“That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are[e] being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!  So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”  – 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.

The idiom “seeing is believing” has been passed down from generation to generation. It is used in conversation when people are more likely to accept something as true if they can see it with their own eyes, essentially implying that visual evidence is necessary for belief. It makes sense because our society is based on proof, evidence, and verifiable research.

It can be hard for us to believe something we have not seen, felt, or witnessed for ourselves, especially when it seems unbelievable. Thomas is a good example. In John 20, Jesus appears to His disciples, except for Thomas, after His crucifixion and resurrection. When the disciples tell Thomas what they have seen, he does not believe them.  So the other disciples tell him, “…We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.” (John 20:25).  Thomas had a self-imposed criterion for believing in Jesus’ resurrection of not only seeing but also touching. In other words, Thomas needed that visual, tangible, observable physical proof.

Hebrews 11 1 says, “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” (Hebrews 11:1). By definition, faith is not talking about, thinking about, or even celebrating God’s truth. It is the process of adapting your behavior, your decisions and ultimately, your whole lifestyle to align with what God has asked you to do — without needing to see the evidence it will all work out.

Faith in things that cannot be seen is the belief that something is true even though the physical senses cannot perceive it. It is the conviction that what is hoped for is real, even if it is not visible.  After showing His wounds and scars to Thomas so that he would believe, Jesus stressed the importance of having faith. Jesus said to him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me” (John 20:29). This belief in things “not seen” is easier said than done, especially when it comes to the great unseen of God and His promises.

“And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness” (Colossians 2:6-7).

Faith increases through a genuine relationship with God.  Study what the Bible reveals about faith.

Discussion Questions:

1. Faith is the hope of things unseen. What are those unseen things and how does faith impact them?
2. Does God still reveal His will in specific ways or is He content to leave a lot of our choices up to us?

Summary: To be successful as a Christian means to live a life aligned with God’s will, prioritizing obedience to His teachings, actively demonstrating love for others, and using your gifts and talents to serve God and further His kingdom rather than focusing on worldly measures of success like wealth or fame; essentially, it’s about faithfully following Jesus and living a life that reflects His values.

What does success mean to you? Most people measure success in financial terms. Thus, most people believe that the most successful people are the 2,781 billionaires in the world. But is that all there is to success? From a Biblical perspective, attaining wealth isn’t the ultimate goal, though it’s not bad. Some of the most remarkable people from the Old Testament had great wealth. But how should Christians measure success?

The way God measures success is different than the way culture defines success. Based on what Jesus said,  success is measured by how well you love Him and love others. “The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:40).  He told His followers, “your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:35).  Romans 8:29 says, “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son…” That means if you walk like, talk like, work like, live like, and love like Jesus, that’s success in His eyes.

Jesus is teaching us that our love for God and our love for others are deeply interconnected. This means that every other commandment extends or expresses these two foundational principles. Our ability to love others well stems from our relationship with God. The deeper our love for Him, the more naturally we will love others, because we begin to see them as He does.

Loving others also authenticates the genuineness of our love for God. The Apostle John writes, “If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar…” (1 John 4:20). This verse underscores that our love for God cannot be separated from our love for others. If we truly love God, it will show itself in how we treat those around us.

 To become like Jesus and to be successful as a Christian, you’ve got to become and stay connected. Connected to God and connected to others. If you want to grow deeper with God, get on mission with Jesus. Do more than go to Bible studies, read books, or listen to podcasts. Apply what you’re learning about God by loving people far from God. Your personal growth should always be for the sake of others and the cause of Christ.

 To love God and love others is only possible when we understand that He loved us first. We don’t naturally love God the most. We don’t naturally love others like we do ourselves. We’re all wrapped up in ourselves, our lives, our agendas, and our priorities, yet God keeps loving us. His love never changes.

0Discussion Questions:

1. What does it mean to love God?
2. What does it mean to you to reflect God’s love to others? What are some practical ways for you to give others a taste of what the love of God is like?

“Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.” – 1 John 2:6.

The goal of the believer is to become more like Jesus. But is being Christlike attainable? In our strength it is clearly not attainable, but God has given us his Holy Spirit to dwell within us, to change us from within. Jesus told us that His faithful disciples would imitate Him: “throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy” (Ephesians 4:22-24).

