Jim Novell

And the grief goes on. In what the Bible refers to as this present evil world, grief, sorrow and sadness goes on and on and on and on – and on (Galatians 1:4).  This time the grief and sorrow originated from my esteemed alma matter, Michigan State University.  Three bright young students were senselessly murdered […]

In John 12:25, Jesus informs us of the necessity that we hate our life in this world if we are to gain eternal life, the glorious life with God for which mankind was created.  Hate is an emotionally charged word that has a broad range of usage throughout the Bible.  It ranges from having enmity,

No, this is not a post regarding a New Year’s resolution dilemma related to your body weight, it is hopefully much weightier than that. There are undoubtedly many challenging passages in the Bible that we gloss over when reading, without really considering the truth that is being revealed or the command that is being given

“SALVATION IS OF THE LORD” (Jonah 2:9) (Psalm 3:8) (Psalm 62:1). This is a magnificent, marvelous, majestic truth proclaimed and demonstrated by God throughout the Bible, revealing to us His greatness and goodness, displayed most prominently in the glory of His grace (Ephesians 1:6). Salvation is a big word in terms of what it encompasses in

I was baptized as an infant into the Roman Catholic Church.  According to Catholic teaching, at the time of my baptism I received what the church referred to as sanctifying “grace”, which resulted in me, as an infant, being born again, restored to spiritual life that was lost due to Adam’s sin, justified – freed

The Doobie Brothers were an interesting rock band back in the 1970s.  What I remember most was their hit song, Jesus is Just Alright.  It portrayed our culture’s distorted and minimalist view of Jesus and Christianity quite well.  The Brothers were also prophetic in titling their 1974 album, What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits,

One of the most wonderfully succinct and encouraging passages in the Bible regarding the glory of God’s grace is found in Exodus 34:5-7, wherein we read: Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping

Grace is one of the most glorious, pervasive and essential truths in the Bible. It is why I am a Christian. And, according to scripture, it is the only reason anyone is a Christian (Ephesians 2:4-5).  I previously wrote on the glory of God’s amazing and abundant grace in my May and June 2020 posts

We have entered the annual season in which we look forward to celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, His coming into this world as a baby conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary by God the Holy Spirit. He was God the Son, the second person of the divine trinity, who would

King David is one of the most prominent, well-known figures in the Bible, mostly for his single-handed defeat of Goliath, whom David, as a young teenager, slayed with a well-placed stone from his slingshot (1 Samuel 17:31-54). Goliath was the gigantic champion warrior of the Philistines, Israel’s arch enemy at that time. Goliath had despised