CHRISTIAN LIVING

Why Do You Love Israel?

Picture this: A Jewish man who has embraced Jesus as his Messiah waves the flag of Israel and sings…

I’m Forgiven—Now What?

If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, you may be wondering about the practical implications…

Words of Warning

Life is full of warnings. The Internet, TV, and billboards bombard us regularly with warnings, telling us what to think, believe, and do…

Apples of Gold Mar/Apr 2024

Though we seek peace with our neighbors, we know it will not come easily. They call themselves righteous Jews while they tell me to keep quiet…

The Sweet Psalmist of Israel

Imagine an aging, frail King David (1 Ki. 1:1) reflecting back on his life—his mind flooded with moments of joy and sadness…

Paul’s Partners

The apostle Paul personally discipled several committed men who partnered with him in spreading the gospel. Most of them came to salvation in Christ during…

Faith Check

Every January 1, gym memberships, health foods, self-improvement plans, time-scheduling charts, and Bible-reading programs are in popular demand…

Apples of Gold Jan/Feb 2024

This week I went to the hospital for a doctor’s appointment. While there, I saw some of the hospital workers who remembered what I had shared…

Patterning Christlikeness

Many godly men and women in the Bible serve as examples for us of how to live for Christ. They trusted God’s…

The Beauty of Gratitude

My son Brian received his first pair of eyeglasses when he was 11 years old. As he tentatively tried them on…

Apples of Gold Nov/Dec 2023

Many immigrants live in the neighborhoods around us. Most of them have come from Russia. When we celebrated the Feast of Hanukkah recently…

Inside View Sep/Oct 2023

Recently, I have had trouble seeing clearly. My doctor attributes my struggles with vision to advancing cataracts, which must be removed…

The Mind of Christ

In Philippians 2:3–4, Paul admonished Christians to live in spiritual unity with one another. Nothing was to be done within the church through selfish ambition…

The Help of His Countenance

A 5-year-old girl was enjoying a picnic with her family one day when she noticed a cluster of older girls yelling nearby.

Apples of Gold Sep/Oct 2023

People from nations all over the world come to visit Israel. It is written in Isaiah 34:1, “Come near, you nations, to hear” and in Isaiah 49:6…

Spiritual Unity

The 6th-century BC Greek storyteller Aesop, whose oral tales compose the famous Aesop’s Fables, has been credited with the origin of the…

Under the Shelter of His Wings

“You’ve got cancer.” The doctor’s words felt like a sucker punch. Surely he must have gotten my lab results mixed up…

Apples of Gold Jul/Aug 2023

The ultra-Orthodox often find new ways to attract new followers. Recently, they hosted a big, public meeting with a well-known rabbi. Like many rabbis, he felt he could convince…

Doing the Right Thing

Within hours of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s midgame cardiac arrest in January, sports writers, reporters, and analysts around the country prefaced their remarks with…

To Live is Christ

An old martyr once told his executioners, “You take a life from me that I cannot keep and bestow a life upon me that I cannot lose…”

Apples of Gold May/Jun 2023

We live very close to our Arab neighbors, so we see each other almost every day. A few months ago I had a long conversation with some of them…

Inside View Mar/Apr 2023

At our farewell dinner for our Up to Jerusalem tour to Israel in October, I was touched by the comments of our Israeli guide. We honored him for skillfully leading…

God & Money

The popular musical Hello Dolly! had many memorable lines; but my favorite is this one: “Money,” said Dolly Levi, “pardon the expression, is like manure…

Rejoicing in Christ

If anyone had a reason to ask, “Why me?” it was the apostle Paul. No one who followed Christ suffered more for the gospel than he did…

How Do You Spell “Love”?

The “Joy” ship—what a misnomer! I thought. I had reluctantly returned to my unfittingly named Norwegian cruise ship…

Don’t Get Too Comfortable!

If we knew years ago what the world would look like today, we probably wouldn’t have signed up for what we face now…

Apples of Gold Mar/Apr 2023

It is written in Jeremiah 6:14, “‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace.” It is also written, “I will give you assured peace in this place” (14:13)…

Finishing Without Regrets

When the apostle Paul sat in a cold, dark Roman prison, he chose his final words carefully as he took inventory of his life…

Paul’s Joy

Several years ago, we received a Thanksgiving Day card titled “Blessed and Grateful.” The sender wrote, “We hope your celebration of God’s blessings is…

Aidan’s Crucible

I barely recognized him. My grandson was no longer the 19-year-old kid I knew. He had lost weight and was lean, angular, and fit and carried himself with confidence…

Apples of Gold Jan/Feb 2023

The ultra-Orthodox are always looking for 10 men to form a minyan, a quorum necessary for synagogue prayer. So I wait outside the synagogue, watching them call people…

Antique fountain pen on parchment.

From the Editor Nov/Dec 2022

Christmas is around the corner. ’Tis the season for almost every made-for-television movie to overload us with house-decorating, tree-lighting, cookie-baking, and…

The Fallacy of Fictionalism

Scott Hershovitz is a philosophy professor and director of law and ethics at the University of Michigan…

Until He Comes

“I want your room cleaned up before I get home!” Sound familiar? Parents often leave directives like these for their children before leaving the house…

Introduction to Philippians

Christian leaders often create ministry strategies, only to discover God’s will is different…

Just a Closer Walk With Thee

Did you know people can be disciples of just about anything? Sports teams, fitness programs, and celebrities all have…

Apples of Gold Nov/Dec 2022

Through God’s miracles, the Jewish people have survived; and now we live in the Promised Land. At this time of year, we enjoy celebrating Hanukkah…

My Threescore and Ten

Birthdays, like mile markers, disclose the distance traveled but not the distance remaining on our lives’ journeys…

The Importance of Knowing God

Apart from Jesus Christ, King Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived (1 Ki. 3:12). When he dedicated the Temple…

Paul’s Final Words

Place yourself in the apostle Paul’s sandals: You are in a dungeon awaiting execution, knowing your fellow workers face great persecution from Roman officials…

Just a Closer Walk With Thee

People are lonely. Research studies show that today, Americans in particular have decreasing family sizes; fewer friends with…

Apples of Gold Sep/Oct 2022

We recently enjoyed a most important holiday—the feast of Simchat Torah, Hebrew for “rejoicing over the Law.” Many of the Orthodox dance in the synagogues…

Silhouette of man speaking.

