faith Archives

Living for Others

Entitlement is a lie. It deceives us into believing that we deserve reward without effort. The trouble is, we’re not given a good life. We earn it through commitment, dedication and sacrifice.

That profound truth was beautifully captured in the movie Saving Private Ryan. Tom Hanks’ character, Captain John Miller, leads a group of men on an extraordinary mission behind enemy lines: find Private James Ryan, whose three brothers have died in combat. The men succeed in their mission but at a steep cost.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith September 17, 2025 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Making the Most of Time with Your Grandkids

My two boys are grown and live on their own, but fatherhood is probably still a few years off, which means grandparenting for Jean and me is also a few years off. We’re looking forward to it.

In the meantime, I’m thinking about the kind of grandfather I hope to be and how God might want to use me as a loving and positive influence in my grandkids’ lives. I have some questions. And I bet you do, too.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family September 8, 2025 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Creating a Strong Foundation for a Healthy Marriage

When you’re driving and approach an intersection, a traffic light communicates how to proceed:

A green light means move forward.

A yellow light means slow down and prepare to stop or move forward with caution.

A red light means stop immediately.

Author and marriage and family pastor, Scott Kedersha, advises dating couples to approach marriage the same way. Through the wisdom of friends, family, or a pastor or counselor, you can discern whether it’s safe to move forward, whether you ought to slow down and reconsider aspects of your relationship, or whether you ought to stop altogether instead of proceeding into an unhealthy marriage.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, marriage September 4, 2025 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

When Change is Inevitable

Author John Maxwell says, “Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.” He means that we have two choices in life: embrace change and discover new potential, or avoid change and risk stagnation.

An example of the latter is the film company Kodak, once synonymous with photography. For nearly 100 years, the Eastman Kodak Company was the largest film and camera manufacturer in the world. It dominated the industry so completely that memorable snapshots were once referred to as “Kodak moments.”

But change is inevitable.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith September 3, 2025 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Transform Your Parenting with These Eight Powerful Tips

What strategies are most effective for raising kids with good character?

We get that question a lot here at Focus on the Family. Our answer is that there is no one size fits all, but one thing is required: intentionality. Setting our families on “auto pilot” and hoping everything turns out okay is not a fruitful parenting approach.

Every Christian parent wants happy and healthy kids who love the Lord and who have a good relationship with their mom and dad.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family September 2, 2025 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Probability, Not Promise

One of the greatest challenges a parent can face is an adult child who rejects the values they were taught growing up. It’s tough to watch a child turn away from honesty, kindness and good character in favor of lies, selfishness and unwise choices. You may even wonder where you went wrong as a parent. Let me encourage you with a few ideas:

The first is to recognize that your child’s decisions are not your fault, at least not entirely.

Topics: Uncategorized Tags: faith, family August 27, 2025 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Identifying Harmful Patterns to Heal Your Marriage

Have you ever gotten your car stuck, in mud, or like those of us in Colorado, snow? You rock your car back and forth to get traction, but your tires spin, and you get nowhere.

Husbands and wives can get stuck like that. In anger, so you’re always battling each other. Or busyness, so you never have the time or energy to connect. Or maybe like my guests on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, Justin and Trisha Davis, you’re stuck in the saddest rut of all: apathy – you’ve given up and stopped fighting for your marriage.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, marriage August 26, 2025 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Navigate Your Differences

Dr. Gary Chapman wrote the book on love. Literally. He’s the author of the best-selling classic The Five Love Languages. But even Dr. Chapman had to learn how to love his wife well. Early on in their marriage, he and his wife Karolyn struggled to navigate their differences. They had such a tough time that at one point they both wondered if they had married the wrong person.

My wife Jean and I experienced something similar.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, marriage August 25, 2025 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Reviving the Church to Change the World

“Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?” (Luke 14:34).

The dominoes of truth and morality are falling at an alarming speed in our culture. Every day there seems to be another attack upon Christian values and religious freedom. We shouldn’t be surprised. For one thing, Jesus warned us that it would be this way (Matt. 10:22). Also, history tells us that as a culture slides into moral decline, its people turn against the principles upon which that culture is built.

Topics: Current Events Tags: faith August 14, 2025 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

President Trump and the Biblical Justification for Government Restraining Evil

President Donald Trump’s decision to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. comes in the wake of the capital city’s horrific spike in crime.

Despite claims to the contrary, the 68 square miles on the Potomac River bordering Maryland and Virginia hasn’t been a safe place to be for a long time. Anyone who has been there recently can attest to the area’s problems. When it comes to what he sees outside the White House windows and when driving by in his motorcade, President Trump didn’t mince his words.

“[Washington, D.C.] has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people, and we’re not going to let it happen anymore,” declared Mr.

Topics: Uncategorized Tags: faith August 12, 2025 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura