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Mature Faith Is God’s Gift In 1885, a Russian czar commissioned Carl Fabergé and his family jewelry business to create a special Easter gift for his wife. They designed a beautiful white egg, inside of which was a gold “yolk.” Inside of that was a golden hen, and inside of that was a miniature diamond crown and a tiny ruby egg. Known as the...

Mature Faith Obeys God’s Word A 2014 survey of “The Bible in American Life” found that only 48 percent of Americans reported reading any Scripture at any time during the previous year. Among those who did, the percentages were significantly higher for women, older people, Southerners, and African Americans. Just 9 percent of Americans, however,...

Mature Faith and Good Deeds: Example of Abraham How do we know Abraham had faith in God? Scripture tells us we know it by what he did (Heb. 11:8–19). He left his home to go to an unknown country. He trusted God to keep a humanly impossible promise to give him and Sarah a son. He was willing to sacrifice that son at God’s instruction. His...

Mature Faith and Good Deeds: Example of Rahab We know Rahab had faith in God because her actions revealed her faith (see Joshua 2; 6:22–25; Heb. 11:31). She hid the two Israelite spies from her own government, then misdirected their pursuers and helped them escape. She thus saved her entire extended family and ended up in the genealogy of...

Help One Another on the Path to Mature Faith From the EditorsIn “Pilgrims to the City of God,” musician and writer Michael Card sang: “Pilgrims of passion, we follow the One Who holds out a cross and a crown. We travel a dark road that has but one Light, For we have here no lasting town. And sometimes we run by the power of His might. On...

He Who Takes Our Breath Away Many people today categorically dismiss the truth of Christ and His claims without ever having read the account of Jesus in the four Gospels. They have already decided that the stories about miracles are myths, the record of a crucified Messiah is for weak minds, and identifying Jesus as God is a ridiculous thing...

Harsh Words of the King More than one parent has said to a child in an exasperated tone, “I can’t wait until you have children one day!” And more than one parent has thought, “Now I understand my own parents’ decisions better!” What felt unreasonable to a child actually provided a measure of safety. From the perspective of adulthood, we can...

The Failure of Fear Elite professional athletes always face the difficult decision of when to retire. Should they leave at the top of their game? Or should they eke out as many years of playing time as possible? Should they remain loyal to their current coach or team, or see if they can find success with a new program? Fans often feel torn...

Returning Rule to a Good King The pervasiveness of wickedness in society can make even the most hopeful person feel cynical or despairing. Human trafficking, corruption, murder, the opioid drug use epidemic, and more—every day it seems that evil has modern culture in its grip. Reading Scriptures helps to remind us that this is nothing new.

A Path to Leprosy When playing with tools in his father’s workshop at age 3, Louis Braille was struck in the eye by a piece of metal. The injury blinded him, and a subsequent infection took the sight of his other eye. His parents determined to give him as many opportunities for education and enrichment as they could, and Louis applied his...