Guidelines For Living Devotional: Recent Episodes
Guidelines
When the storms of life threaten to blow your faith off course, holding fast to God's character and trusting His presence will anchor you through every trial—one day at a time.
You don't need extraordinary talent or a five-year plan for God to use your life—you just need the faith to step out in radical obedience, even when you don't know where you're going.
Faith isn't built by what you see around you, but by trusting the God who is with you in every circumstance.
Faith isn't believing the impossible; it's trusting God enough to follow Him when you don't have all the answers.
When your heart is overwhelmed by fear and uncertainty, Jesus offers a peace that circumstances cannot take away.
The most important question isn't whether you're leading others, but whether you're truly following Jesus.
The book of Psalms doesn't ignore life's struggles; it teaches you how to bring them to God.
The questions you wrestle with today can lead you to a faith that stands the test of tomorrow.
A life anchored in God finds balance even in a world that constantly pulls us to extremes.
The surprises you never wanted may be the very places where you discover God's strength.
A strong marriage is built not on perfection, but on daily choices to love deeply and respect consistently.
Difficult people are a part of life, but responding with grace instead of revenge can change both the situation and your heart.
No addiction is stronger than the grace of God, and with His help, freedom is possible.
The way you think shapes the way you live, and your attitude can determine whether you rise above challenges or give up before you begin.
A few sincere words of encouragement can give someone the strength and confidence to keep going.
Worship is more than a place or a routine—it’s the posture of a heart that recognizes the greatness of God.
When life falls apart, it’s easier to blame God than to bow before Him and trust His greater perspective.
Many people are spiritually thirsty, not realizing the living water they need is already within reach.
Sometimes marriages don’t fall apart all at once—they slowly disconnect through stress, busyness, and misplaced priorities.
The order, complexity, and beauty of the universe point beyond chance to a purposeful Creator who spoke everything into existence.
The natural response to being wronged is revenge, but God calls us to something higher: responding with unexpected kindness that overcomes evil with good.
True love is not measured by words or feelings, but by a willingness to give everything for the good of another.
God invites you to come to Him with boldness in prayer, promising that when you ask in Jesus’ name, your joy will be made complete.
The power of answered prayer is found not in getting what we want, but in staying close enough to Christ that our desires begin to align with His.
Faith in God has shaped lives, inspired compassion, and given hope for generations in ways disbelief never could.
The beauty, order, and complexity of life all point to a Creator whose fingerprints are woven into every part of creation.
Prayer becomes powerful when you stop treating it as a last resort and start trusting God to truly hear and respond.
The effort you put into your work today is shaping the life you’ll live tomorrow, so give God your very best.
Every day you face a battle between what is right and what feels good, and the choices you make will shape your future.
The brokenness we see in the world isn’t just around us, it’s in us, and only God can redeem what sin has corrupted.
When God doesn’t answer your prayers the way you hoped, will you still trust that His plans are better than your own?
Frustration loses its power when you stop trying to control everything and start trusting God with what you can’t.
Every choice you make is leading you toward life or away from it, so choose the path that brings God’s blessing.
When life falls apart in ways you never expected, trust that God is still writing a story of redemption through it all.
What you truly hunger for will shape your life—and only a deep pursuit of God will ever leave you fully satisfied.
You’ll never move forward with purpose until you let go of the past and pursue what truly deserves your passion.
The fear that holds so many captive loses its power when you realize death has already been defeated.
You don’t find life by holding on, but by letting go and choosing, daily, to follow without looking back.
When you release your right to revenge, you unlock the only path that truly sets you free.
What if the real issue isn’t what your eyes see or your heart wants—but what you choose to do with it when no one is watching?
What if the brevity and uncertainty of life isn’t meant to frighten you—but to lead you to live ready and anchored in what lasts forever?
What if the same God who led His people with fire and cloud is still quietly guiding your life today?
What if holding onto hate is the very thing keeping you from the freedom you’re longing for?
Don’t let counterfeit Christianity blind you to the reality of a faith that is genuine and life-changing.
When life’s frustrations pile up, Jesus offers a deeper joy and abundance that circumstances can’t take away.
When discouragement tempts you to give up, God invites you to wait on Him for renewed strength.
If God could transform Jacob the deceiver into Israel the man of God, imagine what He can do with your life.
Medical breakthroughs can treat a diseased heart, but only God offers the cure for the sin within it.
Your heart is the control center of your life—what happens when you give it fully to God?
God is never distant—His comfort is as near as a mother’s embrace and as close as your next prayer.
Loving discipline today lays the foundation for a child’s character, guiding them toward a future they won’t want to turn from.
You can face life’s uncertainties with peace when you remember that the God who holds the universe has your name engraved on His hands.
When anger threatens to take control, God offers a better way—one rooted in forgiveness, compassion, and His strength to keep you steady.
Like an oak with roots deep in solid ground, you can stand unshaken in life’s fiercest storms when your faith is firmly anchored in Christ.
Real rest begins not when you try harder, but when you surrender and let God carry what you cannot.
Don’t wait for a crisis to seek God—now is the moment of His favor, today is the day of salvation.
God doesn’t just wipe the slate clean—He invites us into a transformed life of restoration.
Success may impress the world, but only being born again can open your eyes to the kingdom of God.
When you’ve run out of solutions, prayer isn’t the last resort—it’s the most powerful first step.
When you gaze into the vastness of the night sky, you can’t help but wonder why the God who made it all would care so deeply for you.
Before telescopes counted stars, the Bible declared the heavens uncountable—pointing to the glory of their Creator.
Being present isn’t just about showing up—it’s about shaping your child’s heart one meaningful moment at a time.
You can’t follow God’s will if your mind is tuned to the world’s frequency—transformation starts with turning the dial.
In a world full of noise and uncertainty, how can you be sure you’re walking in God’s will?
It only takes one step in the wrong direction—so how do you keep from ending up where you never meant to go?
Tired of tossing and turning at night? Trade your worry for peace by learning how to truly pray about everything.
In a world quick to criticize, God calls us to build each other up with unity, endurance, and encouragement.
One word of encouragement can be the lifeline someone needs to keep going—so don’t wait to speak it.
What you have may seem small, but when you place it in God’s hands, it can become part of something far greater than you ever imagined.
You don’t have to keep searching—Jesus, the triumphant Lion of Judah, has already made the way for you to truly know God.
Nothing this world offers will ever satisfy the way a personal relationship with God can—taste and see for yourself that He is the real thing.
When addiction drains your strength and will, remember—God offers power not just to endure, but to overcome.
