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We live in a world that has lost its way. Many are being deceived. But God has given us His truth; He has shown us how to live.

Listen to today's Laugh Again with Phil Callaway, "The Stuffometer." Enjoy!

Deep in the heart of Elisha’s helper, Gehazi, were smoldering embers of greed. Silently, secretively, they remained hidden. No one could tell by looking. Words never passed from Gehazi’s mouth, admitting such sin, but it was there nevertheless. Through a series of events those embers burst into full flame. As we recount the story, we want to take sufficient time to examine our own hearts and determine if we suffer from a similar malady.

From the Series: Fascinating Stories of Forgotten Lives: Rediscovering Some Old Testament Characters

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Fear. Worry. Pain: They can feel all-consuming. Author and speaker Amberley Neese believes that in the questions Jesus asks in the Gospels, there are answers big enough for all three--and a highway to stronger faith.

Show Notes and Resources

• Untangling Faith: Reclaiming Hope in the Questions Jesus Asked Participant Workbook
  by Amberly Neese.
• Begin the Easter story early with Resurrection Eggs. Start your family tradition now! 
• Learn more about Amberly Neese on her website amberlyneese.com

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You can make a difference in the life of a child! Captured in the book, The Lucky Few, Josh and Heather Avis share on the pain and heartache that several years of infertility had on their marriage. They then share how God began to prompt their hearts to adopt, and then adopt a child with Down syndrome. They also share on their other two adopted children and shine a positive light on Down syndrome reminding all of us that even if we feel fear we need to step out in faith to what God is calling us to.

I don't know if you're like me, but have you ever wondered where children learn all the psychology they seem to know? They use it pretty effectively to get their way. Oh, we adults have to take courses in child psychology. They don't take courses in adult psychology, but they do pretty well. Kids learn very early how to maneuver, and motivate, and manipulate to get what they want. They use division. You know, like divide and conquer. Kind of get Mom and Dad played against each other. They use guilt sometimes to do it; sometimes, they even use, yeah, deception.

Now, I've traveled a lot in my lifetime, and my wife had to be especially alert for one particular tactic as the kids were growing up. They'd say, "Oh, we're going to do such and such." And she'd say, "Well, who said you could?" "Daddy." Of course I wasn't there, no verification possible. So maybe Mom might be fooled if you said it just right, unless I called, until I got home. Then kids learn an important life lesson, "Don't put your Father's name on something he does not approve of."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Father Never Said You Could."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Samuel 15. I'm going to begin reading at verse 10. Understand that King Saul has been asked to lead the Jews in the eradication of a cancer called the Amalekites, and to destroy not only their armies and their leadership, but also all of the loot that might be taken so there would be no trace left of the poison that they had become.

Well, the Bible says, "Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, 'I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he's turned away from Me and has not carried out my instructions.' Samuel was troubled and he cried out to the Lord all night." Well, then we read in verse 13, "When Samuel reached him, Saul said, 'The Lord bless you. I have carried out the Lord's instruction.'"

He had not. "But Samuel said, 'What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of the cattle that I hear?' 'Oh, but I did obey the Lord' Saul said. 'I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder. The best was devoted to God in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God.'"

Well, that just doesn't work. God isn't fooled! You notice here, though, that he tries to make something rebellious into something religious. He's talking about the Lord all the time, but he's disobeying Him. Saul is trying a child's trick to justify something wrong: putting your Father's name on what you're doing. That happens a lot. You can justify almost anything by saying, "The Lord led me."

I talked to a man who divorced his wife not too long ago to marry a relative of his, of hers really. And he said, "Well, Ron, the Bible says love is of God, and I love this woman. So it must be right." Come on, it's bad enough to break God's law. Don't put God's name on it. Don't try to put a spiritual makeup job on leaving your husband or wife when God says, "I hate divorce." Don't rationalize materialism by saying, "Well, I want to make more so I can give more to the Lord's work." Don't make a decision to do what you want to do, and then dignify it by calling it "the Lord's will." Don't try to dress up undisciplined living by calling it, "following the Spirit's moving." That's taking God's name in vain.

