Category: CHRISTIAN LIFE
Selected Proverbs Regarding the Tongue
10:11 – The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. 10:18 – The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever utters slander is a fool. 10:19 – When words are many, transgression is not...
Regarding Thursday: Comfort for Christians Facing Illness and Uncertainty About the Future
“Regarding Thursday,” I wrote to a friend, “please do not be worried.” She was a few days away from exploratory surgery which might reveal anything from a clean bill of health to cancer. In her email to me she had admitted her trepidation and asked for...
Reflections from a Week of Sickness
It was 3 a.m. and I was shivering. The problem? It was hot outside, and I was in a home without air conditioning. I was also far from my home because I was teaching at a church in another state for the weekend. As quietly as...
Pulling Up Stakes, Putting Down Tyrants
The apostle Paul speaks of our helplessness before the tyrant Sin. It reigns over our lives, he teaches in Romans 6. He speaks of it as a slavery that cannot be broken. If a man without Christ attempts, through sheer will power, to correct himself, he...
Preparing for the Funeral
My aged aunt suffered from a series of small strokes impairing her former elephantine memory. We cherish the story of the time she attended the funeral of her uncle William. On the way back the car passed the home of the deceased uncle. Her contemplative voice...
No Lay-up Shot: A Lesson from the Master
For some reason unknown to humankind, my older brother got to play golf on the distinguished Augusta National Golf Course, the course where perhaps the best tournament of the year is held—The Masters. It was there that the following life-shaping event took place. He was playing...
Nine Characteristics of Biblical Prayer
True prayer is not merely a matter of saying the right words. Biblical prayer is characterized and motivated by the right attitude-right thinking about the greatness of God, the beauty of Christ, and our own unworthiness and weakness. Ask yourself if your prayers are characterized by:...
Others May, You Cannot
If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. (Matthew 16:24-25) If God has called...
Only One Thing Necessary
If you were given the option during a particular period of time (say, one hour) to either breathe, drink water, eat, or sleep, which activity would you choose? Keep in mind that in this hypothetical situation you would not only be permitted to do that one...
On Stumbling
Now as they were eating, He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.” Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” Then Jesus said to them, “All...
