Remember Lewis Carroll’s “Through The Looking Glass”? When Alice meets the White Knight, he is carrying all kinds of objects he imagines will somehow contribute to his happiness. He has a mousetrap to protect him…
Sermon Illustrations
“Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves” (Romans 14:22). Once, when our good friend Charlie Brown was going away for a couple of days, Linus says to him, “I guess…
“Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain” (I Corinthians 15:58). There is a Charlie Brown cartoon strip in which little Lucy asks, “Why…
“Do not forget, thin sowing means thin reaping; the more you sow, the more you reap” (II Corinthians 9:6). Years ago, Chinese farmers decided they would eat the good big potatoes and just use the…
“He sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God, and to perform healing” (Luke 9:2). True story: A young woman named Mary dreamed as a young girl of becoming an obstetrician. She completed her…
“…you will be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never run dry” (Isaiah 58:11). Once upon a time, two little sweet-pea seeds nestled snugly together in the soft earth. They…
When C.S. Lewis lost his dear friend, Charles Williams, he wrote something which he hoped would not be regarded as maudlin. He felt that since Charles Williams had died, heaven was no longer a strange,…
“If life on earth is not a road to heaven,” someone has said, “then it is a treadmill, a merry-go-round minus the merry.” It is like an old “Mutt and Jeff” comic strip ... It…
"What then will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life?" (Matthew 16:26). “What does it profit a man” — this frantic pursuit of what we have been conditioned to…
“He touched her hand and the fever left her and she got up and began to wait on Him” (Matthew 8:15). A sensitive woman named Marcia relates the following“touching” episode in her life: “Now you’ve…
If one part is hurt, all parts are hurt with it. If one part is given special honor, all parts enjoy it (I Cor. 12:26). Several years ago, one of the big, daily newspapers ran…
In a nineteenth century painting entitled “Hope,” the artist portrays a woman with bandaged eyes. She is unable to see ahead of herself. In her hands is a harp with bro- ken strings, representing her…
In Greek mythology there is a legend in which Zeus, the righteous ruler of the world, presents his subjects with a big vase filled with everything they would need to be whole and happy persons.…
“He is the One who has given us the qualifications to be the administrators of this New Covenant” (II Corinthians 3:4). In Jewish religious folklore, there is the story of the student of the Torah…
“Love one another” (John 13:34). For nurturing and sustaining a life-enriching home life, a well-known family therapist once prescribed a daily dose of hugs. She suggested a minimum daily requirement of... ...four hugs for survival…
In the year 1911, the priceless “Mona Lisa” was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris. It was missing for two years. During that time, more people came to the museum to stare at the…
“Let us make a man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves” (Genesis 1:26). We are human beings. Each one of us is a unique human being. We are not “things.” Mankind is…
“If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last and servant of all” (Mark 9:35). A testimonial dinner was arranged for a woman who was retiring after many years of faithful service as…
“I have been in danger... in the towns, in danger in the open country” (II Corinthians 10:26). There is a story of a pioneer couple, Zeb and Martha, who staked a claim and settled down…
A married couple had to interrupt a sightseeing tour because of the need for a dentist. “I want a tooth pulled and I don't want novocaine or gas because I'm in a hurry,” the woman…