But a Christian learns early on that it is impossible to live like Jesus. Jesus was both fully human and fully God, and performed many acts that no one else has. Jesus is the incarnation of God in human flesh, the only one to live a sinless life and offered Himself as a sacrifice for all sin and evil. Jesus showed unconditional love and treated everyone with compassion and respect. He conquered death, rose again, and ascended to heaven to sit at the Father’s right hand. It is impossible to imitate all that.

Loving Jesus leads to obeying Him, allowing us to reflect Him in our lives, but it will never make us exactly like Him. But you can become the best version of yourself with God’s help and in a God-honoring way. The first step toward being the best version of you in 2025 is understanding that God’s vision for your life includes His desire that you become more and more like Christ. Jesus was not only your Savior but also your example in life.

Jesus’ whole life was an example we ought to follow, but to do so, we must soak it up. This is one reason that reading Scripture is so critical. It illuminates the path so we can follow in His footsteps. But some days, it is harder than others to act like Jesus. We get tired and irritable. The car breaks down at the most inopportune time. The baby doesn’t want to sleep. The good news is we don’t have to be perfect for people to see our Savior in us.

If we want to grow to be more like Jesus, we must understand Him. This necessitates learning about what God wants from us and allowing Jesus to be our teacher. We should know what sets Him apart. We need to grasp what motivated Him. We need to witness the ways He responded to people around Him. This requires that we become students of the New Testament.

What we need more of in the Christian life is a vision of Jesus Christ, of the One who was crucified on our behalf. As the eyes of our heart—our heart-seeing—remain on Him and are captivated by Him, we will become like Him. Here is the simple truth at the heart of God’s work of renewal: Continual, deepening, remarkable encounters with Jesus.

 Nothing compares with getting to know the God who knows us. He seeks to be known, for He has revealed Himself in nature and Scripture.

Discussion Questions:

1. Is being like Jesus feasible and what are some practical steps to being more like Him this week?

“Following Christ isn’t something that can be done halfheartedly or on the side. It is not a label we can display when it is useful. It must be central to everything we do and are.” ― Francis Chan, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God.

A pastor shared a story about how he was in front of his church working on landscaping when an elderly woman walked by and asked him, “Are you a follower of Jesus?” The pastor stopped what he was doing to engage the woman and said, “I am a Christian.” She paused and said, “I didn’t ask you that.” The pastor assumed she wanted his qualifications: “I go to and preach in church every week, I have a degree in theology which enables me to read scripture in the original Greek and Hebrew, my grandfather was a well-known preacher in these parts.” The woman listened intently and then said, “You may be a religious person, but that does not make you a follower of Jesus,” then she walked away.

So, what does it mean to follow Jesus? The word follower has changed over the years.  The word “follower” has evolved in our world. Nowadays, it implies a casual, social media-type relationship that doesn’t require much commitment. But when Jesus said “follow me” in Matthew 4:19, He meant something completely different. He wasn’t interested in likes and comments.

While following Jesus doesn’t mean physically following Him around, it does mean turning from living your own life and choosing to live a new life with Jesus in charge. Being a Christ follower goes far beyond saying “I’m a believer” or identifying as a Christian. It’s about having a personal relationship with Jesus that radically transforms your life: “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Following Jesus means loving Him with all your heart and reflecting His love and compassion toward others. It also means studying His Word and seeking opportunities to share Jesus in everyday conversations. It means to trust Him even when the road gets bumpy or uncertain. It means every choice you make mirrors His character, and when He stretches you by leading you outside your comfort zone, you understand that there is a purpose behind it.   

Following Jesus is more than a call to attend church on Easter or keep a Bible on a bookshelf. It’s a call to become like Him. To think how He thought, to live like He lived, and to treat others in light of His sacrifice for them. Following Jesus encompasses living your life according to Jesus’ teachings in every aspect, including your actions, thoughts, and interactions with others, not just participating in a weekly religious gathering.

“Jesus says, ‘I want you to follow me so fully, so intensely, so enduringly that all other attachments in your life look weak by comparison’” – Timothy Keller.

