The famed Presbyterian preacher Clarence McCartney was once driving across Chicago with popular politician William Jennings Bryan. They passed the Chicago Coliseum where in 1896 Bryan won the nomination of the Democratic Party as their presidential candidate. He made a speech on that occasion in defense of the gold standard and closed it by saying, “You shall not crucify mankind upon crosses of...
Bernice Washington, a businesswoman, author, and motivational speaker was one of five children raised by her sharecropper father who worked in a Louisiana cotton field.
One of the great lessons of life he taught her happened when a schoolmate said to her, “Bernice, you are poor; your brother is poor; your sister is poor; in fact, your entire family is poor.” This pronouncement over her...
Former heavyweight boxing champion of the world and preacher George Foreman paid an unexpected visit to our church. I asked him to share his testimony in three minutes – that’s how long a round is in the ring.
He told our people, “A man once asked me, ‘How can you be a preacher and a boxer at the same time?’ I told him, 'Here, hold my Bible and I’ll show you.'”
That’s what the w...
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor/theologian who was executed by Adolph Hitler for participating in a plot to kill the Führer. In a biography of his life, he describes Christ as a man “for others.” Then he reminds us that the church, as the body of Christ on earth, is a community in which Christ dwells and like Christ himself, exists “for others.” In other words, we are not here...
I have an old root in my backyard that just won’t die. Every spring I chop it back, and in a few weeks new shoots sprout out of it. Bitterness is like that. It dies hard. But we must kill it out of our lives completely or it will kill us. (Hebrews 12:15)
In a conversation with his soon-to-be-wife, the British reformer William Wilberforcer alluded to the difficulties he encountered in P...
Christian author Jill Briscoe tells of going into a child’s room once and seeing a poster on the wall showing a little boy after a football match. At the top it said, “I quit.” And the little boy's body language was saying it all, sitting dejected and alone on the bench. But on the bottom of the poster was a cross and in little letters it said, “I didn’t.”
When I feel like quitting, I i...
Years ago, Milton Jowers, Athletic Director of Texas State University and one of the winningest football and basketball coaches in America became a Christian. When he came forward to confess his faith in Christ he said to me, “Preacher, don’t put me on the bench. I want to get in the game.”
Some Christians have been sitting on the bench so long that they have an ingrown shirttail. Are y...
We begin our lives with great hopes and aspirations about our careers, our marriages, our children. Then something happens. Our career goes south, our marriage goes sour, our children go awry, and our dreams are shattered.
If that’s happened to you, hang on to hope.
Meadowlark Lemon, the old Harlem Globetrotter star, said, “The most useless statistic in sports is the halftime sc...
One of the greatest blessings of life is a Christian home. It is a source of strength and help for all of life. An essential ingredient in a Christian home is a family altar. You cannot have a Christian home in the fullest sense of the word without it.
What is a family altar? It is not a piece of furniture or a place. It is an event. It is a time when the family joins together for worsh...
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.