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Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

Proverbs 3:5-10

One of the most important truths of the Christian life is that God is God and we are not. So often we are tempted to foolishly think that we know better than God. We think that if He would do what we prefer everything would be just fine. Most of the time we know better than to say this out loud, but in the privacy of our hearts and minds we have things all worked out. Of course that is foolish because God is so far above us. We cannot even begin to comprehend the breadth of God's knowledge and wisdom. “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him?” (1 Corinthians 2:16).

Instead of relying on what seems best to us, we are commanded to put our trust in God and give Him free reign to work in our lives as He knows best. We should not expect to receive God's guidance and direction if we are only willing to follow when we understand and agree with His plan. Instead, we are to place ourselves at His disposal and go wherever He leads. Maybe you have seen this prayer authored by Jerry Bridges. “Lord, I am willing to receive what you give; to lack what you withhold; to relinquish what you take; to suffer what you inflict; to be what you require. And, Lord, if others are to be your messengers to me, I am willing to hear and heed what they have to say. Amen.” 

Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.

1 Peter 3:8-11

Before entering politics, while Abraham Lincoln was earning his living as a lawyer in Illinois, a client approached him to be represented in a suit. The man was owed a debt of $2.50 by someone who could not afford to repay it. Though Lincoln attempted to dissuade the man, he insisted that the suit be filed and move forward. Lincoln told the man his fee for taking the case would be $10.00. Upon receiving the money, Lincoln found the debtor and gave half of it to him. The grateful debtor quickly paid the $2.50 he owed, and the case was resolved. The man who insisted on getting paid succeeded, but his “victory” cost him $7.50.

There are always going to be people who let us down or do us wrong. Some of this is intentional, while other times it is merely an accident. But in every case we have a choice. We can try to get even, insisting on taking revenge, or we can choose to do good even to those who do us wrong. Only one of those responses is right. And that is the one we must opt to take. We are called to show compassion and kindness even to those who are not our friends, just as God does to us even before we know Him. “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

Matthew 7:3-5
 

Most of us find it a great deal easier to identify the faults and shortcomings of others rather than our own. In one strip from the Peanuts cartoons, Linus responded to be corrected by his older sister Lucy by asking, “Why are you always so anxious to criticize me?” Lucy responded, “I just have a knack for seeing other people's fault.” Linus threw his hands up and asked, “What about your own faults?” Lucy smiled smugly and said, “I have a knack for overlooking them.” We all have a tendency to follow Lucy's example.

But while it is easy for us to focus more on others' shortcomings than our own, it's not helpful. Looking at our own faults and failures requires a great deal of humility and honesty. But only when we do that first can we possibly be a position to help someone else. 

The practice of shifting focus (and blame) to someone else goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden, and it continues through the Bible. When Jesus met with Peter by the Sea of Galilee after His resurrection, He asked Peter three times if he loved Him, and then commanded Peter to follow Him. Peter immediately turned his focus to John instead. “Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me” (John 21:20-22). Before we seek to straighten out others, we need to fix the person we see in the mirror.

As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

John 10:15-18
 

Jesus set the standard for us to follow in every part of His life. One of the most profound commands He gave concerns how we love and treat each other. Jesus said, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (John 13:34). The idea of giving up what is precious to us for the sake of someone else goes against the grain of our nature. We tend to find it much easier to get than to give. We sometimes actively avoid making sacrifices, even for people we say that we love. Yet there is no real love—in a home, in a church, in a neighborhood—unless there is a willingness to give regardless of the cost.

When David Livingstone was asked about the sacrifices required to be a missionary he responded, “It is emphatically no sacrifice. Rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, danger, foregoing the common conveniences of this life—these may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing compared with the glory which shall later be revealed in and through us. I never made a sacrifice. Of this we ought not to talk, when we remember the great sacrifice which He made who left His Father's throne on high to give Himself for us.”

And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

Luke 10:32-34

The parable of the Good Samaritan, one of the best-known of all that Jesus told, was used to answer a dishonest question. The man who sparked the story was attempting to trap the Lord, not learn from Him. “And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25). Yet in His response Jesus both avoided the trap and gave us a powerful lesson in service to others. 

The story Jesus told was about a man who had been beaten and robbed. He was ignored by a priest and Levite, but a Samaritan passing by stopped to help—not because it was required or expected, but because it was needed. The thing that motivated the Samaritan to take action, even at personal risk and financial cost was his compassion for someone in need. 

