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August 11, 2023
A fifteenth century map of the world which is housed in the Vatican shows Jerusalem as the center of the world, and from this place radiate lines to the various continents and major cities of the world. When I first saw that map, I smiled, but as I grew in understanding of how significant Jerusalem is to our world, no longer do my lips crease in amusement. The ancient cartographer who drew that map also knew something of the theological importance of Jerusalem.
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I was standing in an ancient Chinese temple, now a temple of the people, in Canton, China. As we listened to our guide tell how the Chinese people had been liberated from old religious beliefs, a young man who was studying English at the university approached a tourist to try out his English. He spoke pleasantly for a few minutes in broad generalities, and then asked, "Do you have a Bible?"
August 10, 2023
David, the shepherd who became the King of Israel, once wrote, "I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread" (Psalm 37:25). Was David ever tempted to give up on the Lord? For seven long years he lived in exile, fearing that Saul or one of his zealous soldiers would take his life. He lived as a fugitive, often in desolation, uncertain that he would live to see the light of another day. Once he feigned mental illness, escaping his captor as a madman. On another occasion, the enemy raided David's home, taking the wives and children of those who fought with him.
August 9, 2023
A pastor, thinking that he was being humorous, once introduced me, saying, "I've heard him eat and I've heard him sing, and I'd rather hear him eat than sing." It's no wonder we have become intimidated when it comes to anything much but singing in the shower where no one can hear.
August 8, 2023
The Psalmist wrote that when Israel went into captivity in Babylon, "There on the poplars we hung our harps" (Psalm 137:2). In other words, the music stopped and the song was ended, but when they returned to their land, the harps came down and the music started again.
August 7, 2023
The lovely Galilee in Israel is approximately fifteen miles in length and averages some five to seven miles across. The entire Jordan valley is cradled in what was once a geographic or seismic rift that runs from the slopes of Mt. Hermon in the north to the Dead Sea some 1300 feet below sea level in the south. Galilee, however, is located about in the middle of that fault--about 700 feet below sea level.
August 4, 2023
You can no more have intimacy with God without prayer than you can have intimacy in marriage without communication. Though you may have never thought of the two in relationship to each other, what makes both meaningful is much the same. Success in both is dependent upon the quality of your relationship with the object of your affection. When you can't communicate with your husband or wife--for whatever reason, your relationship rapidly disintegrates. Love grows cold. Warm memories are just that--recollections of the past, not realities in the present.
August 3, 2023
There are some individuals whose spirits can't be conquered. No matter how they are repressed, how they get hit, they just get up and walk, then run, then climb the heights. They just don't know how to quit. Such was the old man who presented his claim to Joshua in the Bible, "I am eighty-five years old!" he began," but he quickly adds, "I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then." And then he got to the bottom line: "Give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day!" (Joshua 14:12 NKJV).
August 2, 2023
"I just don't know how it could have happened," a friend lamented. "They were one of the most spiritual couples I knew. Reading their annual Christmas letter," he said, "made me envious. Their lives were filled with so much, they were helping so many, they were involved in so many good causes." And what caused his distress? She had just left him for another man. Another marriage failure. Two seemingly committed believers.
August 1, 2023
Life is full of its ups and downs, right? Good days and bad days. Times of joy and times of sorrow. Question: What would it be if there were no valleys, no shadows, no tough times? Can you picture a painting with only vivid colors, no dark contrasts, or varying shades? Or living in a tropical paradise where every day was picture perfect? In other words, is it not the difficult that makes reaching the top meaningful and important?
July 31, 2023
Discouraged? Feel that your valley is so long and dark that you'll never make it to the next peak? Ever wonder if it's worth it? If you answer "yes," you're perfectly normal—nothing more or less. A lot of folks become Christians with wrong impressions of what the Christian life is all about. I'm never quite sure whether the confusion is the result of the rhetoric of the one who encouraged them to embark on the path of faith, or else they have unrealistic expectations of what the journey is about because they haven't read the tour book—the Bible.
July 28, 2023
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