Even in a world bound by decay and frustration, God offers the hope of freedom—liberation from every addiction that enslaves us.
When your plans collapse and hope seems lost, remember—God’s purpose for your life is still unfolding, and His plans are far better than your script.
When life falls apart, the real question isn’t “Why, God?”—but “Will I trust the Potter, even when I don’t understand the clay?”
When life breaks your heart and heaven is silent, it’s okay to ask why—just don’t stop seeking the One who holds the answer.
The highest motivation in life isn't a reward or a fear—it's simply the desire to please God.
The greatest reward in life isn’t success or applause—it’s hearing God say, “Well done.”
When we live in a way that pleases God, our prayers align with His heart—and He loves to answer them.
In a world obsessed with power, Jesus reminds us that the greatest force is still love.
The earth’s perfect balance didn’t happen by chance—it was spoken into being by the word of the Lord.
Being called a Christian was once an insult—until believers lived in a way that made it a badge of honor.
The most lasting legacy you’ll leave your children isn’t what you say—but who you are and what you pass on.
What really matters can’t be burned, broken, or bought—and Jesus reminds us that life’s true wealth isn’t measured by what we own.
Grace isn’t just what saves you; it’s what grows you, especially through the struggles you don’t understand until later.
Before going to the cross, Jesus prayed for our unity because the world would know Him by our oneness.
Following Jesus means laying down self-interest and picking up a cross—not just once, but every single day.
The race of faith is won not by looking back, but by fixing your eyes on Jesus and pressing forward with unwavering focus.
When the weight of “what if” feels too heavy to bear, God’s unshakable presence is your strength to move forward.
He tried to silence Jesus with a sentence, but Christ’s voice still echoes through history.
What if the defining moment of your life is simply letting go of what’s already in your hand?
One encounter with Jesus can turn a persecutor into a preacher and a wanderer into a witness.
What’s in your heart shapes who you really are—and no imitation can substitute for true character.
When truth feels optional and morals shift with the culture, God’s standard still stands: act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with Him.
You weren’t made to mindlessly follow the crowd—you were made to press on with purpose.
C.S. Lewis didn’t cling to faith because it felt good—he trusted because he was convinced it was true.
Be careful what you gaze upon, for what you see can quickly lead you to covet, and what you covet, you may eventually take—at a greater cost than you realize.
What God starts in you, He promises to finish—fully, faithfully, and in His perfect time.
When you surrender your life to Christ, He doesn’t just improve it—He makes you entirely new.
In a world pressing you to conform, God's invitation is to be radically transformed, allowing His Spirit to renew your mind and align you with His perfect will.
Even in the deepest valleys of pain and unanswered questions, God walks with you—never abandoning, always refining, always near.
Following in Christ’s steps means not wasting our suffering—but letting it point others to the hope we’ve found in Him.
Some of the deepest intimacy with Christ is found not in comfort, but in the fellowship of suffering.
When pain feels overwhelming, remember—this isn’t the end of your story; glory is coming.
When you pray, 'Deliver us from evil,' you're asking God to guard your heart, guide your steps, and remind you who holds the power forever.
Every time we pray, 'Thy will be done,' we’re asking for a taste of heaven to break into our broken world.
When Jesus taught us to pray, He began not with rules or rituals, but with a relationship: 'Our Father.'
When Jesus taught us to pray, He invited us into something far greater than a personal request—He invited us into a global family.
Real change doesn’t come from lowering standards—but from becoming a new creation in Christ.
Knowing yourself is important—but true transformation begins when you surrender yourself to Christ.
The more we come to truly know ourselves, the more we realize how deeply we need a Savior.
In the race of life, it’s not just about crossing the finish line first, but about how faithfully you run to receive the eternal prize.
From the smallest bat to the tallest tree, God's design in creation is a reminder of how every detail has purpose and is part of His very good plan.
God's promises extend to you and your children, offering hope that even the hardest hearts can be turned back to Him.
Even when estranged by our choices, God always finds a way to bring us back home to Him.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and even as science uncovers the wonders of creation, it aligns more closely with the ancient truths found in Genesis.
In the battle between good and evil, the choices we make every day reflect our deeper struggle between what we desire and what God desires for us.
Even in a broken world where evil exists, God's goodness remains unwavering, offering us the greatest gift of all—His love and salvation.
When life brings unexpected hardships, will you trust that God is working all things for good, even when you can't see the final outcome?
What do you do when your prayers go unanswered and your dreams are shattered—will you trust God even when things don't go as planned?
How do you respond when things don't go as planned? Your reaction to failure reveals the strength and depth of your character.
True peace comes when we surrender our worries to God, trusting Him to hold what we can’t control.
Set your feet on a clear path toward God’s purpose, so that your steps bring healing and strength along the way.
Stay vigilant—our journey with Christ isn’t a stroll through peaceful pastures, but a battlefield where the enemy waits to strike.
When life’s battles surge like a flood, remember: God’s Spirit lifts His banner, calling us to stand firm and fight with hope.
True reconciliation starts with humility—don’t let pride keep you from healing the relationships that matter most.
When expectations in marriage fall short, the path to healing begins with open communication, understanding, and a commitment to letting go of the unrealistic demands we place on each other.
Marriage thrives not in the absence of conflict, but in the commitment to resolve it, uniting two individuals into one through love, grace, and understanding.
Jabez's heartfelt prayer reveals that seeking God's blessings and guidance is not about personal gain, but about aligning our desires with His purpose and experiencing His transformative presence in our lives.
In a world that often bends the truth, Zechariah 8:16 calls us to speak honestly and uphold justice, challenging us to live with integrity, even when it's difficult.
In a world where deception seems commonplace among our leaders and peers, Colossians 3:9 calls us to shed our old selves and embrace honesty, reminding us that integrity is a choice that shapes not only our lives but also the lives of those we influence.
When faced with our shortcomings and the temptation to blame others, Psalm 41:4 invites us to seek mercy and healing from the Lord, reminding us that true accountability begins with acknowledging our own faults.
True understanding of Jesus comes not from theory, but from choosing to do God's will and experiencing His truth firsthand.
God’s abundance is available, but pride keeps us from asking—realizing our need and humbly seeking Him is the key to receiving.
In a world overflowing with knowledge, God desires hearts full of mercy and true acknowledgment of Him more than empty acts of religious duty.
Your sins will always catch up with you—whether in public or private—so live a life that’s transparent before God, where day and night are the same.
Embracing the radical call of Jesus to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily challenges us to prioritize a greater purpose over personal gratification, revealing that true fulfillment lies not in the avoidance of sacrifice but in the commitment to a higher cause.
