walls
Walls are designed to keep people safe. But walls also divide, keeping people apart. The 96-mile (155 km) Berlin Wall kept the East Germans in. The Great Wall of China, which was believed to be 5,500 miles long (8,850 km) and is now estimated to be 13,170 miles long (21,196 km), kept enemies out.
intimidation of the Bible
The Bible can intimidate me sometimes. Certain statements bring on the guilt. Here are just a few of them: “You are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48); “You must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy” (1 Peter 1:15). Psalm 119 elicits enough guilt to last a lifetime: “I have devoted myself to Your commandments” (Psalm 119:45); “I rise at midnight to thank You for Your just regulations” (Psalm 119:62); “I have more insight than my teachers, for I am always thinking of Your laws” (Psalm 119:99); “I have done what is just and right” (Psalm 119:121).
backslap back?
When I lived in China, I had an American friend who was radically committed to bringing the gospel to that nation. He mastered the Chinese language until even the Chinese thought he spoke exactly like them, with no foreign accent; and he aggressively shared Jesus at every opportunity. Once he was attacked by thugs, and rather than use his larger size to fight back he obeyed Jesus’ command to turn the other cheek. His pummeling increased my admiration for him, though I also think he missed Jesus’ point.
new name, new life?
Each year, thousands of people change their names. Some of these changes reflect a deep desire for a new life. “I changed my name and it changed me,” wrote singer Alina Simone in The New York Times. “When I think back to my old self, I think of an entirely different person, not altogether likable,” she reflects. That old person, Alina Vilenkin, was put aside. Alina Simone formed a band, tried new things, and poured her “best self” into her new name.
a new genesis
A couple of years ago, as I was driving our son Wyatt to kindergarten, our conversation turned to resurrection. Understandably, Wyatt was perplexed about what it meant and how it worked. Finally, he asked the question for which he most wanted an answer. “Dad,” he asked, “when God raises us from the dead, are we going to be really alive? Or just alive in our head?”
squash the beef
During a promotional event, two 73-year-old former Canadian Football League players got into a fistfight on stage. They had a “beef” (a grudge or feud between friends, family members, or enemies) dating back to a controversial championship football game in November 1963. After one of the senior citizens knocked the other off the stage, the crowd yelled at him to “let it go!” In essence, they were telling him to “squash the beef.”
clean conscience
According to a 2008 character survey of nearly 30,000 high school students, 64 percent of them said they had cheated on a test in the past year, 30 percent had stolen from a store, 42 percent said they would lie to save money, and 83 percent said they had lied to their parents about something significant. One of the more interesting findings of the survey was that 93 percent of the students surveyed said they were satisfied with their personal ethics and character. These students seem to have a clear case of what the Bible calls a “corrupted” conscience (Titus 1:15).
no different?
Conned out of a large sum of money by a business partner, who claimed to be deacon in a church, my friend’s anger and disenchantment ran deep. He said, “How can a Christian do this kind of thing? I trusted him. Now I know he’s no different from a non-Christian!”
unlikely candidates
According to Martin Luther, Jesus was standing with sinners even from His birth. Luther wrote, “Christ is the kind of person who is not ashamed of sinners—in fact, He even puts them in His family tree!” This was never truer than when Matthew wrote down his account of Jesus the Messiah. He included two people in Jesus’ family tree—Judah and Tamar—who were truly unlikely candidates.
you choose Q: how do I deal with the guilt of my past?
Q: How do I deal with the guilt of my past? —Shellie
A: You’ve asked how you can deal with the guilt of your past, presumably due to some sin—something you regret. Perhaps you feel entrapped by these memories.
Jesus assured us that “every sin can be forgiven” (Matthew 12:31). If you have confessed and repented, God will forgive you (1…
a little is too much
There’s something so tempting about the antisocial delicacy of gossip. We enjoy it, even when it makes us feel guilty and ashamed. According to researchers, however, we don’t have to feel ashamed anymore because a little gossip is healthy. The researchers believe gossip is what keeps the culture going, greasing the social machine. “It’s a social skill, not a character…
time in a bottle
Last year, Daniil Korotkikh, a 13-year-old Russian boy, was beachcombing on the Curonian Spit when he stumbled upon an old bottle poking out of the sand. He picked it up, uncorked it, and discovered a letter written 24 years earlier. Frank, a German boy on a ship to Denmark with his family, had written a letter including his address for…
verbal strikes
I grew up under the weight of a verbally abusive grandfather. To this day, years after his death, I still struggle with ramifications of things he said to me and how I responded.
During my teenage years, I took my grandfather’s endless criticism with a grain of salt and made every effort to respond to him in a gentle Christlike…
improving your eyesight
Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, but faith looks up. —H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Waste not fresh tears over old griefs. Waste not time on matters that are out of your hands. Have faith that we have a loving God who will always take care of us. —Joseph- Anthony Green
How many people waste their lives torturing themselves over…
safety net
A friend of mine bought a trampoline for his young boys. After he had assembled it, his sons excitedly begged him to let them give it try. He reluctantly let them climb onto it but told them to be careful because he hadn’t installed the safety net around the trampoline. So his boys cautiously crept to the middle of the…
