Unlocked Archives

  • October 20, 2024

    READ: MATTHEW 17:1-8; LUKE 9:28-36; 1 JOHN 3:2 What is Jesus like in all of His glory? The Bible tells us Jesus is both fully God and fully human—but while he was here on earth He looked like everybody else (Isaiah 53:2; John 1:9-14). He was a man walking among us, and His glory as [...]

  • January 13, 2023

    I struggled to lift my head up to peer into the distance. I was sure it was close, but I wasn't sure if I could make it. My battle with the dragon had left me deeply wounded; I had barely survived the attack. My only hope was to get to the King's strong tower for [...]

  • December 22, 2022

    This time of year, many people set out nativity scenes that depict baby Jesus in the manger to remind us of our Savior's humble birth. My family's nativity set was made of sturdy wooden pieces so the kids could touch the figures and play with them. Even children can understand something of the beauty and [...]

  • December 12, 2022

    Elisha is an Old Testament prophet, and God performed many mighty miracles through him. He healed Naaman of leprosy (2 Kings 5), raised a dead boy back to life (2 Kings 4), and stopped the Aramean army from doing violence (2 Kings 6). But in the midst of these stories, we also read about some [...]

  • November 18, 2022

    Do you ever think about eternity? As a little kid, I used to lie awake at night, thinking about what it would be like to live forever and ever and ever—with no end. An eternal life with God! There was no way to wrap my mind around the idea. No matter how many zeroes I [...]

  • August 22, 2022

    Most of us don't enjoy waiting; it feels like a boring, passive exercise. Just the word "waiting" might stir up images of sitting in a doctor's office with nothing to do. Or maybe it feels like the endless days before summer vacation, staring out the window or watching the clock. Waiting seems like a non-activity.As [...]

  • August 8, 2022

    Levi was not a popular guy; in fact, most people didn't like Levi at all. In Jewish society during Jesus's time, tax collectors were despised as the lowest of the low. They worked for the enemy—Rome. They cheated their own people, and they got rich doing it. That was the kind of man Levi was—but [...]

  • July 4, 2022

    While hiking on a trail in the Smoky Mountains, my husband and I needed to make a decision. The sign had said the trail was only a few miles—but it didn't say we were headed uphill through rough terrain. Hot and weary, we considered going back, but once we realized how far we had already [...]

  • June 13, 2022

    Wandering, lost, and alone. How long have I been like this? My sins are against me, sapping my strength. Bones wasting away, I groan in agony. Those I had trusted in betrayed and enslaved me—quite honestly, my own evil heart enslaved me. This heart is as hard as stone, my transgressions heavy from the time [...]

  • May 9, 2022

    In John 5:1-9, Jesus goes to Jerusalem, to a place called the pool of Bethesda. The author, John, who was probably with Jesus at the time, tells us there were “a great number of disabled people” (verse 3) at the pool of Bethesda. Some of these people were blind, some couldn't walk, and some were [...]