Discussion Questions:

1. What does following Jesus mean in practical life?
2. In what ways can we be better at following Jesus? 

“You, LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light” -= Psalm 18:28 (NIV).

Technology is everywhere and a part of every aspect of our lives. The Bible never states whether specific technologies are inherently good or bad. Still, it does hold Christians to a biblically grounded morality and engagement with the world around us. We must think wisely about how we use these innovative tools.

Technology today is evolving at a rapid pace, enabling faster change and progress, causing an acceleration of the rate of change. In 2025, people must prepare today for an imminent world in which AI is everywhere and acting autonomously on people’s behalf while enhancing productivity and revolutionizing how businesses approach problem-solving, customer engagement, and creative processes. It’s a brave new world with limitless possibilities. This explains why people today believe that humans have evolved so much and are capable of so much more.  Some people wonder if our science and technology made God obsolete.

The more we understand about the cosmos, the more apparent it is that there is a Designer. At one time, science thought the cell was a gooey blob. Now we know that it is filled with sophisticated molecular machines. There are more of these machines on the tip of your finger than all the machines humans have made in the history of the world. When we see a city full of machines, we never think it renders people obsolete. We recognize that intelligent people are required to design and build all those machines, which is more evidence of a great designer. The bottom line is technology has not diminished our need for God. We don’t need God any less or more today because we have always needed God.

“They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.” – Romans 1:19-20

We need the repentance He gives, the wisdom He reveals, and the healing He supplies. We need the grace that He gives, the mercy that He offers, and the justice that He delivers. We need the purpose that He provides, the faithfulness that He exhibits, and the perseverance that He imparts. In short, we need Him because all things are from Him, by Him, through Him, to Him, and for Him.

People needed Him thousands of years ago just as much as we need Him today. Even with all the advancement, sin still exists, and as long as sin exists, we need God.

Francis Chan said, “The irony is that while God doesn’t need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don’t want Him most of the time.”

Discussion Questions:

1. What are the key areas of life where we must rely on God for guidance and strength?”
2. “What are some situations where you’ve personally felt the need for God’s love and support?” 

“ Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray. Later Simon and the others went out to find him. When they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.”But Jesus replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.” – Mark 1:35-38.

Prayer is a conversation with God—a space to share your questions, dreams, hopes, and fears. Prayer allows you to unload your concerns to God, inviting His guidance and support. Prayer knows no bounds and can happen anywhere. If life’s challenges feel overwhelming, prayer can make a difference.  We think of prayer as speaking to God, but if it’s real communication, we have to give God a chance to speak, inspire, heal, guide, forgive, and help us. It is a time to focus on God rather than other things that cloud our minds and engage in a conversation with the Lord.

Extraverts who have no trouble talking to anybody find praying to God difficult. Maybe we think that our prayers just aren’t good enough to warrant taking up God’s time. Maybe our prayers lack structure and tend to be a stream of consciousness. Or our prayers lack eloquent phrases sprinkled with relevant Bible verses. Or we may be convinced that God is sovereign over everything, including my circumstances, so why do we need to pray when it is in complete control?

Luke 11:1 says, “Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” Jesus had just finished praying, apparently in the presence of His disciples. Eager to be like Jesus, they asked that He teach them to pray. Notice two things about their request: First, they, too, desired to communicate with God through prayer, and second, they knew they needed guidance.

Although prayer may be as simple as just talking to God, it is also a learned skill; it takes time, work, and practice. The disciples were with Jesus day in and day out. Of all the things they could have asked Him to teach them — how to heal, teach, or perform extraordinary miracles — they asked how to pray. Jesus gave the disciples (and us) the Lord’s Prayer to teach them. There, Jesus breaks down the essence of Christian living, including a very clear example of how to pray.

Prayer is personal, like our relationship with the Almighty through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. Prayer is also a privilege, allowing us 24/7 access to our heavenly Father, made possible only by the sacrifice of His Son on the cross for our sins. Remember, the Lord is much more concerned with the attitude of our hearts than the actual words from our lips. Life is complicated, but our prayer lives need not be.

Discussion Questions:

1. Is prayer a challenging discipline for you? Why or why not?
2. Why do you think people struggle with prayer today? What obstacles keep us from taking everything to God?  
3. What is your motivation for talking to God?

