is key in understanding these passages. Let's look a little further into the way the Bible describes Jesus as our bro

"Glorifying" God means giving Him all the honor and praise for all things and holding Him up to a high place of honor in your heart. Why should we glorify God? Well, He is the Creator of everything—including us!—and He alone deserves the glory for all the good things we see and experience (Isaiah 42:5, 8). Being glorious is a part of God's very nat

There is no person on earth, living or dead, whom God hates. God loves everyone in the entire world (John 3:16; 1 John 2:2; Romans 5:8)—both Christians and non-Christians. After all, He made each and every human being (Psalm 139:13). His love has no terms and conditions either. Because He is love (1 John 4:8, 16), His deepest desire is to be with u

I remember a time in my life when I was struggling with being a "good Christian." I thought that I had to be "good" to be good in God's eyes. I just wanted a list with "do this" and "don't do that" columns. Love your neighbor, tell the truth, pray to God. Don't gossip, don't lie, don't steal. To an extent, there is that expectation about a Christ-f

Secular fiction, like Christian fiction, spans the spectrum of quality, content and story type and style. However, fiction written by non-Christian authors is more likely to have sexual content, profanity and dealings and scenarios that generally wouldn't show up in Christian fiction. That's not to say that it never happens, but it's certainly less

A promise is like a vow or pledge to do something or assure that a certain thing will definitely happen. While there's nothing inherently wrong or sinful about making promises, we should be careful about making promises with sinful motivations or promises that we can't or don't intend to keep. The Bible tells us of many promises God made, but His p

Yes, we do have the freedom to talk to God about anything—even if it is to ask Him why He allowed (or didn't allow) something to happen. In Habakkuk, you'll find the prophet questioning God's choices about timing and how He carried out His plans. Right in verse one, he cries out, "O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?"Instea

Demonic activity is something many first-world country Christians think of in relation to isolated tribes deep in the jungles of foreign nations. But demonic activity is not something that is isolated to specific geographical locations. 2 Corinthians 4:4 calls Satan “the god of this world,” and John 12:31 calls him “the ruler of the world.” Satan a

How do you get to know someone you're not acquainted with? Suppose that the person lived on the other side of the world or hundreds of years ago or has recently died—how would you learn more about them and what they are/were like? What if you couldn't communicate with them in any way? How could you know them better?Could you look at things that per

I am so sorry to hear that you are going through this. Break ups can be terrible. There is no disputing that. I don't want to presume to know exactly what you're going through, but I do know it may feel like the worst thing you've ever gone through right now. Fortunately, there is a lot of biblical truth that can help us get through any difficult t

With all the different music choices we have before us, how do we determine what is beneficial to our faith and what may taint our minds with ungodly thoughts (1 Corinthians 6:12)? Is there any music in the world that is totally off limits? Should we only listen to gospel or music labeled as Christian? This is one of the our most-asked questions at

"Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God." —Psalm 20:7Many moons ago, God fought what seemed an impossible battle for the cowering descendants of Israel who had been enslaved in Egypt. They didn't think He could—or would— save them, but Moses rested in the assurance of God's promise that they would be

This may seem like a no-brainer, but cheating on a test can be a huge temptation to any student, especially if it's a surprise test or one that we're not too prepared for. If cheating on a test doesn't hurt anyone and may even help you, does it count as something bad? Well, let's look at what cheating on a test really is. Cheating is essentially ac

We have to finish the job God has charged us to do: evangelize. Evangelism is the faithful proclamation of the truth of Scripture (the gospel) while living our lives as true followers of Jesus. "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be c

Even though the Bible doesn't have the word "bully" or "bullying" in its pages, there are plenty of stories about people who are definitely bullies. One word that is used to describe these people is "brutish", which refers to the brutal violence and anger of thieves, assassins, or savage beasts (Psalm 49:10; Proverbs 12:1; Isaiah 19:11). Guess what

(EDITOR'S NOTE: When we refer to "mean people" in this article, we're not talking about abusive people. That's a whole other matter.)Dealing with mean people is an inevitability—sad but true. Sin has hooked its tendrils into every human heart, and those sinful tendencies often end up hurting others. Romans 1:28-30 gives us a long list of unrighteou

Being stressed makes you more stressed. Some Christians seem forever anxious—even obsessed—about spiritual or moral issues. In extreme cases, that's caused by something called "religious scrupulosity," or "religious OCD," meaning Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Of course, everyone worries sometimes. There's a reason we've taken the time to address p

Do you know your astrological sign? Have you investigated the personality traits your Zodiac or "sun sign" supposedly says about you? It seems like everyone knows what astrological sign they are—including Christians. Horoscopes are like daily, personalized advice for each astrological sign, based on the changing positions of astrological bodies. Bu