Category: Spiritual Growth
Purpose Until Death
I queried an older man who had become a dear friend with a pointedly stark question: what is your purpose in life? He is advanced in years. He ought to know by now. The question struck home, and he teared up trying to answer it. He...
Stay Awake
Ishmael must stay awake. He sits at the gate to the entrance of the Bushbaby Lodge in Uganda. Whenever anyone departs or arrives, he opens the gate. He must stay awake because he never knows when anyone will arrive. They could come in the evening, or...
What If I Sin Again?
“I felt like a load of guilt just left me,” reported a friend who had just come to Christ in the hospital chapel. He had gone there in confusion and anguish over his wife’s illness, but also because of his wife’s pleas. He didn’t know what...
Consider Yourself Dead to Sin
In Romans 6:2, the Apostle Paul says that all believers have died to sin. At the time of our conversion, through our response to the gospel, we were united to Jesus. And in union with him we died and we were buried with him (Romans 6:3-4)....
How to Pray for Other Believers
I assume that as a Christian, you pray regularly. We are taught to “Continue steadfastly in prayer” (Col. 4:2), to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). These exhortations include all types of prayer: for ourselves (Matt. 6:11-13; Mark 14:38), for missionaries (Eph. 6:19-20; Col. 4:3-4; 1...
Prioritizing Bible Reading & Prayer When There are So Many Other Things to Do
The son and daughter-in-law of missionary J. Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) were privileged to spend much time with Taylor in China. They not only saw Taylor’s ministry in public, but the kind of man he was in private. Well do the writers remember traveling with him month...
You Smell Like Broccoli Soup
My precocious and normally charming five-year-old granddaughter hugged me this week, then paused and said, “You smell like broccoli soup.” She flitted off and left me wondering how that could possible be. I shared this with her father who laughed with me and said that she...
Be Sure It’s Heard
Yesterday, I read the first couple of chapters of author James A. Michener’s The World is My Home, a Memoir. In his introduction, he was explaining why he had chosen to complete this 500-plus page book at 85 years of age. Here’s his explanation: I have...
Walking the House
The title is a little misleading, but now that you are here, read what I have to say. I’m suggesting that many of you begin to walk IN your house . . . and that you do it as a way of improving physically and spiritually....
Spiritual Metamorphosis: Becoming a New Creation in Christ
I enjoy reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar with my young children. This board book classic is useful for teaching kids colors, numbers, names of different foods, the days of the week, and the gastric consequences of eating too much food in one day! But perhaps the...
