We are regularly faced with the horror and prevalence of violence against children: ·         Almost half of all sexual abuse victims are children: 15 percent of sexual assault victims are under age twelve, and 29 percent are ages twelve to seventeen. ·         Studies suggest that up to 10 million children in the U.S. witness some form of domestic violence annually and approximately half of them are also victims of domestic violence. ·         Children are also the victims of sex trafficking at horrific rates: In the U.S., the average age of entry into prostitution is between 12 and 14 years old. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that over 300,00...

As a book lover, my books are riddled with highlights and underlined sections. I dog-ear my pages. (Yes, I am one of those people!) In one book I read recently, I folded down the bottom corners of pages I wanted to come back to later so I could record my favorite quotes. The problem was, when I got to the end of the book, there were about forty folded down pages! When it comes to the story of my life though, there are few pages I want to revisit. Highlighted sections are rare. I wouldn’t consider it a good read and many chapters I’d like to just remove altogether. This time of year marks a new chapter in each of our lives. The pages are fresh and unmarked. We don’t know what lies ahead in our stories and can’t look at the back of the book to find out....

The desire and the demand to be perfect is in full-effect today. From photo-shopped models who reflect artificial and unattainable “beauty” in advertising, to the superficial but well-manicured lives of neighbors and friends, we are constantly presented with perfection as the ideal. As much as we, in our saner moments, speak against such superficiality we all feel the pressure. We sometimes even produce the pressure ourselves. This is even true in the church. We want perfection, but often settle for the appearance of it. We sometimes want others to be perfect so we aren’t burdened with their trouble and needs. We often want to appear perfect ourselves because the truth of our imperfection is painful and embarrassing. And then there are those who actually believe they have arrived, or will ...

Available Plans Help? Here’s How it Works 1. Register or Login, so we can show you a customized Bible reading progress tracking chart. 2. Choose a reading plan. 3. Start your daily Bible reading plan! 4. Record your Bible reading progress. Complete your assigned Bible reading each day. Then click the “Finished Reading” button at the top or bottom of the Bible in a Year reading page to record your completion. Carefully work your way through Isaiah in 71 days to experience the full impact of the prophet’s words. Plan Length: 71 days Estimated Completion Date: Tuesday, August 6, 2019 Read from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 in the order in which the books of the Bible are arranged. Plan Length: 365 days Estimated Completion Date: Tuesday, May 26, 2020 Read the Bible in the...

Willpower Is Weak If you’re considering making some New Year’s resolutions this year, consider this: like other exercises of raw willpower, most New Year’s resolutions fail miserably. According to research, 80 percent of those who make resolutions on January 1 have given up by Valentine’s Day. Nutrition experts say that two-thirds of dieters regain any weight lost within a year, and more than 70 percent of people who undergo coronary bypass surgery fall back into unhealthy habits within two years of their surgery. “Most of us think that we can change our lives if we just summon the willpower and try even harder this time around,” says Alan Deutschman, the former executive director of Unboundary, a firm that counsels corporations on how to navigate change. “It’s exceptionally hard to make l...

Once, when the people of God had become careless in their relationship with Him, the Lord rebuked them through the prophet Haggai. “Consider your ways!” (Haggai 1:5) he declared, urging them to reflect on some of the things happening to them, and to evaluate their slipshod spirituality in light of what God had told them. Even those most faithful to God occasionally need to pause and think about the direction of their lives. It’s so easy to bump along from one busy week to another without ever stopping to ponder where we’re going and where we should be going. The beginning of a new year is an ideal time to stop, look up, and get our bearings. To that end, here are some questions to ask prayerfully in the presence of God. 1. What’s one thing you could do this ye...

Wise people are not wise because they are prophets who see the future. Wise people are not wise because they can look into men’s hearts and discern their thoughts and motives. Wise people are not wise because they are better at learning from experience. Wise people are not those who’ve been blessed with superior intellect. Wise people are those who treasure the lamp of God’s Word, seeking out and crying out for the light of truth. In other words, wise people are simply prepared people—biblically prepared and equipped for whatever might come along. People become wise when by God’s grace they are humble enough to accept how unprepared they actually are in themselves. Sacrificing the false god of their own independence, they run to the one place where actual certainty can be found. Then they’...

For many in the West, if not most, Christmas will be spent in relative peace.  Time together with family and friends, presents under the tree and a hot dinner typify the day of celebration.  Christmas is a national holiday in the United States, and most people will have a paid day off from work.  You can sleep in if you’d like, assuming that the kids or grandkids don’t run downstairs and tear into the presents at an unreasonably early hour.  While there’s been a move over the past generation to stigmatize the use of “Merry Christmas” as a greeting, with politically correct types preferring the more sanitized and non-descript “Happy Holidays,” still there is general acceptance and understanding of what Christmas is. No one will beat you up for buying a Christmas tree or ...

Elijah had been used of God to hold back rain from the people for over three years, because of their sins. Obviously, he was not well liked as a preacher. I can imagine the stress he experienced during those years. Something strikes me, however, that seems to further complicate Elijah’s situation. Consider 1 Kings 18:1: “After a long time, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.” According to a couple New Testament passages, this “After a long time” was actually three and a half years. The famine was three and a half years long. For three and a half years, the people apparently continued to sin, Elijah continued to hold on by faith, but God said nothing. God was apparently inactive… not speaking… even to Hi...

GQ Magazine, which isn’t exactly famous for promoting a God-fearing view of the world or social issues, is enjoying a meteoric boost in publicity these days due to writer Drew Magary’s candid interview of “Duck Dynasty” star, Phil Robertson. In his interview published in GQ’s January 2014 issue, Phil “the Duck Commander” Robertson voiced traditional Christian views of marriage and sexuality with his trademark straight-shooter, non-nuanced style: “Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men. Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won’t inherit the kingdom...

Time off work, a year-end bonus, receiving gifts on your wish list… none of those things are bad in themselves. But you can get all of those things without Christmas. So, they can’t be the ultimate reason you need Christmas, right? Maybe you’re on the opposite side of the spectrum: you don’t think you need Christmas at all. The decorating, awkward family gatherings, shopping, and traveling add so much stress. Or maybe Christmas makes you feel incredibly lonely. You’d love to sleep straight through Christmas and wake up just in time to ring in the New Year. What both these mindsets have in common is that they each focus on things that are ancillary to the true significance of why Christmas happened and why we celebrate it. Why do we really need Christmas? What does Christm...

Introduction               On the fourth Sunday of Advent (Advent IV), we celebrate God’s faithfulness in sending Jesus, and we remember that faithfulness as we look forward to Christ’s second coming. The Scripture and Theology of the Fourth Week of Advent Scripture readings for Advent IV focus on the coming of the Messiah who fulfills God’s covenant with David, bringing salvation for all people and the eternal reign of God on earth. Old Testament Readings         Old Testament passages for the final week of Advent reflect on prophecies, which are fulfilled by Jesus’ birth. Isaiah 7:10 recounts the story of King Ahaz, king of Judah at a time when Judah was facing a foreign invasion. Ahaz hoped for help from the king of Assyria. The pro...