An American tradition is that if you have a rabbit’s foot good luck will come your way. I am not sure where this idea originated, but mankind has so often looked to find a magic potion or icon of some sort that will help them in times of trouble—think of four-leaf clovers or crystals as examples of this. The Jews thought they…

I once heard of a Christian having a Bible study with a friend about what one must do to be saved. He opened his Bible and urged the friend to read several passages which clearly revealed God’s plan of salvation. The friend’s reply was, “There are none of these verses in my Bible.” She went and got her Bible, and she was…

I will never forget that cottonwood tree just outside the back door of the house I lived in for my entire childhood. It was where we built our treehouse and where the ropes for young “Tarzans” and swings for young children were anchored. But, the best memory I have of that tree was that several times every week we “played church” in…

I remember when I was a child hearing Christians misuse the King James rendering of Peter’s words in 1 Peter 2:9. “You are a peculiar people.” Whenever there was a social misfit or a person “whose eyeballs don’t line up with the holes in his head,” someone would say, “Well the Bible says we are to be peculiar, and he is the…

Christians in that first-century world faced such great challenges. The pagan world had such a profound impact on mankind that even their religions were given over to sensuality. When men became Christians there was an immediate change which the former friends could not understand. Peter described this when he said, “For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the…

Solomon is often called the wisest man in the Bible. As a youth, he asked God to give him wisdom, and our amazing God answered his prayer abundantly. “All the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart” (1 Kings 10:24). If we want to share in this wisdom from heaven, we must…

Life is often so frustrating that we can easily forget the truth that the child of God is never alone. The last two chapters of the book of Acts so vividly illustrate this. Imagine that you are Paul on his way to Rome to be tried before Nero Caesar. Look at the contrast of the faith he had and how so many…

Our world is so upside down. From the time a child enters school, he is confronted with the reality that if you are not cute, handsome or beautiful, you may not succeed. If you are not more intelligent than others, you might fail. If you are not wealthy, your chances of advancement may be quite limited. If you are not athletic, you…