Tim Witte's Blog

Growing up, the saying was popular, “He’s so heavenly minded, he’s no earthly good.” It may have been in response to legitimate flaws in the object of scorn, but the logic runs counter to the Bible. In fact, Scripture makes it pretty clear that a heavenly mindset is the key to living a meaningful and… Read More »Finding Hope in a Vain World

The post Finding Hope in a Vain World first appeared on Christ's By Grace.

How do we know when it’s safe?” my wife asked me. It was a good question for which I had no answer. Reluctantly, she had climb down into our dirty, three-foot-high crawlspace with me. An unpleasant feat made awkward in slippers and a robe and made more difficult with well-worn joints. The spiderwebs didn’t help… Read More »The All Clear

The post The All Clear first appeared on Christ's By Grace.

Have you prayed the sinner’s prayer? That phrase is associated with becoming a Christian. Yet, can we legitimately designate any prayer as the sinner’s prayer? And is no prayer, after conversion, a sinner’s prayer? The Bible is full of sinners who prayed. In many cases, an irrepressible awareness of sin, made all the worse by… Read More »The Sinners’ Prayers

The post The Sinners’ Prayers first appeared on Christ's By Grace.

Call it age-a-vu. When my generation were kids, we had hard-bound sets of encyclopedias. They cost a small fortune, but they allowed our parents to answer any question we posed to them with three simple words – Look it up. We used that same line on our kids, except the encyclopedia was on a CD.… Read More »Instruction in Godly Parenting

The post Instruction in Godly Parenting first appeared on Christ's By Grace.

The hardest part of developing good habits is breaking bad ones. Bad habits are like styrofoam pellets, they attach themselves easily, but are hard to shake loose. However, in the spiritual realm, the Christian develops godly habits not merely under his own willpower, but foundationally by the willpower of God. Keenly aware of this, Paul… Read More »Three Healthy Christian Habits

The post Three Healthy Christian Habits first appeared on Christ's By Grace.

Jeremiah is probably not the portion of the Bible most think of when anticipating the Christmas season. It is filled with pronouncements of condemnation and judgment against a nation that had abandoned God and violated His covenant with them. At one point, God tells the people their religious worship departed so far from what he… Read More »The Unthinkable

The post The Unthinkable first appeared on Christ's By Grace.

Fifteen seconds of fame. That’s the siren song of the media. Nevertheless, pursuing it often results in looping ten-second sound bites of infamy. It highlights the misunderstanding that can result when the context of our words is left on someone’s cutting room floor. However, in the case of Habakkuk, a truncated quote has led to… Read More »Misdirected Attention

The post Misdirected Attention first appeared on Christ's By Grace.

The singular event in history revealing the evil in men’s hearts, is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the perfectly righteous Son of God. Yet, that same evil is at work in every generation as is clear from Jesus’ final declaration in the beatitudes. Those described in the previous beatitudes as humble, mourning over sin, meek,… Read More »The Blessing of Persecution

The post The Blessing of Persecution first appeared on Christ's By Grace.

In the early centuries, three simple words meant the difference between life and death; yet, Christians clung to another three words and gained eternal life.

The post Three Simple Words first appeared on Christ's By Grace.

They don’t get clicks, likes, or retweets on social media. They don’t dominate the news or gather a great following. In earthly spheres of power and influence they are insignificant; however, in Christ’s kingdom they are sons and daughters of God. Jesus called them blessed. They are the peacemakers. “Blessed are the peacemakers for they… Read More »Blessed Peacemakers

The post Blessed Peacemakers first appeared on Christ's By Grace.