Dear Ones: Samson had a good beginning, a faulty interlude, but finished well. Abraham had a good beginning, and in spite of errors and hesitancy, finished well. The list is very long in the Bible of those who had a good beginning, stumbled and sometimes fell along the way, but crossed the finish line in…
Dear Ones: Jesus once said that one could gain the whole world and lose his soul. He also said that there was a broad way that leads to destruction, and a narrow one that leads to life. Could it not be said that the concept of true greatness can be seen through the same prism,…
Dear Ones: There are certain pinnacles of history that are world-changing, life-changing. One of these occurred in the 8th century B.C. It had to do with a very knowledgeable, successful, and influential person whose name was Isaiah. In the sixth chapter of his book, we read that he had a vision of “…the Lord sitting…
Dear Ones: God is sometimes not a reality to us because we do not believe in the imminence of His presence, and the iminence of His present attitude towards the believer. We have the tendency to always relate everything in life to what we can see or grasp intellectually. We forget that the person of…
Dear Ones: In our culture of great possibilities, and because of our western mentality, not to mention the media that we are exposed to, we are apt to believe that life is composed of only great things. And yet, the Lord, with reference to the building of the temple, would say to Zechariah, “..for who…
Dear Ones: There is nothing so frustrating as seeing the necessity of climbing a wall, or scaling a mountain, and not being able to do so. And what makes it even more imperative is the demand by circumstances…it is essential, perhaps to life itself. It is those moments, or perhaps days, that two questions must…
Dear Ones: There are times when there seems to be a certain respite in history. And though the war rages around, there is still something of the quietness of opportunity, and the consequent pleading prayer for God to intervene. Such was the case in Zechariah 1:11. Those who were sent throughout the whole earth reported…
Dear Ones: When Lazarus died, both sisters told Jesus the same thing: “Lord, IF thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.” (Jn. 11:21, 32) But, Jesus was not there, and Lazarus did die. When we follow the narrative, we discover something of the sorrow, and sense of loss of all involved, especially the…
Dear Ones: I believe it was David Livingstone who said that, “…I will go anywhere, as long as it is forward.” Let’s go a step further, and with Biblical warrant declare, “I will only go forward and upward, not looking back.” This was Paul’s declaration in Philippians 3:13-14, “…forgetting those things which are behind, and…
Dear Ones: It has been said that “a picture is worth a thousand words.”What if the picture is worth a life-changing experience? We know that the Lord Jesus said, “…and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” (Jn. 8:32) Here we have the groundwork for true “freedom,” freedom from the…