We’ve all been there. Some more recently than others. Some more severe than others. We wonder—“Why me?” Why now?” How can I get through this?” Many answers could be offered, but let me focus on three. ONE: Rejoice! “What? No way!”  Read 1 Thessalonians 5:16 and James 1:2-4. (Go ahead. Read. I’ll wait.) Find three positive things over which to rejoice right now. They are there! Or stretch yourself to ten. There are at least that many. Give…

Our society is doing its very best to divide people, to force everyone into one-side-versus-the-other-side, to stir up hatred toward others, and to punish anyone who has “a differing opinion” on something. Brother and sister in Christ, people in our country are trying to get you to see everything and everyone through the lens of someone’s skin pigmentation. Brethren, please don’t be drawn into…

Nehemiah chapter 3 is an amazing passage of Scripture. It is God’s listing of those who were involved in the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem. Rather than merely saying, “The people rebuilt the wall, piece by piece,” God took time to name each person and family who was involved, and He noted what specific part they repaired. However, there was one group (the nobles…

Have you ever made a mistake (even just a small one) and then tried to point out the shortcoming of someone else in what was happening, in an effort to deflect the blame from yourself and even diminish the mistake that you made? I think this is almost a natural reaction for some (read Genesis 3:12-13). “Well, he shouldn’t have said what he said.” “Well,…

Have you seen all of the “wickedness” going on around us today? Have you seen those who are filled with “pride” and “foolishness”? Have you seen the folks who treat “adulteries” and “fornications” like it’s no big deal? Where, pray tell, is all of this coming from?  Two thousand years ago, Jesus told us exactly why these things are happening today. “For from within, out of…

Having programs in a church is great and necessary, in order to have an organized method of accomplishing the work that a local congregation needs to do. However, too often, individual members expect the programs of the church to do the work or they blame the absence of programs for work not being done. Such a reality prompted me to write a tract a…

“This world is not my home!” Aren’t you glad! Doesn’t that just make all the difference in your day knowing that “there’s a beautiful place called heaven” that is “reserved” for you (1 Pet. 1:4-5)! The very thought of heaven…the very thought that we do not deserve to be in that place for even one second…the very thought that God longs for us to be…

We might think this is so obvious, but consider the wisdom of Proverbs 22:2, especially for our day and age: “The rich and the poor have this in common, the Lord is the maker of them all.” Every rich person needs to see the poor person is made by God, and every poor person needs to see the rich person is made by…