So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18

A siege from Aram brought Israel a devastating famine. At the point the people had lost hope, Elisha, the prophet, informed the king that the famine would end the next day. “Impossible” the king’s right-hand officer responded. Yet the next day, four lepers found the enemy’s camp evacuated with plenty of food and treasure left behind. The famine ended in a day and the people had plenty to eat, but the soldier was trampled to death and did not eat any of it, just as Elisha had predicted (2 Kings 7). (Read More)

Last week we looked at Rescuing the Unresponsive. Let’s look at another aspect of relating to an unresponsive loved one.

Unresponsive people can fall into a wide spectrum of categories. Some loved ones may be deep into self-destructive activity while others are just deep into themselves. In either case, reasoning a loved one into a better place rarely works. (Read More)

“What do I do, the distressed woman sitting before me asked?” “What do you mean?” I asked, “Are you asking how to change him?” So often that is exactly what we want to know. How can I open the eyes of my loved ones and help them escape their bondage and destructive life?

Remember the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-23)? Jesus told us that the soils represent different heart conditions. A hard heart rejects truth just as hard sun-baked soil rejects a sower’s seed. The rocky ground symbolizes a shallow response. The joyful response to God’s word is short-lived because there is no depth for firm roots to be established. The third soil was thorny. In this soil the worries of the world or the deceitfulness of riches choked out the word and it too remained barren. The fourth soil is the good soil that bears fruit in varying amounts.

Jesus explained the parable; He did not instruct us on how to improve the soil or change the heart. (Read More)