We Bible folks have this way of dressing up sin rather than dealing with it. Saul learned that it doesn't work to put spiritual names on sin and religious words on rebellion. Oh, my kids learned not to put their Father's name on something that their Father didn't approve of. God's kids need to learn that about their Father.

Don't dress up a sinful choice in God-words. Your Father never said you could do what you're doing.

Read: 2 Corinthians 3:12-18

“I’m sorry to interrupt your schoolwork, boys,” Mom said, “but we should go outside and see the sunset. It’s spectacular tonight.”

Zach and Connor bookmarked their pages and got up from the sofa.

“How do you even know what the sunset looks like tonight, Mom?” Connor asked as he glanced toward the window. “This window faces north. There’s no way you can see the sun from here.”

Zach nudged him. “Moms have eyes—or spies—everywhere. It’s a known fact.”

Mom laughed as she opened the door. “It’s true I see a lot of things. But my only spies are the houses across the street.”

“Huh?” Connor stepped out, squinting around the neighborhood.

“Look at their windows. What do you see?”

The three of them stood on their front steps. “The sunset!” Zach pointed. “I can see it in the neighbors’ windows! That’s how Mom knew what it looked like.”

Dad joined them as they walked down the driveway until they could see the sun in all its glory to the west. “What if the neighbors didn’t have any windows?” Dad asked.

“Then we wouldn’t have known there was a wonderful sunset tonight,” Zach replied.

“That’s right. There’s a spiritual lesson here for us,” Dad said. “The Bible says others can see Jesus in us, almost like we are windows or mirrors reflecting Him. He changes us more and more into His likeness when we spend time with Him and grow in our faith. Then when our neighbors look at our lives, they may see He’s for real and want to know Him themselves. We want others to see wonderful things about Jesus when they look at us.”

“You mean like seeing us do nice things for people? Like forgiving others or taking food to sick neighbors?” Zach asked.

“How about being more patient when younger kids wanna shoot hoops with us?” Connor added.

Dad put an arm around each of the boys as the family walked back to the house. “Yep. Something like that.”

"Cool! Let’s make a list of ways we can be good reflectors before bed,” said Connor.

“Good idea,” said Mom. “Just don’t forget to finish your schoolwork.”

–Robin Steinweg

How about you? How do you reflect Jesus in your life? You might try hard to do good all on your own, but you’ll only end up showing people yourself. To reflect Jesus, you need to belong to Him. (To learn more, go to Have You Heard the Good News?) Then, as you spend time with Him and read His Word, He will renew your mind and transform you from the inside out. Trust Him to help you reflect Him so others can see Him at work in you.

Today's Key Verse: And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12:2 (NKJV)

Today's Key Thought: Reflect Jesus

Dr. Stanley teaches about the various rewards we can earn through living a righteous life.

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Most people avoided George Chase. He lived in a twelve-foot-square shack in the woods where New England’s Pawcatuck River meets Little Narragansett Bay. To the locals, it was obvious George didn’t have a bathtub. They could smell the evidence. 

One day a hurricane brought the Atlantic Ocean rushing over the seacoast, washing away the beachfront with its attractive homes. Survivors pulled themselves from the bay and began searching for refuge. Eleven of them, soaked and shivering, found it in George’s cabin. He gave them everything he had: water, milk, ginger tea, and shelter. After the hurricane of 1938, the townsfolk had a far different opinion of George Chase.

It’s sad when we make superficial judgments about others, yet it’s our nature to do so. We do that with Jesus too. We might picture Him as He’s portrayed in old paintings, serenely handsome. But the prophet Isaiah said of the Messiah, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him . . . . like one from whom people hide their faces, he was despised, and we held him in low esteem” (Isaiah 53:2–3). Yet this Man gave us everything He had. “He took up our pain and bore our suffering” (v. 4). He offered His life for ours.

It’s tragic when we miss the humanity of our fellow human beings. How much more tragic to miss the divinity of the One we despised!