Guidelines For Living Devotional

When Love Walks Out

Do all singles wish they were married?  No, not any more than all married folks wish they were single. Some of the most frustrated, angry, and bitter individuals I have ever met are those who wanted to marry, but never did.  I'm thinking in particular of some individuals who went outside of God’s plan for sexual purity, lived with someone, but ended up alone and with a broken heart. 

What Should We Be Tolerant Of?

If you want to know how tolerant you really are, don't look at your own mistakes.  Rather, look at the mistakes of your worst enemy.  Don't measure your tolerance when you put a scratch on the new car‑‑because the parked one was way too far out from the curb.  Measure your tolerance when your spouse backs into the left rear fender of your car.

Where to Find the Courage You Need

When it comes to courage, you cannot chart it.  You cannot put it on a line graph.  You cannot measure its specific density. When it is displayed, a person is a hero, and when it is missing, a person is called a coward.

What's Blinding You from Seeing Jesus in Your Life?

There was something about the stranger who walked with those two men, which fascinated them.  The location was a dusty road that led from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  It happened almost 2000 years ago.  Jesus of Nazareth had taught the multitudes for three years.  He had done some fantastic things. He had healed the lame and the blind.  He had taken a little boy's lunch and then fed a multitude of more than 5,000 men, to say nothing of the number of women and children.

The Difference in Communication Between Men and Women

I was almost asleep when my wife exclaimed, “It’s obvious that a male wrote this book,” as she closed the book, one a publisher had asked us to evaluate. My wife, Darlene, is pretty low-key and cuts an author quite a bit of slack for individuality.  “Why do you say that?” I asked.  “Well,” she explained, “what he says is good, but it’s factual, and cut and dried. There’s no emotion or feeling in what he writes.” And with those observations she clearly defined one of the big differences between men and women.

How to Be Content in a Materialistic World

"It began as a simple, or simply terrifying, pledge taken by a small group of friends feeling overwhelmed by all the things in their lives," writes Elizabeth Weise.  She explains, "Over a potluck dinner two years ago, they made a pact: Buy nothing new except food, medicine and toiletries for six months."[1]  When a major newspaper did a feature on the unique experiment, the idea exploded. In a matter of a few weeks more than 700 people from countries as diverse as Japan, the Philippines, and Brazil have put their names on an Internet list to do the same thing.
 
[1] Elizabeth Weise, "USATODAY, March 23, 2006, March 26, 2006, D-1.

Does Reincarnation Fit in with Christianity?

Reincarnation has been defined as "the transmigration of the soul," and, according to the teaching of some eastern religions, you may have had a previous existence in a lower form of life, and as the result of your personal goodness, you move up the ladder in each successive rebirth towards heaven.

3 Simple Steps to Get to Heaven

It's an old story but it still proves a point.  A pastor midway through his sermon asked the question on a warm Sunday morning, "How many of you want to go to heaven when you die?"  Everyone raised his hand except one man, obviously asleep.  Focusing on the sleeping man, the pastor loudly asked, "How many of you want to go to hell when you die?"

What Will Life in Heaven Be Like?

Thomas Edison, the inventor of the incandescent globe, or the "light bulb" as we call it today, was never one to waste words.  Hard of hearing, he avoided a lot of social conversation; but when he said something, people listened.  That was especially true of the night Edison lay dying.  Struggling to say something, his wife and doctor leaned down to catch his dying words.  With a smile he clearly and distinctly said, "It is very beautiful over there!"

Do Babies Go to Heaven? (and Other Questions)

Whenever I travel overseas and I have not been to a particular place before, I always am curious about what to expect when I get there.  I want to know about the weather, the geography, the people, and my wardrobe--what kind of clothes I should bring, which is usually determined by what I'm going to be doing when I get there.