Joe Barnett

[Our] small troubles . . . are helping us gain an eternal glory.            —2 Corinthians 4:17 If you hang around, growing old isn’t an option. Repairs on this old house increase with age. No sooner do we get one body part fixed than another part malfunctions. A lopsided percentage of […]

[We] are being transformed into [his] image from one degree of glory to another.                —2 Corinthians 3:18 Eloise went wild at the arboretum and came home with her SUV crammed with flats of pansies, petunias, and peonies. Remorse dogged her steps from her wheels to her flower bed.

You are a letter from Christ.           —2 Corinthians 3:3 You’ve probably been required to submit letters of recommendation when applying for employment. When you ask someone to write such a letter, you’re asking for their endorsement. The apostle Paul wrote letters of endorsement. And his converts, by their lives, wrote

We win the victory over the world by means of our faith.                  —1 John 5:4 God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, The courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the difference. With these twenty-seven words, Reinhold

Your labor in the Lord is not in vain.               —1 Corinthians 15:58 The late Dr. Norvel Young often said, “You’re doing more good than you know.” Are you disappointed with the accomplishments of your life? I know a lady who died grieving, convinced that she had failed as

We will do everything the Lord has said.                                   —Exodus 24:7 The office manager and I had a cordial conversation about the lease increase. She said she’d get back to me by the end of the day. That was

Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do.  —Deuteronomy 23:23 They live three doors from me: dad, mom, and first-grader. I saw the child every day for a week, leash in hand, walking her puppy. It was Norman Rockwell cute. Then I began seeing the mother walking the dog; daughter nowhere to be

Bad company corrupts good character.                    —1 Corinthians 15:33 Work at the perfume counter, and you’ll smell like perfume. Work in the fish market, and you’ll smell like fish. Companionships shape you: those you hang out with—and those you don’t. Proverbs pegs some company to steer clear

If you possess these traits . . . you will never be ineffective.                  —2 Peter 1:8 AA works because they’re all in the same boat: recovering alcoholics. So they are comrades, not critics; supporters, not superiors. The church should be a safe harbor because we’re all in

[Elisha] used wood from the plow to build a fire.        —1 Kings 19:21 “Burn the boats” comes from a legend of Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés ordering his men to burn their boats, eliminating the possibility of retreat in their conquest of the Aztec empire. The story is questionable. But a story in