filthy garments
Can God use someone like me—a person with a bad past? This question was burning in the hearts of the returnees. The Israelites had come back from captivity—a result of their gross, persistent, and unrepentant sins. The Promised Land laid in ruin, the temple destroyed. They realized, We’ve messed up big time. Can the holy God use us to reestablish the proper way to worship Him?
blameless
Many people trust their pharmacists more than their pastors! According to a 2012 Gallup poll, respondents were asked to rate the “honesty and ethical standards” of 22 different professions. Seventy-five percent ranked pharmacists as high/very high. Car salesmen and members of Congress were trusted least. Sadly, church leaders ranked eighth, and only one in two said the ones they know are men of integrity.
disappointments
Ian Usher was so disappointed with his life that he decided to auction it on eBay. He wanted to rid himself of all the memories he shared with his ex-wife. The Australian said, “On the day [all my possessions] are sold, I intend to walk out of my front door with my wallet in one pocket and my passport in the other and nothing else at all.” His plans included a short visit to his mother before heading to the airport to figure out a new place to call home. “I’ll see where life takes me from there. It’s time to shed the old and in with the new.” A novel approach, but definitely not the way Paul told the Roman Christians to handle life’s disappointments.
not being a “kidult”
In 2005, two teenagers started TheRebelution.com website to encourage fellow young people to exceed low expectations and to do “hard things.” Citing 1 Timothy 4:12, one of its founders said, “As young people we are called to be exemplary in all areas of life. [But] our generation is falling incredibly short of that calling. Instead of serving as the launching pad of life, the teen years are seen as a vacation from responsibility.”
tested and proven
We live in an age of testing. The food we eat, the medicine we take, and the toys our children play with have all been rigorously tested before being sold to us. This helps us to be assured of their safety, quality, functionality, usability, and reliability.
July 15, 2013
Why is it wise for us to seek people of high character in our closest relationships?
suffering with God
Pain. We take pills to ease it, hold prayer meetings to heal it, develop strategies to avoid it, and think up philosophies to explain it. We rarely, however, consider suffering as part of God’s plan for our lives.
in a word
This past week I’ve been working on a labor of love. My wife, Lynn, is reaching a significant birthday milestone, so I’ve decided to throw her a party. One game I came up with is “Lynn in a word.” The idea is for party attendees to think of a word that describes Lynn best and write it down on a note card. On the other side of the card, they’ll write their name. At the party, Lynn will draw the cards from a basket and then the individuals whose cards are selected will take a few moments to tell a Lynn anecdote and why they selected the word they did.
invisible hand of God
While her mother-in-law was out of town, my friend was given the keys to her luxurious car. Later, my friend said to me, “The leather seat seems to be made just for your body shape. And the car cruises silently along the highway. Wow, such luxury is intoxicating.”
contemplate the beautiful
Edgar Allan Poe once wrote: “The pleasure which is at once the most pure, the most elevating, and the most intense, is derived, I maintain, from contemplation of the beautiful.” The purest and ultimate pleasure, then, according to the psalmist, is our contemplation of God.
David’s chief desire and longing in life was to live in the presence of Yahweh…
like Jesus
Last month I was a character reference for a friend who was candidating with a missions agency. All I had to do was give my honest feedback based on certain key performance indicators (KPIs). As I “evaluated” my friend, I wondered how my peers would rate me, not in my professional capacity, but as a believer in Jesus. I wondered…
village superman
The residents of Calamba City, Philippines, have dubbed Herbert Chavez “the village superman.” Chavez earned this title by undergoing multiple surgeries to make his face and body resemble the famous superhero. He has even considered implanting metal in his legs to make him taller like Superman. While Chavez’s devotion to his hero seems extreme, many would agree, he did pick…
criticism
One Sunday morning a pastor got up in the pulpit and apologized for the Band-Aid on his face. He said, “I was thinking about my sermon while shaving, and I cut my face.” Afterward he found a note in a collection plate, “Next time, think about your face and cut the sermon.” That critique of the pastor’s sermon may have…
true beauty
Some 30,000 people recently were informed that they weren’t as attractive as they thought. This image-shattering news came courtesy of the staff of a cyber dating service for “beautiful men and women.” The staff dropped the gasping group (and their glamor shots) from its ranks because they simply didn’t make the cut. A spokesman for the site said, “We can’t…
what will your story be?
"A good name is better than a good ointment, and the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth" (Ecclesiastes 7:1).
I read this today during my quiet time with God. As I read it, the power of this verse hit me in a special way. Here's why . . .
As I was walking through…
