It is so easy to “look at others” and to be jealous (even slightly so) when they “have more” than you do, “have it easier” than you do, “get to do more fun things” than you do, etc. In “looking at others,” it becomes very easy to forget what you have or minimize the value of what you have. In 1897, Johnson Oatman,…

Probably every person who has ever used a phone has heard the recorded message, “Your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please check the number and dial again.” This is an indication that something went wrong with the attempted call, usually on the caller’s end or the phone network. Can something similar happen in our spiritual lives? We may be under the impression that God…

Climbing Mount Everest is a hard thing to do. Going all the way through med school and residency and becoming a full-fledged doctor is a hard thing to do. Carrying a baby for nine months and going through childbirth is a hard thing to do. Add to this list—forgiving someone who has wronged you. That’s a hard thing to do. Can I…

During what had to be a very somber occasion, Jesus said to one of His dear friends, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me” (Luke 22:34). Peter “spoke more vehemently, ‘If I have to die with You, I will not deny You!’” (Mark 14:31). Only hours later, Peter was…

As Jesus approached the city of Jerusalem in the last week of His life, He sent two of His disciples into a village, “where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat” (Luke 19:30). Two verses later, they “found it just as He had said to them” (19:32). A few days later, Jesus sent Peter and…

After a long night of agonizing, blood-stained prayers, followed by a friend’s betrayal and a criminal arrest, then hours of kangaroo court proceedings, accompanied by taunts and violent mobs, which culminated in a vicious scourging, Jesus was “led away” to be crucified, “bearing His cross” (John 19:16-17). Somewhere along the way, the executioners “compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian…to bear His cross”…

The service representative that you’re talking to on the phone didn’t make the policies that you’re upset about. The cashier at the store didn’t decide the prices or what’s on sale. The front desk clerk at the hotel is not the one who failed to clean your room properly. The restaurant worker taking your order is not responsible for the company’s app not working.  It’s…

The car that you own has 46,885,247 parts that can break and need to be replaced. (Well, not really, but it feels like that sometimes, doesn’t it?) So, it is fairly easy to tell the mechanic, “No, I don’t want to do that suggested maintenance.” But most of the suggested maintenance is designed to keep your car running for a longer time and, more importantly,…