GATES AND THE SABBATH March 3, 2020 | Jeremiah 17:19–27 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue If you’re familiar with the story of Ruth, you might remember how Boaz “asked permission” to marry her (Ruth 4:1–12). Boaz was legally required to negotiate with a relative who had a prior claim on the widow and her land. When […]
PROTECTION AND SECURITY March 2, 2020 | Judges 16:1–21 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue When I was a child, my father installed a deadbolt on the front door of our home. Since at the time it was the safest lock we knew, we felt very well-protected! Times have changed, though, and nowadays many homeowners set up […]
GATES AND DOORS March 1, 2020 | Psalm 24 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue If you close your eyes, can you picture the door of your childhood home? Maybe you remember unlatching the gate that led to your backyard? If you returned to these same places today, you might pause—before you walked through—to remember the past. […]
SERVING SIDE BY SIDE February 29, 2020 | Esther 9:29–10:3 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue When the Church operates according to God’s design, we serve effectively to accomplish His will. Unity should be the hallmark of God’s people, but it’s not always easy. From biblical times to this present day, God has drawn a variety of […]
REMEMBER AND OBSERVE February 28, 2020 | Esther 9:20–28 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Our eight-year-old daughter, Amelia, loves to celebrate her adoption from China. Every January she wants to go to the mall where I first received the call from our caseworker. She begs to ride the little mall train that her brother Daryl rode […]
PROVIDENCE, NOT PROFIT February 26, 2020 | Esther 9:5–10 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue For as long as there has been war, plunder has been a part of it. For centuries, invading nations have stolen the food, resources, and the territories of those they conquer. But back in Genesis 14—when Abram rescued the goods and people […]
WITH CONFIDENCE February 25, 2020 | Esther 9:1–4 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Imagine going into any sort of challenge—a basketball game, a big exam, a legal dispute—knowing with 100 percent certainty that you were going to come out on top. What confidence you would carry! That is how the Jewish people could now approach the […]
FULL IDENTITY REVEALED February 21, 2020 | Esther 7:1–4 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue American comic heroes often have a “secret identity.” The true nature of the superhero is known by the reader, but it is carefully concealed from the antagonist and other characters in the story. Only on a rare and significant occasion is their […]
POETIC JUSTICE February 20, 2020 | Esther 6:10–14 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue In the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist, Mr. Bumble is the cruel manager of the workhouse where Oliver is raised. Mr. Bumble marries Mrs. Corney, the matron of the establishment, who is just as tyrannical. But, in a twist of fate, the Bumbles […]
February 19, 2020 | Esther 6:4–9 This Month’s Issue According to a recent study, fame is now the number one goal of preteens. “Being famous” catapulted from sixteenth place all the way to first, leap-frogging over long-standing life goals such as having a family, working a good job, or living in community. The researchers connect […]