Guidelines For Living Devotional

How To Trust God When Things Don‘t Go Well

You prayed that your husband would get the position, and after the third interview, it seems that he's got it wrapped up.  Then at the last minute, a local man shows up, one who can be hired for considerably less money.  He gets the job.  Your husband gets a polite "Thanks, but no thanks" phone call.

Learn More About The Accuracy Of The Bible

An old fortress some 20 miles southwest of the Dead Sea in Israel today has been called "one of the most spectacular finds of recent decades in all Israel."  Archaeologists have unearthed the walls of a massive Iron Age fortress, built about 800 B.C., which are some 300 feet on each side and had massive towers on each corner.  "OK," you may be thinking, "Why get excited over a pile of very old rocks in a desert?"  Good question. And the answer goes deeper than archaeology. It embraces the historical trustworthiness of the Bible at the same time.  

Why You Can Believe What The Bible Says

A college professor under whom I once studied spoke of a theologian with whom he disagreed, saying, "It isn't that he isn't a brilliant man‑‑it's just that he knows so many things that aren't true."  If truth is subjective, if it is only a matter of personal opinion, then good men can disagree and both be right.  But if historical data is supported by corroborating evidence, and if the character of the men who wrote it is supportive, then ultimately, we have to come face to face with facts. That is the situation when it comes to accepting or rejecting the credibility of the Bible.

How Do I Know What Is True?

What is truth?  This question was once asked of Jesus Christ by a man named Pontius Pilate.  The scene was a Roman courtroom.  Christ was being tried on charges of sedition, of trying to overthrow the Roman government.  It was a strained situation that prompted the question about truth. Pontius Pilate was a governor in the land of Israel.  His office was political and had been purchased by power maneuvers.  During his reign, truth had been irrelevant in his political conquest.  Bribery, graft and corruption, linked with murder and violence, had been tools of Pontius Pilate in maintaining Roman supremacy.  Now Pilate raises the philosophical question, "What is truth?"

Is The Bible Really True?

Josh McDowell, a one-time agnostic turned apologist, has asked over 1400 young people whether or not they believe the Bible, and when they respond that they do, he asks, "Why?" While Josh says there are more than 50 legitimate answers to that question, only one person has ever given him an adequate answer.

This Is Why Life Is A Choice

When I was a young pastor, I encountered suicide for the first time.  A local mortuary called and asked if someone could conduct a memorial service.  It was a large church I was involved in, and the family really wanted a kind of generic--not very specific--kind of funeral, something which I did not know when I first got the call.

How To Identify the Signs Of Suicidal Thoughts

Looking back, his mother said that the problems started with her 19-year-old son when he was turned down at the school he wanted to attend.  Trade school was their recommendation.  About then he started drinking pretty heavily and started smoking pot.  "Makes me feel better," he said.  His appearance took a hit too.  Whereas he had been pretty well groomed, he stopped bathing regularly and seemed to be withdrawn and sullen.  He often shut himself in his room and listened to music or slept the day away. "I wish I was dead," he told a friend.

4 Guidelines To Teaching Your Kids To Be Honest

Children lie for the same reasons that adult lie:  to avoid punishment, to win respect or to appear better than they are, because they don't trust someone with the truth, or because they feel threatened with power.  Without realizing it, many parents teach their children to lie and actually encourage them in the practice at the very time they dislike what they see and punish their child because of it.

Stop Living A Dishonest Life

When I was a boy and Mother suspected that my story had been slightly amplified, she would say, "Son, look me in the eye!"  She was convinced that if I could look her in the eye and tell her something, it was the truth!  In Numbers Five of your Old Testament, there is a passage which I've never fully understood; nonetheless, it was a provision to determine whether a wife was lying about being unfaithful to her husband.  A wife who had been so accused went to the tabernacle, and took a vow before the Lord saying that she had slept with no one but her husband.  Then she drank water which had some dust from the tabernacle floor in it.  If she was telling the truth, there was no harm. If she was lying, she was cursed with childlessness.

How To Show Sincere Gratitude

There is a difference between expressing thanks for something and being genuinely grateful for it.  For example, let's suppose you are a craftsman and you agree to do a certain amount of work for so much money, and you fulfill your obligation.  The work is done within the prescribed period of time and you do it well.  When you fulfill your contract, you are paid.  Common courtesy demands that you respond, saying, "Thank you!" as you pick up the check in the brown manila envelope and take your tools home.