Guidelines For Living Devotional

Lessons from a Goose

They are larger than ducks but smaller than swans, and bird watchers have identified more than 130 varieties of them.  Geese, however, which mate for life have almost human characteristics in the way they relate to each other and protect each other.  Flying almost as high as a Boeing 747, migrating geese can rise to an altitude of 29,000 feet or 12,000 meters.

Balance by Design

As the resources of our planet have rapidly started to be depleted in our generation, we've begun to understand something of how vitally important these natural resources are.  In a matter of a few years, entire rain forests can be destroyed, upsetting the delicate balance of nature.  We're slowly learning that even the small things are important, things which previous generations never even considered important. 

Your Value to God

Of the more than 9,000 varieties of birds in the world, none is more common than the sparrow.  The adjective "common" well describes this little bird that is found throughout much of the world, from the extreme reaches of the north to the southern hemisphere.  Geese have been seen over the Himalayas in Asia at a height of more than 29,000 feet, where jet airplanes fly.  But not the little sparrow that hovers quite close to the ground.  While an African ostrich may stand 8 feet tall and weigh 300 pounds, the little sparrow can rest in your hand.  Some birds, such as the peacock, have brilliant plumage, but sparrows are pretty basic and plain little birds mostly brown in color, with an occasional touch of white or black, or a suggestion of red.

How Good Must You Be For God to Love You?

"How good must you be for God to love you?"  Ever have that question come to your mind?  Recently it came to the mind of a listener who wrote and asked if God performs plastic surgery of the heart to take away the scars of childhood.  The listener told of being born to parents who didn't love her, so they gave her up for adoption.  The adopting parents told her, if you are good, we will love you.  She went to church and got the message, "If you are good, God will love you and take you to heaven when you die."  She told of the time when she invited Christ to be her Savior, and then she knew she could not be good enough for God to love her‑‑she desperately wanted God to love her, but knew she could not be good enough.

How Can You Know You Are In Love?

When I was in college and my roommate started dating, it was easy to tell when he fell in love.  For one thing, he walked around glassy-eyed and his nose actually turned red.  We also knew that something was going on when he stood in front of Judy's picture for hours at a time making strange sighing noises.

Secrets of a Lasting Love

Interview with Dr Harold Sala, Darlene Sala, & Bonnie Sala.

A Love Story

Interview with Dr Harold Sala, Darlene Sala, & Bonnie Sala.

The Choice to Love

There’s nothing like love.  It’s a powerful force that changes humans. Both young and old caught up in its tide are rendered unable to think clearly or even think much at all.  There may be some truth to the saying, “No one falls in love by choice, it is by chance. No one stays in love by chance, it is by work. And no one falls out of love by chance, it is by choice.”

How to Be Holy

Some 239,000 miles in space lies the amorphous chunk of rocks and minerals we call the moon.  Unlike the sun which is a boiling mass of gases and fire, the moon is cold and dark.  It's lifeless, yet who would be convinced of that fact on a night when the full radiance of the sun is reflected from it to our world?  But the light of the moon is only a reflection which comes from a far more powerful source, the sun.

What is Holiness?

A generation ago, Dr. Harry Ironside wrote a book entitled, Holiness: The True and the False.  Ironside hit upon an important truth--people always counterfeit the real thing.  Trying to reproduce the characteristics of holiness without understanding the nature of the real thing, though, is much like counterfeiting money: it's fraudulent and a practice which can get you into a lot of trouble.