Daily Devotionals

Hebrews 12:1–3; Psalm 91:1–2

What is perspective? 

Well, it’s obviously related to the way we view something. The term literally suggests “looking through...seeing clearly.” One who views life through perspective lenses has the capacity to see things in their true relations or relative importance. He sees the big picture. She is able to distinguish the incidental from the essential...the temporary from the eternal...the partial from the whole...the trees from the forest. 

1 John 2:15-17; Mark 4:19

We’ve been talking about Jesus’ parable in Mark 4:1–20 about the farmer who sows seeds in four different types of soil. As I mentioned in Part One, I’m bothered by the third group because thorns come in and destroy the healthy growth of the Christian. It is interesting that the thorns were already present at the time the seed entered, and that the thorns were never completely out of the picture even though the seeds began to take root (Mark 4:7). 

Mark 4:1–20

Give the Reverend Dullard Drydust enough time and he will manage to confuse most sections of the Bible. Because we preachers are notorious for getting hung up on Greek tenses and purpose clauses and theological trivia, we often shy away from those passages that appear nontechnical and plain. 

2 Chronicles 7:13–15

The history of great civilizations reminds me of a giant revolving door. It turns on the axis of human depravity as its movement is marked by the perimeter of time. With monotonous repetition each civilization has completed the same cycle, having passed through a similar sequence of events. One man summarized it like this: 

1 John 4:17–19

Each morning you awaken to an unpredictable set of hours filled with surprises and trials and anxieties. You know before your feet ever touch the floor you are in for another who-knows-what day. You could be in an accident on the freeway, fired from the job, the victim of a personal attack, mistreated, robbed, slandered, or threatened with a lawsuit. Sounds pretty bleak, but it’s true. Happens to hundreds like us daily. 

Proverbs 3:5–6

Those folks who used to put together Campus Life magazine got my vote. With an incredible regularity they would put the cookies on the lower shelf so that any high-schooler in America could thumb through the thing without getting turned off. One of their secrets was frequent humor, lots of jokes. You know, all kinds of stuff to laugh at...some a little gross, but all designed to scratch a teenager where he was itching. And most kids I know at that age are never very far from fun. 

Matthew 11:28-30

Strange, isn’t it, how we tend toward extremes? What begins as self-improvement becomes self-enslavement...what starts as merely a mellow change of pace leads to a marathon of fanaticism. We’re nuts! Left to ourselves, we’ll opt for extremes most every time. Which explains why God’s Book so often stresses moderation, self-control, softening our sharp-cornered lives with more curves that necessitate a slower speed. 

Psalm 46:10-11

I laughed my way through Judith Viorst’s How Did I Get to Be Forty and Other Atrocities. I’ve long since passed the half-century mark, so it seemed reasonable that I should at least face the music of being 40. Even though I must admit I feel more like 30...until I think about my schedule of involvements. Then I wish I were 90 and had an excuse for hiding away in a cabin, writing my memoirs...as if anybody would ever care to read them. 

Ephesians 5:1

Since most humans suffer from a lack of balance in their lives, our best counsel on living a steady and stable life comes from God’s Word. In Paul’s letter to the Christians in Ephesus, he includes this most unusual command: 

“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children...” (Ephesians 5:1 NIV) 

Acts 1:8

It’s a cartoon I’ve smiled at again and again. 

There are two Inuit sitting on chairs, fishing through holes in the ice. The fella on the right has draped his line through your typical disk-like opening...about the size of a small manhole. 

The man on the left has his line in the water, too. He also waits calmly for a nibble. His hole, however, is more like a crater, a Rose Bowl-sized opening that reaches to the horizon—in the shape of a whale. 

Now that’s what I call vision.