Have you ever noticed what happens when airlines lower their fares? First one airline declares a price war, and by the end of the day, everybody is having a sale. It's great!

People who were not going to fly anywhere are suddenly booking tickets. Hank, who never flies, is now flying to see his cousin because he can't pass up the deal. Dave and his wife are traveling to California to see their granddaughter, whom they thought they wouldn't see for a long time. People gobble up these lowered fares in a couple of days, and the phones practically melt down at the airlines. Why? Because the discounts bring something within reach that we could otherwise never afford, and we act on it.

Ephesians 2:4-5 of the Bible says, "Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved." Verse eight goes on to say, "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." FULL POST

A lot of people are intently looking for spiritual reality. They just don't find spiritual peace, promise of eternal life, and love where they thought they would.

Jesus declared in John 6 of the Word of God, "I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." Jesus is addressing something that is throbbing inside of each of us - spiritual hunger and thirst. It is what the Bible calls eternity in our heart. We know we need something spiritual to fill the hole in our heart.

Maybe you would classify yourself as a spiritual seeker. You have lived long enough to know that earth stuff and earth relationships just aren't enough to complete us. You're always seeking, but never finding. Jesus says He is the end of your search. Maybe in a sense you have been looking out of a lot of spiritual windows hoping to find some peace and some reality. Maybe you have looked to various religions, crystals, horoscopes, or psychic powers. Maybe you've checked out an unconventional spiritual group that maybe some would call a cult. There are so many windows to look through, but each view has ended up unsatisfying and disappointing. FULL POST

Only four people survived above the 78th floor on that awful September 11 when a hijacked jetliner struck the south tower of the World Trade Center. Two of those were in a group of six that were on the 84th floor, right in the middle of where the plane crashed into the building. The six men ran to the stairwell and started that long trip down. At the 81st floor, they met a woman who said, "You can't go down. The floors below are in flames. We have to get above the smoke and fire." The six coworkers debated whether to go up or down. Four decided to climb up, hoping for a helicopter to rescue them from the roof. They could not have known that the rooftop doors were locked, and the roof was smothered in smoke. Their other two colleagues continued down, heading right into the dense smoke that had made others turn back. They struggled to breathe, but thankfully that smoke lasted only a floor or two. They were the last people who got out of the south tower alive. Their friends didn't make it.

You can see where people would turn back because of the smoke in between them and safety. Tragically, that was a fatal choice. It's a mistake that far too many people have made spiritually - going the wrong way because of all the smoke between them and Jesus. It could be that even you have been holding back from what Jesus offers because of the spiritual "smoke" that has kept you from moving His direction.

Many honest people have held back on committing to Jesus because they say, "Hey, I've just known way too many Christians who were hypocrites." Maybe you've even known those who were supposed to be Christian leaders who have messed up. That's heavy smoke, blocking your view of Jesus. Hurts and painful things that have happened to you can do the same thing. FULL POST

Are you consumed with all kinds of earth stuff and blinded from what matters most? Many times we are blinded by the lights of making money, having fun, important relationships, busy schedules, even religious activity.

We're blinded from heavenly light.

The Word of God from 2 Corinthians 4:4 is a very revealing statement from God's perspective. "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God." This means that there is a heavenly light that God wants you to see. It's the good news of the glory of Christ. FULL POST

Do you feel like your world is torn apart, with every person who ever loved you gone? Maybe you're looking for someone who could never leave you. There is one unloseable relationship that will change your life forever.

The Word of God from Romans 8:37-38 describes the worst things that can happen to you in life. It says, " We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor demons, nothing in the present or the future, nor any powers...neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord." This is a love you can never lose and that will never lose you. If it weren't for Jesus, you would never have the possibility of that heart-satisfying relationship because of the gap between you and God called sin. You're made to belong to your Creator. The God that you're made by and for is out of your reach until the sin bill is paid.

Jesus is the unloseable person that you have looked for all your life. FULL POST

If you can see a musician in person or if you have a chance to meet that person, why would you just settle for something they've made like a recording? Sadly, many people in their search for spiritual answers have made a tragic mistake like that. They've gotten all involved with something God made or a religion that represents Him, but they have missed meeting Him in person!

