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Tungsten is something of a paradox. It has the highest tensile strength of any pure element, making it extremely difficult to pull apart. But the Mead Metal website notes, “In terms of impact strength, tungsten is weak—it’s a brittle metal known to shatter on impact.” It’s fascinating that tungsten, the strongest natural metal, is also so weak and brittle. Human beings display a similar characteristic. Though capable of great strength both physically and mentally, we’re easily crushed under the weight of this fallen, broken world. Paul experienced this personally. In 2 Corinthians 11, he described experiences that overwhelmed him (vv. 23-29). But God encouraged him: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul resolved, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Earlier in 2 Corinthians, Paul had written, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed” (4:8). There’s hope, even though the strongest child of God knows all too well that this world is simply too much for us. We’re happily dependent on the strength of His grace if we are to endure. May we, like Paul, embrace our weaknesses so God’s power can carry us through. View the full article

Flowers don’t have to be in bloom to be beautiful, says famed landscape designer Piet Oudolf. Even in the dead of winter, the Dutch gardener’s award-winning designs are known for their stunning appeal. “Beauty is in so many things you wouldn’t think of,” Oudolf says, although some may disagree. “The moment you say I love plants that are dead [dormant],” he said, “then you have a problem because people don’t like dead plants.” Oudolf’s appreciation of plants’ life cycles echoes a core spiritual principle: while we were dead in our sins, God still loved us. “You see,” explained the apostle Paul, “at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). Paul continued, “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (v. 8). Jesus chose disciples with flaws. He ate meals with known sinners. He healed outcasts. Oudolf, likewise, is “interested in plants not only for their flowers, but also for their personality, their character”—seeing beauty “in things that, on first sight, are not beautiful.” As bearers of our Father’s image, we show God to the world in how we relate to Him and each other. Planted in His love, we’re anointed by our Father to bloom anew in Him—once-dead sinners showing His beauty to a world longing for a glimpse of Him. View the full article

The teenager stood her ground. While her high school group was visiting a home for people in rehab from addictions, Claire engaged in conversation with a twentysomething man who towered over her in size. They talked about faith. Claire clearly presented the gospel of Jesus. He countered with his spiritual views, which were very different. Back and forth they went in a friendly give-and-take way. Finally, the young man looked at Claire and said, “You got me. I can’t argue with what you’re saying.” Though he didn’t put his faith in Jesus, a seed had been planted. And while Claire would have loved for the young man to have received Christ, her disappointment was balanced by the reality that she’d done what God called her to do that day: “Be prepared to give an answer” (1 Peter 3:15). She had lovingly shared God’s plan of salvation. Claire wasn’t ashamed of the gospel (Romans 1:16). She was prepared to “give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15). And she knew how to let her “conversation be . . . full of grace” so she would “know how to answer” (Colossians 4:6) the young man in the right spirit. What a privilege God gives us to make Christ known to others! Let’s be ready to share with others as He provides what we need. View the full article

Visiting Switzerland had been my dad’s lifelong dream. After his diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia, my mom decided to go with him while he was still physically able. “One day, with the snow blowing around us on Mount Titlis,” she says, “I saw the profound joy in your father’s face. It was the joy of a dream come true.” Later, however, my mom’s tears flowed when my dad asked, “Where are we again?” My dad may have forgotten he was in Switzerland, but “the visit was worth it,” my mom says. “At least for one moment, he knew, and he was happy.” God reassures us of a time when joy will never be taken away from us again. Because of our hope in Jesus, we can look forward to “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1), where we’ll be free from sin and death (Romans 5:12). In this perfect world, God will make “everything new” (Revelation 21:5). He “will wipe every tear from (our) eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (v. 4). Whatever suffering we experience now is temporary. God promises that one day “the former things will not be remembered” (Isaiah 65:17). They will forever be no more. I know that one day, when we’re with God (Revelation 21:3), I’ll see profound joy on Daddy’s face. This time, it will stay. View the full article

