I AM A SUCKER FOR TIME-MANAGEMENT BOOKS. Some people can’t say no to a salesman at the door. Others have the hardest time passing up a litter of free puppies. Some people struggle with driving by a garage sale without stopping. Still others find it almost impossible to withstand the urge to gamble. Not me. My weakness is books that teach me about the investment of my time—all of those volumes that promise to tell me how to replace simply being busy with being effective.
Read MoreCategory Archives: Christian Living
Hoping and Waiting
AT LONG LAST I AM FINALLY discovering that that stuff about Rome not being built in a day is true. And speaking of Rome, Paul’s words to the century-one Christians who lived there are truer than ever. We believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children . . .
Read MoreConsidering Life
SNAP A TELESCOPIC LENS ON your perspective for the next few minutes. Pull yourself up close enough to see the real you. Pore over your own pores. Study what you see. Like a physician giving you a physical. Like an artist painting your portrait. Like a biographer writing your story. From the reflection in your mental mirror, pay close attention to your life. Try your best to examine the inner “you” based on time.
Read MoreA Handwritten Note
THERE IS NOTHING QUITE like the charm and personal touch conveyed in a handwritten note. Since our penmanship, like our fingerprint, is altogether unique, each curve of the letter or stroke of the pen bears its own originality. Occasionally, it’s nice to think some still cared enough to throw efficiency to the winds and look you right in the eye, as it were, with their words.
Read MoreFighting the Fast Fade
As you waved goodbye to your friends at church last Sunday, what mental darts were left stuck in the target of your thinking? Can you remember those pointed challenges from the man who stood before you with Bible in hand? How many hours have passed since you sat there, opening your ears and heart to counsel from God’s always-relevant Book? A few dozen maybe? Ah, it’s starting to fade, isn’t it?
Read MoreGive Yourself Permission
Since most humans suffer from a lack of balance in their lives, our best counsel on living a steady and stable life comes from God’s Word. In Paul’s letter to the Christians in Ephesus, he includes this most unusual command:
Read MoreEchoes
A YOUNG BOY LIVED WITH his grandfather on the top of a mountain in the Swiss Alps. Often, just to hear his voice echoing back to him, he would go outside, cup his hands around his mouth, and shout, “HELLO!” Up from the canyons it reverberated over and over, “HELLO . . . HELLO . . . hello . . . hello . . . hello . . .”
Read MoreBelieving God’s Promises
IN THE BOOK of Hebrews, Abraham is praised for believing God’s promises.
God called Abraham to move to a place where he didn’t know a soul.
Read MoreBeyond Your Comfort Zone
HEBREWS 11 has been called “the hall of faith”—and for good reason. Beginning with one of the first people on earth, the author traces the essential quality of faith through Hebrew history, highlighting ten great men and women.
Read MoreWilling to Go
IN RESPONSE to Eliezer’s prayer, the Lord directed Abraham’s servant to a woman from Abraham’s family clan—a woman of uncommon character who worshiped the one true Creator. And in addition to all that, she was pretty!
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