Topic > Christian Living
The greatest Gift of all!
So much of the Christmas season is about giving and receiving gifts, and when you think back over the years perhaps there’s a particular gift that comes to mind for you. Today on Discover the Word, original hosts Haddon Robinson, Alice Mathews, and Mart DeHaan remember the greatest gift of all. It’s part of a […]
Watching All Your Friends Get Married
I go to a lot of weddings. Like, a lot—five this summer, five last summer. I hang out with a lot of couples. And I write a lot about singleness. Go figure, right? My life, humorous to many, typically brings about a lot of questions.
A Message of hope
Christmastime is filled with anticipation. As children, we could hardly wait to find those gifts beneath the tree. But as adults, there’s something even better to look forward to. This week, enjoy some classic Christmas programs with original Discover the Word hosts Haddon Robinson, Alice Mathews, and Mart DeHaan. They’ll share what the term “Advent” […]
The Power of Simple Words
Raucous laughter marked the guests in my father’s hospital room: Two old truck drivers, one former country/western singer, one craftsman, two women from neighboring farms, and me.
“…and then he got up and busted the bottle over my head,” the craftsman said, finishing his story about a bar fight.
The room bursts into laughter at this now-humorous memory. Dad, struggling for breath as his laughing fought with his cancer for the air in his lungs, puffs out a reminder to everybody that “Randy is a preacher” so they need to watch what they say. Everything got quiet for about two seconds;…
Christmas in Captivity
Rev. Martin Niemoller, a prominent German pastor, spent nearly eight years in Nazi concentration camps because he openly opposed Hitler. On Christmas Eve 1944, Niemoller spoke these words of hope to his fellow prisoners in Dachau: “My dear friends, on this Christmas . . . let us seek, in the Babe of Bethlehem, the One who came to us in order to bear with us everything that weighs heavily upon us. . . . God Himself has built a bridge from Himself to us! A dawn from on high has visited us!”
At Christmas we embrace the good news that…
Why I have Hope (Despite a terrible 2016)
I recently came across an article that reported that Planet Earth, a popular BBC nature and wildlife documentary, has racked up more millennial viewers—myself included—than reality TV shows like The X Factor.
Spreading Joy
When Janet went to teach English in a school overseas, she found the atmosphere gloomy and depressing. People did their jobs, but no one seemed happy. They didn’t help or encourage one another. But Janet, grateful for all that God had done for her, expressed it in everything she did. She smiled. She was friendly. She went out of her way to help people. She hummed songs and hymns.
Little by little, as Janet shared her joy, the atmosphere at the school changed. One by one people began to smile and help each other. When a visiting administrator asked the principal…
5 Ways to Love A Stranger This Christmas
Once again, it’s Christmas—the season of merriment, goodwill, and cheer. For most, it’s a time for family and friends, and a time to reflect on the year gone by.
Enemy Love
When war broke out in 1950, fifteen-year-old Kim Chin-Kyung joined the South Korean army to defend his homeland. He soon found, however, that he wasn’t ready for the horrors of combat. As young friends died around him, he begged God for his life and promised that, if allowed to live, he would learn to love his enemies.
Sixty-five years later, Dr. Kim reflected on that answered prayer. Through decades of caring for orphans and assisting in the education of North Korean and Chinese young people, he has won many friends among those he once regarded as enemies. Today he shuns political…
Fully embracing Christmas
At first glance, the story of a young virgin becoming pregnant by the Spirit of God sounds, well, crazy. And it is until the gold standard of proof is given in Matthew chapter one. Today on Discover the Word, we will talk about an Old Testament passage in Isaiah that’s repeated in Matthew—providing evidence of […]
Another Side of Comfort
The theme for our adult camp was “Comfort My People.” Speaker after speaker spoke words of assurance. But the last speaker drastically changed the tone. He chose Jeremiah 7:1-11 and the topic “Wake Up from Slumber.” Without mincing words and yet with love, he challenged us to wake up and turn away from our sins.
“Don’t hide behind the grace of God and continue to live in secret sin,” he exhorted, like the prophet Jeremiah. “We boast, ‘I am a Christian; God loves me; I fear no evil,’ yet we do all kinds of evil.” We knew he cared about us,…
Learn what gave Joseph hope in a hopeless situation
“We have a problem.” How many times have you heard someone say that to you, like a doctor, perhaps? Well, today on Discover the Word, we will talk about the “problem” that Joseph faced in dealing with Mary’s pregnancy. He felt betrayed, but how could he allow his fiancée to be stoned to death? Nor did […]
When Christmas Isn’t the Happiest Time of the Year
With the joyful endings of cheesy, Hallmark movies, comes the subconscious expectation that somehow during Christmas, everyone will get along, then snowflakes will fall at precisely the right time and in a perfect quantity.
Living in the Light
It was a dark morning. Low, steel-colored clouds filled the sky, and the atmosphere was so dim that I needed to turn on the lights in order to read a book. I had just settled in when the room suddenly filled with light. I looked up and saw that the wind was pushing the clouds to the east, clearing the sky and revealing the sun.
As I went to the window to get a better look at the drama, a thought came to mind: “The darkness is passing and the true light is already shining” (1 John 2:8). The apostle John…
What Really Happens When You Give More Than You Receive
We know this saying well: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35) But why? Isn’t that counter-intuitive? After all, when you give, you deplete your own resources—be it physical, monetary, or emotional.
