“I take thee to be my wedded [wife/husband].” What I am about to say has been considered somewhat controversial. Normally, I’d try to avoid controversy in an inspirational book like this, but the point is particularly well worth making at this stage in your life. In general, God doesn’t, and won’t, tell us who to…
Treat ‘Em Like Grandkids
Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter. — Deuteronomy 5:13–14 A grandfather in Yona Zeldis McDonough’s novel The Four Temperaments reflects on having grandchildren: People…
Tending the Garden of the Soul
The Interplay of Our Spiritual Temperaments At least once a week, I’ll want to spend some time going on a prayer walk through the woods. On a regular basis, I’ll need to make sure I’m continuing to study. Perhaps I’ll need to download more teachings or order more books. Also, I should begin respecting my…
Strengthen Your Marriage – Build Contempt for Contempt
Several years ago, returning from a trip, I stepped inside the front door and felt like I had walked every one of the four hundred miles I had just driven. I had spoken six times in four days, and had driven through four different states to get where I needed to go. I pulled into…
Learning to Love… Sacrificially, Passionately, and Crazily!
Dr. John Barger gave an extraordinary address to a gathering of men on December 12, 1987. The address included his testimony of how he had walked the road from being a domineering husband to a serving one. The crux of the message, however, wasn’t just that husbands can do better. We all know that. What…
The Eight-Pound Seminary Professor
The Eight-Pound Seminary Professor Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity. — 1 Timothy 5:1-2 No, my baby daughter didn’t teach me about predestination or transubstantiation, or about how…
Fall in Love with Mercy
Editor’s Note: It’s Sit & Listen Saturday at Devotionals Daily. Enjoy reading as well as listening to this devotion from Gary Thomas, from his devotional Devotions for a Sacred Marriage. Listen on our blog below or on your Alexa device by enabling the skill and then prompting, “Alexa, ask devotionals to read today’s devotion.” Falling…
Walking on the Wild Side of Parenting
In our enthusiasm to celebrate children (a good thing), we are sometimes tempted to overlook the key Christian doctrine of original sin. A child can be raised by godly parents, yet still choose to live an ungodly life: A wise son heeds his father’s instruction, but a mocker does not listen to rebuke. – Proverbs…
Like Father, Like Son
Spiritual impact is by no means directed solely by biology. On the contrary, many adoptive fathers and stepfathers have had far more impact on their children’s lives than the children’s biological fathers. One mother told me of the time her husband and their adopted son went to a Promise Keeper’s rally. One of the speakers…
Jesus Said, “Become Like Little Children”
This idea that God can use children to teach us, that we have an opportunity to gain spiritual insight from those we are called to raise and teach, comes from our Lord himself, who in this regard was something of a revolutionary. In the first century, children enjoyed little esteem and virtually no respect. While…