In a world burdened by excess and complexity, Jesus reminds us that true contentment is found not in material wealth but in the profound simplicity of a life anchored in peace and purpose.
Just as God removes our transgressions as far as the east is from the west, let us post 'No Digging Allowed' signs in our hearts to prevent the past from resurfacing and keep us anchored in His grace.
When faced with life’s challenges, remember that asking God for wisdom is the first step to finding clarity and strength in solving even the toughest problems.
Don't let tomorrow's troubles steal today's peace; trust that God is in control and focus on living fully in the present.
"Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me," reveals that the Good Shepherd's tools of protection and guidance provide unwavering assurance in the face of life's dangers, reminding us of His deep commitment and care for each of His sheep.
Even in the darkest valleys of life, where fear lurks and shadows loom, the promise of the Good Shepherd assures us that we need not fear evil, for His unwavering presence provides comfort and hope.
He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters, reminding us that true peace and restoration are found in trusting the Good Shepherd’s perfect guidance and care.
'I shall not want' means that in the care of the Good Shepherd, every need of our hearts is met, offering love, fulfillment, and security that nothing in this world can truly provide.
With the simple yet profound words, 'The Lord is my shepherd,' Psalm 23 offers a timeless picture of God's care, inviting us to trust Him as the Good Shepherd who leads and protects us through every season of life.
In a world where everything seems fleeting and impermanent, Psalm 90 reminds us that while human institutions may crumble, our Creator stands eternal, offering a lasting refuge from life's transitory trials.
In our darkest moments, even the greatest among us, like D.L. Moody, discover that true deliverance from fear comes through sincere prayer and surrender to God’s will.
In a world often defined by past mistakes and failures, the remarkable transformation of Basilio Clark reminds us that true redemption is possible for anyone who embraces their new identity in Christ.
What if the secret to lasting happiness lies not in our circumstances, but in our ability to let go of the past and embrace the promise of a brighter future?
Trapped in the comforts of modern life, many of us have allowed our hearts to grow lukewarm, neither fully committed to God nor the mission He calls us to pursue.
Are you treating your body as the sacred temple of the Holy Spirit, or are you letting the stress and chaos of life undermine the divine purpose within you?
Are you truly experiencing the depth of love that is as strong as death and as passionate as a raging fire, or are you still searching for a connection that lasts?
Are you experiencing the miraculous in your church, and if not, what might be holding back the boldness of the Holy Spirit in your midst?
How does your life reflect the truth of being dead to sin and alive in Christ, and what does that say about the God you represent to the world?
Does your life reflect the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within you, or is the world left wondering where God's fire has gone?
Committing just five minutes a day to focus on God can transform your life by providing clarity, perspective, and a deeper connection with the divine amidst life's inevitable distractions.
To truly experience the joy and light of God’s presence, we must carve out intentional moments to bask in His divine presence amidst our busy lives.
Can a person's private morality truly be separated from their public performance, or do personal values inevitably shape how one fulfills their public duties?
While death remains a universal reality, the promise of God is that one day He will erase it forever, wiping away every tear and offering eternal life without end.
Amidst the constant reality of death, the promise of eternal life through knowing God and Jesus Christ offers a hope beyond our mortal existence.
Jesus' profound act of forgiveness on the cross challenges us to respond to our deepest hurts with grace and compassion, just as Amy Biehl's parents did in the face of unimaginable loss.
In a world filled with noise and distraction, the practice of meditating on God's Word brings peace, perspective, and a deeper connection to our Heavenly Father.
Regret may linger over past mistakes, but God’s commands guide us toward a future of hope and restoration—for our own good.
While some place their hope in science for life after death, the Bible offers a far greater assurance: the resurrection, where the perishable will be raised imperishable, and the mortal will put on immortality.
Grace is more than a theological concept; it’s the powerful, undeserved help of God that meets us in our deepest need, giving us strength to endure and hope to survive.
1 Samuel 30:6 illustrates how, amid life's darkest moments, finding encouragement in our unchanging faith can transform discouragement into a renewed strength, much like King David did when he encouraged himself in the Lord.
John 15:16 reminds us that, like Samuel Zwemer's unwavering commitment to bear fruit in the most challenging environments, our divine calling is not self-chosen but appointed by God to make an impact through our dedication and faithfulness.
Psalm 119:11 illustrates how hiding God's word in our hearts provides the strength and resolve needed to endure life's trials and remain steadfast in our faith, just as it sustained believers through intense suffering and persecution.
In a world where righteousness often seems unattainable, 1 John 1:9 promises that through confession and God's faithful forgiveness, we are not only absolved of our sins but also transformed, becoming righteous in His sight.
Understanding righteousness often starts with recognizing our own shortcomings, as Isaiah reminds us that even our best deeds are tainted, and only by seeing our own need can we grasp the true essence of divine righteousness.
In moments of profound loss and suffering, like Job, we can choose to trust God’s sovereignty and refrain from blaming Him, understanding that even in our darkest hours, He remains in control and worthy of praise.
In the midst of life's storms and chaos, find your calm by lifting your eyes to the heavens and resting in the steadfast assurance that God remains unchanging and sovereign.
In a world obsessed with outward appearance, remember that true beauty lies in cultivating the unfading grace of a gentle and quiet spirit, as God values the inner self far more than external perfection.
Paul's profound contentment, learned in a prison cell, reveals that true satisfaction comes from embracing the goodness of God and accepting His control over life's unchangeable circumstances.
True contentment isn’t found in circumstances or possessions but in the inner attitude of the heart that embraces God’s sufficiency in every situation, as exemplified by Paul’s profound peace despite his imprisonment.
“My husband won’t let me have a bank account, give me a credit card, have my own cell phone, or let me use his computer.
A cartoon shows a husband reading his newspaper as his wife says, "You can stop saying, 'Uh-huh."
There is one thing that you will find both in heaven and earth, something which has pretty well gone out of style in our post-Christian world, at least in most circles.
At the memorial service for Campus Crusade’s founder, Dr. Bill Bright, his son Brad told about the time he was in his father’s office when a group of reporters came to interview him.
When seven Christian leaders were asked what they did in their personal devotions—a time each day when that person closeted himself with God for prayer and the study of the Bible–they surprisingly said pretty much the same thing.
How do you handle discouragement? The dictionary defines the word as “that which causes one to weaken!”
When he was arrested in his native China in 1960, Wu You-qi was a boxer and an outstanding athlete.
They now call him, “The king of the grill!” But they used to call George Foreman, “The meanest man alive!”
