Today’s Walk in the Word

God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.                   —2 Timothy 1:7 Self-control. You can’t succeed without it. No athlete consistently wins without it. No musician achieves excellence without it. No weight-loss program is maintained without it. No exercise regimen […]

Be completely humble and gentle.              —Ephesians 4:2 Cultivating gentleness is hard work—it isn’t a highly regarded virtue in our self-assertive age. The Greek word means “gentleness, humility, courtesy, considerateness” (Arndt-Gingrich). It’s an attitude that diminishes the drive for preeminence: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, […]

Well done, good and faithful servant.                      —Matthew 25:21 “Do you faithfully promise to be hers, and only hers, as long as you both shall live?” I asked. “I do,” he said. Eleven years later, a phone call informed me that he had lied. To her. […]

Let us do good to all people.         —Galatians 6:10 The opening lyrics of Velna Ledin’s hymn run this way: God is so good / God is so good / God is so good / He’s so good to me. Every meal, every night’s sleep, every possession, every pleasure, every moment is […]

Be kind and compassionate to one another.                       —Ephesians 4:32 Kindness. “I love that word,” said R.C. Sproul. “I want to be a kind person. I don’t want to be known for being mean. I hope it will be chiseled on my tombstone: ‘This was […]

Be patient, bearing with one another in love.                                 —Ephesians 4:2 Patience is a tough trait to cultivate. It calls for endurance, humility, restraint, tolerance, calmness, and resignation. It’s the staying power to endure hard knocks and obnoxious people—a refusal […]

Live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.    —2 Corinthians 13:11 The legacy of our Lord is joy and its companion, peace: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you” (Jn 14:27). Paul groups joy, gentleness, and peace in a single paragraph: “Rejoice in the […]

Rejoice in the Lord always.           —Philippians 4:4 Oxymoron: pessimistic Christian. Christians don’t ignore or deny adversities. But they possess an inner joy that overrides outer circumstances. Believers experience comfort even in the thick of distressing circumstances (Rom 8:28). We share Paul’s exuberance: “In all our troubles my joy knows no […]

Walk in the way of love.      —Ephesians 5:2 Love is the foundation for all the ingredients that follow, each describing a way in which love is expressed. As Paul says elsewhere, “Over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (Col 3:14). In our culture, we tend […]

Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.             —Galatians 5:16 The flesh and the Spirit are in conflict, pulling in opposite directions. “There exists between the two an interminable, deadly feud” (Lightfoot). John Stott observed, “We shall still experience [lusts of the flesh], […]