you choose Q: how do I strengthen my faith?
Q: How do I strengthen my faith in God and totally put my trust in Him—to know that it will all work out (my husband has terminal cancer)? —Ann
A: Faith is strengthened when it is exercised. An athlete can’t strengthen muscles without exercising them. Faith is the same way.
I suspect few of your friends have experienced the death of…
God in a box
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could fit God into a box? When we want to do or say something that’s not Christlike, we could simply place Him in it and shut the lid. Perhaps we’d like to do so just before cursing during a bad traffic jam or when we’re checking something out on Youtube, Facebook, or Twitter that isn’t appropriate. After our dalliance with sin, we could simply bring God back out.
wonders and whispers
Scene 1: Elijah is on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:16-39). The prophet has declared a test. He and the prophets of Baal will each erect an altar and call to their respective gods. The one who sets the altar on fire will be revealed as the one true God (1 Kings 18:24).
established
The room was a disaster. Desks appeared tossed about, popcorn littered the floor, and the whiteboards bore a conglomeration of abstract artwork. My classroom had served as an area for some elementary school-aged actors to rest and stay entertained between their few scenes in the high school musical. Now that the final curtain had closed, I surveyed the damage and went to work sweeping and cleaning. As I folded back the large rug I keep at the front of the room, the words on its underside caught my eye.
January 27, 2014
In verse 2 of Galatians 6, Paul wrote that we should "share each other's burdens." How have you done this or experienced it in your relationship with other believers in Jesus?
ready or not
Recently, a thief propped a metal ladder against the back of a restaurant early one morning. He scaled the ladder, reached the roof, and entered the eatery hoping to plunder the place. He couldn’t have known, however, that the restaurant’s owner was waiting inside. The restaurant had been burglarized three times in previous weeks, and the owner refused to become a victim again.
waking to our hunger
When our boys come home from school or return to the house from playing, they utter predictable words amidst moans: “I’m starving. I’m going to die if I don’t eat.” They descend on Miska and me like vultures, insisting they’ll keel over at any moment if food doesn’t arrive. Usually, however, as we list the healthy snacks available to them (nuts, fruit, applesauce, yogurt), they brush each possibility aside. “No, I don’t want that. No, that doesn’t sound good.” Of course, I tell them what every parent throughout human existence has told their children in moments like this: “If you were really starving, you’d eat any of these. Obviously, you’re not that hungry.”
when gods die
France Nouvelle, the newspaper of the French Communist party, stated this after Stalin died: “The heart of Stalin . . . has ceased beating. But Stalinism lives on, and is immortal. . . . To Stalin we shall remain faithful for evermore. Communists everywhere will endeavor to deserve, by their untiring devotion to the sacred cause of the working class . . . the honorary title of Stalinists. Eternal glory to the great Stalin.”
remember
My wife and I recently checked out the Titanic exhibit at our local museum. As we walked among the artifacts, watched videos, and viewed photos, the events of April 15, 1912—the day the Titanic sank—became real to us. One particularly moving account involved an older woman and her husband. When Ida Straus was asked to board a lifeboat with other women, leaving her husband behind, she refused. “I will not be separated from my husband. As we have lived, so will we die—together,” she said. They were last seen standing on deck arm in arm, awaiting the ship’s descent into the deep.
true salvation
What must one do to be saved? For the answer, turn to the book of Galatians. The problem that arose in the churches in Galatia remains a question that many Christians battle with today. Are we truly saved by our belief in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross for us, or is something more necessary on our part?
harvest of generosity
In East Africa, I’ve found that a little goes a long way. For example, my colleagues and I are able to help feed 20 children in Uganda for far less than it would cost to feed 20 children in the US.
flare
"The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:12-14).
I've been…
sacrifices—good and bad
Jess likes money. In her brief 4½ years on the planet, she has already learned that she can play her aunts and uncles for spare change. Cuteness and intelligence comprise a formidably lucrative combination. Her parents, quite naturally, are concerned over this. “Don’t ask for money,” they tell her. “You should earn it by doing chores.”
