“… sorrowful, yet always rejoicing …”

— 2 Corinthians 6:10

In the midst of a recent illness, at a time when I felt such pain that tears coursed down my cheeks and fell to the floor, I could honestly say to my wife, “I believe that God is good and will yet lift me up out of this.” And in my heart, in the midst of the pain and tears, I rejoiced in God’s goodness. I rejoice because my faith rests upon those things that God has told me; therefore, no matter what my circumstances are, I always have something to rejoice about.

How can God command us to rejoice when we feel miserable? One reason is very clear: A joyful Christian serves as the best possible testimony for Jesus Christ. When we rejoice, the world sees that Christ has fulfilled His promise to give us His joy abundantly. That joy goes beyond what we can summon up within ourselves and cannot be diluted by the challenges life hands us. Paul wrote his famous words, “Rejoice in the Lord always” while in the depths of a Roman prison. He was in chains, awaiting a capital trial. His prospects were dreary, his hope almost nonexistent, and his comforts nil. Yet despite all this, he said, “Rejoice in the Lord always.”

The secret, of course, is found in the words “in the Lord.” So many people seek happiness and do not find it. Happiness is determined by happenings, and happenings fluctuate constantly; they are ever-changing and ever-shifting about us. But if we seek Jesus, we will find joy. He is the wellspring and the source of all joy. Rejoice in your circumstances? No. Rejoice in the Lord … in His goodness … in His grace … in His mercy … in His patience … in His faithfulness. We rejoice in what He has done for us on the cross and through His resurrection. That is the secret of rejoicing, of singing and making a melody in your heart to the Lord in all circumstances.

Do you have that joy today? Whatever your circumstances, seek the Lord and allow Him to give you His joy.

“In Thee is gladness, amid all sadness,
Jesus sunshine of my heart.”
Johann Lindemann

“For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.”

— 2 Peter 1:16

If you’ve been a Christian long enough, you’ve more than likely had, at one time or another, a conversation with a skeptic claiming that Christianity is based on myths. Unfortunately, a lot of anti-Christian voices have arisen in our culture, even among seminary professors and “Bible scholars.” Many of these people believe the “legend theory,” the idea that the “myths” surrounding Christ, His miracles, and His resurrection just gradually evolved over the decades and centuries.

This view, popular in the nineteenth century, largely collapsed in the twentieth century with the rise of modern archaeology. Even secular historians point out that the Church of Jesus Christ began in A.D. 33 in Jerusalem because the apostles preached a crucified and resurrected Christ. The apostles focused their teaching on this fact. And they had no time for myth making or legend spinning. As Peter said, “We were eyewitnesses.” John said, speaking of Jesus, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled . . . we declare to you” (1 John 1:1, 3). The apostles spoke of that which they had experienced.

What’s more, most of the apostles died deaths that testified to their absolute belief in what they proclaimed. They were crucified; they were stoned. And they endured all this for believing a legend which hadn’t even developed, which wouldn’t develop for another 100 or 150 years? That’s absurd.

As well, according to Josh McDowell, eighteen different first-century pagan writers present more than a hundred facts about Christ—His birth, teachings, miracles, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. These secular authors corroborate the disciples’ claims, the claims that have endured for centuries, the claims you and I make as Christians. Christianity is no legend that built up over the centuries. It’s the truth.

If people challenge you for believing in a so-called myth, you can rest assured that the Bible contains the reliable account of Christ’s life. No legend could ever come close to emulating such incredible truth.

“The first fact in the history of Christendom is a number
of people who say they have seen the Resurrection.”
C. S. Lewis

“Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand . . . You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.”

— Deuteronomy 11:18-19

A woman once told me, “When I was a child, we didn’t have family devotions in our home, but I had a friend in the neighborhood who did. I often visited her and sat and watched as this family lifted their hearts together to God. My soul was touched. I vowed I would never marry a man who couldn’t pray and lead in family worship. God answered that prayer, and I have such a man.” What a blessing.

Do you worship with your family on a regular basis? Some families make such family time a part of their weekly schedules. Others don’t, not because they lack the desire, but because they don’t know what to do. So let me suggest ways you can incorporate worship time into the life of your family.

First of all, set aside a worship time when every family member, including your young children, can participate; some families choose to do this after a meal. I believe that the spiritual head of the family should lead the devotion. As you enter into this time, encourage attitudes of joy, love, and peace—including peace with each another. If any family members have unresolved conflicts with each other, encourage them to come to peaceful terms before this time of unified devotion before God.

