“For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in His holiness.”—Hebrews 12:10

The success of superhero films is amazing: Spiderman, Batman, Ironman . . . the list goes on. Superman has always trumped the lot of them, as he, according to the old TV show was, “faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound,” (plus fire comes out of his eyes).

Remember the words, “Look! Up in the sky. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s Superman!” The problem, of course, is Superman is fictional. But there is a “Superman” in real life. He’s called Dad. Not just any dad. I am talking about a dad who stays married to his wife and raises his children to follow God and be responsible—a dad who is a godly role model and leader in the home. That, to me, is a Superman.

In 1960, fewer than 6 million children lived in single-parent families. Today that number is much higher.

Consider these alarming stats:

• Fatherless children are 100–200% more likely to have emotional and behavioral problems.
• A child who comes from a fatherless home is 68% more likely to use drugs or alcohol, more likely to become sexually active at an early age, and three times more likely to commit a violent crime.
• 63% of teenagers who attempt suicide live in fatherless homes.
• 90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes.
• 85% of all youths sitting in prisons grew up in a fatherless home.
• Fatherless daughters are 53% more likely to marry as teenagers, are 111% more likely to have children as teenagers, and are 164% more likely to have an out-of-wedlock birth.

James Merritt said, “The most endangered species in America is not the Spotted Owl or the Snail Darter, but the responsible Father.” So, you can understand why I say fathers who are present are like superheroes!

If you are a man standing by your wife and children today, may I say on behalf of a grateful country, thank you! It gives me hope for the future.

“Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”—1 Samuel 17:47

The giants of life defeat us again and again because we face them in our own strength. The battle belongs to the Lord. That is why David said to Goliath, “Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands” (1 Samuel 17:47).

Ephesians 6 tells about the various pieces of armor that believers are to wear. But before a single piece of armor is applied, Paul gives us these words: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Ephesians 6:10).

I recognize I am weak, but at the same time, I acknowledge that God is great and powerful. I need to know that I cannot win the spiritual battle in my own strength. Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

We need to know about the incredible resources God has made available to us as Christians. Paul prayed that the believers at Ephesus would discover what God had done for them. He said, “Therefore I . . . do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:15–18).

You don’t fight for victory. You fight from it. Start living in that power.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.—2 Corinthians 5:17

Have you ever looked at your life and felt that you always would be a victim of your circumstances? Maybe your parents neglected or abandoned you. Maybe there is a family history of alcohol and drug abuse.

You may feel as though your course is fixed, that you don’t have a say-so, and that it’s just the way it goes. But that isn’t true. God can intervene. I know from experience.

I didn’t have a father growing up. It wasn’t that he mistreated me; he just wasn’t there. I was left to myself a lot. My mother was an alcoholic, and I could have gone that direction. I could have followed that course. But God took hold of me, and the cycle was broken. He can do that for anyone. I am just an ordinary person who took God at His word.

Maybe you are trapped in some lifestyle, some pattern of sin, or some addiction. God can break that cycle. The question is whether you want Him to break it.

The Bible tells the story of a man who had been paralyzed for a long time. Jesus said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” (John 5:6). We may wonder what kind of question that is to ask someone who can’t even move. It’s a very good question, actually.

Not everyone who is addicted wants to be delivered. Not everyone who is living a certain lifestyle wants to get out of that lifestyle. The question is do you really want to change? Do you really want to be free? Jesus can do that for you.

We read in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” God can change you.

Then one of the servants answered and said, “Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and the Lord is with him.” —1 Samuel 16:18

When we are younger, we think we know a lot more than we do. And a lot of times we just blurt things out. But as we get older, hopefully we learn to measure our words. We learn not to always say what we’re thinking. We learn there are inside thoughts and outside thoughts. (Some people don’t get this memo—ever.)

It is a good thing to be known as someone who is prudent in speech. That is how David was described, which is a little unusual for a younger man. In 1 Samuel 16:18 we read, “Then one of the servants answered and said, ‘Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and the Lord is with him” (emphasis added).

Interestingly, “prudent in speech” means weighing things in the mind and forming a judgment. It is thinking about what you say before you say it.

When Jesus was transfigured, Moses and Elijah appeared, talking with Him. Peter, who was there with James and John, blurted out, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (Mark 9:5). The next verse gives us this insight: “He did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid” (verse 6).

