Ready or not, one day it will be over. There’ll be no more sunrises, sunsets, or birthdays. Position and possessions will be history. Whether you lived in a castle or a cottage will be irrelevant. All you accumulated, both treasures and trinkets, will pass to someone else. Your proficiency, polish, and pedigree will be meaningless. …
He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen. —Isaiah 50:4 “Call me anytime,” Carl said. “I have my cell phone on 24/7/365.” Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year strikes me as somewhat excessive for human availability. But not for divine connection, where …
Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. —Luke 16:10 Trustworthy discipleship is a life of faithful attention to each day’s frequent and familiar tasks, however small and insignificant they may seem. It’s easy to be indifferent toward …
In him all things hold together. —Colossians 1:17 In The Gathering Storm, Winston Churchill wrote about the months prior to the Nazi blitzkrieg that leveled much of London: “The future was heavy with foreboding.” Ours is a different day, but we know the foreboding. Many of us pay more …
Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought. —Romans 12:3 I’m writing this as political campaigns are at full bore (pun intended). Getting to the top doesn’t live up to its promises: contentment, fulfillment, and satisfaction aren’t achieved by being the big cheese. Nevertheless, exaggerated need to seem important is often addictive and …
Stand up and lift up your heads. —Luke 21:28 Without heaven, history is in the hands of humanity. Unless there is a heavenly home beyond this earthly habitation, life on this planet is the final word. The feeling that the world is in a sorry state creates a heavenly longing. The gospel implants hope for …
Let us not neglect our church meetings. —Hebrews 10:25 “There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be . . . boastful, proud, abusive . . . ungrateful, unholy . . . unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the …
I will not forget you. —Isaiah 49:15 The prophet Isaiah asked, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?” A Pennsylvania mom did. She dropped her two children off at school, drove away, and disappeared for eleven years. She made no effort to …
Act justly . . . love mercy . . . walk humbly. —Micah 6:8 Lots of Lists: Top sports teams list. Academy Award winners list. New York Times best-seller list. Fortune 500 list. If you’re like me, you have list fatigue. …
It is finished. —John 19:30 When I was asked, “What word describes your most exhilarating feeling?” several words came to mind. I finally chose “accomplishment.” I love the feeling of crossing out an item on my to-do list. And it’s especially satisfying if it’s the last item on the list at the end of the …
