Our Daily Bread

Imagine that you’re visiting a foreign country when you realize that you’re being followed. Your every move is watched. Your every conversation is monitored. Your hotel room is bugged and the restaurant tables are electronically rigged to pick up every word you speak. It’s as if at all times someone wants to know what you are doing, saying, thinking, and planning. You are constantly under the scrutiny of another, and it seems there is no place to hide.

James A. Meads Jr. began his sermon with this statement: “The reason you and I cannot ignore God can be stated in one word: Israel. No other nation has been known as a ‘chosen people.’ No other nation has as much to say about the love, the patience, and the anger of God. Through Israel, God has given the world an object lesson about His nature.”

Japan’s second-largest airport is sinking into the ocean. When Kansai International near Osaka was constructed on an artificial island, designers and builders knew that it would settle. They built hydraulic jacks into the structures to correct any tilt that occurred. But during its first 6 years, several key portions of the airport have reached or exceeded their 50-year sinking projection. They say there is no reason to be alarmed, but local residents are not so sure.

Does the design of the universe point to an intelligent Designer? Even though many scientists resist that idea and propose naturalistic explanations for the origin of the cosmos, they sometimes use words that point to a Creator.

On my way home from high school I often walked by one cemetery and cut through another. I was intrigued by the grave markers, for they revealed the social status of each person who had died. Near the cemetery entrances were crypts, gray stone buildings with ornate iron scrollwork and the family name prominently displayed. Pillars and large ornamental markers were nearby, then rows and rows of headstones. Small, flat, stone markers marked the graves of the poor.

The relationship between David and King Saul is one of the strangest and most volatile recorded in the Bible. David came to Saul’s rescue on several occasions (as a harp player and as a warrior), he was best friends with the king’s son, and he married the king’s daughter. Now, don’t you think such a person would be in pretty good standing with the monarch?

If we truly believe that Jesus is coming back, we have good reason to be patient. Why should we not endure indignity and injustice if we know that ultimate and absolute justice is just around the corner? Is there any better hope than to know that Jesus is coming again to set everything right?

Imagine that a person was seriously ill and near death but then recovered. Recalling his experience, he says that recovering from the surgery that saved his life was extremely painful. But then he jokingly remarks, “Think of the alternative!”

Lists can be boring, but not the one in Hebrews 11. It’s an impressive list of Old Testament believers and their amazing accomplishments. However, the writer kept interspersing the words “by faith,” for his emphasis was strictly faith, not fame. Through faith these people obtained a good testimony (v.39), but was there always a good outcome?

One reason many Christians are so hesitant to witness for Christ is that they fear failure. They forget the life-changing power of the gospel.