Every time we are presented with an opportunity to help, our response is driven more than anything else by our understanding of our love for God, and how we display that love to others. A. T. Pierson wrote, “The supreme test of service is this: 'For whom am I doing this?' Much that we call service to Christ is not such at all. If we are doing this for Christ, we shall not care for human reward or even recognition. Our work must again be tested by three propositions: Is it work from God, as given us to do from Him; for God, as finding in Him its secret of power; and with God, as only a part of His work in which we engage as co-workers with Him.”

Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.

Mark 1:14-17
 

D. L. Moody was not only effective as a preacher, but as a personal soulwinner. Throughout his ministry, he also encouraged others to be a personal soulwinner, sharing the gospel with those they met. Moody once told this story. “A man came looking very ill and related that his doctor had encouraged him to leave the Lake Michigan area because of a condition that very well could take his life. He was upset that he had never led any of his class to Christ and believed that he had done the girls more harm than good. I suggested the teacher go to the girls to talk to them. The teacher went to the homes of each girl in his class and talked to her about her soul. Ten days later, the teacher came to the store with his face literally shining. Every last one of the girls in his class had yielded herself to Christ.”

Jesus taught His disciples many things over the three years they spent with Him in ministry all around the nation of Israel. They learned about preaching and praying, and were even empowered to work miracles healing and helping people. But from the very beginning, Jesus made it clear that the main purpose of His calling them was that they would reach others with the Gospel. “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you” (John 15:16).

For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

Romans 7:15-18
 

In his devotional A View from the Zoo, Gary Richmond told this story: “Raccoons go through a glandular change around 24 months of age. After that they often attack their owners. Since a 30-pound raccoon can be equal to a 100-pound dog in a scrap, I felt compelled to mention the change coming to a pet raccoon owned by a young friend of mine, Julie. She listened politely as I explained the coming danger. I'll never forget her answer. 'It will be different for me.' And she smiled as she added, 'Bandit wouldn't hurt me. He just wouldn't.' Three months later Julie underwent plastic surgery for facial lacerations sustained when her adult raccoon attacked her for no apparent reason. Sin, too, often comes dressed in an adorable guise, and as we play with it, how easy it is to say, 'It will be different for me.' The results are predictable.”

None of us are immune to the destructive effects of sin. No matter how long we have been saved or how much we have done for God, we are still vulnerable. Even the apostle Paul, who many people regard as the greatest Christian in history, described how he still battled sin in Romans 7. This was long after his conversion and many years of ministry. The longer we walk with the Lord, the more sensitive we will be to this struggle and the less likely we will be to assume we are immune to temptation. 

As long as we live we must remain vigilant to the way sin creeps into our lives. If we think that somehow we are an exception to the rule, it will not be long before we fall.

And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them. And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.

Mark 2:2-5

Early in Jesus’ ministry, reports of His miracles began to circulate, drawing increasing attention. Although some were genuinely drawn to His teaching, others came with curiosity or a desire to witness the spectacular. On one particular day in Capernaum, the house where Jesus was teaching became so crowded that there was no room left—not even near the door. The sheer number of people created a barrier for those trying to reach Him. Yet four men, convinced of Jesus’ power to heal, brought their paralyzed friend and refused to be deterred. With determined faith, they carried him to the roof, removed part of it, and lowered him into the room—placing him directly before Jesus.

There is no question that they believed Jesus could heal their friend. They demonstrated the depth of their faith through their actions. Yet the initial response of Jesus must have confused them. Rather than immediately healing the man physically, Jesus first dealt with an even greater problem—healing him spiritually. Often we find that God does not work in the ways we expect. In those moments faith reminds us that He knows far better than we do what we need most. Oswald Chambers wrote, “Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading.” When we ask God to work in our lives, we must be willing for Him to do what is best rather than what we desire.

Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

Philippians 3:4-7

Many of us had trophy shelves growing up. Whether from sports competitions or academic contests, we collected awards that represented our efforts and victories. We displayed them proudly, reminders of what we had accomplished. But most of us no longer have those trophies—and if we do, we don’t view them with the same significance. What once seemed so important fades with time. Maturity brings perspective, helping us recognize what truly matters.

The apostle Paul had an impressive spiritual and cultural résumé—heritage, discipline, zeal, and moral conduct. Yet when he met Christ, he came to see all of it as loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Him. Paul wasn’t rejecting godly living or scriptural convictions; he was rejecting the idea that any of these could earn him favor with God. Likewise, our background, our convictions, and even our religious practices may be good—but they are not our basis for standing righteous before God.

True righteousness is found only in Christ. God is not impressed by our pedigree or performance. He calls us to lay aside our self-earned merit and embrace the grace He offers. As Paul wrote elsewhere, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14).

