Who are you to judge your neighbor? —James 4:12 I’m thinking of two men who were among the most exemplary Christians I’ve known. But if judged by their younger years, they were also the most unlikely candidates for spiritual excellence. Both scripture and […]
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The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. —Isaiah 9:2 Darkness! I experienced it when I was eight years old: 750 feet underground in Carlsbad Caverns, it was total darkness! Terrifying. I pictured a plunge into the Bottomless Pit. Gulp! Getting out of the cavern into the light was
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Let us run with perseverance, the race marked out for us. —Hebrews 12:1 After receiving a late-night $100 million contract, making him the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL at the time, J.J. Watt hit the weight room at 4 a.m. the following morning. Excellence requires 100 percent. Settling for
Encourage one another and build each other up. —1 Thessalonians 5:11 Three ladies occupied a booth near where I was having dinner. They were well equipped for communication: one had a smartphone, one had a tablet, and one had a laptop. The message on the outside of the laptop’s cover caught my attention: BE
We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. —Romans 8:37 According to a timeworn story, a member of Abraham Lincoln’s cabinet said at the beginning of the Civil War, “I hope, Mr. President, that the Lord is on our side.” Lincoln allegedly replied, “My concern is to make sure
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[Jesus] gave himself as a ransom. —1 Timothy 2:6 Are you at peace? You are if you have availed yourself of God’s great gift: “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1). Jesus was born, died, and was resurrected for a reason. You
Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. —Psalm 115:3 “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Ps 19:1). Add to that the breathtaking fact that he cares for us, down to the tiniest detail: “You know when I sit
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I am doing a new thing. —Isaiah 43:19 God is good at springing surprises. We’re not so good at expecting them. Jacob was camped at Bethel when God informed him in a dream that he was going to do a new thing—something big. The conniving bad boy woke up, rubbed
The eight-year-old girl had been unimaginably abused before becoming a resident of the Pennsylvania orphanage. Understandably distant and defensive, she had no friends, not one. Someone told an administrator that she’d seen the child hide a note in a tree outside the stone wall surrounding the campus. A supervisor retrieved the note, read it, and
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If God is for us, who can be against us? —Romans 8:31 The first and last verses of Romans 8 encase the chapter with two breathtaking promises: There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (v. 1). Nothing can separate us from the love of God (v. 39). No condemnation!