The ceiling of London’s Banqueting House is magnificent. Painted by Sir Peter Paul Rubens between 1629 and 1634, it was commissioned by King Charles I to glorify his family’s reign. In one painting, the goddess Minerva celebrates the achievements of Charles’ father, King James I. In another, James is carried to heaven on the wings of an eagle. Gazing up at the ceiling, banquet guests got a clear message: kings like Charles and his father were virtually divine. In the prophet Isaiah’s day, the king of Babylon felt similarly about himself. Here was a king who longed to “ascend to the heavens” and sit “on the mount of assembly” where the gods were thought to reign (Isaiah 14:13). Instead, Isaiah prophesied that this king would fall (vv. 3-4), being “brought down to the realm of the dead” (v. 15) without even a tomb to be remembered by (vv. 18-19). Charles I met a similar fate. In an ironic twist, he was marched beneath the very ceiling depicting his supposed divinity before being executed outside Banqueting House in 1649. It’s a sad fact that has repeated through time: powerful people who claim divine glory for themselves will one day discover how human they are. For there is only One who is worthy of reigning from heaven, and all power, glory, and majesty are His alone (1 Chronicles 29:11). View the full article

When Melanie began having regular headaches, her doctors discovered she had a benign tumor in her pituitary gland. The tumor was about the size of a plum and was surgically removed in 2003 and again in 2006 when it recurred. Then in 2017, when it came back a third time, Melanie underwent radiation treatment instead, which caused her to lose her hair. Her twenty-seven-year-old son, Matt, decided to grow out his own hair to make a wig for her. Matt’s selfless, loving act illustrates how one person’s abilities and resources can supply the needs of another person or group. Paul highlights the beauty of such reciprocal generosity in his letter to the Philippians. The believers in Philippi had shared in his “troubles” and “sent . . . aid more than once when [he] was in need” (Philippians 4:14, 16). Having received their gifts, Paul recognized that God had provided amply for his needs. Our willingness to share with one another is often the conduit of God’s provision in our lives. Sometimes we’re in a position to give of our time, talent, or treasure; other times we’re in need ourselves and must rely on the support of another. Through His Spirit working in us, our gifts are “pleasing to God” and a manifestation of our shared life in the Body (v. 18). View the full article

A restaurant employee discovered an unconscious man beside a dumpster. He was sunburned, bitten by ants, and showed signs of blunt force trauma. He had no memory of who he was. The man, later self-named “Benjamin Kyle,” lived in limbo for more than a decade. He couldn’t work, collect benefits, or even reclaim his past. His healing began when a community of strangers helped him rediscover his identity through genetic testing and investigation. “I have a history,” he said. “I’m not just some stranger that materialized out of thin air.” The story of Ruth in the Bible can be seen as one of rediscovered belonging. After losing her husband and leaving her homeland, she chose to bind herself to her mother-in-law Naomi and her people. She said, “Where you go, I will go. . . . Your people shall be my people, and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16). Ruth connected her identity and destiny to that of Naomi and her people in life and in death. She was “determined to go with her” (v. 18)—prioritizing community over clarity, belonging over certainty. In doing so, she stepped into God’s redemptive story and is remembered forever as part of the lineage of Christ (Matthew 1:5). When we as believers in Jesus forget who we are—or when life’s pain leaves us disoriented—God often uses community to reconnect us with our most authentic identity. In Him we’re beloved, chosen, and known. View the full article

I was putting my grandson to bed during a sleepover. When his Bible bookmark opened to Psalm 23, he objected, “We already read this one.” After I suggested we might learn something new, he read aloud, “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastries.” Green pastries?! I explained that the word was pastures, not pastries. Hours earlier, he’d stood before a bakery shelf, selecting treats. His interpretation came into focus: to him, a bakery conveyed a place of rest and enjoyment. Psalm 23 may be so familiar to us that we miss its deep offering. David, a king well acquainted with shepherding, describes God’s provision over a lifetime of things both idyllic (vv. 5-6) and challenging (v. 4). He points out that our good God leads us to places where we can partake of His presence, be rejuvenated, and prepare for what will come. Green pastures (v. 1) and still waters (v. 2) are such dwellings for sheep, and we are God’s sheep. My grandson’s innocent interpretation opened my eyes to the “green pastures” God provides for me—places of rest and enjoyment in everyday life where He restores me. A gold-hued sunset. A verdant field. A quiet corner. A bakery shelf of green pastries, wafting out delight. I’m so glad we read Psalm 23 again! View the full article

