Randy Alcorn

لقد كَتَبَ الله قصة كلِّ واحدٍ منَّا. نحن جزء من شيء أكبر من أنفسنا. الله يدعونا للثقة فيه لننسج تلك القصة معًا، لكي نعبده حينما نصل لنهاية تلك القصة، حينما نقف مشدوهين أمام عبقريته الفريدة في حبكة خيوط القصة.

The devastation of tragedy feels just as real for people whose faith endures suf­fering. But because they know that others have suffered and learned to trust God anyway, they can apply that trust to God as they face their own disasters. 

I’m convinced that the Bible is clear that though we will have freedom to choose in Heaven, we will have no ability to sin. Consider Revelation 21:4-5.

Our instincts tell us that this fallen world isn’t our home—we were made for someplace better. I’ve never been to Heaven, yet I miss it. Eden’s in my blood. The best things of life are souvenirs from Eden, appetizers of the New Earth.

What would happen if each of us did our part to emphasize first and foremost not human figures or political agendas or earthly kingdoms, but our identity as His sons and daughters and citizens of HIS kingdom?

It should be a great encouragement to us that no one is ever too old or to set in their ways that the Holy Spirit can’t change their hearts, as this wonderful story a reader shared on my Facebook page demonstrates.

Was unter den modernen Christen in der westlichen Welt passiert, ist alarmierend. Viele von uns denken und handeln so, als ob es keine Ewigkeit geben würde – oder als ob das, was wir in diesem Leben tun, keine Bedeutung für die Ewigkeit hat.  Wir tendieren heutzutage dazu, uns nicht auf unsere ewige Zukunft zu konzentrieren (Wen interessiert schon das „herrliche Leben in der Ewigkeit“?), sondern auf unsere gegenwärtigen Umstände, als ob diese Welt unser Zuhause wäre. Die Bibel sagt allerdings, dass die Realität unserer ewigen Zukunft die Art unseres jetzigen Lebens beherrschen und bestimmen sollte. Sie sollte unsere Worte und Handlungen beeinflussen (Jakobus 2,12; 2. Petrus 3,11–12).

The following story was first told in my book The Grace and Truth Paradox, and touches on Eric Liddell’s life after he won Olympic gold. I asked Stephanie Anderson, who works on EPM’s staff and helps with my blogs, to do some research and fill in the blanks to share more of what life was like for the children in the prison camp.

This summer is the 100th anniversary of Eric Liddell winning the gold medal in the men’s 400m. Today’s blog is the repost of one I first shared about Eric in 2018, with the addition of a few paragraphs and some tweaks here and there. Even if you read this before, I hope you’ll be touched once again by his story.