Category: Christian Living
The Elements of Victory
Christians are people who have been saved by the grace of God through the sacrificial, substitutionary death of Jesus Christ. Not a single person will attain to eternal life as a reward for his own moral perfection, but only through the grace of God in Christ...
Loving What is Beautiful
We were made for beauty. Our concept of beauty will vary, distorted by what theologians call “the Fall.” That is a way of speaking of the evil present within us permeating all aspects of our person. This causes one woman to long for an illicit affair...
Shelved or Serving in the Latter Years?
Can you do much for God and his kingdom when you get old? God thinks so. He has used many older people to accomplish valuable kingdom work, recorded colorfully in both the Bible and Christian history. Take Moses. He was 40 when he killed an Egyptian...
Seeking and Saving Zacchaeus, the Wee Little Man
“Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he.” The story of Jesus seeking and saving Zacchaeus is found in Luke 19:1-10. The song, quoted above and throughout, is sung by children throughout the English-speaking church world. It memorably summarizes the Zacchaeus...
My Gains Eaten Away
In Earnest Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea, the superstitious old man on his dilapidated skiff had no luck catching any big fish for a long time, but this day as he allowed the wind to carry him out much further than before, and after nearly...
The Cat, Witty
I’m lazily reading James Herriot’s tribute to cats called Cat Stories, illustrated by Lesley Holmes (the illustrations are as satisfying as the stories). Herriot has an attractive and thoughtful manner of relating his veterinarian stories, as some of you will know. Herriot’s book allows me to...
Faint, but Pursuing
The name “Gideon” means “hewer” or “one who cuts down”. It carries with it connotations of strength, one who fells great trees, strikes down enemies, and topples mighty opponents. When the angel of the Lord once greeted a man named Gideon, he did so appropriately for...
The Dangers of Dishonesty
When you tell a lie, it is usually to hide something about yourself. Perhaps you did something immoral or unethical and were too ashamed to confess it when questioned. Maybe you just made a mistake, or failed to fulfill a responsibility, but were too proud or...
Surrender Where You’re Planted
Early in the summer as I was leaving my Dad’s farm I noticed a grouping of small plants near the edge of the cornfield close by the house. In an area about the size of a tennis court, the plants were all about half the size...
From Achan to Zacchaeus
This is the story of a boy who could have been named Achan. You remember Achan, probably the most infamous example of coveting in the history of Israel. He was the man who, during the conquest of Jericho, coveted and took forbidden items from that city....
