By J.B. Hixson. Ph.D.08/17/2021Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly. (Proverbs 17:12)Have you ever been cornered by a wild animal? Few things are more terrifying than the sight of a ferocious animal determined to attack. Just ask Allena Hansen, a 56-year-old woman from Caliente, CA. She had an unfortunate encounter with a bear and had to endure ten hours of surgery to ...  Read More

By J.B. Hixson. Ph.D.11/14/2021“But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.” (Hebrews 8:6)Have you ever noticed how much we are motivated by comparison? Call it “keeping up with the Jones’s.”  We are a society prone to comparison. When we buy a car, we don't just want a good car. We want a better...  Read More

By J.B. Hixson. Ph.D.09/30/2019“A sound heart is life to the body, but envy is rottenness to the bones." (Prov. 14:30)Like many Proverbs, this one puts forth a contrast.  It is an example of contrastive parallelism in Hebrew poetry.  In this type of poetry, the first line states a principle and the second line amplifies that principle by stating the opposite.  The contrast in Proverbs 14:30 is bet...  Read More

By J.B. Hixson, Ph.D.09/29/2021“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.  You will know them by their fruits…” (Matthew 7:15-20)Many well-meaning but misinformed Bible students use this passage as a license to judge others. These “fruit inspectors” point a finger at the outward behavior of others and quickly draw conclusions about the ge...  Read More

By J.B. Hixson, Ph.D.12/04/2022But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:4–5)I came across a humorous story recently that perfectly illustrates what Christmas is really all about. It seems a pastor was sitting in his office on the first Saturday...  Read More

By J.B. Hixson, Ph.D.12/11/2022Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at ...  Read More

By J.B. Hixson04/04/2022"And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear." (1 Peter 1:17)When my children were younger, I often had the privilege of telling them a story before they went to bed. It was always a special time for us. The anticipation in their eyes, as well as their sweet giggl...  Read More

By J.B. Hixson, Ph.D.11/09/2016Our nation chose a new leader this week.  And like many of you, I watched late into the evening on election day, and into the early morning hours of the next day, waiting to see precisely who our next President would be.  Eventually, the winner was declared and America made it through yet another presidential election that many are now calling historic.  In fact, as ...  Read More

By J.B. Hixson, Ph.D.09/24/2021I am the LORD, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved images. (Isaiah 42:8)The year was 1715 and Louis XIV of France had died.  Louis, who called himself, “The Great,” was the monarch who made the infamous statement “I am the State!”  His court was the most magnificent in Europe, and his funeral was correspondingly spectacul...  Read More

By J.B. Hixson, Ph.D.12/23/2023Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)In 1989, Sigourney Weaver was nominated for an Academy Award for her leading role in the film Gorillas in the Mist, which was nominated for a total of five Oscars. The movie was based upon the life and tragic death of Dian...  Read More

By J.B. Hixson02/09/2022“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:12–13)It is February, and that means that our thoughts turn to love. People are always searching for love, aren’t they? But sadly, to borrow the words of country singer Johnny Lee, most people are “Lookin’ for love...  Read More

By J.B. Hixson, Ph.D.08/26/2021Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fi...  Read More

By J.B. Hixson, Ph.D.09/05/2021Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.(Proverbs 13:12)Waiting is no fun. Nobody knows this better than a child. When our oldest daughter was eight, we took her and her younger siblings to a neighbor’s swimming pool. As we walked through the gate into the backyard, we instructed the children to wait by the pool until mom a...  Read More

By J.B. Hixson, Ph.D.09/15/2021See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:15–16) So much of life comes down to perspective.  Perspective can mean the difference between joy and despair, between hope and despondency, between contentment and anxiety.  To the poet, a pearl is a teardrop of the sea. To the ladies, it is a...  Read More

By J.B. Hixson, Ph.D.12/15/2017"For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11)A former student of mine serves as a pastor in Eastern Europe.  Together with his wife and children, he planted a church in one of the most difficult and dangerous mission fields in the world today.  He sent me a story about a thirteen year old orphan named Daniel wh...  Read More

By J.B. Hixson, Ph.D.12/24/2019Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret—it only causes harm. (Psalm 37:7–8)You’ve heard of the tyranny of the urgent?  These days an even bigger issue is the tyranny of the now.  With pervasive connectivity a...  Read More

By J.B. Hixson, Ph.D.11/19/2018Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. (Psalm 136:1)Years ago, when I was teaching full time at a Bible college, I worked with a man who was very good at praying.  That may sound like a strange observation, but it is true.  This man knew how to pray and everyone loved to hear him pray in public.  His prayers were convicting becaus...  Read More

By J.B. Hixson, Ph.D.11/19/2021Psalm 100Perhaps you have heard the old fable about a day when the sun did not rise.  Six o’clock in the morning came and went, yet still there was no sign of dawn.  By seven o’clock, darkness remained. At noon, it was as black as midnight.  The morning songs of Steller’s jays gave way to the hoot of owls and the distant howls of coyotes.  Then came the long, dark ho...  Read More