Chuck Swindoll

In the words of Ephesians 4:32, be kind. My sister Luci paraphrases this verse, “Just be nice."

Put flawed human beings on a pedestal and they are bound to topple, fail, and disappoint, but God’s Word is holy, inerrant, and totally reliable.

I’m not going to talk about what you should do when the plate is passed. Rather, I want to talk about what you might do before and after that time.

If I’ve described your situation, I have great news. I’m so glad that I memorized it years ago and call it to mind often. Here it is: We are all faced with a series of great opportunities, brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.

God did not give us His Word to satisfy our curiosity; He gave it to change our lives. Can you name a couple of specific changes God has implemented in your life during the past six or eight months?

Rather than lamenting our culture’s failure to acknowledge our great and powerful God, let’s turn our full attention to Him who is enthroned above us, who reigns over us, because He alone is our shalom, shalom.

Look up to the sky. Who calls snow to the ground, conducts thunder and lightning in a brilliant orchestra? Whose hands place the stars and raise the sun? The God of heaven and earth! His ear knows the song of every sparrow, the hum of every bee. His eye misses nothing.

I’m going to level with you: No Christian gets a pass. I have no business writing a watered-down message that makes people feel good. That’s not what I’m about. It’s not what Insight for Living Canada is about.

I’m going to say it straight: If you are a believer and you are not actively participating in fulfilling the Great Commission, you are not obeying the Lord’s calling on your life.

Like potatoes in a pressure cooker, we 21^st-century creatures understand the meaning of stress. A week doesn’t pass without a few skirmishes with those “extrinsic agents” that beat upon our fragile frames.