Guidelines For Living Devotional

What To Forget And What To Remember

"In some parts of Mexico," writes James Hewett, "hot springs and cold springs are found side by side—and because of the convenience of this natural phenomenon the women often bring their laundry and boil their clothes in the hot springs and then rinse them in the cold ones."  On one occasion a tourist, watching nature's laundromat, commented that "Mother Nature is pretty generous to supply such ample, clean hot and cold water here side by side for their free use."  To his great surprise, however, the friend replied, "No señor, there is much grumbling because she supplies no soap."[1]
 
[1] James. S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1998), 262.

Are You Disagreeing Over Money?

There are only three things you can do with it: spend it, save it, or give it away. Only three choices. Yet when it comes to the bottom line of disagreements, you'll probably find it, almost every time.  It's money!  No matter how much they have, or how little they have, people don't agree on how it's spent.  Playing a prominent part in at least 85% of all broken homes, the handling of money is one of the most explosive issues that confront people today, especially in times of recession and inflation.

What God Thinks About Tolerance

Question:  On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the greatest, how tolerant are you? "Tolerant of what?" you might ask, thinking of politics, religion, sports, or intelligence.  Most of us think of ourselves as being quite tolerant, and certainly if we are in the minority, we demand tolerance and respect as a kind of sacred right.

What Do You Believe About Hell?

There is something about believing in hell which is repugnant to the modern mind. Heaven? Sure! That's consistent with the picture of a loving God, one who cares far too much about us to turn anyone away from His door. Yes, we can abide the thought that God may punish His errant children as we human parents have to do--at least for a bit; but the idea of fire and brimstone, smoke, and torment reminds us more of the graphic imagery of Dante's The Divine Comedy than of John 3:16.

5 Steps To Growing In Grace

When Peter came to the end of writing the second book which bears his name, he gave some very practical advice.  He ended by saying, "Be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men…" and "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."  Notice the two words: guard and grow.  That was the practical advice of a fisherman who knew that he had to defend his fishing grounds, but he couldn't spend all of his time keeping others out of what he felt belonged to him.  He had to fish.  He had to grow.

What Does It Mean To Take Up My Cross?

When Jesus called people, He interrupted their goals, their plans, their life works and their consciences as well.  The more they know Him, the more they came to understand that following Jesus was not a part-time vocation but an absolute, all-encompassing commitment.  And that is why on more than one occasion, some turned away and ceased to follow him.

Here Is How To Have Enough

Probably no other generation in history has been more committed to living for the moment than is our present one; or put in somewhat less refined terms, no generation has been more committed to squeezing every ounce of pleasure and fulfillment out of living than the present one.  Now all of this is not bad, but the constant emphasis on self produces a distorted picture of the individual's true worth. The end result is a selfishness that produces a marked disregard for others, and totally distorts a person's actual importance.  Nothing is much smaller than an individual's world who shuts others from the heart as well as the hand and purse.

JEHOVAH TSIDKENU: God, The Righteous One

As the darkness that shrouded Russia under Communism began to lift, thousands of people began to search for their spiritual roots.  The following letter was sent to a fellow Christian broadcaster: "I do not know how to address you, that is, I do not know your name; but I do not think that is important. The fact is that I want to know definitely whether there is a God or are you just deceiving the people. If you are as certain about God's existence as you preach and sing about Him, then I straightway would want to believe in Him the same way as you do." The listener then begged for a Bible so he could read the record for himself.

JEHOVAH SHAMMAH: God, Who Is Present

Only those who have been through very difficult hard times can understand the reality of knowing that God had his hand on their lives, that He is the one who sustained and preserved them. That realization, of course, is humbling because when you have been through the fire and you made it, you know it wasn't your cleverness or your strength that brought you through. It had to be God.

JEHOVAH RA-AH: God, My Shepherd

"What I believe about God," said A. W. Tozer, "is the most important thing about me."  He was right, but the problem is that most of us aren't really sure what we believe about Him.  Most of our knowledge and images of God are second-hand leftovers from our parents, or bad experiences that we conclude are reflections of God.