“In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (I Thessalonians 5:18). When I opened my mailbox one afternoon, a mysterious envelope lay inside. There was no stamp, no return address, in fact no address of any sort. Across the face of the…
And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:2-3, ESV) Have you ever noticed how easily children make friends? Take one…
“Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips” (Psalm 141:3). “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Unfortunately, this childish chant is not true. Our words have power: power to hurt, power to heal. To understand this power,…
“Understand, therefore, that the LORD your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.” (Deuteronomy 7:9, NLT) Love. We talk about it, write poems and novels about it,…
“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10, ESV) The apostle Paul viewed life in very straightforward terms. We have a choice…
“Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him . ” (Psalm 37:7, ESV) Are you a good listener? Sometimes we mistake hearing as being the same as listening. We may use the words interchangeably, but there is a difference. Hearing is the perception of sound. Listening involves understanding the…
“And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last. Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” (Mark 15:37-38, NKJV) Have you ever passed a door that read “Authorized Personnel Only” and you wanted to open it to see what’s inside?…
For which I [Paul] suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. (II Timothy 2:9, NKJV) The apostle Paul sat in a prison cell, and not for the first time. As he penned a letter to Timothy, his beloved friend…
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14, NKJV) A friend recently called me with a serious question: how does one forgive the unforgiveable. Is it…