458 illustrations referencing Philippians
Jesus never offered an easy path. His invitation is clear: 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me' (Luke 9:23). This isn't a one-time decisio...
Maria had lived in America for thirty years, building a successful business and raising her family. But every night, she dreamed of her hometown in Colombia—the smell of her grandmother's cooking, the...
In Schindler's List, Oskar Schindler starts as a war profiteer who wants Jewish workers because they're cheap. Somewhere along the way, their lives become more important than his profit. He spends his
Philippi Philippi was a minor village of Thrace until about 357 BC, when Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, conquered the site and rebuilt it. He named the village after himself
Philippi Philippi was a minor village of Thrace until about 357 BC, when Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, conquered the site and rebuilt it. He named the village after himself
In Dunkirk, small civilian boats cross the English Channel to rescue stranded soldiers. Mr. Dawson, a weekend sailor, pilots his yacht into a war zone. When a rescued soldier asks why a civilian would
In Unbroken, Louis Zamperini survives a plane crash, 47 days on a raft, and brutal POW camps. His tormentor, "The Bird," tries daily to break him. Louis endures through something beyond human grit—a p
In 2015, Cheryl Bachelder stepped down as CEO of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen after transforming the struggling chain into a billion-dollar brand. But what most people...
Dear Heavenly Father, There is a woman in Phoenix who logs into Mass every Sunday from her living room. She is seventy-three. Her husband died in March, and the drive to St. Francis Xavier became unbearable — not because of...
In 2015, Dr. Hawa Abdi — one of Somalia's first female surgeons and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee — ran a sprawling camp outside Mogadishu...
In 2019, Olympic gold medalist Kathrine Switzer — the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon back in 1967 — was asked what she...
In 1924, Eric Liddell stood on the Olympic podium in Paris, a gold medal around his neck, all of Scotland cheering his name. He was...
Every hurricane season, meteorologists display what they call the "cone of uncertainty" — that widening funnel shape showing where a storm might track over the...
Dear God of self-emptying love, Martin Luther once wrote that a Christian is simultaneously the freest lord of all and the most dutiful servant of all. In Philippians 2:5-8, Paul shows us what that paradox looks like in flesh and...
On the night before her biopsy results arrived, Claire sat in her kitchen at 2 a.m., unable to sleep. She had done everything right —...
Eric Liddell won Olympic gold in the 400 meters at the 1924 Paris Games, becoming one of Britain's most celebrated athletes. The world offered him...
Anxiety has a favorite hour. For most people it arrives somewhere between 2 and 4 in the morning — that strange corridor when the defenses...
Rocky Balboa is not the most talented boxer—he knows it, everyone knows it. But he has something fear cannot defeat: heart. "It ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and ke
In 1909, a young Japanese seminary student named Toyohiko Kagawa made a decision that baffled everyone who knew him. Though he had the intellect and...
In Gravity, Dr. Ryan Stone tumbles through space after debris destroys her shuttle. She's alone, oxygen running out, spinning toward certain death. In her lowest moment, she hallucinates her dead coll
In 1873, a young Belgian priest named Damien De Veuster boarded a ship bound for Molokai, Hawaii — a remote peninsula where the government exiled...
In 2014, Dr. Paul Farmer — Harvard professor, MacArthur genius grant recipient, and world-renowned infectious disease specialist — was spotted mopping the floor of a...
In June 1939, Dietrich Bonhoeffer stood on the docks of New York City with every reason to stay. Friends at Union Theological Seminary had arranged...
Dear God of downward mobility, The world tells us to climb — climb the ladder, climb the ranks, climb over whoever stands in our way. But Philippians 2 reveals a King who did the unthinkable: He climbed down. Christ Jesus,...