In 2016, the Wellcome Foundation conducted the world’s largest “Rest Test.” They surveyed 18,000 participants from 135 countries, asking them what activities they found to be restful. The top five answers were reading, spending time in nature, spending time alone, listening to music, and doing nothing in particular. We may demonstrate our love for God when we rest in Him. In Genesis 2:2, God rested on the seventh day after creating the world. In Exodus 16:23–30, God introduced the Sabbath to...

In his book The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg defines habits as actions we perform—all day, every day—with little or no conscious thought. We look at our phone as soon as we hear it ding. We make that afternoon cup of coffee when our eyelids begin to droop. We go for a walk as soon as we get home from work. Of course, habits can be healthy or harmful. The good news is that bad habits can be broken—especially with the power of the Holy Spirit. The book of Proverbs is an excellent source of...

Have you ever used a diet where you had to record everything you ate? It is revealing to track all the calories you consume, and you may be surprised at how quickly you use up your daily maximum. Suddenly, the number on the scale makes more sense. I’ve often wondered what we would discover if we recorded what we feed our souls. As we watch Netflix, scroll social media, listen to music, engage in conversations, and surf the web, what ideas are we taking in? What messages are filling our...

Friends have a powerful influence on us. Good friends help reduce our stress and process our pain. Together, we rejoice and mourn. They increase our happiness, encourage our good choices and our self-control. Of course, the wrong friends can have the opposite effect. They tear us down, tempt us to sin, or even abandon us in our time of need. Psalm 1 warns against keeping the wrong types of friends. God blesses those who do not “walk in the step with the wicked, or stand in the way that...

How do you distinguish between true and fake love? A quick internet search provides plenty of advice. Your love may be fake if you are the only one initiating contact. Or, if you can never rely on the other person. Maybe they won’t acknowledge you in public or resist making plans with you. They express love with words but fail to follow through with actions. This month, we are looking at how we can obey the greatest commandment to love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second...

Pride is a dangerous and destructive sin. It can skew our view of the world and our place in it. Left unchecked, it can cause an inflated ego, a lack of empathy, the belittling of others, an extreme sensitivity to critique, and ultimately broken relationships. In Romans 12, Paul continues his down-to-earth instruction on how to live out our calling. He first reminds the Roman Christians of God’s grace to him (v. 3). His apostolic position and authority were from God, not earned or deserved...

Last August our family spent a week in Minnesota. For three days, we stayed on the north shore of Lake Superior at the Naniboujou Lodge. This is my favorite place on earth. No cell phone service. No wi-fi. No television. Only delicious family meals in the grand, colorful dining room. Evening board games in the cozy atrium. And early morning prayer times on the rocky beach. It was exactly the renewing I needed. It felt like a rebooting for my soul and brain. In Romans 12, Paul tells us how we...

In John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, two friends, Christian and Hopeful, deviate from the True Way to explore By-Path Meadow because it looks like an easier route. They think it will lead them to the same destination, but they lose their way and spend a night at Doubting Castle owned by the Giant called Despair. Doubt is a common experience in the Christian life. It can be caused by many things—convincing arguments, scornful comments, painful experiences. As with Christian and Hopeful, doubt...

A Christian counselor friend of ours once asked our small group that was gathered in his home: “If I told you to think about what you had for breakfast today, could you do it?” Of course, we all nodded. Then he asked, “What if I told you to feel happy on demand? Or sad, or angry? Could you do that?” Not surprisingly, we shook our heads and shrugged. He was making the point that we have greater control over our thought life than over our emotions. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can “set...

In Carol Dweck’s popular book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success she explains a theory that became popular in the classroom. Students with a growth mindset believe their skills and understanding can be improved with study and practice. They are engaged in the teaching and learning process. How about us? Do we have a growth mindset when it comes to our Christian walk? Remaining open to input and instruction should be our approach to all areas of life, including the spiritual. In 2 Peter...

In Carol Dweck’s popular book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success she explains a theory that became popular in the classroom. Students with a growth mindset believe their skills and understanding can be improved with study and practice. They are engaged in the teaching and learning process. How about us? Do we have a growth mindset when it comes to our Christian walk? Remaining open to input and instruction should be our approach to all areas of life, including the spiritual. In 2 Peter...

Did you have a favorite childhood story—one you read again and again? Maybe you imagined you were that princess who rose from rags to riches. Or you soared with a superhero who donned a cape to save the world. Stories shape us in subtle and significant ways. From them we learn values, priorities, and goals. They can shape our view of God. What happens, though, when the Bible contradicts these stories? Which one wins the war for our mind? Loving God with all our mind means examining our...

In what ways have you been discipled? By your parents, teachers, or by a trusted mentor? Did they teach you overtly? Or did they just model the life of a Christ follower? In simple terms, “discipleship” is the process by which Christians learn more about Jesus and increasingly follow His example. It can happen in many ways. When Jesus walked on earth, He attracted many followers, some became His disciples. In Luke 5–19, as Jesus journeys toward Jerusalem, He taught the people what it meant...

