Nowhere is the conspiracy of silence more prevalent than in dealing with children about death. Death education, even more than sex education, is something that many parents don’t want to face with children. But death is a fact of life and normal, well-adjusted children must be acquainted with it.
How do you explain death to a child?
You can begin with nature. Remind them that wh...
It is the responsibility of Christian people to share the good news of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life with those who are not Christians. The tragedy is that Christians are often indifferent to the needs of others.
Christians are to care. We are to care about people even when these people don’t care about themselves. We must not become indifferent to their indifference. The tem...
Martin Luther once said that the heart of Christianity lies in its personal pronouns. The apostle Paul believed that and so he wrote, “I know whom [not what] I have believed, and I am persuaded that he [not 'it'] is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Timothy 1:12).
Paul’s faith was firmly resting on the person of Jesus Christ. He had made a commitment...
Christians can stand up to life without defeat and accept death without fear. They are ready to live and they are ready to die. The apostle Paul expressed this kind of confidence when he said, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand” (2 Timothy 4:6). Here is a man standing on the brink of eternity, shaking hands with death, and saying all the while, “I am read...
Someone has said, “Marriage is like twirling a baton, turning handsprings, or eating with chopsticks. It looks easy until you try it.” Marriage is one of the most difficult of all relationships.
There is no magic formula for happiness in marriage. In marriage two people with different backgrounds, tastes, values, and habits suddenly begin to live together as husband and wife. Every one...
Why do men continually do wrong when they could do right? We are hard put for an explanation unless we accept that of the Bible. The Bible is very clear that there is an evil force at work in our world and it is headed up by Satan. Satan is a real person and his existence is sustained by scripture. To deny his personality is to deny scripture. It is his work and mission to lure us, to entice us...
Showing respect of persons is one of the oldest sins in the world. It means to respect one person over another person. It means to accept or reject a person on the basis of some outward standard such as race, wealth, education, or position in life. The Bible warns, “But if ye have respect of persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors” James 2:9.
If you accept...
There was once a group of Bible society trustees who could not decide what material to use to bind a new issue of the Bible they had just printed. Should they bind it in paper? Cloth? Persian leather? Moroccan? One of the trustees rose and said, “Mr. Chairman, I move that we bind these Bibles in shoe leather and walk out their teachings into everyday life.”
Shoe leather Christians! That...
A good self-image is important if we are ever going to be successful. This is just as true in God’s work as it is in any other area of life. When God called Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, Moses tried to excuse himself by saying, “Who am I, that I should go unto the Pharaoh?” (Exodus 3:11)
Mark that question “Who am I?” There is something more than humility behind it....
Knute Rockne was one of the greatest football coaches ever. In his 13 years at Notre Dame, his teams won 105 games, lost 12, and tied 5. He never had a secret practice. In fact, he sometimes put up a sign for visitors that said, “Secret practice. Come and bring your notebooks.”
On one occasion when an Army scout missed a train connection and didn’t get to the Notre Dame game he was to cover, Rockne obligingly sent him the plays he planned to use against the West Point men. He explained his actions by saying, “It isn’t the play that wins; it’s the execution.”
All great coaches agree: champions are made by majoring on the fundamentals – blocking and tackling. They execute well. Teams seldom win by trick plays or gimmicks.
The same is true of life. Tricks and gimmicks will seldom get you to the top in any endeavor and can never keep you there. Major on the basics in all of life – work hard, honor God, be honest, kind and helpful to others, and go to church regularly.