Guidelines For Living Devotional

Like Father, Like Son

Have you ever looked at a baby and commented, “He looks exactly like his daddy!”   And why not?  He is the genetic offspring, a chip off the old block, the spitting image of his father, right?  There’s more to it than that, so believes a new theory posed by Dr. Nicholas Christenfeld, a psychologist.  His theory holds that the father confers a genetic trait—face genes that make the baby’s face resemble his.  “While a mother can be quite sure that the baby is hers no matter what it looks like, the father cannot,” says Dr. Christenfeld.  He continues, “It should then be to a baby’s advantage to look like the father, to encourage paternal investment.” 

When You Care Too Much to Quit

One of the reasons we tend to worry is that life can quickly get out of control.  Someone you care about, someone you love, isn’t listening, isn’t responding, or just doesn’t get it.  Say, for example, you are responsible for someone or something, and your best effort isn’t enough.  You can’t walk away from the situation.  Quitting isn’t an option.  It may be a teen, an aged parent who depends on you for help, or a family business which seems to be going the wrong way.

Going On When You Don't Feel Like It

The most difficult time of your Christian experience is when the sky seems to fall in and your world comes apart.  No, you don’t deserve it.  No, you are not being punished.  No, God hasn’t closed the door on you and shut off phone service, and certainly He hasn’t picked you out to see if you can withstand the punishment Job endured.  But just the same, when you are hurting—whether it is from the loss of a baby or when you become a victim of pain and sorrow—you feel alone and often feel estranged from God.

Looking Back

“As long as the present is at war with the past,” said Winston Churchill at the conclusion of World War 2, “there is no hope for the future!”  The connection between the present and the past is something like the force of heredity.  It’s there, but it can’t always get you where you want to go.  Writing to the Philippians, Paul stressed the importance of forgetting the past and focusing on the future.  He wrote, “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do:  Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

The "Interpretation" of Truth

When movie producer Oliver Stone was severely criticized for bending the truth in the production of his movie on the life of former US president, Richard Nixon, he responded by saying that he was simply interpreting the truth, and that every production deserved new insights.  Since when does truth have to be interpreted?  If something is historical, should not the facts be the truth, rather than how someone would like things to have been?  Can truth really be interpreted? 

Armageddon - History's Last Stop

A clash in the Persian Gulf will shake the world, and "then the Messiah will come and proclaim that salvation is at hand."  Those words sound like something you might hear spoken by a rather far‑out preacher at a prophecy conference, or a pitch for someone’s latest book. But that statement, which contends that a clash in the Persian Gulf will culminate in the coming of the Messiah, came from the lips of a respected Jewish Rabbi in the early 1990s. Libavich Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, an influential figure among Israel’s ultra-orthodox Jews, made that statement, expressing his belief that conflict cannot continue without the direct intervention of the Almighty Himself.  How much more realistic does that scenario look today?

When You're Persecuted

The person who stands for nothing will fall for anything, so goes conventional wisdom, but the person who does stand for something--whether it is the refusal to cover for fellow employees who cheat on their time cards, or has the conviction to abide by what he or she believes is right--will soon discover that everybody doesn’t appreciate that commitment to decency.  It makes them squirm to have such a one in their midst.  It’s true that people do love darkness rather than evil because their deeds are evil.

Blessed Are the Peacemakers

One of the lessons which we often learn too late is that it is not only hard to keep the peace but far more difficult to bring peace where there is none.  “Blessed are the peacemakers,” said Jesus, “for they will be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:8).

The God Who Gives New Hearts

The head may be the center of the intellect, the control center of the human body, but it is the heart which has captured the interest of lovers and the fancy of poets because the real emotional issues of life come from the heart.  Long ago, Jesus put this truth in focus when He said, “... out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34).

God, Rich in Mercy

A certain woman whose vanity exceeded her looks had her picture taken by a local photographer, and when she went to view the proofs which had not been touched up to cover her flaws, she was noticeably disturbed. “These pictures do not do me justice,” she angrily flung at the photographer. “Lady,” he responded, “it isn’t justice you need; it’s mercy!”  The fact is that we are all in need of mercy, and like the woman, think that we are in better condition than we really are.