And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Mark 8:34-37
 

Each spring, in a tradition dating back to at least 1826, people gather in the village of Brockworth, England, for the Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake. A hard, eight-pound Double Gloucester cheese wheel is rolled down a steep hill, and competitors hurl themselves after it—sliding, tumbling, and somersaulting in pursuit. Though it began as a local custom, the event now draws participants from around the world. In 2025, German competitor Tom Kopke won for the second year in a row. “I risked my life for this. It’s my cheese. Back to back!” he declared. “All the people at the top said they were going to steal my title, but this is mine,” Kopke declared. “I risked my life for this. It’s my cheese. Back to back!”

There’s nothing wrong with an adrenaline-filled race and a spirited competition. But this quirky event offers a fitting metaphor for a deeper truth: some people spend their entire lives chasing what amounts to nothing more than a wheel of cheese. They risk everything for trophies, titles, or temporary pleasures—only to discover, too late, that they’ve lost what mattered most.

Jesus calls us to something far greater: to lose our lives for His sake in order to truly find them. Every one of us faces the choice of how to spend the time, talents and resources God has entrusted to our care. There is coming a day when we will give an account to God for how we used our lives. Things that impressed others may quickly melt in the heat of His evaluation. “Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is” (1 Corinthians 3:13).

Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

Colossians 3:22-24

Wanting to do her part for the war effort, Vera Staples took a job at a Firestone plant in Akron, Ohio, where she worked as an inspector. Far away in the Pacific Ocean, her son, Signalman Third Class Elgin Staples, was serving on the USS Astoria. The cruiser took part in the battles of Coral Sea and Midway, and was then sent to the Solomon Islands where it sunk after heavy fire from Japanese ships. More than two hundred of the sailors onboard perished, but Staples' lifebelt kept him afloat until he could be rescued.

In his account of his experiences titled “Against All Odds,” Staples told of taking the lifebelt that had saved him back to his home. He showed it to his mother, remarking that it had come from her Firestone plant. He wrote, “When she looked up at me, her mouth and her eyes were open wide with surprise. 'Son, I'm an inspector at Firestone. This is my inspector number,' she said, her voice hardly above a whisper. We stared at each other too stunned to speak. Then I stood up, walked around the table and pulled her up from her chair. We held each other in a tight embrace, saying nothing.”

When we do our work, no matter what the job may be, we are ultimately working for the Lord. He deserves nothing less than our very best work. Most of the time we will not see dramatic evidence of the effects like the Staples family did, but our work matters. Diligence and care should characterize our efforts on the job. The things we do each day have an impact that goes far beyond what we see, and God is watching and keeping records.

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

1 John 2:1-3
 

The case against Robert Kidd seemed to be open and shut. He had been arrested and was about to stand trial for the murder of an antique dealer because his fingerprints were found on a bloodstained sword in the business. But his wife refused to believe he was guilty. On May 2, 1962, she placed this ad in the San Francisco Examiner: “I don't want my husband to die in the gas chamber for a crime he did not commit. I will therefore offer my services for ten years as a cook, maid, or housekeeper to any leading attorney who will defend him and bring about his vindication.” A defense attorney named Vincent Hallinan took the case. He demonstrated to the jury that though Kidd had been at the store and handled the sword, it was not the murder weapon. It took just a few hours for the jury to find Robert Kidd not guilty, and at the conclusion of the trial, Hallinan refused Gladys Kidd's offer to work for him for ten years.

Every one of us is born facing a far more serious case than murder. Because of our sin we deserve to die and spend eternity separated from God. And unlike Robert Kidd, we actually are guilty. No clever lawyer can draft an argument to change this grim reality. Thankfully we have a perfect lawyer. His argument is not that we are innocent, but that He has already taken our place and paid the penalty rightly due for our actions. His precious blood is the foundation of His case, and none of those who come to Him for salvation are ever found guilty. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1).

Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Romans 6:11-14

In October 2024, the Miyazaki Airport in southern Japan was closed after a massive explosion left a large crater in the taxiway between the terminal and the runway. Remarkably, no one was injured, although a plane had taxied by just two minutes earlier. The cause of the blast wasn’t a fuel leak or engine failure—it was an unexploded bomb dropped by the American military nearly eighty years earlier during World War II. It had remained buried all that time.

Incidents like this are not uncommon in Japan. So many bombs were dropped during the war that the Japanese Self-Defense Forces’ bomb disposal unit reported safely removing 2,348 such bombs in 2023 alone—from a war that ended in 1945.

Every sin we harbor and refuse to confess and forsake is like an unexploded bomb—buried, silent, but dangerously active. It may be hidden where no one sees it, and it may lie dormant for years. But it is still there, and unless we deal with it, the consequences will eventually erupt. Often, the fallout from our sin is not ours alone to bear—it touches those around us and may even influence generations to come.