When my college students often ask me to name my favorite author, story, or poem, I usually have trouble answering. My mind goes blank, and I can’t think of a single book I’ve ever read—let alone identify the very best one. In Matthew 22, Jesus was asked a far more important, question. This conversation occurred not long after He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, drove the merchants out of the Temple, and healed several people who were blind and lame. “The chief priests and teachers of the...

St. Augustine is often quoted as saying, “Love God and do whatever you please.” Taken at face value, it sounds like a license to carefree living. However, the second half of the full quote provides an important qualification: “[F]or the soul trained in love to God will do nothing to offend the One who is Beloved.” In Deuteronomy 6, we find the command to love God with “all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (v. 5). The Israelites were preparing to cross the Jordan...

As Abraham’s life comes to an end, we may feel disappointed...there is much we do not know and much left unfinished. When we meet Abraham in Genesis 12, he was already 75 years old. We learned about his life from ages 75 to 99. Then, four chapters are devoted to one year of his life: the year Isaac was born. The last three chapters cover an additional 75 years in which we are given minimal detail. What does all this tell us? From a human perspective, Abraham was somewhat ordinary. He was the...

One historian estimated that there have been over 100 million love songs published since music began to be recorded. People are drawn to a good love story, especially one with ups and downs that ends with a “happily ever after.” Genesis 24 presents a dramatic love story. In Abraham’s world, marriages were arranged between families. What was unusual is that Abraham did not want his son to marry one of their neighbors. While Abraham had committed to living in the Land of Canaan, he did not...

Last year 431,322 people applied for asylum in the United States. Of those, about 25,000 people were accepted. Refugees applying for asylum agree not to return to their home country while their status is being processed. Many will never step foot in their home country ever again. In the ancient world, people were normally buried in the homeland of their ancestors (Gen. 50:25). Abraham made a significant step by seeking to bury Sarah in the land of Canaan. In this act, he was renouncing his...

At the end of a semester, teachers often give final exams, which demonstrate what the student learned through the course. In Genesis 22, Abraham experienced the most difficult test of his life (v. 1). The timing of this test is important as it comes near the end of Abraham’s story. God had promised that through Isaac, Abraham’s descendants would become a great nation (Gen. 17:19). After years of waiting, Isaac had finally been born (Gen. 21:1–2). Now, just when things seemed to come together...

A friend of mine needed a heart transplant. As he waited, he shared with me that it was hard for him to pray that he would receive one. He knew that for him to get a heart, it would mean a tragedy for another family. One person’s joy can be another person’s sorrow. For Abraham and Sarah, the birth of Isaac brought both joy and sorrow. As Isaac grew, tensions between Sarah and Hagar also increased. In the ancient world, babies were breastfed until the child was about three years old. Since...

According to the United Nations, about 350,000 babies are born each day. Even though the experience is commonplace, I vividly remember when each of our three children came into the world. If a contest was held for the most surprising birth in history, the virgin birth of Jesus would be the winner. But a close second might have been the birth of Isaac. God had promised Abraham that he would have numerous descendants. Yet, Abraham and Sarah waited 25 years without seeing that promise come...

Have you ever misjudged someone? Many years ago, I started a job as a high school teacher. When I went in to organize my classroom, the school janitor saw me and sternly warned me that students should not be in the school building yet. He escorted me off the premises, refusing to believe that I was a teacher. (I looked a lot younger then!) Abimelek, the king of Gerar probably felt misjudged. In Genesis 20, Abraham acted on assumptions he made about the Canaanite king. We can understand why....

We tend to become like the people that we surround ourselves with. This can be either good or bad. Iron sharpens iron, but also “bad company corrupts good character” (1 Cor. 15:33). Scripture calls us to be in the world but not of it (John 17:14–16). How can we be in the world, but not become like it? Lot chose to live in Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 13:11). He had become a part of that community. The fact that he sat in the city gate (v. 1) shows that he was a leader and a town elder. His...

Have you ever tried to bargain with God? Maybe you were so desperate for His favorable response that you were willing to promise anything. People often point to today’s reading as an example of bargaining with God, but there was more to Abraham’s story. In Genesis 18:16–33, the Lord reveals another reason He stopped by Abraham’s tent. He said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the...

Have you ever been faced something that felt beyond your ability? Maybe you felt so overwhelmed that you gave up without even trying. That’s the situation Sarah faced when God promised her a child in her old age. How could she believe Him? Sarah and her husband, Abraham, were staying near Hebron (v. 1). Abraham was relaxing during the heat of the day when he saw three men approaching (v. 2). He ran to meet them, bowing down and calling them “Lord.” He offered them bread and water (vv. 4–5)...