Every Inch Of Me
Shortly before Peter Doot died at age 92, he said, “I am six-foot-four, and every inch belongs to the Lord.” I had known him for 65 years, and I’m sure what he said was true.
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Beware Of Quick Fixes
Some people pray only in a crisis. They have a “quick fix” mentality that sees God mainly as a problem solver. When merciful solutions come, He is courteously thanked, then more or less forgotten until the next crisis.
Read More »Heading Home
It is possible for us to anticipate death with the gladness of school children when a day’s classes are over. An unknown poet has written:
Read More »Standing Before God
During preparation for jury duty, I watched a videotape that said: “All across the state, jury panels are being assembled to sit in judgment of others, just as one day people may assemble to sit in judgment of us.”
Read More »The Power Of Our Limits
When God called Moses to serve, he replied, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue” (Exodus 4:10).
Read More »Prayer-Meeting Blues
Prayer meetings can get you down. No matter how much you look forward to gathering with friends to pray, the requests can be disheartening. A missionary is having health problems. A child has cancer. A couple from your Sunday school class is getting a divorce. The missionary appointee is having difficulty raising financial support. And you have struggles of your own. The more requests you hear, the more weary you grow.
Read More »Someone To Hold On To
In his book The Fisherman and His Friends, Louis Albert Banks tells of two men who were assigned to stand watch on a ship out at sea. During the night the waves from a raging storm washed one of them overboard. The sailor who drowned had been in the most sheltered place, while the one who survived was more exposed to the elements. What made the difference? The man who was lost had nothing to hold on to.
Read More »On Loan
I am surrounded every day by things that don’t belong to me, yet I call them mine. For instance, I refer to the computer I am using to write this article as “my Mac.” I talk about “my office,” “my desk,” and “my phone.” But none of this equipment belongs to me. It’s mine to use, but not mine to keep. When RBC Ministries “gave” it to me, we both knew what that meant: It was on loan.
Read More »Just Be Yourself
Some Christian groups exert pressure on their members to talk, act, or look alike. This must frustrate the people who are judged for not conforming. In trying to make them “fit,” the group may be stifling their strongest and best gifts.
Read More »The Cost Of Neglect
I read about a Detroit man who couldn’t find his house. He had gone to the right address but all he found was an empty lot. Completely baffled, he asked the Detroit Free Press to help him figure out what was going on. A newspaper reporter learned that not only was the house gone, but the deed to the empty lot was in someone else’s name.
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