Have you ever said something when you didn’t know what to say, and you ended up saying the lamest thing ever?

An old proverb says that it is better to be silent and thought a fool than to open your mouth and dispel all doubt. Sometimes when you don’t say anything, people may think you are very wise. Let them think that.

“You should know this, that in the last days, there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves . . .” —2 Timothy 3:1–2

We are living in a culture that is completely self-absorbed. Consider these stats:

• The Incidence of Narcissistic Personality Disorder is nearly three times as high for people in their twenties as for the generation that’s now 65 or older.
• 58% more college students scored higher on a narcissism scale in 2009 than in 1982.
• 40% of Millennials believe they should be promoted every two years, regardless of performance.

In the 1970s, people wanted to improve their kids’ chances, so the “self-esteem” movement was born. We were told that all of the social ills of the day were due to low self-esteem, and that we all needed to learn to love ourselves more.

As one expert said, “The problem is that when people tried to boost self-esteem, they boosted narcissism instead. All that self-esteem leads them to be disappointed when the world refuses to affirm how great they know they are.”

So, we enter into our marriages saying things like: “What’s in it for me?” and “What about my needs?” This leads to such inane statements as “I’m no longer happy in this marriage,” and “I need to find myself!”

Where does this selfishness come from? “Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves” (James 4:1–2 MSG).

This is something the Bible says would be a sign of the end times: “You should know this, that in the last days, there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves . . .” (2 Timothy 3:1–2 NLT).

So, what is the antidote to selfishness? It is selflessness!

Philippians 2:2–8 tells us, “Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing. Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross” (NLT).

“But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

—Luke 10:42

Everyone has their one thing in life, whether they are believers or nonbelievers. It’s the one thing that makes their blood pump, the thing that gets them up in the morning, the thing they are passionate about.

David told us about his one thing in Psalm 27: “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple” (verse 4).

When Jesus came to visit Mary and Martha, Martha was understandably whipping up a feast for Jesus while Mary sat at His feet, listening to what He had to say. But Martha got stressed out because Mary wasn’t helping her. Jesus looked at her and said, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41–42).

A loose paraphrase might be, “Martha, I appreciate a homecooked meal, but there is a time and a place for everything. The time now is just right for Me to talk to you about what really matters in life—and Mary gets that.”

The apostle Paul said, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead” (Philippians 3:13).

Our greatest danger in life is permitting the urgent things to crowd out the important things. For David and for Mary, that one thing was being in God’s presence. For Paul, it was forgetting the past and pressing toward the future, toward the goal to win the race.

What is your one thing?

So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the flask of olive oil he had brought and anointed David with the oil. And the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on. Then Samuel returned to Ramah. —1 Samuel 16:13

Imagine David for just a moment, out watching his family’s sheep just like any other day. Then he gets a message: “David, they want you back at the house.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. There is some prophet in town, and you have to come right away.”

David wasn’t dressed for the occasion. His brothers probably had taken a shower and put on their finest robes and were looking good. But David came bounding in from the field with youthful energy, probably smelling like a pasture.

When Samuel looked at him, God said, “This is the one; anoint him” (1 Samuel 16:12).

The next thing David knew, the old prophet was pouring oil on his head and saying, “This is the next king of Israel.” People were probably standing around watching, thinking Samuel had finally gone senile. Are you kidding me? That is the next king of Israel?

But David was God’s choice, reminding us that God sees things differently than we do. God raises up His own men and women to blow the world’s mind and to confound everyone and say, “This is Me at work. This is Me changing lives.”

It gives hope to people who are ordinary and are often overlooked. God looks on the heart.

One of the greatest evangelists who ever lived was Dwight Lyman Moody. Moody was a shoe salesman when God called him. A man named Edward Kimball had a leading of the Holy Spirit to go and talk to Moody about the Lord. He came to faith and then became a powerful evangelist who impacted the world. Moody went from selling soles to saving souls. He was just an ordinary guy—they didn’t come any more ordinary than him. But he was used by God in a powerful way.

God uses ordinary people.