G. Keith Funston, a one-time President of the New York Stock Exchange, once said, "To achieve, you don't necessarily have to dream the great dreams or do the great things.
"One must forgive one's enemies," said Sigmund Freud, "but not before they have been hanged." Such graciousness!
George Gallup, the man who gained fame as a poll‑taker, has said, "I could prove God statistically.
The most important time of your life is not still in your future nor is it in the past. It is right now.
Scores of voices the world over shout, "Love is the answer--the answer to broken homes and hearts, the answer to racial strife.
Sirens screamed! Guards were alerted. Spotlights blinked in the night and illuminated every nook and cranny in Wandsworth prison in England.
The year was 1901 and the science of modern archaeology was just coming into its own when an archaeologist by the name of M. De Morgan began digging at ancient Susa, which is in modern Iran today.
Do we interpret the Bible in terms of our culture today? Or should our culture be interpreted in terms of what the Bible says?
"An evil soul producing holy writ is like an apple rotten at the core; outwardly beautiful, but inwardly full of deadly worms," so wrote William Shakespeare long ago.
Families are important to God because it was His idea to bring a man and a woman together and bless their relationship.
About the time that you settle down and get comfortable with life, something happens that changes thing—your job is terminated; you have to change schools, you move.
It may be one thing for the map of Europe to change, or for governments to rise or fall, but when the deacons start making changes at good old First Church of the Deep Freeze, get ready for a holy war which is often rather unholy.
Why is it so difficult to accept change, whether it is political, job‑related, or family changes?
Mental health authorities say that at any given time 17% of the general populace is struggling with some kind of depression.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, known for more than a century as the prince of preachers, began his remarkable ministry at the age of 18.
The dark days of December can be a catalyst which brings to the surface all the negative thoughts that have brewed in the kettle of physical weariness and despondency.
After the crucifixion, their hopes dashed, most of the disciples began thinking of the future--their own futures. What do we do now?
Your son has one more big game. If he plays well, he is almost certain to be voted the MVP, which will impress the athletic committee, which will extend the offer of a large scholarship.
Guilt and how to handle it is the number one problem confronting psychiatrists today, but guilt is not essentially a psychiatric problem‑‑it is a theological problem.
What's the first thing that you do when you get a letter (besides looking in the envelope to see if the letter contains a check)?
If you click on a search engine, and type in the word righteous, you find a host of sites for singing groups such as Righteous Babe, a female vocal artist nominated for two Grammy Awards.
Do you feel like you are riding off in all directions: trying to be a wife, a mother, a chauffer; hold down a job; do the shopping, housecleaning; and between diapers and dishes find time for yourself as well?
The Bible never attempts to prove God’s existence. It begins assuming that He is there, that He has revealed Himself to humankind, and that you can know Him.
“An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children,” wrote A. W. Tozer, continuing, “He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others.”
It isn’t difficult to see the fingerprints of the Divine on the hearts of humankind. No matter where you look—history, anthropology, sociology, or religion—you see religious expression.
Armin Gesswein, one of the fathers of the modern prayer movement, was born in the U.S. of German parents, but his marriage to a lovely Norwegian girl and his involvement in the revival that swept Norway’s cold churches in the late 1930’s gave him an international flavor.
For some, fishing is a sport. For others it is a livelihood, and for yet others a waste of time.
You may have heard of the sad plight of the man who, greatly discouraged, crawled out on the ledge of a very high building and contemplated suicide.
You will not read about the Lappidoth Principle in a physics book, though it does sound like you should find it listed in the index of one.
The human body is one of the most intricate pieces of machinery that science has ever seen, one that most of us take for granted most of the time–that is, until our heart begins to malfunction or something goes wrong.
How rich are you? In 30 seconds you can take inventory, seeing how you rate in comparison to the rest of the world.
When you face a critical decision, would you be more confident if you could sit down and actually talk over the situation with Jesus Christ?
The founder of a large newspaper used to put the following statement on his editorial page: "There is no hope for the satisfied man."
Anyone who viewed the 400-meter semi-finals in the Olympics of 1992 will never forget it.
Theologians call it sanctification. George MacDonald, the man who greatly influenced C. S. Lewis, would have called it remodeling.
When missionary Ray Rising was riding his motorcycle back to Loma Linda, the headquarters of the group he was working with in Colombia, on the night of March 31, 1994, little did he realize how his life was about to change.
Charles Schwab, the one-time president of Bethlehem Steel, once said, "I have never seen a man who could do real work except under the stimulus of encouragement and the approval of the people for whom he is working."
Like a barber who is not satisfied with his haircut and keeps snipping away, I feel like some things still need to be said in this current series of chats on worldliness.
Have you discovered that the longer the explanation of something, the more uncertain you become as to what is really being said?
Writing to the men and women who lived in the capital of the world, the ancient city of Rome, the Apostle Paul wrote, “Don’t let the world force you into the mold” (Romans 12:2, Phillips).
In their rather controversial book The Seduction of Christianity, authors Dave Hunt and T. A. McMahon contended that Christianity is facing its greatest challenge: the challenge of acceptability, of striving to please the masses at the cost of integrity of the faith.
The movie, The Doctor, was the story of a young surgeon, Dr. Jack McKee, whose future is drastically changed by a cough that won’t go away and a raspiness in his voice.
In a small, rather out-of-the-way cemetery in Upper New York is an unmarked tombstone bearing the single word, "FORGIVEN!"
Long ago Moses told us that we were created in the image of God, but with the fall, it’s certain that some of those gracious, compassionate attributes seemed to get lost.
If you should visit St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, you will find an old, weathered door dating back to the year 1492.
Words convey powerful images, and once that image is fixed in your mind, it’s difficult to attach picture or meaning to it.
Getting married is easy. Staying married is more difficult. Being happily married is life’s greatest challenge.
Joe Stowell calls it "the ragged edge of reality." That's the place you want to avoid, if at all possible, the realization that your life is out of control, and what bothers you more than anything else is that you don't know what to do about it.
Heroes can be larger than life itself, and it doesn’t take a public relations firm or a good photographer who can doctor the negative to turn the rascal into a hero. Such was a character who lived long ago.
In Virgil, one of the wounded warriors returns from battle and his body lies askance in the chariot like a little boy's stick in the sand.
Someone once said, "Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday!" A bit philosophical, yes!
Someone once said, "Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday!" A bit philosophical, yes!
Individuals who are deprived of their freedom, who are subjected to harassment or brain-washing day after day, sometimes accept falsehood as truth.
