We are familiar with the adage, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." When life is bitter, endeavor to make something great out of it; this is good advice: do not get downtrodden by the tumult of life's storms; instead, maintain optimism and bring something good from the situation. Here is better advice: when life gives you lemons, watch for when God makes the lemonade. I know that is a bit cheesy; however, is this not what we see repeated in the lives of those who tak

Anna Brownell Jameson is credited with the saying, "Modesty and chastity are twins." Of course, we know the Scriptures would support such an ideal—modesty representing what we show to the world, chastity representing what we withhold from the world. There are several applications for these twin ideas: wealth, status, and clothing … a more sensitive topic, however, would be that of sexuality. The societal depiction of womanhood is askew. At the time, we would say that men were

Proverbs 22:4, "The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life." Solomon would pass these words on to his son, the audience of the book of Proverbs. I would imagine that Solomon had seen this lesson repeated in his life and in his father's stories. But it would seem viable that he learned this in the story of his ancestry. Solomon was the great-great-grandson of Ruth, the noble Moabite woman who would marry Boaz of Bethlehem. Ruth was forced into wi

“Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.” - J.R.R. Tolkien How true it is that when the road becomes darkened, faithfulness, loyalty dissipates like the morning dew. Such is the recurring narrative of life. Not merely in our time, but for all of human history. The first humans to experience the threat of consequence turned on each other (Gen 3:12). The chosen people of God would turn against Him at the first signs of inconvenience (Ex 17:3). Even as pressure