God, in His grace, has freed us from sin’s dominion. But we must actively choose to yield our lives to Him. Unconfessed sin may lie silent for a season, but it never lies harmless.

Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

1 Peter 2:21-24
 
Everything that we see in the creation around us was spoken into existence. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things that are seen were not made of things which do appear” (Hebrews 11:3). Specifically creation was wrought by Jesus, the Living Word of God. “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). The power of a single word from Jesus is enough to create or destroy everything in existence. Yet when Jesus was beaten, falsely accused, and then crucified, He did not speak a single word in His defense. Jesus trusted the Father and His plan in the most painful moments of His life. Rather than using His power to escape or seek revenge, He laid down His life.

The reason Jesus died was to pay the price for our sins. But in His suffering and death He left an example for us to follow when we are mistreated. We can do what is right when others do what is wrong. We can forgive rather than try to get even. We can bless those who mean evil against us. The key to living this way is the same as it was for our Lord—to trust God and His plan. If we feel we must take matters into our own hands rather than wait for God to work, we will quickly go astray. We can trust Him fully to accomplish every purpose He has for us and forego getting even with those who do us wrong.

And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

Luke 23:39-43

It was not uncommon for the Romans to crucify several people at the same time. Such public executions were intended as a spectacle to deter others from insurrection. When Jesus was crucified, two other men who had been condemned as thieves were hung on crosses next to the Lord. No doubt this was meant to bring additional shame to the “King of the Jews,” but it provided an opportunity for Jesus to reach one last person before His death. When the thief asked for mercy and forgiveness, Jesus provided them to him.

Curtis Hutson wrote, “Technically, God does not forgive sin. He forgives the sinner. Sin must be paid for. Somebody must bear the burden. I have been told that the word forgive literally means 'to bear the burden.' If I owed someone a thousand dollars and he forgave the debt, that means he paid the thousand dollars. In order for an infinitely holy God to forgive the sinner, someone had to pay the debt. Someone had to bear the burden. That is where Jesus comes in. The Bible teaches that God took every sin we ever have committed and ever will commit, and laid those sins on Christ two thousand years ago at Calvary.”

All of us are sinners, and there are only two choices. Either we pay the debt we owe for our sins ourselves, or we trust in the payment Jesus made on our behalf. All those who trust in Christ and receive His gift of eternal life are saved forever, and all those who do not are condemned. God rejoices in saving the lost, but He only saves those who come to Him in faith.

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias.

Matthew 27:45-47

It is impossible for us to fully understand the perfect unity of the Trinity because our minds are not infinite. What we do know is that there always was, and always will be, perfect harmony, unity, and fellowship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one” (John 10:29–30). Yet on the cross, in a moment of unimaginable spiritual agony, Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” as He bore the full weight of our sin.

When Jesus was on the cross, God the Father had to turn His face away from the Son, as He took our sin upon Himself to pay for them as our substitute. The spiritual agony Jesus suffered is something that no human will ever understand. Jesus became the forsaken Son of God, as He suffered as our sin bearer at the cross. The pain He endured was the pain of my sin and your sin, and the abandonment He endured is the separation from God my sins deserve.

The story goes that Irish preacher W. G. Owens saw a wounded young soldier who had come home from World War I limping along the street on crutches, and Owens expressed his appreciation for the sacrifice the soldier had made in his place. When he returned home, Owens' thoughts turned to the cross and to an even greater sacrifice. A short time later he wrote the hymn “Wounded for Me.”

Wounded for me, wounded for me,
There on the cross He was wounded for me;
Gone my transgressions, and now I am free,
All because Jesus was wounded for me.

For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:

Psalm 78:5-7

Humorist and advice columnist Erma Bombeck often received hard questions to answer, but she had a way of responding with wisdom. On one occasion she wrote, “I received a letter from a single mother who had raised a son who was about to become a dad. Since he had no recollection of his own father, her question to me was 'What do I tell him a father does?' When my dad died in my ninth year, I, too, was raised by my mother, giving rise to the same question. It wasn't until my husband and I had children that I was able to observe firsthand what a father contributed to a child's life. Mostly, a good father involves himself in his kids' lives. A father has the potential to be a powerful force in the life of a child. Grab it!”

God's plan is for parents, and especially fathers, to teach their children the truth. The course of each life is set first in the home. This awesome responsibility is also an awesome opportunity. If we teach our children to walk in God's way, they become powerful weapons for Him to use to shape the future and win great victories. “As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate” (Psalm 127:4-5). Every day that fathers have with their children is a gift and should not be taken for granted. Instead, it should be used to pass on lessons about life and God that will point them to the right path.