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Embrace it. Accept it. Don’t resist it. Change is not only a part of life; change is a necessary part of God’s strategy. To use us to change the world, he alters our assignments. Gideon: from farmer to general; Mary: from peasant girl to the mother of Christ; Paul: from local rabbi to world evangelist. God transitioned Joseph from a baby brother to an Egyptian prince. He changed David from a a shepherd to a king. Peter wanted to fish the Sea of Galilee. God called him to lead the first church. God makes reassignments.

But, someone might ask, what about the tragic changes God permits? Some seasons make no sense…do such moments serve a purpose?

They do if we see them from an eternal perspective. What makes no sense in this lie will make perfect sense in the next. I have proof: you in the womb.

I know you don’t remember this prenatal season, so let me remind you what happened during it. Every gestation day equipped you for your earthly life. Your bones solidified, your eyes developed, the umbilical cord transported nutrients into your growing frame…for what reason? So you might remain enwombed? Quite the contrary. Womb time equipped you for earth time, suited you up for your postpartum existence.

Some prenatal features went unused before birth. You grew a nose but didn’t breathe. Eyes developed, but could you see? Your tongue, toenails, and crop of hair served no function in your mother’s belly. But aren’t you glad you have them now?

Certain chapters in this life seem so unnecessary, like nostrils on the preborn. Suffering. Loneliness. Disease. Holocausts. Martyrdom. Monsoons. If we assume this world exists just for pregrave happiness, these atrocities disqualify it from doing so. But what if this earth is the womb? Might these challenges, severe as they may be, serve to prepare us, equip us for the world to come? As Paul wrote, “These little troubles are getting us ready for an eternal glory that will make all our troubles seem like nothing” (2 Cor. 4:17 CEV).

by Max Lucado

Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to Saul. He also told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus.
—Acts 9:27

You would think that upon returning to Jerusalem after his conversion that Paul would have been greeted as a her “Can you believe it? Our worst enemy has now become a follower of Jesus! Isn’t this glorious? Isn’t this wonderful? God has saved the notorious Saul, and he is now a fellow believer!” But that is not what happened at all. In fact, when Paul returned to Jerusalem, the church didn’t believe that he was really converted. They thought it was some kind of trap. Here he was, a new believer, and they didn’t think he was even converted.

Enter an unsung hero, Barnabas. Effectively the believers were saying, “You can’t come to our worship service, Saul. We don’t trust you.” But Barnabas essentially said, “Paul, you come with me.” Then he took him and brought him to the apostles.

That is what we need to do with new believers. We need to take them to church with us, because the greatest danger a new believer faces after making a commitment to Christ is falling through the cracks and going back to their old friends and their old ways. They need a brother or sister in Christ, an Ananias or a Barnabas who will take them and say, “You are coming with me to church.”

Someone did that for me. His name was Mark, and after I became a Christian, he took me to church and took me under his wing. I needed someone like that. Everyone wants to be a Paul or a Simon Peter, but who will be a Barnabas? It doesn’t matter whether you are a hero or an unsung hero; just don’t be a zero. Just do something, and realize that God has a place for each of us to be used for His glory.

by Greg Laurie

When a potter bakes a pot, he checks its solidity by pulling it out of the oven and thumping it. If it “sings,” it’s ready. If it “thuds,” it’s placed back in the oven.

The character of a person is also checked by thumping.

Been thumped lately?

Late-night phone calls. Grouchy teacher. Grumpy moms. Burnt meals. Flat tires. You’ve-got-to-be-kidding deadlines. Those are thumps. Thumps are those irritating inconveniences that trigger the worst in us. They catch us off guard. Flat-footed. They aren’t big enough to be crises, but if you get enough of them, watch out! Traffic jams. Long lines. Empty mailboxes. Dirty clothes on the floor. Even as I write this, I’m being thumped. Because of interruptions, it has taken me almost two hours to write these two paragraphs. Thump. Thump. Thump.

