Criticism
2 Timothy 1:7
Looking for a role model on how to handle criticism? It would be worth your while to check out the book of Nehemiah. On several occasions this great-hearted statesman was openly criticized, falsely accused, and grossly misunderstood. Each time he kept his cool...he rolled with the punch...he considered the source...he refused to get discouraged...he went to God in prayer...he kept building the wall (Nehemiah 2:19–20; 4:1–5).
Tough days, part two
Galatians 6:9–18
Tough days. We all have them. And most of us, if we’re honest, must admit we don’t handle them well. Others who love us try to help, but they tend to complicate matters.
Take the four guys who decided to go mountain climbing one weekend. In the middle of the climb, one fella slipped over a cliff, dropped about sixty feet, and landed with a thud on the ledge below. The other three, hoping to rescue him, yelled, “Joe, are you OK?”
“I’m alive...but I think I broke both my arms!”
Tough days, part one
James 1:2–4
You’ve heard them. Those all-too-familiar cries of exasperation. Maybe a couple have crossed your mind today sometime between the too-early clang of the alarm and the too-late racket of the neighbours next door.
Going from bad to worse.
Jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
Between a rock and a hard place.
He said, “Cheer up, things could get worse.” So I cheered up—and sure enough, things got worse!
Witch hunting, part two
Ephesians 1:19-21
We’ve been talking about what I’m calling “witch hunting,” the phenomenon affecting our world in which people are eager to find the Devil in every nook and cranny and to blame him for just about everything.
Witch hunting, part one
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
Flip Wilson’s line, “The Devil made me do it,” was designed to be funny, not phoney. Whether the comedian believed in an actual Satan is, for the moment, immaterial. All he was interested in was getting a laugh. But the thing that made it so effective was the real-to-life scenario the guy was acting out.
Determination
1 Corinthians 16:13
Years ago a certain issue of Sports Illustrated featured a lengthy article on Tom Landry, former coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Those who know me won’t be surprised to hear that I read every word of it.
Jealousy
1 Corinthians 13:4–7
Like an anger-blind, half-starved rat prowling in the foul-smelling sewers below street level, so is the person caged within the suffocating radius of selfish jealousy. Trapped by resentment and diseased by rage, he feeds on the filth of his own imagination.
“Jealousy,” says Proverbs 6:34, “enrages a man.”
Sleeping in church
Acts 20:6–12
I really feel sorry for Eutychus. It was bad enough for the fella to fall asleep in church while Paul was preaching...he even fell out the window to his death three stories below! But then, of all things, Dr. Luke included the incident for all the world to read down through the centuries. Think of that! The only time Eutychus got his name in Scripture was when he died while sleeping in church. Makes you glad the Bible is complete, doesn’t it?
Listen to the story:
Workaholics
Psalm 90:12
Strange creatures roam the land these days. Being efficient, diligent, and productive, they are remarkably impressive...but beneath the surface they are suffering from a miserable malady. Compulsively driven with an obsessive desire to achieve, these creatures give themselves to labour like alcoholics give themselves to booze.
Workaholics.
The ghost of Ephraim, part two
2 Timothy 4:5–8
As we have been discussing, homes and churches across the country today are haunted by ghosts of the Ephraimites, men who were skilled and fully equipped for battle but who turned and fled when the going got tough (see Psalm 78:9).