Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

"What is your favorite feeling?" When my sister, Luci, asked me that question recently, my brain began to click through a dozen or more possibilities. Being a person to whom feelings are extremely important, I had a tough time selecting one.

In 1991 James Patterson and Peter Kim released The Day America Told the Truth, a study based on an extensive opinion survey which guaranteed the anonymity of its participants. And the truth was shocking!

During the Thanksgiving holiday a few years ago, I experienced a moving moment as I watched our younger daughter, Colleen, with her baby, Ashley Alissa, who at that time was a newborn.

Humans are strange creatures. We run faster when we lose our way. Instead of pausing to regroup, we ricochet from place to place. Three words describe our times: hurry, worry, and bury.

In a fast-paced world where only the fit survive, it sure is easy to feel dehumanized. Our technological age has made us more aware of our insignificance.

Have you noticed how many day-planners are available these days? And then there are the time-management self-help books: how to increase your efficiency, how to make every moment count.

To be mature is to be fully developed, complete, and "grown up." Becoming mature is a process of consistently moving toward emotional and spiritual adulthood.

Do you know which sin is the subtle enemy of simple faith? Materialism and greed? Anger? Lust? Hypocrisy? No. All of these sins are certainly our enemies, but none of them qualify as subtle enemies.

One of the great doctrines of Christianity is our belief in a heavenly home. Ultimately, we shall spend eternity with God in the place He has prepared for us.

Yourself. Yourself. Yourself. We're up to here with self! How very different from Jesus' model and message! Instead of a "philosophy" to turn our eyes inward, He offers a fresh and much-needed invitation to our "me first" generation.

"Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matt. 7:2). That single sentence is perhaps the most famous statement Jesus ever made. It is the "Everest of Ethics."

Some people mistakenly use God's sovereignty as an excuse for complacency, passivity, and uninvolvement. All is of God they say; God does everything. God's sovereignty does not mean that I am released from responsibility.

"A word fitly spoken," wrote the wise Solomon, "is like apples of gold in settings of silver" (Prov. 25:11, KJV). Like Jell-O, concepts assume the mold of the words into which they are poured.

Even in the midst of disappointment, surprise, and mystery, you will discover an amazing thing. You will discover how very reliable and trustworthy God is—and how secure you are in His hands.

In my words, the apostle Paul would tell us that joy isn't fickle; it doesn't need a lot of things to keep it smiling. Joy is deep and consistent—the oil that reduces the friction of life.

Ours is a tough, rugged, wicked world. Aggression, rebellion, violence, cutthroat competition, and retaliation abound. Not just internationally, but personally.

Several years ago my family and I were invited to spend Thanksgiving weekend at a picturesque ski resort in Colorado with about five hundred single young adults, most of whom were staff personnel with Campus Crusade.

Back in 1958 when I was a young marine stationed on the island of Okinawa, I became closely associated with a man I deeply admired. His name was Bob Newkirk. I didn't know what it was exactly that first drew me to Bob.

The psalmist said, "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty" (Ps. 91:1). Do you have a place of shelter where you seek only His face? Do you spend time in that secret place?

When I think of fallen people, my mind returns to an ancient example, King Saul, the tall, dark, handsome monarch of the Hebrews. What an impressive specimen of humanity!