Good Words for Today

Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold. Don’t go along so you can get along. Don’t lower your standards for a laugh. Don’t trade holiness for popularity.

Sinners have no hope unless saints live like saints. If sinners look at us and can’t tell the difference, how will they ever want what we have, or even believe there is a difference?  

You can be for Jesus, or you can be for the world. But you can’t do both at the same time.

Pray with your eyes open or shut. Pray standing or sitting. Pray out loud or silently. Pray with others or by yourself. Pray with hands folded or arms uplifted. Just pray.

Everyone wants to be a servant until they get treated like one.

When people ask, 'Do you believe in free grace," I ask them, "Is there any other kind?" If it's not free, it's not grace.

"Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true size." John Stott

"Come, every soul by sin oppressed, There’s mercy with the Lord, And he will surely give you rest By trusting in his Word."

In hard times, hold on to the little word "yet." We are forgotten, yet we reign. We are despised, yet blessed. We are reviled, yet defended by God. And the best is yet to come.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth after the proud have killed themselves trying to possess it.

God brings down the high and mighty with a great big thud. “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it” (Psalm 127:1). Still true today.

“The soul that on Jesus doth lean for repose, I will not, I will not, desert to his foes; That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.”

You can have Babel with all its power games, its moral degeneration, its paranoia, loneliness, despair, and deceptive pleasure. Or you can have Jesus Christ. Those are the choices of life.

Plan for today: Do my job. Do it well. Trust God with the results.

Procrastination kills many good intentions. You’ve got a telephone. Make a call. You’ve got paper. Write a letter. You’ve got a kitchen. Make a meal. You’ve got a billfold. Give some money. You’ve got two hands. Put them to work for others. You’ve got two feet. Go see a friend in pain. What you would do for God, you can do, but you must not delay.

Love your enemies. Do it because God commands it. Do it because Jesus showed us how. Do it because you need to be set free.  

Don't look back. It might make you want to go back. That's a bad idea. Remember Lot's wife.

God's will is not a choice we make; It's a path we follow. Stay on the path, and you will end up where God wants you to be.

Lord Jesus, when I am discouraged and want to go back to Egypt, keep my feet marching toward Canaan. Amen.

My Father, all your ways are right. When I am tempted to do wrong, remind me of the joy that comes from following your plan. Amen.

“You must be born again” is still true today.

"Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred" (Proverbs 15:17). Better to eat boiled potatoes with those you love than filet mignon with people you can’t stand. Money can't buy everything. If you don't have love, you are poor indeed.

Here’s a simple definition of mercy: Doing unto others as God has done unto you. How has God treated you? Has God blessed you? Then bless others. Has God forgiven you? Then forgive others. Has God lifted you up when you were down Then lift others up when they are down.

Search me, O God, and try my heart. See if there be any wicked way in me. Let the truth come out, even if it hurts. Amen.

Obedience won’t necessarily make you happy, but disobedience will definitely disappoint you in the end.

If you seek happiness, you will never find it; if you seek to do the will of God, you will find more happiness by accident than most people find on purpose.

Satan lies, but his lies sound like the truth slightly twisted. It worked with Eve. Make sure it doesn't work with you.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace today. Amen.