Joe Barnett

Do your part to live in peace with everyone.                                   —Romans 12:18 Paul posted a PS to today’s text with the phrase, “as much as possible.” “Do your part to live in peace with everyone,” he wrote—then added, “as […]

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.        —1 Timothy 1:15 Do you know anyone who thinks they’ve been too sinful to be saved? Let a man who considered himself the worst of sinners tell you his story . . . “I persecuted the followers of [the Lord’s] Way to their

It was the woman you gave me who brought me the fruit, and I ate it.                  —Genesis 3:12 The blame game is as old as Adam and Eve. Adam blamed Eve for his failure; Eve blamed the snake for hers. You have probably been blamed for some

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race.       —2 Timothy 4:7 He resolved to be a daily Bible reader last year. Leviticus was a challenge, and by the time he reached the fourth chapter of Numbers, neither his eyes nor his mind would focus. He quit reading. She resolved

Have courage, and be strong.         —1 Corinthians 16:13 The Romans were fanatic sports fans. Pelt the field with beer cans, water bottles, and hot dog wrappers? Nope! Rocks! Telemachus, a monk, was appalled to see two gladiators fighting in the Coliseum, so he stepped into the arena to separate them. The

Keep your heart with all diligence.                     —Proverbs 4:23 The Israelites were an erratic bunch: singing at the tops of their voices when they crossed the Red Sea without getting mud on their sandals, and bellyaching three days later about bitter water (Ex 15). When Moses

Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.     —Ephesians6:10 On June 18, 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill addressed the House of Commons, saying, “I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. . . . The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us.

Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths.             —Proverbs 3:6 The third chapter of Ecclesiastes opens with fourteen couplets, declaring that life consists of seasons and that each season has its opposite: joy to sadness and vice versa, etc. Let’s get this out of

Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history.                      —Isaiah 43:18 In a split-second, Christopher Reeve went from Superman to quadriplegic. Christopher starred as Superman in four movies. On May 27, 1995, he was thrown from his horse and left paralyzed from his neck

[Carefully consider] the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that.                —Galatians 6:4 Roger Ebert (1942–2013), was a Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times. Fellow journalist Dennis King wrote of Ebert: “With all his notoriety, honors, and celebrity, all his exclusive interviews and