Now the Lord said to Samuel, “You have mourned long enough for Saul. I have rejected him as king of Israel, so fill your flask with olive oil and go to Bethlehem. Find a man named Jesse who lives there, for I have selected one of his sons to be my king.”—1 Samuel 16:1

I wish I could say that throughout my life, I have always had a detailed blueprint of everything I should do. But it hasn’t been like that at all. I have never started a day with the theme from Mission Impossible playing in the background and a voice saying, “Good morning, Greg. This is God. Here is your mission for today.”

For the most part, it has been a matter of taking steps of faith based on what I’ve read in the Scriptures. God has led me one step at a time.

Interestingly, when God told Samuel that He had chosen a new king to reign over Israel, the Lord had not revealed to Samuel exactly whom it was. God basically said to him, “Go to Bethlehem. I will tell you what to do after that.” And that is exactly what Samuel did.

When the Lord told Philip to go to the desert, he had been preaching the gospel in Samaria. People were coming to faith. Revival was breaking out. Yet God told him to go to the desert, and He didn’t tell him anything else. How easily Philip could have asked why: And preach to whom? Camels? Lizards? But Philip did exactly what the Lord told him to do. Philip shared the gospel with the man he found there, and he came to the Lord.

God led Samuel and Philip one step at a time, and that is typical of how God leads us. God’s way becomes plain when we start walking in it. If God already has shown you to do something and you haven’t done it, then don’t ask Him to show you something new to do. Go back and do what you were already supposed to do.

Obedience to revealed truth guarantees guidance in matters unrevealed.

“Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins.”—Ecclesiastes 7:20

No life is without its share of problems.

If you don’t have much wealth, you worry about how to get more. If you have a lot, you always find someone who has more. If you have the most, you worry about how to keep it.

Wealth is a relative concept. Someone wrote, “If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.”

Even the most beautiful, famous, and wealthy people have their hurts and pains.

The American public loves to follow the adventures of the rich and famous. Just look at all the tabloids. I was standing in line at the store one day and saw on the cover of a tabloid: “Cellulite of the Stars.” These people can’t even take off their shirt at the beach without being photographed—it’s brutal.

We take some perverse delight in knowing these people are just like us. And indeed they are.

There is an old legend about people in a certain village who constantly complained about their troubles. Each was invited to throw all of his burdens and problems into one big heap in the middle of town. Then he was given the privilege of choosing other troubles to replace the ones he gave up.

After careful deliberation and consideration, each selected the same problems he had cast aside, feeling his own to be less difficult than those of the others.

People put up a front, and pretend to be happy when they are not. But deep down inside, we are really all the same, with the same hurts and needs. And the answer to these needs is the same for everyone: a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

“Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!”—Deuteronomy 32:29

If you were to sum up your life, if you were to write the inscription for your own tombstone, what would it say?

These words appear on the tombstone of a man named John Starkweather: “Here is where friend Starkweather lies. Nobody laughs, nobody cries. Where he goes, how he fares, nobody knows, nobody cares.”

A tombstone belonging to Henry Edsel Smith near Albany, New York, is said to bear this inscription: “Here lies Henry Edsel Smith. Born 1903. Died 1942. Looked up the elevator shaft to see if the car was on the way down. It was.”

For Saul, the first king of Israel, an appropriate inscription would have been his own words: “I have played the fool and erred exceedingly” (1 Samuel 26:21).

We, too, can play the fool. We play the fool when we disobey God, even in what we think are small matters. Spiritual decline is gradual. Saul’s failure was not immediate. At first he was humble, but pride soon set in, and then came envy. He took matters into his own hands and made it worse. We need to obey God in everything He tells us to do.

We play the fool when we attempt to justify the wrongs we have done. On more than one occasion, Saul blamed others for what he had done wrong. He would not own up to his own sin.

We play the fool when we forget that how we finish means more than how we start. A good beginning does not guarantee a good ending. Happy endings are the result of good choices.

We don’t really know who the Sauls of life actually are until much later. We think certain people are doing well. But let’s see how things end up. The outcome is not always what we expect.

So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.”—1 Samuel 15:22

When God commanded Saul to settle accounts with some old enemies, the Amalekites, Saul partially obeyed. As a result, God rejected him as king. Saul’s sin may seem insignificant to us, but who are we to say that something is small if it is a big deal to God? Who are we to say that it doesn’t matter? If God says it matters, then it matters.

God looks at the heart. God sees things that we don’t see. And God could already see that Saul’s heart had turned away.

