Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

EIGHT WORDS WERE BRASHLY SMEARED across the dashboard of the speedboat tied up at Gulf Shores, Alabama. They reflected the flash and flair of its owner whose fast life was often publicized in sporting news across America.

I CANNOT IMAGINE ANYTHING more boring and less desirable than being poured into the mold of predictability. Few things interest me less than the routine, the expected, the status quo.

YOUR MIND IS A MUSCLE. It needs to be stretched to stay sharp. It needs to be prodded and pushed to perform. Let it get idle and lazy on you, and that muscle will become a pitiful mass of flab in a brief period of time.

EVER FEEL WORN OUT BY the spinning of your wheels in the muck of sin? Are you fatigued from fighting the battle against your dark nature?

DAWSON TROTMAN, founder of the Navigators, an organization discipling and mentoring ministry leaders around the world, drowned while saving a swimmer from certain death.

PRACTICALLY SPEAKING, greed is an inordinate desire for more, an excessive, unsatisfied hunger to possess. Like an untamed beast, greed grasps, claws, reaches, clutches, and clings—stubbornly refusing to surrender.

PERHAPS YOU’RE FIGHTING an inner battle with a ghost from the past. The specter of a previous hurt haunts your mind and steals your peace.

ANY THIRD GRADER COULD have told you the vaunted sky cycle leap across the Snake River Canyon on that sultry Sunday afternoon was a triple-A flop—a classic fizzle.

THE RARE AND REMARKABLE VIRTUE OF patience is within the and-so-forth section in Galatians chapter 5. You know how we quote that passage . . . “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, and-so-forth.”

TWO CONGREGATIONS OF differing denominations were located only a few blocks from each other in a small community. They thought it might be better if they would merge and become one united body.

THE FEELINGS ARE FAMILIAR. Mouth open. Eyes like saucers. Chill up the spine. “The flash of a mighty surprise” boggles the mind, leaving us somewhere between stunned and dumb with wonder.

MARCH 11, 1942, was a dark, desperate day at Corregidor. One island after another in the Pacific theater had been buffeted into submission.

We may find physical famine almost impossible to believe. But how about spiritual famine? You don’t need imagination for that!

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.