Have you ever wished someone could tell you how to change your husband (or wife)? If you’re like me, you have tried and failed and tried again. Sometimes, our husbands do need changing and God wants us to be part of that process. But our Proverbs reading reminds us that we won’t help them change by doing it in ungodly ways. In fact, the best way to help our husbands change may seem counterintuitive.
Are “little white lies” really little? Though they sometimes seem harmless, even necessary, what if God dealt with little white lies, in the same way this Sunday as He did with Ananias and Sapphira? Would you and I still be left standing?
Why did God deal so decisively, some might say harshly, with Ananias and Sapphira? Why would He care so much about a little white lie? What has changed today, if anything? And could this be a reason for the lack of power in our lives, our churches, and the spiritual condition of those who call themselves Christians? These are important questions, ones we shouldn’t brush aside.
Is it possible to be excited about persecution? Here in Acts 4, Israel’s ungodly leaders threatened Peter and John telling them they were to no longer preach about Jesus. Instead of making them and the other disciples afraid, as John MacArthur says, “it exhilarated them.” Though God may allow men to criticize or persecute us at times, knowing He will turn it to our good and His glory can help us rejoice in the midst of it.
When is it right to disobey those in authority? As believers, we may be forced to consider that question more and more frequently. We know that God places a high priority on respect for authority. He commands us to live obediently under the authority of our government, our work structure, our church leadership, and within the family. So, when is it right to disobey those in authority?
When we looked at Psalm 73 a few days ago, we saw that the psalmist Asaph had been tempted to envy the wicked for their seeming prosperity and lack of problems. That is until he got his focus back onto God and remembered the judgment that awaited them if they didn’t repent. In today’s reading from the Psalms, he revisited that subject and praised God for His righteous judgment.
And at the end of 2 Kings, we see a great example of God’s mercy to His own even in the midst of national judgment.
Blame-shifting, most of us are tempted at times to blame others or various situations for our behavior. We blame our nationality, our temperament, our race, our financial situation, our social status, our lack of opportunities, and our lack of education. We blame our parents, our family of origin, our bosses, our spouses, and our children. And I’m sure we could all come up with other people and things that we’re tempted to blame. We even blame God. And if we don’t come up with our own excuses, there are plenty of so-called experts out there who will do it for us. But what does the Bible actually say about the subject?
Are you a person of prayer? Do you pray at the first sign of a problem? Or do you first exhaust all your other options and pray only as a last resort? And when you do pray, what is the focus of your prayers?
King Hezekiah gave us one of the greatest examples of prayer in the Old Testament. His amazing prayer has a lot to teach us about the importance and right focus of prayer.
Is your Christianity real? Is Jesus truly the Lord of your life? Or have you merely added a little “Jesus” to your life while practicing some form of idolatry? Before you reject that idea or think idolatry is merely about worshiping golden statues or praying to a false god, why would the New Testament talk so much about it? And why would Paul tell the Corinthian believers to flee from it?
Responding to criticism well can be one of the greatest challenges there is. But how we respond reveals things about us that God wants us to see. So, how can we respond in ways that allow us to benefit from even the most unfair criticism? And are there ways of responding that can result in God’s discipline?
Family feuds can be some of the most difficult to settle, yet God places a high priority on unity and peace within our biological families and within the family of God.
Sometimes that can be challenging to achieve in the midst of family feuds and misunderstandings. And there are times when we do all we can to be at peace with someone but the other person simply won’t. There can, also, be times when choosing what might look like peace is really a compromise at the cost of truth and righteousness.
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