In Mark 12:34 from the Word of God, Jesus made a sobering statement about a spiritual "near miss." The man He said it to had a lot of Bible knowledge and spiritual understanding but not a personal commitment to Jesus. Jesus said, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." He was almost there, but not there yet. That means there will be people who come very close to doing what they must do in order to get to heaven. It's like a man who misses his airplane flight by only seconds.

Maybe you've found your spiritual experience in creation - in the mountains, the ocean, or the universe. That's good, but that's not God. God talks about that in Romans 1:20-21 - "Since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - His eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile..." That's what happens when you stop at what God made and you don't go on to a personal relationship with the God who made it! If you think what He's produced is impressive, wait until you meet Him! FULL POST

Maybe you haven't gotten what you've been pursuing, whether it's a relationship, an accomplishment, or a position. You feel you have an incurable restlessness. If you've gotten what you thought would fill the hole in your heart, and the hole is still there, your next stop is despair.

Meriwether Lewis may have been the greatest American hero of his time, but he knew about despair. When President Thomas Jefferson bought the massive Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon, the size of this young country was more than doubled overnight. Jefferson tapped his personal aide and a distinguished war veteran to lead the incredible adventure we know today as the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Lewis' longtime dream had been to find the source of the Missouri River and to drink from it. He got his dream, but if only it had satisfied his thirst.

In a letter to a friend after he reached his pinnacle, Meriwether Lewis wrote these words: "I feel all that restlessness, which I cannot help but thinking proceeds from that void in our hearts. Whence it comes I know not, but certain it is, that I have never felt less like a hero than at the present moment." Shortly thereafter, Meriwether Lewis died of what is believed to be his own suicide. He accomplished his greatest goals; he drank the sweet water of success and conquest and the admiration of thousands, but he still had not found what fills what he called "that void in our hearts." Maybe you know that feeling. FULL POST

Life is often described as being like a puzzle. There are so many pieces - family, friendship, romance, financial, school, work, success, and even failure pieces. You often wonder where you are going in life, who you really are, and what all the pieces of the puzzle mean.

The solution to the puzzle is found on the top of the puzzle box. In this case, the answer is in God's book, the Bible. It's found in Colossians 1:16 - "All things were created by Him, and for Him." These are six powerful words, "created by Him, and for Him." These six words can finally pull the pieces of your life together.

You can begin to put the pieces together when you put your name in that verse. You were created by Jesus and for Jesus. Your life isn't going to make sense until you belong to Him. There's going to be an incurable hole in your heart, because He's the One to fill that spot. No earth person, thing, or achievement is big enough to fill it. FULL POST

It's easy to take care of your business, family, and retirement, and neglect your destination of eternity.

Someday your heart will beat for the last time, and in that unpredictable moment, eternity will begin for you. At that point, your title, income, religion, or your achievements won't matter. All that's going to matter is whether or not you have a personal relationship with God - a relationship that can only be accessed through God's Son, Jesus Christ.

In Luke 12:16-20 from the Word of God, Jesus told this parable, "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." But God said to him, 'You fool, this very night your life will be demanded from you, then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'" FULL POST

You've probably had plenty of things in your life that have made you feel more like a post card than a masterpiece. Maybe you've been rejected, ignored, hurt, or used. Maybe you've been criticized and put down by people who didn't know who you really are. You have this lie playing in your brain that you're not worth much, you can't do much, and you're not good enough. That's just it - it's a lie.

Ephesians 2:10 from the Word of God says, "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." You are God's workmanship. You're unique and a one-of-a-kind original masterpiece. You may not feel like you're a masterpiece. You may not have been treated like you're a masterpiece, but the One who designed you says that's exactly what you are. From the time that egg and sperm came together, God was creating an original and building into you the qualities, experiences, and capabilities to make a unique difference. All this was "to do good works which God prepared in advance" for you to do. You're a one-of-a-kind original! You're priceless!

Remember, it's not your friends who determine what you're worth, or your critics, or your family, or your culture, or your boss. It is your Designer, God, who gave you your worth the moment you were conceived. Your worth has intrinsic value, not because of how much money you make, what title you have, or whether anyone asks you out or not. You are God's workmanship. No one on earth can give you your worth, and no one on earth can take it away. Your worth from God is untouchable! FULL POST