Today’s Walk in the Word

Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.                   —1 John 3:16 Many Bible exegetes contend that the cross on which Jesus died was intended for Barabbas, a notorious terrorist who was in custody. It was Pilate’s custom at Passover to free one prisoner, of the people’s […]

You are worth more than many sparrows.                                   —Luke 12:7 Looking out my window on an uncommonly cold morning, I watched a sparrow waging a wing-flapping war with the wind. Life isn’t a continuous succession of fair weather days. […]

Be happy that your names are written in heaven.       —Luke 10:20 Laura Brooks feels fine—but she’s dead: digitally dead, that is. Someone at the Social Security Administration accidentally hit the delete key and zapped her. Laura is dead as a hammer according to the S.S.A. She has company among the tombstones in […]

By grace you have been saved.              —Ephesians 2:5 Do you know the difference between mercy and grace? Mercy abstains from giving us the condemnation that we deserve; grace gives us the salvation that we don’t deserve. God delights to show mercy (Mi 7:18). “He does not treat us as […]

Don’t talk too much.   —Proverbs 10:19 There’s someone you dread talking to face-to-face or on the phone because there’s no way to shut them up. Benjamin Franklin told a story about a hatter who wrote this sentence for a signboard outside his shop: JOHN BROWN MAKES AND SELLS HATS FOR READY MONEY. “Eliminate ‘MAKES […]

It is more blessed to give than to receive                         —Acts 20:35 British historian and author, Paul Johnson, asked a wealthy colleague the reason for his obvious misery. “In the last two years,” said his depressed friend, “the value of my assets has fallen […]

Let anyone with ears to hear listen!                      —Mark 4:9 Jesus preached a parable about four soils, representing the condition of the hearts of those who hear the Word. The first two were hard and rocky, producing no grain; the fourth yielded a bumper crop. It’s […]

Ask for the old paths . . . and walk therein.                      —Jeremiah 6:16 I have a rustic little bookcase—just eighteen-inches-wide, three-shelves-deep—that I treasure. My paternal grandfather made that bookcase for my dad when he was a child. I sometimes wonder how many nooks it has […]

May your father and mother be glad.                   —Proverbs 23:25 Here’s a picture of contrasts: “Hezekiah trusted in the Lord . . . There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah . . . He held fast to the Lord and did not […]

Many who are first will be last, and the last first.   —Mark 10:31 “What is the most difficult instrument to play?” renowned orchestra conductor Leonard Bernstein was asked. “Second fiddle,” answered Bernstein. “I can get plenty of first violinists, but to find one who plays second violin with as much enthusiasm or second French […]