Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

THE GREAT APOSTLE PAUL was just like you and me. He had a love for God blended with feet of clay. Great passion . . . and great weakness.

IN MANY CHURCHES, Christians tend to get so caught up in a success-and-size race that the primary calling of following Jesus gets lost in the journey.

I LOVE THE STORY OF a sea captain who, while navigating his ship through a storm, found himself on a collision course with what he thought was a large vessel in the distance.

JOURNEY BACK WITH ME for a moment to one of the many scenes that demonstrated just how ordinary Jesus' disciples were.

Nothing is more refreshing than a servant's heart and a giving spirit. This is especially true when such Christlike qualities are displayed in a person tagged as celebrity.

OUR WORLD HAS become a large, impersonal, busy affair. Social media and the technological age have caused us to become alienated from each other.

WHAT HAPPENS THAT causes you to be disappointed? Someone or something has failed to fulfill your expectations.

I refuse to force hilarity into the backseat every time responsibility takes the wheel. If the fun's done, it's because we didn't want it around, not because it didn't fit.

THE MALCOLM BALDRIGE National Quality Award was awarded many years ago to the iconic Ritz-Carlton Hotels.

IT HAPPENED TO ME LAST WEEK. Isaac Watts did it again. One of his best hymns (he wrote over six hundred!) lingered in my head for more than an hour before I formed the words with my mouth.

MANY YEARS AGO, my brother, Orville, introduced a hymn to me I'd not heard before. Its moving strains often accompany me as I drive or walk in solitude or return late from a day of demands.

THOUGH I HAVE WALKED WITH God for several decades, I must confess I still find much about Him incomprehensible and mysterious. But this much I know: He delights in surprising us.

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.

ALL OF US HAVE PRACTICED certain areas of wrong from our youth. It is a pattern of life that comes "second nature" to us. As a result, it strongly resists change.