Dr Paul Allen

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. (Gal. 5:24–25) If we walk by the Spirit, if we are willing to forgo what we’ve come to rely on for comfort—and willing, for a time, to experience the discomfort that happens in the letting-go process—our cravings to indulge will diminish. The Spirit leads us out of ourselves so that we are no longer preoccupied with how we feel, what we want, and what we think we need, and as we grow, we begin to see that self-preoccupation is what imprisoned us all along. As we walk by the Spirit, we are led away from ourselves and directed toward Christ. We become increasingly preoccupied with him. In the process, we come to look more like him. We reflect not the consequences of self-indulgence but the fruit of self-control, along with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness (Gal. 5:22–23). Paul concludes ...

Scot Lothery We live in a bad-news world. Each morning, we wake up and see it in the headlines on our news apps. In the evening, we see bad news again on the local news. The daily reports are relentless and overwhelmingly negative; the ratio of bad news to good is 10 to 1. Some people suggest this disparity is simply emphasis, but bad news has the upper hand. It always looms on life’s horizon. Every time something good happens, it’s followed by a “Yeah, that’s good, but . . .” That’s not pessimism. It’s the reality in a broken world. As a result, we all need to hear more good news. And not just the temporary sort that makes us feel better for a fleeting moment. Whether believers or unbelievers, we all need a daily dose of good news that transcends all the bad and puts every bit of it in a hope-filled framework. We need a message that flips the script on our bad-news world. That’s precisely what the gospel of Jesus Christ does. His message is so good that no bad news can bring it down. ...

Paul reminded the Corinthians of that truth: “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). What is the “mirror” he speaks of? Scripture. James wrote, “If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was” ( James 1 :23, 24).  How do we become transformed to be like Christ ? As we see the glory of Jesus Christ revealed in the mirror of Scripture, the Spirit of God transforms us into the image of Jesus Christ. That is the master key to spiritual growth. The Puritan Philip Henry wrote: Conversion turns us to the Word of God, as our touchstone, to examine ourselves . . . as our glass, to dress by (James 1); as our rule to walk and work by (Galatians 6:16); as our ...