Many today hold to “criteria” over principles. Whereas principles are fixed and unbending, criteria are approximations. For example, the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes are indications of God’s will, but they are not principles that can be directly applied to every situation. Even some more conservatives believe that some actions—for example, abortion—is absolutely wrong. Yet they allow for the possibility that the demands of faith and love in a particular situation might override the absolute.

If God is interested in the smallest of his created beings, he is also interested in the smallest details of the people he has made in his own image. It scarcely seems to matter how many hairs we have on our heads71 (and we certainly do not have that information ourselves; even the hairs the head, all (of them), this emphasizes that the Father has complete knowledge of the most insignificant information about each one of his children.

In a society where men are confused about their masculinity and women are confused about their femininity there is only disintegration, disorientation, destruction and death. Eventually the society collapses.

And if we only live once, how are we each to discover a purpose that can make this brief life fully worthwhile, however long or short it turns out to be?

When Jesus was reviled, he did not retaliate. When they scoffed him and blinded him and smote him and mocked him and planted a crown of thorns in his head, he could go to the cross and say, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” All his anger was vented at the injustice and sin of the men, not at any personal offense. Whereas we are very quick to be angry when we are offended and affronted but very slow to be angry when there is sin and injustice.

If the Law and the Prophets prophesy until Jesus, what it means is that they will in no way be set aside in any way, shape, or form until everything they predict of Christ comes to pass. From his first coming right through until his second coming, the kingdom stretches out, and all will come to pass.

In Christ’s day and for many centuries thereafter, until nearly modern times, salt was the most common of all preservatives. The Mediterranean world was largely tropical. In such a climate and in the face of such conditions, salt was used to keep things from going bad and becoming rotten, particularly meat.

Righteousness is connected to a relationship with Jesus, it means, you suffer because of Him. True righteousness, a seeking for and living a life for Jesus, is not done for its own sake, but for Jesus’ sake. It’s this attachment to Jesus that gives our righteousness its distinct character.

We face a different time in our life, but we’re going to live it a day at a time.

Four Commitments are seen in the first gathering of the early church. The outpouring of the Spirit produced not just momentary enthusiasm but four continuing commitments: to learn, to care, to fellowship and to worship. The apostles’ teaching probably included an account of Jesus’ life and ministry, his ethical and practical teachings, warnings about persecution and false teaching, and the Christocentric Old Testament hermeneutic. But at its center was the gospel message. And so today, to devote oneself to the apostles’ teaching means evangelism as well as edification.