Today's Insight with Chuck Swindoll

As Christians, we are called to be imitators of God, embracing a daily habit of quietness, slowing down, and coming apart from the noise and speed of modern life.

By examining the life of Jesus Christ, who embodied a beautiful balance between work and leisure, Swindoll offers a refreshing perspective on how to avoid burnout and cultivate a healthier relationship with our work and faith.

Today’s devotional has one primary objective: to help you enjoy yourself, your life, and your Lord more . . . without feeling guilty or unspiritual. Yes, enjoy!

By recognizing the warning signs of defiance, including thoughts like "I want my own way" and "I don't care who it hurts," readers can take steps towards forgiveness and healing through Jesus Christ.

King Solomon planted seeds of willfulness and independence that reaped a harvest of rebellion in his heart. God’s first reaction to Solomon’s defiance was a strong statement of divine anger (1 Kings 11:9). Okay, what else does the Lord do?

Solomon planted seeds of willfulness and independence that reaped a harvest of age-old rebellion in his heart. Let’s see what God did in response to Solomon’s defiance.

The seeds of unaccountability were finally harvested . . . as they always are. The fruit? Unchecked independence. Nobody can get away with unaccountability. After a while, you’ve got to pay the piper. And that’s what Solomon did in the latter years of his life.

Although the term defiance does not appear in Scripture, acts and attitudes of defiance often do. No matter what the term, the scene is never pretty.

What does Isaiah 26:3-4 say? A frame of mind that is receiving support from leaning and is therefore being sustained, God will keep in “shalom, shalom.” Because he casts everything on Him. Everything! And that includes unfulfilled dreams . . . unpleasant circumstances . . . and an uncertain future.

Are you facing an uncontrollable situation, an uncertainty? Something you just can’t extract happiness out of? A situation that’s unpleasant, uncomfortable, and dissatisfying? The Lord wants us to glorify Him and to walk in peace with Him, even though our surroundings are unpleasant.

When I entrust my frame of mind to Him and lean on my everlasting Rock, He supports me with the ability to stay at the task as I let Him open the doors of the dream . . . in His time.

I invite you to focus your full attention on one of the rarest of all virtues. It is a virtue that everybody pursues, but very few possess on a regular basis. I’m referring to the often-longed-for but seldom-found virtue of peace.

In the depth of discouragement and the height of stress, “David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.” He got alone and prayed. He shifted the pressure from his own shoulders to Jehovah’s.

We’ve been talking about the very common and very real problem of stress. Today I’d like to tackle a practical suggestion for stress-reduction: spreading out the workload.

In Part One, we looked at a couple of New Testament examples (one negative—Martha, the other positive—Jesus) of people under stress. Let’s now go back to the Old Testament and lift out some familiar words of hope to those clenched in the vise-grip of worry.