There are some folks who just don’t seem to get it! When things are really dark and dismal, they talk about rejoicing and giving thanks!
The most striking Christmas card I have received in years came with the headline: HISTORY IS CROWDED WITH MEN WHO WOULD BE GODS.
Julia Lake Lellersberger served with her husband in Africa among the lepers for more than 40 years.
Richard Steel, a first‑year music student at a London college, was standing on the corner waiting for a bus when tragedy struck.
A little child, accompanying his father to a cemetery, noticed that on most gravestones were two dates separated by a hyphen.
Scotland of the 1840's was as barren as the nursery rhyme cupboard of Old Mother Hubbard.
It can fairly be said that in the history of Christendom, never has so much been owed to one man as is owed to a pugnacious, argumentative preacher by the name of Athanasius.
If you had been falsely accused of a sex crime you didn't commit and had been thrown in prison with no real hope for release, and you could have three wishes, what would you ask for?
When difficulties come, on what do you focus? Some look back. They are the ones who try to drive looking in the rear view mirror.
"A tree is best measured when it is down," says Chuck Swindoll. Michael Powell would agree with that statement.
Anyone who visits the Middle East will eventually find himself walking on the large weathered and cracked paving stones buried hundreds of years ago by Roman work crews.
A young man who grabbed a watch in the open market and stuffed it in his jeans was arrested and taken before a judge and charged with theft. "How do you plead?" asked the judge.
In Russia and Slovak countries, when someone is converted, he doesn’t speak of being saved or even born again.
Charles Spurgeon called him "The Iron Prophet!" Ahab, the king of Israel, called him "the troubler of Israel" (1 Kings 18:17). His contemporaries called him things even a great deal less complimentary.
"Sing to the LORD a new song," says Psalm 9m6, but more than a few people today would just as soon sing an old song to the Lord.
Sir Thomas More used to tell about a friend who was an addicted gambler. Concerned for him and his family, More used to plead with him to stop his gambling and start supporting his family.
God made you in such a way that you can survive tremendous ordeals--illness, imprisonment, persecution, and privation. You can live without food and water--far longer than you might think.
"When Earth's last picture is painted," asked the brilliant writer Rudyard Kipling, "will it be a picture of the despair of hope?"
Take a map and trace the three journeys of the Apostle Paul throughout the Middle East and you will quickly acknowledge, considering how difficult travel was in the first century, that covering the distances he did was no small feat.
Troubled by the uncertainty you have in your heart as to whether or not, should you stand in the presence of God, you would be greeted with joy or rejection? Vast numbers of people are there!
Does it really matter any more what you do, as long as you get away with it? It would seem not, based on what is happening in our world. Like what? One poll shows that 79% of those interviewed expect politicians to lie to them.
From the beginning of time people have looked into the heavens, knowing that God was there, wondering what must done to please Him.
A physician from Antioch, in all probability not a Jew, whom we know as Dr. Luke, wrote more of the New Testament from the standpoint of volume than did the apostle Paul.
“You can count the apples on the tree, but who can count the apples in a seed?” so goes the old saying.
You reputation is what others think of you, while character is what you really are. Your character is revealed, of course, by what you do, either negative or positively, but Ralph Waldo Emerson used to believe that, more accurately, your character is defined by what you think.
“I’ll be home by 9 o’clock.” But nine comes and he doesn’t show. The same thing is true of ten, and eleven.
Integrity is mentioned some 40 times in the Bible, and a study of the several different words which are all translated into English using our word integrity shows that integrity refers to being upright in heart, honest in your actions, committed to doing right regardless of the cost.
A Baptist deacon had an old car that was broken down more than it was running, and decided to sell it while he could still get something out of it.
Authority is an issue today‑‑in science, in business, in government, and even in religion. By whose authority do you do this?
It is said that in 1861 the French Academy of Science printed a brochure stating that there are 51 incontrovertible facts that are direct contradictions of the Bible. Today there is not one reputable scientist who would believe a single one of them. Why? Has the Bible changed!
Francois Marie Voltaire, the French agnostic, said that Christianity would not survive him by a hundred years, yet a hundred years after his death the Geneva Bible Society purchased his old home and upon Voltaire's own press, printed a complete edition of the Bible.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the British expositor of bygone days, told the story of a poor woman who was confronted by a modern agnostic who asked, "What are you reading?" She replied, "The Bible, the Word of God."
Authority in our world is as necessary to the survival of the human race as are good nutrition and clean air.
Why do so many people pray to a living God and believe in Jesus Christ, but down deep in their heart, they just don't feel much of anything?
The human brain, your brain, functions with the storage capacity of 100 million megabytes of memory (in computer terminology).
Scores of people pray the Apostles’ Creed and affirm, "I believe in God the Father, maker of Heaven and Earth..."
A stockbroker who writes a large check to his favorite charity, a Buddhist priest who with shaven head goes on a long journey, and a young woman who takes a vow of chastity and goes into a convent don't have much in common, but there is one thing which they do share.
Carol Tullar was working alone one Friday morning at a popular, rather swinging dinner spot which features salad selections in a large bathtub filled with ice. Carol heard the doorbell ring and went to see who was there.
An authority of Bible prophecy, Dr. Charles Ryrie, said, "Someone has calculated that actually there are more than 300 prophecies concerning various aspects of the first coming of Christ.
What chance is there when it comes to the laws of probability? If you answer, "Not much!"
The four most difficult words to say in any language are these, "I'm sorry; forgive me."
Seldom does a writer really open his heart and reveal his soul, yet there are times when individuals pull up the window shades and let you see within, where their stark naked thoughts reveal struggles and conflicts that are not readily apparent.
A century ago John Stockton wrote, "Only trust Him, only trust Him, Only trust Him now; He will save you, He will save you, He will save you now."
One of the strangest of all musical compositions ever conceived was that drafted by the avant-garde American John Cage.
This one-time-cynic-turned-believer understood that the only thing which dispels darkness is light, and turning on the light in our lives spiritually is not always as simple as throwing a switch which immediately dispels the darkness.
Noticing that the hair on the top of my head was somewhat thin, an acquaintance contributed the dubious bit of wisdom that it is now a proven fact that if you eat six bananas a day, you will have a full head of black hair.
Some would call it quirks of evolution, but when you believe that God created all things, you have to think that perhaps God smiled as He made some of the little creatures and birds of the air whose designs are so specialized that they do certain things that no other creature can do, yet can't do what other birds or animals do quite easily.
In the TV drama entitled Uprising, the plight of the Jews of Warsaw and how they resisted the forces of the Third Reich is vividly portrayed.