How do I respond? Do I sing, or do I thud?

Jesus said that out of the nature of the heart a man speaks (Luke 6:45). There’s nothing like a good thump to reveal the nature of a heart. The true character of a person is seen not in momentary heroics but in the thump-packed humdrum of day-to-day living.

If you have a tendency to thud more than you sing, take heart.

There is hope for us “thudders”:

Begin by thanking God for thumps. I don’t mean a half-hearted thank-you. I mean a rejoicing, jumping-for-joy thank-you from the bottom of your heart (James 1:2). Chances are that God is doing the thumping. And he’s doing it for your own good. So every thump is a reminder that God is molding you (Hebrews 12:5-8).

Learn from each thump. Face up to the fact that you are not “thump-proof.” You are going to be tested from now on. You might as well learn from the thumps—you can’t avoid them. Look upon each inconvenience as an opportunity to develop patience and persistence. Each thump will help you or hurt you, depending on how you use it.

Be aware of “thump-slump” times. Know your pressure periods. For me, Mondays are infamous for causing thump-slumps. Fridays can be just as bad. For all of us, there are times during the week when we can anticipate an unusual amount of thumping. The best way to handle thump-slump times? Head on. Bolster yourself with extra prayer, and don’t give up.

Remember no thump is disastrous. All thumps work for good if we are loving and obeying God.

by Max Lucado

Someone once approached a great Bible teacher and told him, “Sir, I would give the world to know the Bible as you do.”

The teacher replied, “And that is exactly what it will cost you.”

Would you give the world to know the Bible? By that I mean, would you be willing to give up something in exchange for knowing God’s Word? This is what the Apostle Paul meant in Romans 12 when he wrote, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (v. 2). How do you renew your mind? By studying the Word of God.

If you have determined to study the Bible for yourself, I want to bring to your attention three principles from Proverbs 2 that will help you get the most out of Bible study.

First, listen to God and treasure His instructions (2:1). Recognize how valuable the Bible is and come with eagerness to God’s Word. In Acts 2, we read of new believers who gladly received God’s Word and devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. Acts 17 tells us about the believers in Berea who listened to Paul’s message and searched the Scriptures day after day to see if the things he was saying were true. In the same way, we should hunger for the Word.

Second, pray for insight and understanding (v. 3). Ask God to open His Word to you. The psalmist prayed, “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law” (Psalm 119:18). The next time you open up your Bible, pray that God would illuminate the truth of His Word to your life and show you how to apply it.

As you read, slow down. Take a little time. I would rather read five verses with comprehension than 15 chapters of the Bible and never understand a word. Read slowly and carefully, contemplating what the verses say to you and how they apply to your life.

The word meditate appears in the Bible often. It means, “to chew something over.” Think about it. Ponder it. Psalm 1 describes the blessed man as one who delights in the law of the Lord and “in His law he meditates day and night” (v. 2).

Third, seek it as though you were searching for lost money or hidden treasure (v. 4). As you read through the Bible, think of it as mining for gold. Do you look for a quarter if you drop it? I do. Do you look for a dime? I do. Do you look for a penny? I do, depending on the circumstances. If you want to get the attention of a crowd, then drop a pocketful of change on the ground. Everyone will stop to look for it, because there is value in money.

Let’s say, for example, that you somehow misplaced $1 million. Do you think you would go searching for it? I think I would. If I will look for a quarter, then I would look for a million dollars. But there is more than a million dollars in the Word of God. There is buried gold in the pages of Scripture. But you need to get to it and search it and find what is in the Scriptures for you.

The Bible tells us, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple . . . more to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold . . . and in keeping them there is great reward” (Psalm 19 7-11).

Fourth, apply what you learn in the Bible. Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, you are my disciples indeed.” To “abide” means to stay in a given place and draw your resources from something.