Some people say, “What’s wrong with having a little fun? I’ll know when to stop.”

But sin is sin, and “little” sins always lead to “big” sins. That’s where it starts.

I read about a Malaysian man who holds the world record for kissing venomous snakes. He has kissed a king cobra 51 times. We can have that attitude toward sin: I can handle this. It will never bite me. It will never get me. Then one day, that little kiss will prove to be your undoing. It will become a kiss of death.

As the prophet Samuel told Saul, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry” (1 Samuel 15:23).

Sometimes people who blatantly sin think they can make it up to God. They think, I’ll give more in the offering. . . . I’ll sing louder at church. . . . I’ll go to a midweek Bible study.b But obedience is better than sacrifice. It is not a matter of obeying God whenever we find it easy or convenient or popular. Jesus said, “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you” (John 15:14).

God wants us to obey Him. He is more interested in our actions than our words.

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” —Genesis 2:24

Our smoke alarm went off the other night at 4:00 A.M. I jumped out of bed and was ready to take action. Turns out the unit malfunctioned. (Why does it always go off at 4:00 A.M. and not P.M.?)

Because of incidents like this, we tend to tune out alarms. Who even looks when a car alarm goes off in a parking structure? We assume it’s just someone trying to find their car.

One alarm you do not want to ignore is the fuel light in your car. If you do, you will come to a complete stop. You can’t run on fumes.

Many marriages today are “running on empty.” They have not taken hold of the power that’s available; they’re not operating by the principles given in the User’s Manual. Remember, God invented marriage. And there is a right and wrong way to do it.

Happy, strong, and lasting marriages don’t happen by accident. Marriage is something that to be good and fulfilling takes the right ingredients. It is the result of effort on the part of the partners involved.

Marriage is not so much finding the right person as it is being the right person. But all of this is to be done with God’s help. A strong and happy marriage is the result of obedience to God and His Word and laying aside this world’s distorted “take it or leave it” concept of marriage.

If we want to have the closest thing to “heaven on earth” apart from Christ’s return—if we want a marriage and family that succeeds, we must do it as He tells us to.

It’s all in the “User’s Manual of Life,” the Bible.

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. —Philippians 3:12

On more than one occasion, the Bible compares the Christian life to running a race. The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:13–14, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Paul’s focus was the end of the race, because the key is not just to start the race; it is to finish it well. Things don’t always turn out the way we think they will. Take, for example, the 2013 Super Bowl. It was not a close game during the first half. But after a power outage in the stadium, the San Francisco 49ers began making an amazing comeback, right up to the last moments of the game.

In the race of life, it doesn’t matter whether we hold first place for nine-tenths of the race. We have to finish. Sometimes in the Christian life, people leave the starting blocks with a bang, with a lot of passion and zeal. Then they lose their speed and energy, and the next thing you know, they have effectively crashed and burned. We have to pace ourselves in the race of life.

You may be just starting the race of life, you may be at the midway point, or you may be in your last laps. We naturally assume that at a young age, we have just started the race, and when we have lived a long time, we are finishing it. But we don’t know when our lives will end. We don’t know when our race will be over. This is why we always want to run well.

You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth?—Galatians 5:7

One thing I have found in life is that it’s full of surprises. I have been greatly surprised by the way people’s lives have turned out. I think of people I went to school with who seemingly had no potential whatsoever, and they have clearly proven otherwise. Then there are those who seemed to have so much promise, but when I look at the trajectory their lives took, it is another story altogether.

I have been a pastor for more than four decades now, and I have seen a lot of people come and go through the years. I’ve seen some individuals who were gifted as musicians, preachers, or in some other way effectively crash and burn. I have also seen some who I thought would go out and change the world basically self-destruct instead.

As time goes by, I find myself being less impressed with things I was once more impressed by and more impressed with things I was once less impressed by. Nowadays, I am far more impressed by character than charisma. I am more interested in personal integrity than in mere talent. (Will this person stand the test of time?) I am impressed not by a person who has a huge ministry, but by someone who is still married to the same person they started out with. That impresses me, because so many things change as time goes by.

If God has gifted you, then you need to take that gift and use it for His glory. You not only want to start this race well, but you also want to finish it well. You can hold on to first place in a race for a while, but if, at the end, you break the rules or don’t cross the finish line, it doesn’t count. Finish well.