“Jesus never processed his pain in isolation. He abandoned himself to the Father, knowing that he could entrust his well-being into the Father’s care. The danger of isolation is much greater than the risk of intimacy.” – Steven Furtick.

Most people felt alone and disconnected due to the restrictions and social distancing measures enforced during the  COVID-19 outbreak several years ago. In-person contact was significantly reduced, leading to feelings of isolation and detachment from others. COVID-19 mandated solitude.

We all need solitude from time to time. It is time to seek God’s voice, reflect, relax, and recover.  It allows us to introspect and listen for the Spirit’s voice. Scripture tells us that Jesus would regularly retreat and seek out places of solitude and prayer.

Christians should strive to balance their time of solitude with God with active participation in their community of believers, ensuring that their “alone time” doesn’t translate to complete isolation from other Christians; the key is to use solitude as a means to deepen their relationship with God, which can then enrich their interactions with fellow believers.

Spending time alone with God allows for focused prayer, reflection on scripture, and listening to the Holy Spirit’s guidance, which is critical to our Christian walk.  While solitude is necessary, isolating oneself from the Christian community can lead to spiritual stagnation because engaging with other believers through fellowship, prayer groups, and serving opportunities reinforces faith and provides support.

Even though Jesus often withdrew to solitary places for prayer, He was deeply connected to his disciples and actively ministered to others.  Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”

To accomplish this balance, schedule regular periods for quiet reflection and prayer, whether early in the morning or during another part of the day. And actively participate in church activities: Attend services, join small groups, and volunteer to serve others within the community.

The Lord doesn’t want us to be alone. He mentions this time and time again. He wants us to call on Him and those around us for help. He wants us to share our trials and troubles with those closest to us. By isolating ourselves, we take away the opportunity for God to speak to us through others. Engaging with God in moments of solitude will strengthen the relationship with Him while connecting with others provides support and accountability.

Discussion Questions:

1. In what ways have you isolated yourself from God and others? How can you take steps to re-engage with God’s mission?

“We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private: and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship.” C.S. Lewis.

Connecting with others has never been more easy and it has never been more challenging to connect with ourselves. Constant connectivity enables us to see what everybody else does, what everybody else thinks, and what everybody else likes. We are used to input and stimuli. When we run, we listen to music, and when we are driving, we listen to podcasts. We are rarely in the moment. We all feel it — we’re bombarded by noise like never before. Jesus has an invitation for us: Step away from it all and find solitude with Him.

C.S. Lewis wrote in The Weight of Glory, “We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private: and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship.” Most of us have grown accustomed to what truly does amount to being “starved” for solitude.

You can know that you need solitude for one reason—Jesus needed it. We see examples of Jesus praying on His own throughout the New Testament. One example, Mark 1:35, tells us, “Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.” Jesus, who was God and man simultaneously, needed time alone. If He needed it, we need it. When Jesus was about to face the excruciating ordeal of the cross, He just didn’t shrug and get through it; He spent time alone in the Garden of Gethsemane in conversation with his heavenly Father. He needed solitude to accomplish His purpose here on earth, and so do we. We are designed for solitude, simply being with your heavenly Father.

So, how can you best practice solitude? Be patient with yourself. Be patient with God. Fill the emptiness of silence with the satisfaction of God’s presence. Your heavenly Father loves simply spending time with you, enjoying deep communion with His people.

Christians should not spend all their time in solitude or all their time in community. We should be like Jesus and withdraw to commune with God but then return to the bustle of daily tasks and the needs of others. The bottom line is we need to carve out time for spiritual respite in some place of solitude because solitude is an opportunity to open up our lives and souls to Him.

We don’t retreat from life’s busyness and bustle as an end in itself. It is an opportunity to open our lives and souls to Him for whom we were made. To know Him and enjoy Him.

 Find a place free from distractions. Ask the Spirit to calm your heart and mind and help you to spend time in deep communion with God.

Discussion Questions:

1. Do you ever spend time in solitude before the Lord? Why or why not? If you don’t, what is keeping you from doing so?
2. What does solitude look like for you?
3. What practical steps can you take to integrate the spiritual discipline of solitude into your faith walk?