The Hard Way Made Easy Ecclesiastes 7:7-9 I had set out to drive to our college’s basketball game at a nearby school when I happened to remember a shortcut someone had told me about, a route around the California freeways. Being in no mood for traffic, I turned down side streets and back roads. Before…
Life Is Short: Enjoy It!
How do we enjoy life? Each Day Totally We do not know how long we have to live, so we should live every day with gusto. Oh, how sweet the light of day, And how wonderful to live in the sunshine! Even if you live a long time, don’t take a single day for granted. Take delight…
God’s Timing: He Knows the Future
In the Fullness of Time But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law. — Galatians 4:4 God often does the most extraordinary things in the most ordinary ways. Sometimes His acts are clearly extraordinary — like the burning bush where Moses…
Overcoming Anxiety with Peace
When Houston energy worker Shawn Baker was laid off in 2015, she opened a new business that quickly became a “smash hit.” It’s a place for angry, stressed – out, or anxiety – filled people to take out their frustrations on inanimate objects. Inside the building are four rooms lined with thick plywood, all stocked…
Christlike Character
Nate Roman of Marlborough, Massachusetts, came home from work one spring afternoon to discover someone had broken into his house. But this was no routine burglary, because nothing was missing. Instead, the intruder had cleaned Roman’s house top to bottom, spic and span. The rugs were vacuumed, the beds made, and the bathrooms scrubbed. Even…
Spiritual Warfare: Behind Enemy Lines
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. — 1 Peter 5:8 Why is it important to understand the enemy? Before you fight a war, it’s always a good thing to know something about your enemy. Nowhere is this statement truer than in…
God of the Impossible
God of the Impossible Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”— Mark 9:23 The word impossible occurs nine times in the New King James Version of the Bible, and most of the references tell us that this word doesn’t appear in God’s regular vocabulary. Matthew 17:20:…
Pray for Greater Love
One of the most productive things we can do to pursue a life beyond amazing is to read Paul’s prayers for the churches he was involved with. He didn’t pray for greater attendance, bigger offerings, or even more people becoming Christians. When we examine his prayers, we discover something far more challenging. For instance, to…
A Life of Endurance
Heavy weights, lifted fewer times in succession, produce greater strength. Lighter weights, lifted with more repetitions, produce greater endurance. Every morning when I’m home in San Diego, I go to a gym to work out with a trainer. His name is Todd Durkin, and he’s one of the best trainers in the country…
Peace: God’s Ultimate Goal
God’s ultimate goal for humanity is for peace to blanket the earth. His Son, Jesus Christ, was called the “Prince of Peace” by Isaiah the prophet (Isaiah 9:6). That’s because Isaiah saw another day on the prophetic horizon. He described that day as a time when nations would beat their swords into plowshares, and their…