Let’s continue thinking about perspective.  When we’re experiencing hardship, it’s helpful to zoom out and try to look at the bigger picture. When we do that, we gain a clearer understanding about what is happening around us. Here is why that can be helpful. In the midst of difficulty, our view can become limited. We … Continue reading Being big picture people

Perspective is about seeing the bigger picture and right-sizing our problems. Let me explain. When you are looking through a camera lens and want to see more of whatever you’re looking at, you zoom out or go to a wide-angle. You get a clearer picture about what is happening because you can see more. This … Continue reading The big picture and right-sizing our problems

I recently came across something that was rather encouraging. If it was encouraging to me, I’m sure it will be encouraging to you as well. A seed was discovered in the ruins of King Herod’s palace at Masada in Israel. In 2008, researchers decided to plant the seed in some soil. Low and behold, it … Continue reading The seed that grew after thousands of years

Donald McCullough recalls being in the city of Edinburgh a few weeks before beginning his doctoral studies. He was new to the city so didn’t know his way around very well. One evening he went to a concert at Usher Hall. After it finished he headed out into the night, but it was now dark … Continue reading The trustworthy voice of Jesus

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life…” (Psalm 23:6, ESV) Max Lucado tells a story about a mother and her first grade son, Timmy. She became worried when Timmy wanted to walk to school by himself. The mother wasn’t sure it was a good idea. But Timmy thought it … Continue reading Being pursued by goodness and mercy

Viktor Frankl was a psychiatrist. He was also a Jewish man who survived the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps. In one of his books he comments on something remarkable: seeing grown adults walk into a gas chamber reciting the Shema. That’s the central creed of Judaism. It is found in Deuteronomy 6:4.* Christians recognize … Continue reading Powerful truths for perilous times

Life can be difficult. We know it’s true from our own experiences. Plus, the Bible tells us as much. But we are not without help or hope. Psalm 23 is very well known. It is read at funerals, underlined in Bibles, tattooed on bodies, and memorized. It speaks of God as a caring Shepherd. He … Continue reading THROUGH

Psalm 1 describes a person who is seeking to be righteous. They delight in God’s teachings and meditate on them consistently (verse 2). Verse 3 describes something important about that person’s life: “That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season…” They are a fruit-yielding tree, metaphorically … Continue reading The fruit-yielding tree God will use to bless others

In Psalm 1:2 we are told about a person who is blessed by God. This is a person “whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night.” But what does it mean to “meditate”? This word can make us think of some sort of eastern spiritual … Continue reading Chewing the cud of God’s word

We’ve been discussing the “way of the righteous” from Psalm 1. It stands in contrast to the “way of the wicked.” Hebrew scholar Robert Alter points out that taking a certain “way” (or “road” or “path”) is a metaphor for a “set of moral choices.”* When I first tried to visualize these two ways, I … Continue reading Enter by the narrow gate