“Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” What do people get for all their hard work under the sun? Ecclesiastes 1:2–3 (NLT) When you read today’s verse, it seems pretty depressing. Yet the book of Ecclesiastes has a profound purpose that we need to grasp. We all know we can learn from experience. But experience is not the best teacher. How many of us wish we could go back and redo parts of our lives, knowing what we know now? The best teacher is Holy Spirit. He can bring things to our attention ahead of time. With that in mind, today I want to dive into the wisdom we can find in God’s Word about setting priorities. All throughout Ecclesiastes, the writer (commonly believed to be …

You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Colossians 3:9–11 (MSG) In the Middle Ages, royalty lived very differently from peasants. A child who was born into royalty could enjoy all the rights and privileges involved, and they didn’t have to earn any of it. Royalty was in their blood; it was part of their identity. Imagine if a king’s son was taken from the castle at birth and was raised in a peasant’s home. If he never became aware of his birthright, that man would miss out on all the benefits he was entitled to enjoy as a prince. That’s exactly how many …

But to all who believed him, and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God—not with physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. John 1:12–13 (NLT) If you’re like most Christians, you have a heartfelt desire to please God, but sometimes you get frustrated because you feel like you’re falling a bit short. You want to be a good spouse, parent, friend…but often feel that the characteristics you want to develop are just outside your reach. You may even feel like you’re flawed somehow, like there’s something wrong with you, or you have to alter your personality and change the way you’re wired. But that’s not true. Being a Christian is all about becoming …

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT) Does your life feel like a mess sometimes? Maybe you feel like nothing has changed since you decided to follow Jesus because you still have all the same bad habits and problems. This may seem true, but you need to realize that you were created “anew” (Ephesians 2:10, NLT). You still may have beliefs to change and habits to overcome—we all do—but as a spiritual being, you’re not at all who you were before you gave your life to Jesus. Jesus gave you a new identity the moment you were saved. And the more you learn about who you are in Him, …

But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.”  Luke 9:55–56 (NKJV) God has made us “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37, ESV). This means we have the power to conquer in every area of our lives. However, we need to understand what kind of conquerors we are. We are not empowered to dominate or control others. You see, there is a big difference between power and force. Some leaders force people to follow them through control and manipulation. But Jesus wasn’t that kind of leader. He didn’t overthrow those who came against Him, and yet you’ll never find someone …