You can know someone, even think you know them well, but there are times when something comes up and you discover you really didn’t know them like you thought you did. You really know someone when you are intimate with them, when you know all of their ins and outs, their deepest needs and secrets. Some people know about Jesus, but don’t care. They think He
When I was a boy, we had an old radio that had been in our family for a long time. On occasion, static would come on that radio, and my dad would just smack the side of the radio to make the static go away. Could it be that when storms or difficulties come into our lives that God is just “slapping us” on
John D. Rockefeller was once asked, “How much money does it take to satisfy somebody?” He famously answered, “Just a little more.” That seems to be true, doesn’t it? No one is immune to greed. A person can have much and be greedy, or a person can have little and be greedy. Jesus says to beware of all forms of greed, because a person
It is among popular “Christian” belief that an abundance of material and other blessings follow those whose hearts are truly after God and that those who seem to consistently struggle to that end, cannot possibly be in God’s perfect will. I want to submit to you a realization I had about this very thing. I think we might have it all backwards. Almost all
When I was in school, it seemed they ran a “fire drill” at least once a year. A long, loud, kind of scary bell would sound, and we knew it was either a real fire, or more likely, just another drill. We were formed into lines, ushered down the halls, and out the doors we went. Of course, the point was practice, so we
We all know the world is in turmoil because of the Coronavirus outbreak. Many people are under mandatory stay-at-home rules. Many are afraid they will be infected. You may have fear right now. Am I going to get sick? I’m sick now, do I have Covid-19? While it is a serious illness, we serve a seriously powerful God. This pandemic is no surprise to
When missionary Dr. David Livingstone was working in Africa, a group of friends wrote him. “We would like to send other men to you. Have you found a good road into your area yet?” Dr. Livingstone sent this message in reply: “If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don’t want them. I want men
We are living in a world that has been turned upside down by the Coronavirus. But, as it says in the book of Ecclesiastes, there is nothing new under the sun. The 16th-century theologian Martin Luther had this to say during the bubonic plague, offering his thoughts in a letter titled “Whether One May Flee From a Deadly Plague” on how best to practically and spiritually
Charles Swindoll wrote about men who bring in animals from Africa for American zoos. They say that one of the hardest animals to catch there is the ring-tailed lemur. For the Zulus of that continent, however, it’s simple. They’ve been catching this agile little animal with ease for years. The method the Zulus use is based on knowledge of the animal. Their trap is
Do you ever feel weak, inept, unable to do what you want to do? Not strong physically, emotionally or spiritually? If so, you are not the first person to feel that way. Gideon was one of those people. In Judges 6:12, an angel comes to Gideon and says “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” Gideon probably looked around him to
