Hi, I’m Howie Campbell, and this is a Wisdom and Truth Minute.
I heard a preacher once say that God is color-blind. Nice sentiment, but not true. In fact, God is an amazing artist who built color into His creation. Sadly, because we are fallen people living in a sin-drenched world, we use color to separate, even among people created by God, and in His image.
Bigotry and racial prejudice are simply indications of the sin problem that Jesus came to fix. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. looked for a day when people would be judged by character, rather than skin color. “The Lord said to Samuel… man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). Being born again allows us to see God’s creation, as God’s people, through God’s eyes.
Hi, I’m Howie Campbell, and this is a Wisdom and Truth Minute.
Faith is a little five-letter word, whose depth of meaning is deeper than the deepest sea. It is the solid rock foundation of what we as Christian followers base our beliefs on. It determines our choices and course of action for our lives. This faith I’m talking about did not originate in us. It was given to us by God himself, the very bedrock of all creation. It is how we live victorious lives that are pleasing to God.
“But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for they that come to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). God will reward you, my friend, as you exercise that faith you have been given.
Hi, I’m Howie Campbell, and this is a Wisdom and Truth Minute.
Some people are early risers. Others are not. Personally, I don’t always get up early enough to see the sunrise, but when I do, its’ splendor always delights my senses. In Psalm 5:3, we find King David writing this: “My voice shall you hear in the morning, O Lord. In the morning will I direct my prayer unto you, and will look up.” Since God’s mercies are new every morning, it makes sense that our first thoughts, yes, even our prayer, would be to Him first thing each day. Let me encourage you, my friend: turn your thoughts to God first, then everything will be in proper perspective.
Hi, I’m Howie Campbell, and this is a Wisdom and Truth Minute.
“O, how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119:97). As we go through our day, a barrage of information comes at us. Our thoughts land on something, then flee in another direction. Truth is often obscured by half-truths, and blatant lies appearing as truth. How to weed through all that? How to stay focused in this information tsunami?
I know how – by meditating on God’s word. All day long, God’s word comes to me, focusing my thoughts on truth. You can do that too, my friend. As you determine to spend time in God’s word, you will actually come to desire it more and more. “O, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day.”
Hi, I’m Howie Campbell, and this is a Wisdom and Truth Minute.
God is the author and finisher of our faith. Each new day is a gift from Him, because He owns it. In Him, we live and move, and have our being. We couldn’t exist without him, because he holds all things together. People – if all this is true, then it is true every second of the day. And, it is indeed true.
Therefore, it stands to reason we should thank Him all day, every day. “Lord, with my whole heart have I sought you. O, let me not wander from your commandments” (Psalm 119:10).
Hi, I’m Howie Campbell, and this is a Wisdom and Truth Minute.
I once heard Bruce Lee say, “Be water, my friend.” You know, water has many amazing qualities, but it makes no sound of itself. You can put billions of drops together, and they lay quietly. They only make sound when they’re on the move. Think about rain, or water moving over rocks. A waterfall can be a deafening roar, and waves in the ocean are powerful and noisy.
The body of Christ is similar. When the church lies dormant, comfortable in its’ surroundings, it’s a silent witness. But when the Holy Spirit is engaged, the Church can be a loud force for good. Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Jesus never intended his church to lie dormant.
Hi, I’m Howie Campbell, and this is a Wisdom and Truth Minute.
From my current vantage point, my life is split into two major divisions: half before Christ, half with Christ. Most of what I learned the first half, I processed and responded to with my material mind. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “The natural man does not receive the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” That’s why Jesus said in John 3, “You must be born again. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit, is spirit.”
This past half of my life, I process and respond to things with my spiritually-alive mind. How about you, my friend? Have you been born again?
Hi, I’m Howie Campbell, and this is a Wisdom and Truth Minute.
No one who knew me in my former days could ever have imagined the man I’d become, but God could. That’s because He created me. I’m like that lump of clay in Isaiah 64:8. I didn’t get back up on the wheel; at the appointed time the potter picked me up, and placed me back on the wheel. Then, he skillfully began to mold and shape me.
Thirty-two years in the making, I’m still not finished. I doubt that I will be complete, this side of eternity. However, I am quite different than I was, and the master potter continues to refine this lump of clay as he sees fit. Now, I am something useful to him. My friend, pray the potter will mold and shape you into that vessel he can use for his purposes.
Hi, I’m Howie Campbell, and this is a Wisdom and Truth Minute.
Okay, just because life gets tough, is that any reason to give up? Life can be tough! But remember this: there is somebody out there who has it worse than you, and they are fighting on. If they can, you can too. James writes in chapter 1:2-4, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into different temptations, knowing this: that the trying of your faith works patience. But, let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” Ride it out. You’ll be better for it, my friend.
Hi, I’m Howie Campbell, and this is a Wisdom and Truth Minute.
Today, I thought we could use some encouragement from the apostle Paul. This is from his letter to the Philippians, chapter 4:8. I pray this strengthens you. “Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report. If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”