Worship times can have a variety of formats, and I recommend that you vary your own format over time to keep things interesting. Each time you have a family devotion, you might want to choose a specific topic to address such as integrity, purity, or honesty. Whatever topic you choose, focus on meditating upon the Word of God. You can do this in a variety of ways such as reading from a Bible, a children’s Bible, or a hymnal. If possible, pray, sing, and memorize Bible verses, as well. I know of one family that keeps track of prayer requests and God’s answers to those requests. They feel blessed as they see God at work in their lives.

If you haven’t already, I encourage you to institute a regular family worship time. Family worship can bring blessed peace into your home, binding all family members together in love and understanding. Ask your family today how you can bring worship into your home regularly.

“Family worship is a matter of conviction, not convenience.”

“And this is eternal life … Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.”

— John 17:3

How fervently do you wish for our nation to know God? Do you desire it so much that you’re willing to pray, “Oh, God, give me America, or I die.” What tremendous things God could do in this country if we all prayed that prayer.

Five hundred years ago, Scotsman John Knox, one of the great Reformers, prayed, “Great God, give me Scotland, or I die.” Knox lived at a time of tremendous religious turmoil. People confused about Christianity persecuted those who tried to spread the truth. In fact, the great turning point in Knox’s life came when he watched his spiritual mentor, George Wishart, suffer a horrible death by being burned at the stake for preaching the Gospel. From this point in his life, Knox knew that God had called him to the ministry of Jesus Christ.

And he, too, suffered persecution. Not soon after delivering his first sermon, the French, who had come ashore as part of a religious war, took Knox captive. Knox suffered the fate of a galley slave, chained to the rowing bench of a French war vessel. After managing to secure a pardon, he fled from Scotland and went to Geneva where he translated the Scriptures from Hebrew to English. From Knox’s work (along with the help of others), we received the blessing of the Geneva Bible.

At this time, Mary, Queen of Scots had persecuted as heretics people all over Scotland. And yet John Knox had the desire to bring even her to Christ. People were astonished when Knox entered the queen’s castle and challenged her with the Gospel’s truth. Those who stood nearby could not believe that Knox had no fear of a woman who had the power and desire to send him to the stake. Yet even Mary, Queen of Scots came to fear Knox and his great intellect.

Knox’s anchor, God’s Word, had held strong through his long and stormy life. What a great example to each of us is John Knox’s faith and courage in Jesus Christ. Today pray that God would give us our country, and that more and more people would give their hearts and souls to Jesus Christ. Ask the Lord for courage to do your part in bringing salvation to this nation.

“Here lies a man that never feared the face of men.”
King Of Scotland (When Knox Died)

“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes …”

— Revelation 21:4

Amid all the trouble we experience on an ongoing basis, with “Murphy’s Law” seeming to work overtime and deep sorrows occasionally gripping our lives, can you imagine the day when God will take us to Heaven and wipe every tear from our eyes? How we long for that day.

In Heaven, we’ll experience so many new things, things more wonderful than we could ever imagine. Yet we’ll no longer see many things we know quite well. We’ll have no need of sun or moon, for the glory and brightness of God and the Lamb will light everything. There will be no darkness, no night. And we’ll no longer have limited bodies. God will make us perfect—we won’t even need to sleep.

Churches and temples will no longer exist because we’ll always and forever be in God’s presence. We’ll no longer pray or meditate because we’ll talk to our Father face to face. And no false religion will exist to obfuscate the truth and deceive people.

No longer will we endure death or sorrow or sadness or pain. We’ll no longer experience separation—we’ll reunite with our loved ones who have gone before us, and we’ll never have to bid anyone a painful farewell again.

In Heaven, we’ll no longer sin. We won’t even think a sinful thought. We will finally be fully sanctified, perfect in our white robes, washed in the blood of the Lamb.

But the most glorious thing about Heaven is that Jesus is there. It is He who makes it perfect. Soon you will cast yourself in the Savior’s arms and thank Him for getting you home safely. All the pain of this world will fade away forever. How we long for that day.

“Then I shall bow in humble adoration. And there
proclaim, ‘My God, how great Thou art.’”
Carl Boberg

“… that she caught him by his garment, saying, ‘Lie with me.’ But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside.”