One moment Adrián Simancas was kayaking in the Strait of Magellan in Chile with his father. The next, the twenty-four-year-old was engulfed in the mouth of a humpback whale. “I thought I was dead,” Adrián told a news outlet. After a few seconds, the whale released Adrián into the frigid waters. His life vest caused him to float to the water’s surface and his father helped him to safety. The Old Testament prophet Jonah also had an encounter with a large sea creature. Jonah refused to follow God’s directive to preach a message of repentance to the Israelites’ enemies, the Ninevites, so he boarded a ship in the opposite direction of Nineveh. When the ship got caught in a storm, Jonah convinced the crew to throw him overboard (Jonah 1:11-12, 15). “Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights” (v. 17). Jonah went from fleeing from God to crying out to Him. “From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God” (2:1). God heard Jonah and rescued him (v. 10). Then Jonah preached to the Ninevites, and they repented. If God could hear Jonah’s plea from inside a big fish, He can hear us and rescue us from wherever we are. Instead of running from God, let’s run to Him in prayer knowing that He will answer us when we cry out to Him. View the full article

If you’ve ever heard the expression “albatross around my neck”—a phrase referring to a tiresome burden—you’ve heard an allusion to English poet Samuel Coleridge’s famous poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner. In the poem, a sailor shoots and kills a harmless, friendly albatross. The crew believes the mariner’s cruel deed curses their voyage, and forces him to wear the dead bird around his neck as punishment. Are there regrets in your life that feel like a heavy weight around your neck? All of us have moments we’d do anything to take back. It can feel like we’re cursed to carry the weight of our guilt and regret forever. Yet God’s grace can free our hearts from even the most painful regret. We all have sin (1 John 1:8, 10), but when we honestly confess our burdens to God, we’re promised he “will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (v. 9). As His grace rushes in, His light and love can flow through us (2:10), freeing us to love those around us (v. 10; 3:14). In Coleridge’s poem, the tormented mariner too eventually experiences this grace. When love for God’s creation rushes into his heart and compels him to pray, the albatross falls off his neck, vanishing forever “like lead into the sea.” View the full article

On November 21, 1915, the hope of Sir Ernest Shackleton and his twenty-seven crew members sank, along with their ship Endurance, into the dark below the Antarctic ice. They were stranded, thousands of miles from home. Later, the crew shared several things that aided their survival, including a banjo. Embarking on their brutal trek, Leonard Hussey (the expedition’s meteorologist) was the only person allowed more than two pounds of personal gear. He was allowed to bring his twelve-pound Windsor banjo. “It’s vital mental medicine,” Shackleton told Hussey, “and we shall need it.” The crew’s journals explained the power of Hussey’s music. “The banjo does . . . supply brain food,” wrote one sailor. Another reflected on “Hussey’s indispensable banjo.” The Bible presents music as one of God’s immense gifts, a way His healing and comfort enter the human heart. In the tragic story of King Saul, we hear how (due to his disobedience) he was oppressed by an “evil spirit” (1 Samuel 16:14). And what did Saul’s attendants believe the king needed to provide relief? Music. So, they found young David with his harp. “David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him” (v. 23). Music offers more than mere entertainment. It can bring joy, renew hope, and comfort weary souls. It’s truly one of God’s powerful gifts. View the full article

