Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

While most of us are not afflicted by horrible persecution for our faith, we do know what it means to face various forms of suffering, pain, disappointment, and grief. Fortunately, in the letter of 1 Peter we can find comfort and consolation for our own brand of suffering.

Joseph Parker, a great preacher of yesteryear, once said to a group of aspiring young ministers, “Preach to the suffering and you will never lack a congregation. There is a broken heart in every pew.”

Hope. It is something as important to us as water is to a fish, as vital as electricity is to a light bulb, as essential as air is to a jumbo jet. Hope is that basic to life.

It’s been my observation that when we’re treated unfairly, we respond with three common, knee-jerk reactions.

Hope is a wonderful gift from God, a source of strength and courage in the face of life’s harshest trials. When we are trapped in a tunnel of misery, hope points to the light at the end.

God’s sense of humor has intrigued me for years. What amazes me, however, is the number of people who don’t think He has one. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why they can’t see it. He made you and me, didn’t He?

Surrounded by so many who are down in the mouth, convinced we are headed for doom (with statistics to prove it), we need the reminder that Christ is still triumphant.

What’s necessary if we hope to break the selfish syndrome and accelerate our growth toward maturity? Let me leave you three bones to chew on:  First, look within . . . and release.

The longer I live the more I become convinced that our major battle in life is not with age but with maturity. All of us are involuntary victims of the former. There is no choice involved in growing older.

Do you realize that God has a sure-cure solution to worry? Has anyone ever told you that if you perfect the process, you will be able to live a worry-free existence?

Americans did not invent the idea of freedom. Even though we have fought wars for it and built monuments to it, it is not original with us. It began with God, way back in the Garden of Eden when He made Adam and Eve.

The word “pleasures” doesn't sound very hostile, does it? Maybe not in our English language, but the Greek word is the one from which we get “hedonism.”

It is one thing for us to survive the blows of a world that is hostile to the things of Christ, but to be in disharmony with one another, fighting and arguing among ourselves—unthinkable.

THERE IS A STRANGE STATEMENT IN Scripture that flashes like a bright neon sign. Paul made it while he was saying good-bye to a group of friends standing near him. It was a sad moment heavy with emotion.

DISORIENTATION IS THE PITS. When you travel a lot (like airline personnel) you must deal with it.

TUCKED AWAY IN THE FOLDS OF Hebrews 11 is a two-word biography worth a second glance: "He endured" (11:27, NASB). The Living Bible says, "[he] kept right on going."

WEBSTER DEFINES THE WORD "cordial" as of or relating to the heart: vital, tending to revive, cheer, or invigorate, heartfelt, gracious. That's really a mouthful; in fact, that's worth a few minutes of our time together.

PAUL WANTED TO BE IN HEAVEN but needed to be on earth. In a temporal sort of way, this time of year, I share his frustration.

THERE IS ONLY ONE YOU. In our overly-populated, identity-crisis era it is easy to forget this. Individuality is played down. We are asked to conform to the "system."

YEARS AGO, when I pastored in California, an usher met me as I was leaving the church. He had been involved in counting the morning offering.