In Jack Kerouac's book, On The Road, one character turns to the other and says, "We gotta go and never stop going till we get there." "Where we going, Man?" asks the other.
Do you ever feel like giving up? One of our listeners wrote saying that he had prayed about something, and that God did not answer his prayer, so he was just giving up on the idea.
It is often difficult for adults to understand the thinking of a youth, especially in relationship to the dark side of adolescence.
Jesus urged the disciples to "Behold the fowls or the birds of the air..." In a world fraught by worry and fear, His words of advice are good for today.
In the event that his name isn’t familiar to you, let me brief you. When Moses selected 12 spies to enter Canaan and check out the land, 10 of the 12 came back with an overwhelmingly negative report.
The next time you feel that your life does not really count, that because you are just a single individual, you cannot do much to right the wrongs in life-- remember that a paper clip, a tiny one-inch paper clip, saved a 500,000-pound experimental plane from crashing and breaking into pieces.
"The man who is good for excuses," said wise, old Benjamin Franklin, "is good for little else."
When a winter storm began to toss their vessel, sailors aboard that old ship, hearing the creaking and groaning of the timbers, feared their ship would break up. After all, things like that happened.
Oppenheimer was born in New York City on April 22, 1904. He was the son of an immigrant German textile merchant.
A lad was walking down the street with his mother when a gust of wind carried some trash across the walk way, blowing several large bills across his feet.
She was a widow and was destitute! Her husband had been in what we would term today “full-time Christian work.”
When you find yourself saying, "I don't have time," you are really saying, "I don't consider this important enough to take time for it!"
With all the inventions of modern technology, no one has come up with any means of putting more hours in the day.
Probably no other generation in all history has so been its captive. It's called time, and your schedule and life are controlled by its inexorable power.
Ed and Jane didn't quite see eye to eye. Neither was interested in anybody else, and neither were they interested in each other. Marriages are not all destroyed by cannon fire or shot through with infidelity.
What would it take for you to be really satisfied? "If I only had" [we often say, usually filling in the blanks with material items], "then I would be happy."
He also said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law” (Mark 12:38). On at least three occasions He urged His followers to “Watch out that no one deceives you.”
Long ago the writer of the book of Hebrews said that the word of God, meaning the Bible, is sharp and powerful.
"God if you will just get me out of this mess, I'll…" Have you ever said those words? Or possibly it was, "God, let's make a deal…." It may have been when you were in the military, the shells were exploding, and you wondered whether a bullet had your name on it. It may have been when your car was skidding down the icy slope, out of control; or when a typhoon came screaming across the South China sea and was headed directly for your island. It may have been when rebels were about to invade your village, murdering the elderly and children, raping and abusing the women.
When you are in a pit, and it is so dark that the only time rays of sunlight filter into your prison is at high noon, you don't play games with God. You don't tell him what a nice person you are, or how much you have done for His cause. You go one-on-one with God, pleading your case, asking Him to intervene for you.
Have you ever worked the night shift? Getting used to the schedule isn't much fun. It means eating supper and going to bed when everybody else is eating breakfast and getting ready for the day. Days and nights are reversed. It means sleeping when others are awake, working when others are playing, watching the moon instead of the sun, working in the dark instead of the day. It's different. Not everybody can take it. Too lonely, too dark, too much of a difficult thing.
"Dear Dr. Sala," writes a friend, "Would you have any suggestions to help people who have reached their eighties and feel they have nothing to live for? I admit feeling very useless at times. I am 82, in a wheel chair, and have little energy."
He rowed alone across the Pacific Ocean 8,990 miles but fell short of his goal 33 miles away. Peter Bird attempted to become the first man to single- handedly row from San Francisco in the United States across the Pacific. He almost succeeded, but approaching the east coast of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, Bird encountered stormy weather and choppy seas. He was looking for a passage through the coral. Actually, he was within one nautical mile of the reef when he had to radio for help fearing that he could not make it.
It was 3:00 in the afternoon on one of the last days of July, 1941 when the men of Block 14 were digging gravel outside the Auschwitz concentration camp. Suddenly the sirens began to shriek and German sentries shouldered their guns. There had been an escape. Silently the men of Block 14 prayed that the escapee had not been from their block. That evening their worst fears were confirmed. The missing prisoner had been from Block 14. The entire camp was punished and received no evening meal, which usually consisted of a dried piece of bread and some cabbage soup or gruel.
Long ago a poet remarked that birds can fly and we cannot because birds have perfect faith and we do not. Aeronautical engineers will tell you that it is impossible for birds to fly because of the way they are made; but birds, not knowing that they cannot fly, rise to heights above.
When I asked Fred Whiteman how old he was, he replied, "I'm 47 on the outside, 31 on the inside. I've had more trouble that most senior citizens, and I still look at life through the eye of a child." What kind of an answer is that? Chronologically, Fred had seen 47 birthdays. Within his chest cavity beat the heart of a man 31 years old--the result of having had a heart transplant. Has Fred really seen more trouble than most senior citizens?
In 1947, a shepherd boy by the name of Mohammed Ab Dib, from the Ta-Amir Bedouin tribe, was allegedly searching for lost sheep when he tossed a rock into the mouth of a cave near the Dead Sea. That evening as he sat around the campfire with his older brothers, Mohammed told how he had heard an evil spirit which he thought had been disturbed by a rock he had thrown into the cave as he searched for a lost goat.
They called him, "The Gentleman Bandit." Few robbers were ever more kind to their victims. He would rob people, then mail the pictures of children and grandchildren back to their home addresses. After pulling a gun and informing the victim that it was a robbery, on several occasions his heart would be touched by their stories of hardship if they lost their money, and he would put his gun in his pocket and walk away. On one occasion a man was so frightened that he sustained a heart attack, and the kind bandit called for an ambulance. He went so far as to sympathetically call the homes of victims, to see if they had recovered from the fright of being robbed.
Out of the mouth of babes come some of the toughest issues that ever confront theologians, to say nothing of Sunday school teachers or parents. For example, the question that my son, then five years of age, once put to me in rush-hour traffic: "Daddy, how did Jesus get to be God?" What struck me about the question was that we hadn't even been talking about the subject. Surprising as it may seem to you, that very issue was one of the first controversies in the early church. Did Jesus become God when He was born? Or rather was He always God and only appeared to be a man?
Anyone who has ever undertaken a building project knows that what looks great on paper never takes the same shape in the real world. I don't know if Nehemiah had ever heard of "Murphy's law --whatever can go wrong, will go wrong." There must have been a Persian equivalent, because a man who lived 2600 years ago experienced the full force of that reality.
