Written by Chuck Swindoll, these encouraging devotional thoughts are published seven days per week.
Read Amos 8:11–12
The words hangs like an omen in our heads.
We picture brutal, grotesque images. Cows’ hips protrude. Babies’ eyes are hollow. Bloated stomachs growl. Skin stretches tight across faces. The skull outline emerges. Joints swell. Grim, despairing stares replace smiles. Hope is gone...life is reduced to a harsh existence. Those who have seen it cannot forget it. Those who haven’t cannot imagine it. It’s famine.
Read James 4:14–16
He was brilliant. Clearly a child prodigy, the pride of Salzburg, a performer par excellence. One of the most brilliant and gifted composers of all time left earth at the young age of thirty-five. The man lived most of his life in abject poverty. He died in complete obscurity!
His official name was Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Amadeus Theophilus Mozart. With a handle like that, he had to be famous.
We call him Mozart.
Read James 3:2
Nothing damages our dignity like stumbling!
I have seen people dressed to the hilt stumble and fall flat on their faces as they were walking to church. I’ve done it myself, hoping no one was watching. I’ve watched a sure and winning touchdown by a running back foiled by a stumble.
Read 2 Corinthians 11:13–15
My friend ate dog food one evening. He was at an elegant student reception in a physician’s home. The dog food was served on delicate crackers with a wedge of imported cheese, bacon chips, an olive, and a sliver of pimento on top. It was hors d’oeuvres a la Alpo.
Read Matthew 7:13–14
Do you know where you are going?
You remember Thomas Henry Huxley. Devoted disciple of Charles Darwin. Famous biologist, teacher, and author. Defender of the theory of evolution. Bold, convincing self-avowed humanist. Travelling lecturer.
Read Psalm 56:8
Tears have a language all their own, needing no interpreter. In some mysterious way, our inner-communication system knows its verbal limitations, and the tears come.
Eyes that flashed and sparkled moments before are flooded.
Tears are not self-conscious. They can spring upon us when we are in public or standing beside others who look to us for strength.
Tears may flow during the singing of a majestic hymn or when lost in some nostalgic memory or wrestling in soul-searching prayer.
Read Ephesians 4:29
Abraham Lincoln's coffin was pried open on more than one occasion.
Once in 1887, twenty-two years after his assassination. Why? It was not to determine if he had died of a bullet fired from John Wilkes Booth’s derringer. Then why? Because a rumour was sweeping the country that his coffin was empty. A select group of witnesses observed that the rumour was totally false, then watched as the casket was resealed with lead.
Read Genesis 12:1–2
When God calls a servant, there is little room for negotiation. The most striking example of this is when God spoke to Abram, lifting him from obscurity and setting him on a course that would change human history.
The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous. (Genesis 12:1-2)
Read Proverbs 18:24
Are you attractive? I’m not referring to external beauty nor facial features. I’m asking if you are personally attractive—magnetic, winsome, charming, friendly. Reflect carefully on this interesting proverb:
A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly. (Proverbs 18:24, KJV)
Read 2 Peter 3:3–4
Nine-year-old Danny burst out of Sunday school, eyes darting in every direction trying to locate his mom or dad. After a quick search, he grabbed his daddy by the leg and yelled, “Man, that story of Moses and all those people crossing the Red Sea was great!” His father looked down, smiled, and asked the boy to tell him about it.
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