A Class Act
There’s something within the human condition that seems to enjoy seeing others fail, especially if those who fail were previously successful. For instance, we might celebrate seeing a top sports team fall from their lofty perch after a long period of success. About time too, and other phrases come to mind.
compassion—not condemnation
An episode of the BBC show Call the Midwife, set years ago in London, tells the story of a mother who reluctantly prepared to have her unborn baby adopted as soon as she was born. She did so because the child hadn’t been fathered by her husband. And it was likely to be obvious, for the skin color of the baby’s biological father was black while the woman and her husband were white.
a shameful example
Although Dubai has some of the most lenient social codes in the Persian Gulf, authorities occasionally make examples of those who blatantly flout the law. During our 2-year stay in the metropolis, there were reports of Westerners who’d been sentenced to jail for kissing in public or exchanging steamy text messages.
of hobbies and gossip
A woman became engrossed in a new hobby. The activity itself was a healthy one, but the devoted wife and mother soon began to neglect her family and friends—even her walk with God.
indicted or invited?
There are two ways most people tend to read the Bible. One is to read it mostly as an indictment of the human race. In other words, we’re sinful rebels who are bent on finding life apart from God.
pearls to pigs
I have always been perplexed by today’s reading in Matthew 7. What are these “pearls” being spoken of and who are the “pigs” we’re not to throw them to?
breaking away
Say the word glacier and most of us think of something massive and slow-moving. One group of Alaskan tourists, however, witnessed a jaw-dropping surprise when a 200-foot-tall chunk of ice broke away from a glacier.
One passenger aboard the Tracy Arm Fjords Tours boat captured a video clip of the “mini” iceberg plunging into the water. It created forceful waves and…
altering God's law
Leviticus 20:10-11: If a man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, both the man and the woman who have committed adultery must be put to death. If a man violates his father by having sex with one of his father’s wives, both the man and the woman must be put to death, for they are guilty of a capital offense.
Have you…
avoiding the pit
1 Peter 4:12-14: Don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in His suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing His glory when it is revealed to all the world. So be happy when…
forget the devil?
Martyn Lloyd-Jones once said: “I am certain that one of the main causes of the ill state of the church today is the fact that the devil is being forgotten. We have become so psychological in our attitude and thinking. We are ignorant of this great objective fact—the being, the existence of the devil, the adversary, the accuser.”
While we…
silencing the accuser's voice
John 8:7-11: They kept demanding an answer, so [Jesus] stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then He stooped down again and wrote in the dust. When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the…
no condemnation
As an avid angler, I find the stories of Jesus and fishing particularly compelling. In one account, along the Sea of Galilee, Jesus appeared to His disciples for the third time following His resurrection (John 21:1-23). Similar to the time they had first met the Master (Luke 5:1-11), they had caught nothing after a frustrating night of fishing. Then Jesus…
unshackled
Clad in bright yellow shirts, the women were hard to miss. Shackled and standing in line, some of the suspected prostitutes covered their faces with their hands. People who witnessed this spectacle of shame raged online, claiming that many women resort to prostitution to feed their families. The nation’s government responded by creating a new law to ban the practice…
criminally cute
Giddy with delight, my young son Elias slipped out of the room that served as a temporary nursery to newborn kittens. His mother had warned him not to touch them, so she asked, “Did you touch the kitties, Elias?”
“No!” he said earnestly. Mom wasn’t fooled, so she probed a bit further. “Were they soft?” “Yes,” he volunteered, “and the…
we've got answers
While in college, I volunteered at a center that provided emergency housing assistance. One winter day, a distraught woman called to complain about her negligent landlord. She couldn’t stay in her rental home because of severe maintenance problems. In a panic, she asked what she could do to care for her children in the cold weather. I gave the standard…
