Guidelines For Living Devotional

How Honest Are You?

Your bank's cash machine has gone berserk, giving out 20's as if they were 5's, yet your receipt shows no sign of overpayment.  You immediately know that something is wrong.  You asked for a withdrawal of $100, but it gave you $400.  What do you do?  Would you  a) Use the emergency telephone to alert the bank.  b) Take the money and run,  or c) Call your friends and tell them to get back there too, as you go to the end of the line for a second run at the machine yourself?

Lest We Forget

When we fail to remember the past, we are condemned to repeat our mistakes and failures, whether it be nationally, personally, or spiritually.  Do you believe that?  Even before the alphabet was developed in the Tigris-Euphrates river valley, parents passed on to their children the truths which they wanted preserved.  Oral history, we call it today.  Sometimes the stories were myths but most of them were factual—who did what and what happened to whom.  Those oral traditions included God's dealings with people, and family history—battles that were fought, marriages which produced offspring, and cataclysmic events such as earthquakes, famines, and floods.

When We Fall Short

It was not without some scientific basis that the prophet Micah, some seven centuries before Christ, exclaimed, "Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance?"  Micah believed that God would have compassion and would "hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:18-19).

Overcoming A Major Blunder

Long ago the writer of Scripture told us that he who does not offend in word or deed is a perfect man; and obviously, none of us qualifies.  No matter how loving or kind you are, sooner or later you offend someone.  You say or do something you know is wrong.  More likely it is a protracted dalliance with your conscience, but then you crash and burn.  That's when you come to the fork in the road.  Do you do what is convenient and try to deny the whole issue, or admit it and find help?  Sweeping the wrong aside, justifying yourself as being "human," is the path of convenience, and it's a well trod one, but it isn't a lasting solution which heals your brokenness.

The Boy Who Saved Paul’s Life

What you say can get you into far more trouble than what you do!  Have you discovered that?   It's much like the advice that the mother whale gave her young:  "It's when you are spouting that you always get into trouble!" 

Ixthus

Since the days that Christians worshipped in the catacombs to avoid persecution, the fish has been a symbol of Christianity, just as the star of David is a symbol of Judaism and the crescent symbolizes Islam.  Visitors to the Calixitus catacombs outside of Rome, see the symbol carved in the limestone walls where Christians once met and worshipped.  Many throughout the world still display the fish—whether it is lapel pin or a small insignia on the bumper of a car—to indicate their faith as Christians.

Fearfully Made

Nearly 3,000 years ago the psalmist, David, wrote, "I praise Thee because I have been fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous is Thy workmanship as my soul is well aware" (Psalm 139:14).  But just how wonderfully made man really is has come to light only in the past century as science has began to unlock the secrets of the human body.  The human body, according to medical science, contains 37 trillion cells that reproduce themselves every seven years.  Each one of the 37 trillion cells performs 10,000 different chemical functions, according to the late Dr. Ralph Byron of the City of Hope Cancer Clinic, yet all of them just work together to produce a healthy body.

Challenged Faith: Walk In Obedience

Have you ever cried out, "Lord, I just can't handle this!"?  Maybe you have never said those words audibly, but you have felt that way in your heart.  Eventually it happens to everyone.  I have suggested some guidelines that can help you when you feel like crying out, "Lord, I can't handle this."  Guideline #1:  Strengthen your faith by going to the Word of God, which cannot fail.  Guideline #2:  When your faith is challenged, refuse to relinquish what you know to be true.  Guideline #3:  When your faith is challenged, turn to the Lord, but do not turn on the Lord.

Challenged Faith: Turn Toward God

Henrietta Mears, an outstanding Christian leader whose life inspired thousands of men and women, used to say that a college student who gave up his faith had not lost his or her faith.  She contended that the person never had any faith to begin with.  Life has a way of challenging the foundation of your faith, whether it is by circumstance or factors over which you have no control, and you cry, "Lord, I just can't handle this!"  When your heart cries out in pain, there are some things you must do to undergo spiritual rehabilitation.

Challenged Faith: Remember What You Know

What do you do when your faith is tested?  Do you blame God and run the other way?  Or do you begin spiritual rehabilitation and look beyond the immediate challenge for strength and help which you do not possess?  I suggest that the first thing to do when your faith is challenged is to turn to the pages of God's Word and identify with people who have problems such as you have, and have found an answer.  But do not stop there.