— Genesis 39:12

Have you ever thought about what makes someone a hero? A hero is brave against all odds. A hero will fight for what’s right, even it if costs his or her reputation, health, wealth, power, social position, or even life.

Joseph was a hero. Even though he lived centuries before God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments, Joseph knew what God’s law required, and he lived by it. The evil practices of Egypt had not corrupted him. When Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him, Joseph said, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” He called a spade a spade. And in the face of temptation, he fled. But Joseph was punished for his honesty, thrown into prison for a crime he did not commit. At this point in time, Joseph could have reasoned that if God had not abandoned him when He allowed Joseph to be sold as a slave, He had certainly abandoned him now. But Joseph heroically kept believing and trusting in God.

Have you ever thought of what the results might have been if Joseph had yielded to temptation? He wouldn’t have been cast into prison where he met the baker and cupbearer and interpreted their dreams. Pharaoh wouldn’t have summoned Joseph to interpret his dreams of cows and haystacks. Pharaoh wouldn’t have made Joseph the second-highest official in Egypt, commissioned to gather food in preparation for the famine. God would have had to fulfill His purposes in some other way.

Our obedience to God can have far-reaching consequences; in the same way, our disobedience to Him can have devastating effects. In Joseph’s case, we see that a young man’s fidelity, refusing to compromise his honor with a lustful woman, resulted in enormous good.

Do you face strong temptations today? Don’t yield to them. Instead, flee from them. God will bless you for remaining true to his Word.

“[When faced with temptation] it is better to
lose a good coat than a good conscience.”
Matthew Henry

“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity; there is none who does good.”

— Psalm 53:1

The statement “Atheism is the religion of fools” may make some people angry, but let’s examine its veracity. First of all, we know atheists are fools because God says so in His Word (see today’s text). Second, reason confirms the irrationality of atheism. For an atheist to prove that God does not exist, he or she would have to explore every corner of the universe. Logic calls this the “fallacy of the universal negative.” You cannot prove a “universal no” because you cannot “know” everything. You cannot know for sure that no little green men inhabit the universe because you cannot visit every planet and every star. In the same way, you cannot prove that God doesn’t exist. Third, experience demonstrates that atheism is foolishly destructive. The twentieth-century atheistic philosophies of Nazism and Communism have butchered some 170 million people. This total tops the sum of all those who died in all the preceding wars in history. As well, atheism has in some cases led to hopelessness and insanity. Nietzsche, founder of the “God is dead” movement, went stark raving mad during the last eleven years of his life.

Only a small number of Americans label themselves as atheists. In fact, many consider themselves Christians. Some attend church on Sunday, but the rest of the week they ignore God, so in reality these people are “practical atheists.” Others who might, in past years, have called themselves atheists now hide their true identities under the names of humanism or secularism. The atheist says, “Down with God.” The humanist says, “Up with man.” These are seemingly opposite statements, but they communicate the same thing.

The good news is that atheism is not accomplishing its goals. Today more people believe in God than at any other time in history. So even when Christians appear as fools in the world’s eyes, we know that God has chosen the “foolish” to shame the “wise.”

Today pray for your atheist friends. Pray that they would join you as followers of Christ. Pray that they may experience God in such a powerful way that they can never again doubt His existence.

“The greatest question of our time is not communism versus
individuality; nor Europe versus America; not even the East
versus West. It is whether men can live without God.”
Will Durant

“… choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve …”

— Joshua 24:15

Decisions, decisions. Many people nowadays drown in a sea of options. Perhaps you feel that way today. But fortunately, despite the myriad of decisions you must make every day, most decisions are not particularly life-changing. On the other hand, we can examine decisions in history that changed the course of nations. Someone once asked Alexander the Great, “How did you manage to conquer the whole world?” Alexander replied, “By not wavering.” Is decision-making really that simple? Well, it may be more profound than we think. But often we find that as we hesitate, ponder, and consider things, we don’t conquer much of anything—not even our own indecision.

We do have one decision we must make as soon as possible, and it is life-changing. Joshua laid this same decision on the line for the Israelite people. He had gathered the Israelites together at Shechem, which, before the conquest of Jerusalem, was the most holy place in all of Israel. At Shechem, Abraham had built an altar when he came from Ur of the Chaldees. At Shechem, Jacob had purchased a parcel of land. At Shechem, Joseph’s bones had found their final resting place after the Israelites brought them from Egypt. At Shechem, tribes had gathered to hear the curses and the blessings from Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. At this most historic place, Joshua once more gathered the tribes of Israel and delivered his equivalent of Washington’s farewell address. Joshua rehearsed God’s goodness and His mercies to the people over the years and called upon the Israelites to make a decision. He said, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.”

