Guidelines For Living Devotional

You Are Never Too Far Gone

Years ago, before videogames, smartphones and tablets, kids used to play "Let's pretend!"  Perhaps you can remember back that far—fighting pirates in the Caribbean, riding wild horses or discovering buried treasure.  For just a minute, let's pretend we can turn back the calendar nearly 2000 years and walk the streets of ancient Ephesus, one of the most beautiful cities in the Roman world.

Why Is It Hard To Read The Bible?

When China opened its doors to foreigners in the late 1970s, I was among the first 7000 to be granted a visa to see the land described as a sleeping giant.  For decades, Chinese friends had been denied what we take for granted--freedom of expression and, certainly, freedom of religion.  The group I traveled with was international, with people from all over the world.  At dinner, a fellow traveler from Britain told of a strange encounter with a youth on the street seeking a Bible.

Have You Ever Read The Bible?

When Henry Allan Ironside was just two years old, his father died of typhoid fever and left the family destitute.  His mother was forced to take in sewing to provide for the two little boys who were left without a daddy.  Money was always tight, but biographers tell about the occasion when there was nothing to eat.  Henry’s mother, nonetheless, set the table and poured water.  The two little boys and their mother sat down, and in spite of the fact there was no food on the table, they bowed their heads to give thanks to God for, at least, the water.  But no sooner had they finished their prayer when a resounding knock at the door brought them to attention.

Discover How To Serve With The Right Heart

When a young Jewish intellectual was striving to discover who he really was, a friend said to him, "Do you know what we really need to learn today?"  Art Katz thought, "Here's another one of these smart guys who thinks he has all the answers when he doesn't even understand the questions."  But since he was riding in the friend’s car, he went along.  "No, what do we really need?"

How Do I Move Towards Compassion?

Is it possible that one of the reasons we see so little caring and compassion in the world is that we are overwhelmed with our sense of estrangement and searching?  Not understanding who we are, self-fulfillment is an endless search instead of an anchor, and the end result is that life is a selfish, "me first" game that results in our wanting to win every round or insisting that everyone be first, provided it is first, after you.

What Is The Line Between Truth And Dishonesty?

Three individuals were talking about a mutual friend.  One related how the friend had been struck by a car and had been killed.  The second said, "No, you are wrong.  That's not the way it happened at all."  Explaining, he told how that the individual had been riding in a taxi, and the taxi had been involved in an accident.  As the result the individual was injured and lost his life.

How Do I Know If Someone Is Being Honest?

Two individuals both take an oath in court.  They are asked, "Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God"?  Both say, "I do!"  Yet when the two take the witness stand, their stories contradict each other.  Both cannot be telling the truth.  One of them has to be lying, yet both seem to be sincere.  Both have good reputations.  Both speak convincingly.  Which one is telling the truth?  Tough issue, right? How can individuals lie so convincingly?

This Is Why It Is Important To Care

Have people lost the ability to care about other people because they are overwhelmed with personal needs?  Have we become so concerned with our own welfare and importance that others don't count?  Yes, and no!  That we have become preoccupied with self today is without question, but the ability to care is by no means something lost in the press of life today.

What To Do When Things Aren’t Going Right

He was in his late 40's; she was a bit younger.  Married for 17 years, he was an account executive, and she was busily involved in social and church work.  They had a near picture-book family: three normal kids, a lovely home and a beach cottage where they often spent weekends.  They had finally reached the place in life where they weren't terribly concerned about money.  Yet with so much, they had so little of real happiness. 

How Does God View Anger?

"Dear Dr. Sala," wrote a friend of Guidelines, "Being raised in the Baptist denomination, I always heard that people who did not meet the biblical requirements of being saved would burn in a literal hell after death and this would be a continuous burning forever and ever.  I still hear this in the church I attend today. But somehow, I can't seem to understand why God would create this so-called eternal barbeque pit.  Once a person is dead and can no longer harm or hurt anyone, does God get some kind of revenge or satisfaction from seeing persons… suffer in burning anguish forever and ever?"