September 14, 2015
Live change requires that knowledge moves from our heads to our hearts. When we know better than we do, we still have only head knowledge. What we need is heart knowledge. Better to know and do one thing than to know many things and do none of them. “Apply” what you learn from the Word to your life. Put your heart into it.
August 27, 2015
Parents, discipline your child and teach them the right way while they are still young. It’s much easier to correct a 3-year old than a 13-year old. Focus on heart change, asking the Lord to help you, and perhaps someday you will know the joy of having your 30-year old walk beside you in friendship, holding the hand of your 3-year old grandchild doing the same.
July 31, 2015
One can have ears and eyes, yet still be deaf and blind. The Lord has made both the physical and the spiritual ability to hear. Both are grace. The physical all understand, but few recognize the spiritual. The first offers wisdom of the physical world, the second makes one receptive to the gospel and believing. One is not the other. Only God makes the “hearing ear” and the “seeing eye.” This was God’s calling to Paul and to us: “I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26:18-19).
July 9, 2015
Marriage was God’s idea. It is not a mere social construct, but a Divine creation. It is God’s provision for man’s need for companionship and oneness. This oneness is three-dimensional, involving the physical, the soul and the spirit. It is also God’s plan for having children and parenting. The Bible opens and closes with a wedding and God is intimately involved in both. This proverb describes God’s favor in the finding of a good wife. She is to be treasured and received as a gift from God. When a husband and wife view one another as a gift from God to be received and cherished, they begin to experience the oneness that He intended.
I am a man who has obtained God’s favor. Her name is Robin. And she is the greatest gift other than Jesus that God has given me.
June 12, 2015
Faith must be tested. It must pass through life’s furnace, so that impurities may rise to the top and be removed. As Peter wrote, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6-7). May your faith be found authentic and pure to the praise of Jesus our Lord!
June 10, 2015
Patience is the fruit of the Spirit that makes us “slow to anger.” The Greek word for patience might also be translated “long-suffering.” Or it might be understood in modern terms as having a long fuse. Are you easily angered? Do you have a short fuse? Ask God to give you the fruit of patience, which makes us slow to anger.
June 7, 2015
There are those who say that there are many ways to God. They say that all religions are essentially the same, so it doesn’t really matter what you believe as long as you have faith. Yet, God’s Word says otherwise. Jesus talked about this. He warned, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matt. 7:13-14). So, what is the right way, where is this narrow gate? Jesus answered this question. He said, “I am the gate” (John 10:9). He also said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). What you believe matters. There is only one right way: Jesus.
June 5, 2015
Knowledge informs the mind, but wisdom controls the mouth. The fruit of the lips reveals the character of the heart. Does wisdom rule there? In Proverbs, wisdom is always seen as being from God alone. Therefore, asking does wisdom rule is the same as asking, “Does God rule?” Who monitors your mouth?
May 29, 2015
There is no biblical prohibition against making plans. There is wisdom in planning for the future. Yet, it is foolish to leave the Lord out of our planning for God is the one who holds the future. So, ask for God’s wisdom when making plans. Seek godly counsel. Pray for clarity and follow God’s instruction. And when things don’t go according to plan, don’t get frustrated. Adjust. Be flexible and listen. Perhaps God has a better plan.
May 17, 2015
When there is no love in the home no amount of food or furnishing can compensate. Without love, a rich banquet is dry and tasteless. With love, the simplest fare is life-giving. Everything tastes better with love. Make sure to include it in every recipe. Love makes the menu.