In Singapore, the government encourages people to support good causes by donation-matching. It “tops up” donations to specific charities by contributing an equal amount or more. By effectively multiplying people’s contributions, it hopes to encourage them to become more involved in charitable giving. This two-pronged approach reminds me of how believers in Jesus are called to God’s standards of holiness in our discipleship journey. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul urges them “to work out [their] salvation” (2:12) and “press on” (3:12, 14). At the same time, he stresses that “it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (2:13). Believers in Jesus aren’t made right with God by good works or performance. But there is an idea of partnership in our spiritual growth. It requires heart and effort on our part; yet we do not do it by human strength. Having saved us by grace, God calls us to be holy—set apart for Him—and we respond in sincerity and gratitude. As we seek to obey and please Him, He enables and helps us to do so. He shows us when we go wrong (Philippians 3:15), gives us strength to resist temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13), and empowers us to do what’s right in His eyes (Ephesians 2:10). View the full article

When Oswald and Biddy Chambers ran a Bible college in London from 1911 to 1915, they continued with their life principle of not turning away those in need. Astute Londoners were aghast at this practice, thinking the college would be taken advantage of. In response, Oswald observed, without inviting others to follow in the practice, “My responsibility is to give. God will look after who asks.” The couple followed the example of our generous Creator. Through His instructions to Moses, God laid out gracious ways for His people to live and serve others, including giving of their food and possessions. Moses told the Israelites at the end of every three years to “bring all the tithes” so the Levites, “foreigners, the fatherless and the widows,” could come and “eat and be satisfied” (Deuteronomy 14:28-29). Through the generosity of His people, God cares for the vulnerable. The Chambers’ trust in God was so strong that they gave willingly and without question. They’d learned to “revere . . . God always” (v. 23) and receive His blessing “in all the work of [their] hands” (v. 29). We may also feel inspired to give freely while we lean on God for wisdom and discernment. We know that our generous God will lead and guide as He provides for the foreigners, the fatherless, and the widows. View the full article

As a teenager, I had a strained relationship with my churchmate Lisa, so I was dismayed to learn we’d be roommates at our youth summer camp. The week at camp passed smoothly though, with both of us being civil. The most anticipated event was a bonfire gathering at the end of the week. On that evening, however, I had a fever. I went to bed early, but I could hear the laughter and music outside. An hour later, I was startled by Lisa, who was taking my temperature. “I’m not joining them at the bonfire,” she said. “You’re sick. I need to stay with you.” Lisa could’ve stayed uninvolved, but she chose to care for me, which lifted my spirits. We see another example of someone who cared in the story of Naaman. The commander of the Syrian army, Naaman had an Israelite servant girl who’d been taken captive and now “served Naaman’s wife” (2 Kings 5:2). Separated from family and forced to servitude, the girl could’ve chosen to not help her master, who had leprosy. But her faith moved her to help: “She said to her mistress, ‘If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him” (v. 3). And God did, in fact, use the prophet Elisha to heal Naaman (vv. 8-14). Lisa and the Israelite girl chose to help, and God worked through them. Let’s ask God to show us who we can extend His care to and give us the wisdom how. View the full article

I used to work with a woman named Madge, who was an amazing cook. “You should taste my pea and ham soup!” she said one day. After replying that I really didn’t like peas, Madge smiled and said, “You will after you try my soup.” The next day she handed me a container of her soup, made especially for me. “Did you try my soup?” Madge asked me a couple of days later. “I will—soon!” I said, hoping she wouldn’t ask me again. But she did—the next day, and the next. “Don’t leave it too long or it’ll spoil,” she added on the fourth day. A week later, Madge’s uneaten soup had spoiled and I threw it away. I felt dread as she approached me. “You did try my soup, didn’t you?” she asked. “Yes,” I said. “It was . . . delicious.” In Ephesians 4, Paul calls us to deal with speech-related sins like angry words (v. 26), unwholesome talk (v. 29), and slander (v. 31). But before these comes a more basic call to “speak truthfully to your neighbor” (v. 25). I had looked at Madge and told her a lie. I knew what I needed to do. I walked into Madge’s office, confessed my lie, and sheepishly asked for her forgiveness. Madge walked to me and gave me a hug. “Of course I forgive you,” she said. “How could I not, when I know how much God’s forgiven me?” View the full article