Guidelines For Living Devotional

Clearing the Clutter

Have you ever heard it said that three moves are as good as a fire? What that means is that every time you move, you throw out things, good things too, which you would like to keep but there is no room to keep them. Why didn't you toss it out a long time ago? You kept it because you were sure it was too good to throw away, so you put it in the closet or stored it in your garage. Eventually, you have to reckon with it. If you want to label the disorder, call it, "CLUTTER!" It isn't only our closets which eventually suffer from clutter. Clutter is a disease of the brain, even of the heart, as well as the closet.

When You're Grieving

Picking up the pieces of your life after someone you love has passed through the valley of the shadow of death is never an easy task. Because no two individuals are the same, facing grief doesn’t necessarily follow the same pattern. Some express their emotions, which is usually healthy, and some internalize them and take much longer to reconcile their loss.

What's Wrong With Suicide

If life is a matter of happenstance or chance, then ending your life when the going gets tough shouldn’t be of much concern to anyone else. But, on the other hand, if life is sacred and you were made by God in His image, then the decision to take your life isn’t yours to make. It’s because life is sacred that most major religions have prohibitions against suicide.   But how does God view this? If God has a plan and purpose for your life, would suicide ever be included in that plan? Do things ever get so desperate that God can’t solve them?

Why Is Murder Wrong?

Do you think of yourself as a chance happening of evolution, a mistake, or an accident? Not if you believe what the Bible says. It says you were created in the image of God for Him, by Him and to fulfill His purpose. So you didn’t know God had a purpose for you, did you? “You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe,” says Psalm 139:16 (Living Bible).

When Self-Esteem Isn't the Answer

In the past couple of decades or so self-esteem has been touted as the answer to many of the problems confronting people. “There is this idea,” says psychology professor Roy Baumeister, “that raising self-esteem will help prevent crime, drug abuse and teen pregnancy. But the links are weak, tenuous and inconsistent.”

What the Bible Says About You and God

A third century monk called Anton lived as a recluse and hermit in the Negev, near what we know as Egypt today. In time the monk developed a following among his day’s prominent personalities who often wrote (but don’t ask me how the mail was delivered) to seek his wisdom and prayers regarding personal decisions. Even the Emperor Constantine, so say historians, sought his counsel.

God's Plan for Your Life

George Bernard Shaw once quipped that if there is life on other planets, they must be using planet Earth for their insane asylum. Sometimes it looks like he is right. Do you ever ask yourself, “What’s gone wrong? Why are so many people today—perhaps yourself included—merely existing, surviving one day at a time, living without much purpose or meaning?”

The Undivided Heart

Question: On a scale of 1 to 10, how great is your confidence in God? When you were a kid, did you ever pick a daisy or a spring flower and pull off the petals one at a time saying, “She loves me, she loves me not; she loves me, she loves me not”? Almost always, you end up with the “she loves me not” finish. In romance, a divided heart leaves you unsatisfied. You want to know that someone is fully committed to you and that his or her heart, as the case may be, is not divided.

To Trust or Not to Trust

Suppose that you are the King of Luxembourg, and you learn that your small kingdom is about to be invaded by Germany. Would you be more comfortable having a non-aggression treaty with France, Britain and Switzerland or relying upon the words of a prophet saying that if your heart is fully committed to the Lord, God will see you through and deliver you?

Give What You've Got

On October 21, 1855, a Sunday school teacher by the name of Ed Kimball went to the store where one of his students was working, and there in a back room, Kimball challenged Dwight Moody to become a Christian. Raised by a Unitarian mother, young Dwight knew about God, but under Kimball he came to know Jesus Christ. Later known as D. L. Moody, this man had a powerful exuberance for God. Leaving school to work in his uncle’s shoe store, Moody never got an advanced education. His grammar was terrible. When he was once asked about his theology, he said he didn’t have any. The Congregational church where he attended agreed with him, and turned him down when he asked to be ordained as a minister.