Today, we continue our series on healthy relationships, and we’re talking about managing difficult relationships. There's a wonderful scene in the classic film To Kill a Mockingbird, when the attorney Atticus Finch is confronted by the father of a girl who has accused a black man of rape, the father, enraged walks up to Finch, played perfectly by Gregory Peck. He spits in Finch’s face as the attorneys' children watch. You can see the anger in Finch’s face, but he slowly and calmly...

You’ve heard the joke about family gatherings, haven’t you? If you weren’t related to these people, you’d never see them. What a horrible punchline, really. 1 Corinthians 13:7 says, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” God’s Word has purpose in everything. Everything. He gave you a specific family for specific reasons. It’s super easy to be nice to people we aren’t around very much. Short-term “love” is pretty common. It’s when we get in close qu...

When we walk with God, we want to see that our relationships are healthy. It’s part of the command to love one another Few things are more heartbreaking than damaged relationships. When those linger, the Body of Christ is weakened. Churches split because of it. Families suffer for it. Joshua 22:5 says, “Love the Lord your God, walk in all his ways, obey his commands, hold firmly to him, and serve him with all your heart and all your soul.” Notice that we are to walk in all His ways. And what ...

When it comes to love, the secular world has plenty to say. Turn on the television, radio, or explore the internet, and you’ll find advice on every type of relationship, from friendships to getting along with your parents, and of course — advice on romantic relationships. People are clamoring to figure love out…but what does the Bible say about love? 1 Corinthians 13:4–5 says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it...

Jesus, the greatest teacher who ever lived, spent a lot of time giving out wisdom in the form of stories. Once, He told His disciples a story that illustrated the importance of understanding that God never quits us, and we should not quit Him. Luke 18:1 says, “One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.” That story was about a woman who didn’t give up in her pursuit of justice. Jesus then said that God hears our pleas for what we need, and ...

Have you ever been in such a dark place that you wondered if God cares about you, or if He even exists? Maybe it’s all some cosmic joke, right? We’ve all been there. Humans doubt. We doubt ourselves, we doubt product labels, we doubt our kids. We question everything. But the worst one is trying to figure out where God is in the middle of life’s great difficulties. Sometimes the world is just flat-out mean, and it seems like it’s an entity that’s trying to break you in half. It’s in this very ...

At an address in Columbus, Ohio, in 1900, former slave Booker T. Washington kept the room spellbound. This man, who had built Tuskegee Institute to lift blacks out of economic bondage, was revered around the world. But he said something that surprised more than a few in the audience. He said that one of his main priorities for the Institute was hiring more Bible teachers! Washington, who had been forced to work in an evil system, once felt powerless. Yes, an American president legally freed t...

Bill was a very successful businessman for a lot of years. About 10 years ahead of retirement, he decided to entrust a lot of money to the investment wizardry of Bernie Madoff. And when Madoff’s Ponzi scheme imploded, Bill joined many others who now had to wonder where their money went. And he thought of suicide. For fully two years, he struggled to get out of bed. He felt sapped of energy every waking moment. Then, on a park bench one afternoon, he met Mildred, who shared the Good News...

Are you the kind of person everyone looks at and assumes you are strong and you have it all together? You too, huh? Many of us look fine on the outside, but the human condition is often much different on the inside. Proverbs 31:25 says this of a godly woman: “She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.” As believers, we can laugh in the midst of struggle because God did not make us to have a spirit of fear. He never planned for us to suffer from depression or ...

Our greatest example of kindness and compassion is our Heavenly Father. God’s Word, the Bible, is filled with examples of His loving-kindness, His grace, His mercy, His faithfulness...the Lord’s love for us is infinite and eternal, and His example is what we should strive to embody as we interact and react to the people around us. Lamentations 3:22–23 says, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your fa...

How many of us would feed a hungry stranger with the last crust of bread left in the house? The prophet Elijah received a prophecy that the land would suffer a years-long drought, and this message from God had come to pass. The Lord sent him to a ravine east of the Jordan River, where He sent ravens with bread and meat in the morning and in the evening, and Elijah could drink from a brook, but eventually, the brook ran dry because there was no rain in the land. The Lord commanded Elijah, “Go ...

When God asks us to love our neighbor as ourselves, what exactly does He mean? In Luke 10 verses 25–37, Jesus shares the Parable of the Good Samaritan to illustrate what it means to love our neighbors the way Jesus loves us. “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So ...

How much can one person take, and still choose to offer kindness. In Genesis Chapter 37, verses 12–36, 17-year-old Joseph is sent by his father to visit his brothers, who were tending the family’s flock of sheep in the countryside. Rather than the friendly check-in he expected, Joseph’s brothers initially plotted to kill him out of jealousy, but instead sold him into slavery to a group of Ishmaelites heading for Egypt. Among the brothers, only Reuben wished to leave Joseph unharmed, attemptin...

Carissa was having one of those days. Instead of hitting the snooze button on her alarm clock, she had turned it off. Now the kids were late for school, she was late for work, and the tone for the day was one mad rush — emphasis on the mad. As the day wore on, she thought about her impatience and frustration with her children as everyone got dressed and grabbed a granola bar on the way out the door. It wasn’t their fault the family was running behind, and she regretted sending them to s...

How many different colors can you name? There are seven colors in the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. As it turns out, the human eye is capable of discerning color to an incredible degree. According to laboratory tests, humans are capable of detecting a total of 10 million colors. That’s a pretty big box of crayons. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for ...

Identifying where our problems originate is one thing, but locating the Divine Healer is key in getting clear of obstacles in our lives. At each mile marker in our life journeys, God is standing alongside the road, smiling at us, and holding out His strong hand to guide us. And from the indispensable wisdom of scripture to stories of human triumphs over tragedies, He is always there reminding us we’re never truly alone. His grace and mercies begin to overshadow and overwhelm those...

We know that a consistent heart of gratitude keeps us in harmony in our relationship with God, but in a practical sense, how do we maintain it, and how can we be intentional? A first clue is the example of Paul. Philippians 4:12–13 says, “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I’ve learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Notice that the famous preacher t...

Sudden or even long-term setbacks in our lives can disorient us, impairing our decision-making. Circumstances beyond our control leave us where we can’t focus, and we can’t see what’s behind our difficulties. It’s then that we can’t make good decisions. If we don’t know if our problems are caused by emotional, mental, or physical challenges, we can’t see our way out of the forest. Identifying the source helps us settle into God’s perfect peace, and He’s given us the ability to make good...

It’s been said that in the Fruit of the Spirit list, all of them collectively, practically define the nature of Christ. Even David the Shepherd knew his Messiah was coming. Remember what he said about following his loving God? He said, “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life!” We instinctively know what goodness is. It’s a kind touch, a gentle word, a gift that was unexpected. Micah 6:8 says, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of yo...

Celebrated songwriter Fanny Crosby wrote over 9,000 hymns in her lifetime, often writing as many as 6 or 7 songs a day. Despite being blind from infancy, she also played harp, piano, guitar, and other instruments, as well as singing soprano. She wrote the lyrics to many well-known hymns and while she did compose music to accompany a few of her songs, she partnered with many talented composers to write the music that accompanied her words. She used as many as 200 pseudonyms to publish her work...