Pointing Our Kids to Truth

The COVID-19 pandemic did more than shed light on the science of infectious diseases in the modern era…

A Memorial and a Name

I recently ran across a Pew Research study that sought to discover what Americans know about the Holocaust…

Shalom! Welcome to First Friday!

On the first Friday of every month, something unusual takes place in Richmond, Virginia. It’s a Shabbat (Sabbath) service where…

Icon of an open Bible. The Berean Box.

Q: Who Is An Overcomer?

People in sports know the name Nike. It’s a popular brand of footwear and gear identified by its logo: the swoosh…

Paul’s Personal Word

If we had written the apostle Paul’s last words, we might have chosen to conclude his final epistle with a testimony to his victorious, faithful ministry…

Just a Closer Walk With Thee

It happens almost every Sunday. When a church service begins, most of us aren’t quite ready to worship…

Apples of Gold Jul/Aug 2022

There are many ultra-Orthodox organizations here in Israel. Each one is filled with people who want to show how faithfully they work against those…

Paul’s Triumphant Testimony

Are you prepared to die? The last words a person utters or writes when death is imminent are usually of great importance…

Just a Closer Walk With Thee

As a boy, I got a little anxious each Sunday morning when my parents stopped at a convenience store to buy mints…

Apples of Gold May/Jun 2022

People in Israel are always trying to find something new and interesting. For a long time, the ultra-Orthodox Jews promoted as messiah a man from New York City…

Silhouette of man speaking.

The Healing Substance of Serving

The evangelical church today is divided. Some parishioners contend the church isn’t “woke” enough—not alert enough…

How I Learned I Was Wrong

“Now, the New Covenant, that’s ours. That’s for us as Christians.” I can still hear myself speaking those words to my…

Preach God’s Word!

Knowing his life would soon end, the apostle Paul fixed his attention on completing his letter to young Timothy, his protégé and son in the faith…

Just A Closer Walk With Thee

If you learned $3 million dollars in gold lay buried somewhere in your backyard, would you try to dig it up?…

Apples of Gold Mar/Apr 2022

Many dictators, like Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, have called themselves righteous; and people, like sheep, worship them. Such people persecute the Chosen People…

Antique fountain pen on parchment.

From the Editor Jan/Feb 2022

A few years ago, I watched a film about a man who never learned to read in school. His mother dies when he is young; and his father moves Stanley around…

Happy New Year!

Fireworks. Noisy parties. Large quantities of food and drink. That’s how many people welcome the new year. Observant Jewish people, on the other hand…

Preparation For Perilous Times

The apostle Paul was martyred during the rule of Roman Emperor Nero, an evil, diabolical man whose vicious cruelty…

God’s Guarantee to Us

One of the many Scriptures Sunday school teachers encourage their students to memorize is 2 Timothy 3:16. It is God’s guarantee to us that…

Just A Closer Walk With Thee

The late U.S. President George H. W. Bush famously hated broccoli. Some claim he mentioned the fact at least 70 times while…

Facing Perilous Times

In many of his epistles, the apostle Paul warned churches that in the last days, charlatans will emerge teaching erroneous, deceptive doctrines that cause…

Living for God

Nick Foles is an NFL quarterback. He became famous for leading the Philadelphia Eagles to their first-ever Super Bowl win in 2018 and was named…

‘Remember the Sabbath’

When my wife and I lived in Minnesota, we enjoyed visiting the Minneapolis Institute of Art where more than 90,000 beautiful…

Perilous Times Predicted

People who serve Satan may not realize what they are doing. But if they distort, oppose, twist, or deny the true gospel…

How to Obtain True Wisdom

Advice is cheap. Wisdom is rare. King Solomon said, “Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who…

Antique fountain pen on parchment.

From the Editor Jul/Aug 2021

Who among us, at one time or another, has not questioned God? Why, Lord, did You let my baby die? Why didn’t You heal my child? Why do You allow Christians to…

What Not to Say

I hung up the phone in shock. I had called looking for comfort, maybe some sympathy. A man who had been a pillar in my life and a spiritual father to me had passed away…

Can You?

It is never fun to be in God’s waiting room. If Job could speak with us, he probably would verify the difficulty of waiting on the Lord. Job’s story, told in the Bible book…

The Message of the Gospel

As we read the book of Job today, we have the advantage of seeing what Job could not see: the spiritual challenge that…

My Sweet Monty

The first Bible story I heard as a little girl was the story of Abraham. I was 5 years old; yet when I heard the word bless, I knew it was something good…

The Journey of Processing Pain

Nineteen years ago in March, our only daughter left for work in the morning, never to come home. We remember that day…

Faithful in Service

What is the church? Many people think of it solely as a building—sometimes a great and majestic cathedral and sometimes an unadorned, small, simple structure…

Controlling Our Tongues

Eating crow is never fun. The good news is we never have to eat words we fail to speak. Words are powerful…