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....
Once we buried a young lady who was only 21 years old. She was killed in a head-on collision while on her way to church. The night before the funeral, my daughter asked why God allows things like this to happen.
I wish I knew. Things like this have puzzled saints, wise men, and philosophers since the world began.
There is simply no one easy answer as to why tragedies like this happen. The answer may lie in the fact that God made us free. He created us with the ability to make our own choices, and choices always involve consequences. If we are careless or foolish in our choices, or if others are, we may suffer because of them. If God did not allow us freedom, we’d be less than people. We’d be robots.
This may be the only explanation we will ever have for some suffering. However, we do not have to know why things happen in order to be victorious over them. On the cross Jesus cried out “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) But the heavens were as brass. God was silent. He didn’t even answer his own Son. Jesus might have despaired and become bitter against God. But instead he said, “Father, into thy hands I commend [entrust, hand over] my spirit” (Luke 23:46).
This kind of faith is far more important than any answer we might receive. In our lives, as in the life of Jesus, it is faith that makes the difference between victory and defeat.
So keep believing in God no matter what. Commit your life to him and regardless of what happens, God will help you.