Sooner or later we all must decide whether or not we’ll live for God and serve Him. Joshua ended his farewell address with the words that many a godly family has made its own: “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Do those words describe your life, your home? Today, if you haven’t already, make the decision to serve the Lord with all you have and all you are. This is one decision you’ll never regret.

“The rich young ruler, in his famous interview with
Christ, asked the right question, asked the right person,
received the right answer, but made the wrong choice.”
Billy Graham

“But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul; all those who hate me love death.”

— Proverbs 8:36

Explore with me one final modern myth: “Suicide is a viable option.” Dr. Arthur Caplan, the director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Biomedical Ethics, says that the most significant bioethical event in our country’s history “is not artificial hearts; it’s not grandmothers who give birth to their grandchildren. It is the matter of doctor-assisted suicide because it is a break from a two-thousand-year-old tradition that says [in the words of the Hippocratic Oath] doctors cannot harm.” We can’t tell what harmful actions will follow in the wake of doctor-assisted suicides. We can trace the atrocities of the Holocaust to a small beginning: the blurring of the line between physicians healing people and killing them. As serious as this subject is, it has generated its own class of humor. Picture this: A cartoon shows a doctor’s waiting room full of elderly patients with their crutches, canes, and wheelchairs. The nurse steps cheerily to the door and announces, “The doctor will kill you now.”

Advocates for doctor-assisted suicide call it “death with dignity.” But that watered-down term masks the reality that this practice is self-murder. Charles Hodge of Princeton Seminary put it this way, “Suicide is … self-murder in the sight of God … We have no more right to take our own life than the life of another … It is a crime which admits of no repentance and consequently involves the loss of the soul.”

If you have lost a friend or loved one to suicide, let me hasten to make something clear. I believe that a Christian may fall prey to intense, overwhelming despair and could, in such a mental state, commit suicide without forfeiting his or her soul. But for the most part, as Hodge says, “Suicide is most common among those who have lost all faith in Christianity.” Remember that God has given you your life as a precious gift. Cherish and preserve it whatever difficulties come your way.

“Let us not be cowards, deserting our posts, flinging
back thanklessly in the face of God the gift of life.”

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

— Ephesians 2:8–9

No doubt you’ve heard the statement “God helps those who help themselves.” What is your reaction when I tell you that this, too, is a myth of our culture? Do you feel shocked? Indignant? Relieved?

We’ve heard this statement again and again, sometimes from deeply spiritual people whom we trust. In fact, we’ve heard it in church so many times that many people think it comes from the Bible. But it doesn’t. We buy into this myth because it has that can-do, pioneer spirit that built our nation, but it often leads us astray.

God does expect us to help ourselves in some things, such as working diligently. But when it comes to salvation, we must rely entirely on God’s provision and mercy. From the beginning, we’ve tried to help God provide us with salvation, but He has put up a sign that clearly states, “No help wanted or needed.” As the late Anglican bishop, Taylor Smith, received a shave from his barber, the bishop brought up the topic of salvation. The barber snapped, “I do my best, and that is good enough for me.” Through the rest of the shave, the bishop remained silent, and when the barber finished, Smith paid his bill. In the meantime, another man had come in for a shave. The bishop picked up a razor and said, “I’ll give this man a shave.” The barber exclaimed, “I don’t think that’s a good idea, bishop.” The bishop said, “Ah, but I assure you, I’ll do the best I can.” The barber said, “But I’m afraid your best will not be good enough for this gentleman.” The bishop replied, “And neither, sir, is your best good enough for God.”

Our best falls far short of what God accepts for our atonement, and for that reason, we can’t help ourselves. And fortunately, we don’t need to. Christ has already fully paid our debts. As far as salvation is concerned, God helps the helpless who trust in Him. Today, thank God for that truth, and rest yourself in Him and in His provision for your atonement.

“Not the labors of my hands can fulfill Thy law’s demands,
All for sin could not atone; Thou must save and Thou alone.”
“Rock Of Ages” (Hymn) By Augustus Toplady