Written by Chuck Swindoll, these encouraging devotional thoughts are published seven days per week.
Read Psalm 127:3–5
The package arrived safely, the reminder “Fragile: Handle with Care” affixed to the front. Oh, it had a few scuff marks and a bent corner or two, but by and large, nothing was damaged. Inside was a photo of my family, just a picture of six people with the same last name, four of whom were delivered by God into our home between 1961 and 1970. Those four deliveries should have had the same reminder: “Fragile: Handle with Care.”
Read Proverbs 3:5-6
Ah, predicaments...life is full of them. Sometimes they are of our own making. Other times they mysteriously happen to us, apart from anything we caused. Occasionally they are comical and borderline crazy...then, on the other hand, they can be irritating and troublesome. One thing is for sure: they’re unexpected; we would never have guessed they would happen. Strangely, predicaments are unpredictable. And embarrassing. And confusing. And really weird.
Read Romans 8:23
At long last I am finally discovering that that stuff about Rome not being built in a day is true. And speaking of Rome, Paul’s words to the century-one Christians who lived there are truer than ever.
We believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. (Romans 8:23)
Read Romans 12:9–10, 13
Nobody is a whole chain. Each one is a link. But take away one link and the chain is broken.
Nobody is a whole team. Each one is a player. But take away one player and the game is forfeited.
Nobody is a whole orchestra. Each one is a musician. But take away one musician and the symphony is incomplete.
Nobody is a whole play. Each one is an actor. But take away one actor and the performance suffers.
Read Mark 4:18–19
What do the thorns represent in Scripture? Prickly issues that steal our joy, confidence, and progress in our faith. Jesus’ own words describe the menace of thorns to our spiritual vitality.
The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced. (Mark 4:18-19)
Thorns are lethal to our spiritual growth.
Read 2 Timothy 2:19
You can't turn on the evening news without being inundated with painful reminders of the shocking disregard for God’s moral law in our culture.
Surviving times as intense as ours cannot happen easily. Furthermore, it is not something we do corporately or, for that matter, publicly. It’s an “inside job,” this business of rising above and living according to God’s holy standard. The secret? Turning away from evil. Paul wrote these penetrating words:
Read Luke 15:3–7
Ever get that cattle-in-the-corral feeling? Sure you have. Whether it’s sitting in morning traffic or standing in a long check-out line at Walmart, it’s easy to feel as if you’re only a blip on the radar of some cosmic force, herding people like cattle to their inevitable ends.
Read Psalm 90:4–6, 10
Snap a telescopic lens on your perspective for the next few minutes. Pull yourself up close enough to see the real you. Pore over your own pores. Study what you see. Like a physician giving you a physical. Like an artist painting your portrait. Like a biographer writing your story.
Read Ephesians 6:19–20
If we had the unusual opportunity to spend a day talking to the apostles, men like Paul, Peter, James, and John, I think they’d emphasize an oft-spoken discipline—but one that’s rarely deployed in our lives: praying for others.
Most things in our lives conspire against such a commitment to prayer. Our busy schedules, our intense desire to give our kids the best education and life experiences, and simply forgetfulness.
Read 2 Thessalonians 3:17
There is nothing quite like the charm and personal touch conveyed in a handwritten note. Since our penmanship, like our fingerprint, is altogether unique, each curve of the letter or stroke of the pen bears its own originality. Occasionally, it’s nice to think some still cared enough to throw efficiency to the winds and look you right in the eye, as it were, with their words.
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