One of our regular readers and my longtime good friend, David, responded to Monday’s blog post, “Love is Patient,” with an important observation.
David pointed out that patience is not only something we owe to one another; it is also something we must learn in our relationship with God. He offered the example from Hebrews 6:15 of the patriarch Abraham, who “patiently waited” for God’s promise to be fulfilled. Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship
In the 2016 Olympics, two runners gave the world a living picture of a principle Solomon described nearly 3,000 years earlier: “If they fall, one will lift up his companion” (Ecclesiastes 4:10).
During the women’s 5,000-meter race, New Zealand runner Nikki Hamblin fell after a collision on the track. American runner Abbey D’Agostino was caught up in the accident and fell as well. Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship
The National Calendar, whose motto is “Celebrate Every Day,” recognizes some unusual, weird, wacky, and generally unknown holidays and celebrations.
Today’s observance, however, touches the lives of almost everyone—Social Media Day. Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship
The late Robert Jackson was one of my mentors as a young preacher. He used to preach a sermon in meetings he called “Put Your Finger on the Passage.”
As I recall, Robert would introduce ideas that folks had about the Bible, some accurate and some inaccurate, and then say, “Put your finger on the passage.” Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship
What good is a virtue that disappears when it becomes difficult? What value is honesty, faithfulness, or integrity if they only exist when they cost us nothing?
This quote recently caught my eye:
“The virtue of courage is a prerequisite for the practice of all other virtues; otherwise, one is virtuous only when virtue has no cost.”
Filed under Courage, Discipleship
Growing older is something we all want to do, but something many people fear.
Some time ago, TIME magazine published an article titled, “Why Americans Are Uniquely Afraid to Grow Old.” The article contained statistics, research, and insights from psychology about aging. But the bottom line was this: The fear of aging is one of our greatest fears, especially among the generation known as Baby Boomers. Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship
There’s an old story about a young farmer down in the Bootheel of Missouri who’s plowing his field one spring. He’s growing discouraged with farming. He tried planting cotton, but it didn’t do very well. Soybeans weren’t any better.
He’s wondering what he ought to do with the rest of his life. As he steers his tractor up one row and down another, he utters a fervent prayer to God: “Lord, if you have a plan for my life, please send me a sign, and I will obey.” Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship, Gospel
“What you do speaks so loudly, I can’t hear what you’re saying,” was once noted by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Emerson’s observation reminds us that influence is often communicated more by what we do than by what we say. Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship, Influence
Greetings from Beverly Hills, FL
Welcome to new readers around the world. We’ve had a great week of engagement with a surge of hits from Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Belgium. Thank you for reading. We hope you will continue to follow our blog regularly. Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship
My friend, fellow Hoosier, and preaching colleague, Steve Wolfgang, recently posted 7 Rules for Self-Discovery by A. W. Tozer that caught my eye.
Tozer originally published these in an essay entitled The Root of the Righteous, which later became the title of a book.
Tozer understood something that Scripture repeatedly teaches: character is revealed not merely by what we profess, but by what we desire, pursue, enjoy, and value. His seven rules provide a helpful mirror for the soul. Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship
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