• Standing Firm . . . Together

    | Jun 02, 2025
    So many live their lives too dependent on others. Such clinging vines draw most, if not all, of their energy from another. Not only is this unhealthy for the clinger, but it also drains too much energy from the clingee!
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  • Let God Take Charge

    | Jun 01, 2025
    When we arrive at dilemmas in life and are unable to decipher the right direction to go, if we hope to maintain our joy in the process, we must (repeat must) allow the Lord to be our Guide, our Strength, our Wisdom—our all! It
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  • When Christ Is Central

    | May 31, 2025
    When Christ becomes our central focus—our reason for existence—contentment replaces our anxiety as well as our fears and insecurities. This cannot help but impact three of the most prevalent joy stealers in all of life.
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  • To Live Is Christ

    | May 30, 2025
    Those are the words of a man whose image was secure and whose reputation was not in need of being protected, massaged, or defended. His mind was firmly fixed on essentials, so much so that nothing brought him anxiety.
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  • Everyday Saints

    | May 29, 2025
    Interestingly, Philippians is a letter from servants to saints. “Paul and Timothy . . . to all the saints in Christ Jesus in Philippi, including oversees and deacons” (Philippians 1:1 NASB).
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  • Set the Sail for Joy

    | May 28, 2025
    When you are my age—matter of fact, when you are any age—a sense of humor is essential. I once heard a great talk from a veteran missionary who spoke on “What I Would Pack in My Suitcase If l Were to Return to the Mission Field.” The first item he named?
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  • Joy Is a Choice

    | May 27, 2025
    God is no distant deity but a constant reality, a very present help whenever needs occur. So? So live like it. And laugh like it! Paul did.
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  • Handling Hardships

    | May 26, 2025
    There once lived a man who became a Christian as an adult and left the security and popularity of his former career as an official religious leader to follow Christ.
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  • Excellence

    | May 25, 2025
    Mediocrity is fast becoming the byword of our times. Every imaginable excuse is now used to make it acceptable, hopefully preferred. Budget cuts, time deadlines, majority opinion, and hard-nosed practicality are outshouting and outrunning excellence.
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  • Lifestyle

    | May 24, 2025
    We live in a negative, hostile world. Face it, my friend, the system that surrounds us focuses on the negatives: what is wrong, not what is right; what is missing, not what is present.
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  • Contentment

    | May 23, 2025
    Let's take a brief look at greed. Practically speaking, greed is an inordinate desire for more, an excessive, unsatisfied hunger to possess.
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  • Distinction

    | May 22, 2025
    The essential question isn't difficult to state: How can I, a person who has absorbed so many years of mediocre thinking, change?
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  • Friendships

    | May 21, 2025
    The world in which one person lives is too limited and restricted. When rubbing shoulders with another, we gain a panoramic view, which allows us to see the whole picture. "As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects man" (Prov. 27:19). That's so picturesque!
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  • Temptation

    | May 20, 2025
    May I remind you of four of the more powerful perils that can level even the mightiest? They are fortune, fame, power, and pleasure.
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  • Victory

    | May 19, 2025
    Picture for a moment the barrenness and bleakness that happens in a life when compromise occurs. It doesn't come immediately. At first it's fun to run with the wrong crowd.
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  • Principles

    | May 18, 2025
    I think we need to sign a mental declaration of independence. Let's put our names on the line, pledging ourselves with firm resolve, much like those brave men did on July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia when they signed the Declaration of Independence.
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  • Courage

    | May 17, 2025
    Someone once wrote, "Sow a thought, reap an act. Sow an act, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap your character. Sow your character, reap your destiny." Standing tall when tested takes courage—constant, relentless, never-give-up courage!
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  • Accountability

    | May 16, 2025
    What do we mean by accountability? In the simplest terms, it is answering the hard questions. Accountability includes opening one's life to a few carefully selected, trusted, loyal confidants who speak the truth.
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  • Guidance

    | May 15, 2025
    God offers instruction, but then it's our move. We must accept His instruction and apply it to our lives. Then, and only then, can we expect to cash in on the benefits of His instruction.
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  • Perspective

    | May 14, 2025
    Almost every week I come into contact with people who have been misled, thinking that success depends solely upon talent or brilliance or education. But the list doesn't end there.
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Alternatives to Grace

Sometimes we can better understand a word’s meaning by studying its opposite. Grace can be an abstract concept, but reading what its opposite looks like, in this article, makes us shout our gratitude for God’s grace!