You Reap What You Sow You reap what you sow, more than you sow and later than you sow. Today is the parent of tomorrow. What we are today is the result of what we have been thinking and the way we have lived in the past. Those who actRead More …

Watch Your Step! *What do you think of when you hear the word “prosperity”? *Describe a time when you saw someone rewarded for bad behavior. How did that make you feel? It’s easy to be jealous of someone else’s wealth. It can make us angry to know that someone hasRead More …

Sowing Seeds of Peace Want to see a miracle? Try this. Take a seed the size of a freckle. Put it under several inches of dirt. Give it enough water, light, and fertilizer. And get ready. A mountain will be moved. It doesn’t matter that the ground is a zillionRead More …

Trustworthy Protector God foretold that Pharaoh would regret releasing the Israelites. Sure enough, the Egyptians followed the fleeing Hebrews with a vengeance. Though the Hebrews were quaking in their sandals, Moses understood that the best offense was a good defender. He promised: The LORD will fight for you. Do youRead More …

The Promise of Resurrection and Life 7 In Jesus’ “I am” statement in verse 25—“I am the resurrection and the life”—he identified himself as the fulfillment of resurrection hope and expectations. This is the fifth of the seven “I am” claims in this Gospel. The promise of resurrection and lifeRead More …

The Happy File It wasn’t what some would call a perfect day, but to her it was special. We had spent the day together just hanging out around the house. Simple things like eating lunch on the deck, soaking up the sunshine and giggling over funny memories traced the outlinesRead More …

Encouragement: Words that Build Up Paul’s words admonish us to speak only good, not corrupt, words—ones that build up, encourage and edify. Our words are to constitute a gift to the hearer (Eph 4:29). Jesus and Paul are examples for us in their use of uplifting words to encourage. EvenRead More …

Pride Vs. Humility It’s not hard to see the irony in this turn of events. Haman was on his way to recommend that Mordecai be hanged, yet he unknowingly is recommending that Mordecai be honored and given the royal treatment. “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall”Read More …

Contentment For many Americans, the pursuit of self-fulfillment and personal happiness has become a religion. Even Christians have bought into this religion of self-actualization, pursuing God only because they see him as an agent for happiness. They want happiness, and they think they can use God to get it. InRead More …

Timothy: An Unlikely Leader Nothing can make someone more unlikely—even unwilling—to lead than feelings of inadequacy. Timothy, the young protégé of the apostle Paul, must have felt much as Moses did when God called him to lead Israel out of Egyptian captivity. Moses felt inadequate for the task, and likelyRead More …