Daily Challenges Archive

I find it helpful, when looking for context with this verse, to think about families. Regardless of the disparity in personalities, interests, and tastes, siblings share parents and, therefore, a family context. When they grow and go in separate d...

Sometimes determining what is right and what is acceptable in a particular situation can be difficult. Tough love is always difficult to determine exactly when we should practice it. I never even liked the term “tough love,” but I certainly unders...

Solomon is making the point that when the leader is present, it is difficult for those in their care—citizens in his time, children or employees in ours—to get away with anything. When the person is a good leader, they set a tone and an environmen...

There may be no better place to observe this truth than in the raising of children. The wise second child learns an awful lot about what is and isn’t OK and how much they can get away with by observing the oldest child. I know in my case, when my ...

This is one of the places that reminds us just how connected our inner world is with our outer world. The depth behind every word we mutter is a mysterious thing. One of the reasons I believe in biblical counselors is because all of us have situat...

When I was young there were times I wanted to see someone fail just to get even with them for something they had done to me or someone I cared about. Solomon is not pleased with that. Neither is God. The reason I say “there were times” is that I n...

I’m right almost all the time. If you doubt that, just ask me. Seriously, if there’s anything I’ve learned in my life, it’s that I’m seldom right and more often wrong. That’s why I’ve learned to be quiet and listen more than I talk. Or, if I share...

The use of the word “fear” in Scripture always calls for clarification. In 1741, Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon titled Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. He based it on Deuteronomy 32:35. It is considered one of the primary causes of the Gr...

We are adding staff. I’ve resisted it with everything in me for a while. The cost always has to be counted, but in reality, that is not why I’ve fought it. After 40 years of leading large to medium-sized staffs, I have enjoyed the lack of drama an...

One of these people makes me tired just to watch. Seeing someone work hard to pretend to have a wealthy lifestyle while juggling debt is stressful for me to watch. It has to be even more stressful to live that way. Certain careers tend to lend the...

You may not know these names: Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. If you follow world affairs, you most certainly do. Without making a political statement, these two billionaires have spent many days circling the globe, working with leaders of hostil...

You’ve probably heard the old saying that you never see a U-Haul being pulled by a hearse. You can’t take it with you.I had a conversation with a good man the other day. We were discussing life and, as both of us have lost our wives, how we finish...