Let God’s Word permeate your life and be at home inside of you. Let the Bible fill your life. After all, success or failure in the Christian life depends on how much of the Bible you get into your heart and mind on a daily basis and how obedient you are to it. If you have a deficiency of the Bible in your diet, then you will wither spiritually. If you have a regular diet of the Word of God, then you will be strong spiritually. Fall in love with the Bible, and you will never regret it.

by Greg Laurie

Jairus fell at Jesus’ feet, “saying again and again, ‘My daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so she will be healed and will live’” (Mark 5:23).

There are no games. No haggling. No masquerades. The situation is starkly simple: Jairus is blind to the future and Jesus knows the future. So Jairus asks for his help.

And Jesus, who loves the honest heart, goes to give it…[He] turns immediately to Jairus and pleads: “Don’t be afraid; just believe” (v. 36).

Jesus compels Jairus to see the unseen. When Jesus says, “Just believe … ,” he is imploring, “Don’t limit your possibilities to the visible. Don’t listen only for the audible. Don’t be controlled by the logical. Believe there is more to life than meets the eye!”

“Trust me,” Jesus is pleading. “Don’t be afraid; just trust.”

by Max Lucado

Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.
—Philippians 3:8

Today people are thinking about what to do to prolong their lives, whether it is through stem cell research, cloning, cryonics, or the latest potion or lotion. I find myself laughing at some of the things I see advertised with the implication they will help me live longer. I realize that people can eat all the tofu and wheat germ they want, but their lives will end when they are going to end.

Yet some people become obsessed with the concept of living longer. According to a LIFE magazine cover story, there are some scientists who suggest that we can and will stop aging. But the article went on to ask whether we would really want to stop aging. In other words, do we really want to live forever? I guess it comes down to what kind of life you are living. Medical science can seek to add years to your life, but only God can add life to your years and give you a life that is worth living.

Our objective as Christians should not be to merely live long lives; our objective should be to live full lives, meaningful lives, and purposeful lives.

Jim Eliot is one example of a Christian who did this. As a young man, he felt God was calling him to take the gospel to a tribe in Ecuador then known as the Auca. Tragically, Jim was martyred along with four other missionaries in their attempt to share the gospel. Jim once wrote in his journal, “I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus.” That is a good thought: Life is not a matter of years; it is a matter of what we do with them. What are you doing with the years God has given you?

-Greg Laurie

Embrace it. Accept it. Don’t resist it. Change is not only a part of life; change is a necessary part of God’s strategy. To use us to change the world, he alters our assignments. Gideon: from farmer to general; Mary: from peasant girl to the mother of Christ; Paul: from local rabbi to world evangelist. God transitioned Joseph from a baby brother to an Egyptian prince. He changed David from a a shepherd to a king. Peter wanted to fish the Sea of Galilee. God called him to lead the first church. God makes reassignments.

But, someone might ask, what about the tragic changes God permits? Some seasons make no sense…do such moments serve a purpose?

They do if we see them from an eternal perspective. What makes no sense in this life will make perfect sense in the next. I have proof: you in the womb.

I know you don’t remember this prenatal season, so let me remind you what happened during it. Every gestation day equipped you for your earthly life. Your bones solidified, your eyes developed, the umbilical cord transported nutrients into your growing frame…for what reason? So you might remain enwombed? Quite the contrary. Womb time equipped you for earth time, suited you up for your postpartum existence.

Some prenatal features went unused before birth. You grew a nose but didn’t breathe. Eyes developed, but could you see? Your tongue, toenails, and crop of hair served no function in your mother’s belly. But aren’t you glad you have them now?

Certain chapters in this life seem so unnecessary, like nostrils on the preborn. Suffering. Loneliness. Disease. Holocausts. Martyrdom. Monsoons. If we assume this world exists just for pregrave happiness, these atrocities disqualify it from doing so. But what if this earth is the womb? Might these challenges, severe as they may be, serve to prepare us, equip us for the world to come? As Paul wrote, “These little troubles are getting us ready for an eternal glory that will make all our troubles seem like nothing” (2 Cor. 4:17 CEV).

by Max Lucado