I find it interesting how quickly we can form opinions about people. Sometimes those opinions are based on personal experiences, sometimes on what we have heard from others, and sometimes simply on someone's reputation. Once we have decided who a person is, it can be...
Some of the hardest questions Jesus asks are not questions we answer with words. We answer them by what we are willing to do when following Him begins to cost us something. It is possible to admire Jesus, seek Jesus, and even sincerely want what Jesus offers while...
Waiting is difficult enough when nothing urgent is happening. It becomes much harder when something we care deeply about seems to be getting worse while we wait. Those are the moments when we want God to act now, and every delay can leave us wondering why He does not...
Most of us would rather not be desperate. We like having options. We like knowing what comes next and believing that, if something goes wrong, we can figure out a way forward. But sometimes life brings us to a place where our options begin to disappear. It is...
There are moments when a single decision changes the direction of everything that follows. Matthew had one of those moments while sitting at his tax booth. It probably began like countless other workdays had begun, but before that day was over, his life would never be...
Sometimes the thing we most want God to change is not the thing we most need Him to change. In Mark 2, a house in Capernaum was so crowded that four men carrying their paralyzed friend could not get through the door. Rather than give up, they climbed onto the roof,...
We spend a lot of our lives searching for things we think will satisfy us. We tell ourselves that if we can just reach the next goal, solve the next problem, earn a little more, gain someone's approval, or finally get life arranged the way we want it, then we will be...
It is possible to know a great deal about God without truly knowing God. That may be one of the most uncomfortable lessons in the story of Nicodemus. He wasn't an atheist or a skeptic standing outside the faith. He was a Pharisee, a respected religious leader who knew...
There are chapters of our lives that simply do not make sense while we are living them. Joseph certainly had some. The pit did not make sense. Being sold into slavery did not make sense. The false accusation did not make sense. Prison did not make sense. Being...
Some hurts are easier to forgive than others. A careless word or misunderstanding may pass quickly. But what about the wounds caused by people who knew exactly what they were doing? Joseph knew that kind of hurt. His own brothers had hated him, thrown him into a pit,...