Have you ever wanted to do something, yet you were faced with all kinds of obstacles? If you answer, "Yes!" then you can relate to one of the greatest of all Old Testament characters, a man by the name of Nehemiah.
In her book, Having It All, psychologist Deborah Lee quotes an investment consultant as saying, "Having both work and family is a plus." She points out that a balanced portfolio is much safer than having all your stock in one company. Question: "Can you really have it all?" Can you have a rewarding job and a happy family—a high- powered, high-stress job with a lot of demands and a salary to match, at the same time you are a mother or a dad who is there for his or her children? Can you succeed in business and still be there when your child takes his first step, or throws his first ball at Little League? Can you sit on the corporate board and be there for Parent's Day when your daughter's first grade teacher shows moms and dads how well little Teresa can read?
No individual can really be educated apart from a knowledge of the Bible, and the book of Psalms in this grand book contains some of the most beautiful and thought-provoking passages and prose of all the world's great literature. I, for one, marvel at the profound emotional insights which you find described here—the same emotions and feelings we grapple with today. In Psalm 42 and 43, which were probably written as one, the writer voices a recurring theme. Three times he asks, "Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?" Three times, he speaks of the solution: "Put your hope in God," he says, adding, "for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God."
"If you want to make God laugh," says a post it sticker, "make plans!" And what is the real message—that you should never try to plan anything? No, but rather, when God is left out of your plan, your game plan may never happen. There is a proverb which says, "We may throw the dice, but the Lord determines how they fall" (Proverbs 16:33 NLT).
Dr. Vernon Grounds was a friend and mentor to thousands of young men and young women preparing for Christian work. In one of his letters he told of a woman who was captured during the Spanish Civil War, and when she was ordered to reveal where she stood politically, she knew that saying the wrong thing could result in her being shot as a traitor. To say that she was a conservative meant she was on the right of the political spectrum, and to say that she was a liberal would identify her as a leftist. Uncertain as to what she should say and knowing how important her answer could be, she thought for a moment and then replied, "I stand at extreme center."
Of the four Gospels, none is more to the point and straightforward than the account of Jesus' life as rendered by Mark. Because of his close relationship with Peter who, himself, was a pretty blunt, leave-nothing-unsaid sort of a person, many scholars believe that Mark simply reflected Peter's thoughts. With that in mind, may I remind you that some of the most uplifting, positive words of Jesus are also recorded by Mark? For example, Mark tells about the time Jesus was talking with the disciples and said, "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours" (Mark 11:24). Then Jesus said, "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins" (v. 25).
A man walked into a bank, handed the teller a threatening note and walked out with a bag of money containing more than $3,000. The man was never caught, but the whole thing has authorities baffled. It began a few months later when the bank received an envelope which had been mailed from a distant city containing a cashier's check in the name of a Mister R.E. Morse as in the word "remorse." Along with one of the checks was the following note: "My faith in Christ as my Savior has impelled me to undertake this reimbursement and I hope to be able to pay it off within six months."
One of the strange things about trials is that when they knock at our door or sneak through the back door of our lives, we never quite expect them. Yes, we know that other people face them, but not us. When we do go into combat with them, we also feel that nobody else has ever faced the same intensity of testing nor do they understand.
There is a common perception in the world today that faith in Jesus Christ will exempt us from the trials and hardships of life, especially those associated with our health, our happiness, and our prosperity. Then when people buy into this concept and discover all together too soon that their prayers will not always turn back the hostility of a world who thinks Christians are bigoted and strange, they become disappointed and feel disillusioned.
On a warm summer day, July 19, 64 AD, fire broke out in the poor quarters of Rome near the coliseum. In those days the streets of the city were narrow and were used primarily for foot traffic. Many buildings in that area had been built of wood, and in the dry heat of summer they burned quickly. In only hours, there was a conflagration unlike anything Rome had ever seen. The Temple of Luna was consumed along with the Shrine of Vesta...hundreds, then thousands, of people were homeless.
The issue never really goes away: How much should you confess to your husband or wife about your past life? Or even your present life? Following a series dealing with the consequences of infidelity, we were bombarded with several variations of the same question. One person wrote, "I have confessed my sins to the Lord and truly experienced the joy of His forgiveness as I claimed His blessings, but I always thought I did not need to confess to my husband or to anyone. Am I wrong to believe that I'm completely forgiven of my sins even without having to confess this to my husband?"
A fifteenth century map of the world which is housed in the Vatican shows Jerusalem as the center of the world, and from this place radiate lines to the various continents and major cities of the world. When I first saw that map, I smiled, but as I grew in understanding of how significant Jerusalem is to our world, no longer do my lips crease in amusement. The ancient cartographer who drew that map also knew something of the theological importance of Jerusalem.
I was standing in an ancient Chinese temple, now a temple of the people, in Canton, China. As we listened to our guide tell how the Chinese people had been liberated from old religious beliefs, a young man who was studying English at the university approached a tourist to try out his English. He spoke pleasantly for a few minutes in broad generalities, and then asked, "Do you have a Bible?"
David, the shepherd who became the King of Israel, once wrote, "I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread" (Psalm 37:25). Was David ever tempted to give up on the Lord? For seven long years he lived in exile, fearing that Saul or one of his zealous soldiers would take his life. He lived as a fugitive, often in desolation, uncertain that he would live to see the light of another day. Once he feigned mental illness, escaping his captor as a madman. On another occasion, the enemy raided David's home, taking the wives and children of those who fought with him.
A pastor, thinking that he was being humorous, once introduced me, saying, "I've heard him eat and I've heard him sing, and I'd rather hear him eat than sing." It's no wonder we have become intimidated when it comes to anything much but singing in the shower where no one can hear.
The Psalmist wrote that when Israel went into captivity in Babylon, "There on the poplars we hung our harps" (Psalm 137:2). In other words, the music stopped and the song was ended, but when they returned to their land, the harps came down and the music started again.
The lovely Galilee in Israel is approximately fifteen miles in length and averages some five to seven miles across. The entire Jordan valley is cradled in what was once a geographic or seismic rift that runs from the slopes of Mt. Hermon in the north to the Dead Sea some 1300 feet below sea level in the south. Galilee, however, is located about in the middle of that fault--about 700 feet below sea level.
You can no more have intimacy with God without prayer than you can have intimacy in marriage without communication. Though you may have never thought of the two in relationship to each other, what makes both meaningful is much the same. Success in both is dependent upon the quality of your relationship with the object of your affection. When you can't communicate with your husband or wife--for whatever reason, your relationship rapidly disintegrates. Love grows cold. Warm memories are just that--recollections of the past, not realities in the present.
