Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time

As we approach the end of the age, it is predictable that many will abandon the hope of Christ's any-moment return. But the truth is still there whether men hold it or not.

The fact is that the Lord Jesus may come at any time. We do not know the day or hour of the Bridegroom's return for His bride; this means that He could come today. There is no prophecy that needs to be fulfilled before we hear His shout, the voice of the archangel and the trump of God. True, the church expects to...

The first part of today's verse is "Where there is no vision, the people perish." This is usually taken to mean that people must have goals toward which they are working. They must have a definite program in mind with a clear picture of the results desired and the steps leading to them.

But the word vision here means "a revelation from God." And the word "perish" means "cast off restraint." So the thought is that where the Word of God is not known and respected, the people run...

A thankful heart adds sparkle to all of life. At the close of a dinner, one of the children said, "That was a good meal, Mother." That remark created a new sense of warmth in an already happy house.

Too often we fail to express our thanks. The Lord Jesus healed ten lepers, but only one returned to give thanks, and that one was a Samaritan (Lu. 17:17). Two lessons emerge. Gratitude is rare in a world of fallen men. And when it does appear, it often comes from the least-expected...

A bishop was walking alone in his garden one day, meditating on the activities of the past week. When the memory of a very embarrassing incident flashed across his mind, he let out a string of expletives that were rather salty, to say the least. One of his parishioners, walking on the other side of the high garden wall, heard the unministerial language and gasped in disbelief.

It was a case of private profanity - a heartbreaking trial in the life of many an earnest child of God....

If proof were needed that the way of transgressors is hard, we would only need to pick out a daily newspaper at random and we would find plenty of illustrations. I did that just as an experiment and here are the results:

A Nazi war criminal who had escaped detection and capture in South America for 35 years committed suicide. The fear of trial and probable execution made further living unendurable.

A 74 year old man was kidnapped at gunpoint by three men who demanded $90,000...

After a young soprano had made her debut on the opera stage, a critic wrote that her brilliant performance would have been even better if she had ever loved. He detected the absence of love. Apparently her singing was technically correct but it lacked warmth.

We too can go through life, doing everything according to the rules. We can be honest, dependable, righteous, generous, energetic and humble. Yet all these virtues cannot compensate for a lack of love.

Many of us have a hard...

What a scene that will be! Every knee in the universe bowing to the sacred name of Jesus! Every tongue confessing that He is Lord! God has decreed it and it will surely come to pass.

This is not universal salvation. Paul is not suggesting here that all created beings will eventually embrace Christ as their living, loving Lord. Rather he is saying that those who refuse to make the great confession in this life will be compelled to make it in the next. All created beings will eventually...

The word which Phillips translates "intellectualism" here is the one from which we get the word "philosophy." Basically it means the love of wisdom, but then it has acquired a further meaning, namely, the search for reality and the purpose of life.

Most human philosophies are expressed in complicated, highsounding language. They are above the head of the common man. They appeal to those who like to use their intellectual powers in clothing human speculations with words that are...

Seven times in His letters to the churches of Asia, the Lord Jesus says "I know" and usually those words are used in a favorable sense. "I know thy works…thy labour…thy patience…thy tribulation…thy poverty…and charity…and faith." In those words "I know" there is tremendous comfort and sympathy and encouragement for God's people.

Lehman Strauss points out that when Jesus said "I know," "He did not use the word ginoske, which frequently means to know in the...

One important element of practical wisdom is tactfulness. The Christian should learn how to be tactful. This means that he should develop a delicate sensitivity as to what to do or say so as to avoid offense and cement good relations. The tactful person puts himself in the other fellow's shoes and asks himself, "How would I like to have that said or done to me?" He seeks to be diplomatic, considerate, gracious and discerning.

Unfortunately the Christian faith has had its share of...

There was no question as to what God required in sacrificial animals. They had to be without spot or blemish. He expected His people to offer the choicest animals from their herds or flocks. God wants the best.

But what were the Israelites doing? They were offering blind, lame and sick animals. The choice animals would bring a high price in the market, or would be desirable for breeding. So the people offered the culls, saying in effect, "Anything is good enough for the...

Dr. P. J. Van Gorder used to tell about a sign over a woodworker's shop which said, "All kinds of twisting and turning done here." It is not only woodworkers that are good at that; many professing Christians twist and turn the Scriptures when it suits them. Some, as our verse says, even wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction.

We are all fairly expert at rationalizing, i.e., at excusing our sinful disobedience by giving creditable explanations or assigning worthy motives to our...

Ordinarily when we read these words, we tend to think that Paul was speaking about his past sins. He knew that these sins had been forgiven, that God had put them behind His back, and that He would never remember them again. So Paul was determined to forget them too and to "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

I still think that is a valid application of the verse. But Paul is not thinking about his sins in this passage. Rather he is thinking...

There are two kinds of greatness in the New Testament and it is helpful to distinguish them. There is a greatness associated with one's position and another greatness linked with one's personal character.

In speaking of John the Baptist, Jesus said that there was no greater prophet than he (Luke 7:28). Here the Savior was speaking about the greatness of John's position. No other prophet had the privilege of being the forerunner of the...