There are some individuals whose spirits can't be conquered. No matter how they are repressed, how they get hit, they just get up and walk, then run, then climb the heights. They just don't know how to quit. Such was the old man who presented his claim to Joshua in the Bible, "I am eighty-five years old!" he began," but he quickly adds, "I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then." And then he got to the bottom line: "Give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day!" (Joshua 14:12 NKJV).
"I just don't know how it could have happened," a friend lamented. "They were one of the most spiritual couples I knew. Reading their annual Christmas letter," he said, "made me envious. Their lives were filled with so much, they were helping so many, they were involved in so many good causes." And what caused his distress? She had just left him for another man. Another marriage failure. Two seemingly committed believers.
Life is full of its ups and downs, right? Good days and bad days. Times of joy and times of sorrow. Question: What would it be if there were no valleys, no shadows, no tough times? Can you picture a painting with only vivid colors, no dark contrasts, or varying shades? Or living in a tropical paradise where every day was picture perfect? In other words, is it not the difficult that makes reaching the top meaningful and important?
Discouraged? Feel that your valley is so long and dark that you'll never make it to the next peak? Ever wonder if it's worth it? If you answer "yes," you're perfectly normal—nothing more or less. A lot of folks become Christians with wrong impressions of what the Christian life is all about. I'm never quite sure whether the confusion is the result of the rhetoric of the one who encouraged them to embark on the path of faith, or else they have unrealistic expectations of what the journey is about because they haven't read the tour book—the Bible.
When atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair was murdered in 1995, the comfortable five-bedroom home she was living in fell to her associate Oren Tyson, director of a non-profit group sponsoring atheism. But when the taxes were not paid, the authorities confiscated the house and set Tyson's belongings out on the street in cardboard boxes. Of course, he was indignant. In response, he fashioned a sign from one of the cardboard boxes which defiantly read, "Homeless Atheist, Nam Veteran, Will Wait for a Miracle."
After He had prayed all night, Jesus called twelve men to follow Him--ordinary men who were fishermen, small businessmen, and government employees. None were university graduates or professionals as we think of them today. They were men with calluses on their hands, with the smell of labor on their clothes, with dust on their sandals.
The Graeco-Roman world into which Jesus was born hardly knew what to do with the narrow strip of land on the eastern Mediterranean which was then known as Palestine. When Romans built a gymnasium and baths at Caesarea, the Jews revolted. Eventually Caesar sent his legions, who subdued the rebellion. Then politicians discreetly forged alliances with Jewish leaders whose loyalty to Rome was unquestioned.
When Jesus told the disciples that they were to seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness, He used a strong word, one which means to earnestly seek something, something worthy of the time and effort it takes to reach that goal.
Some 600 miles south of Cairo, on the banks of the ancient Nile, stands the ancient temple of Karnak, one of the most splendid structures of the ancient world. Across the river is the majestic valley of the Kings and the awesome tombs which were monuments to the egos of the pharaohs.
The picture is vivid: A little girl stands at the edge of the window in a burning building. It's the second floor, and to the child, the ground seems like a long way down. Below is a fireman--a big guy, standing there in his yellow garb, big hat, and black boots. With outstretched arms, he reaches for the child and yells, "It's OK to jump. I'll catch you! You'll be OK. Come on, kiddo. Jump!"
A friend who has a real hunger for God struggles with the fear that her search for God will only result in ultimate disappointment. As I read her heart cry, I thought of the words of A. W. Tozer, who wrote, "In this hour of all-but-universal darkness one cheering gleam appears: …there are to be found increasing numbers of person whose religious lives are marked by a growing hunger after God Himself."
Facing the Knesset, or the Israeli Parliament, in Jerusalem is a beautiful menorah, a gift from Britain to Israel. It was created by the famed sculptor Benno Elkan and is covered with images, telling the story of Israel's long and colorful history. A menorah, which is a seven-branched candelabrum, is significant, representing the fullness of God.
In St. Paul's Cathedral in London is a painting done by the artist, Holman Hunt, often reproduced in Sunday School literature, which shows Jesus standing at the door of an English cottage, a lantern held in one hand, gently knocking at the door. It is based on the words of Jesus recorded in Revelation 3:20, which say, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."
A Guidelines' listener who was in a doctoral program at New York University wrote telling about a teacher whose memory will never escape him. The teacher who so impressed him was an instructor at New York City's prestigious Peter Stuyvesant High School. In his classroom hung a 3 x 5-foot flag. On the flag were three black letters against a brilliant background of red, and what was the message? The three letters spelled B-U-T, the adversative conjunction. That's it. When lecturing, this teacher would reach a point where everything that followed hung on one word. That's when he would point to his flag and go on.
Do the old questions never really go away? Almost every time I talk with someone who has had something happen which he didn't like, I am asked, "How could a loving God do this?" Or, "I can't understand why God didn't step in and do something. After all, if He is as powerful as He is supposed to be, why didn't He stop this from happening?"
Night had draped its dark curtain around the Sea of Galilee. The Palestinian sky, which usually had countless stars, was darkened with an ever-increasing number of black storm clouds. Thirteen men made their way to the water's edge. One by one they entered a waiting ship, and when all were on board, they launched out onto the choppy waters, and steered for the opposite shore.
Where do you draw the line? I thought of that issue when Brother Andrew—the man often described as "God's Smuggler"—sat at lunch with me and a group of friends and of being severely criticized because he had reached out to the Hezbollah, in an attempt to bring peace between them and Israel. "Anybody who is a friend to them is an enemy to Israel," said his critics.
"Dear Dr. Sala," writes a friend of Guidelines, "I have a question. How come the God of the Old Testament, who allows killing of men, women and children, is so different from the God of the New Testament who says love your enemies? Did God change His mind, or are we talking about two different Gods? There is a big movement…that is saying that they are two different Gods. I would greatly appreciate your thoughts."
So, you have fallen out of love, have you? And it didn't take long after he moved in with you. In fact, you are not sure whether he ever loved you, though he said he did. This, of course, brings up the issue of what love really is.
When God's hand touches your life, no matter who you are or where you are, it is always earthshaking. It was true of the time Jesus sat with his disciples, perhaps overlooking Galilee, and taught them. What He said was disturbing to be sure. He talked about loving your enemies, not storing up vast treasures here on earth, not worrying about life, or earning a living, and not judging other people.
"What price are you willing to pay for success in the business world? Are you prepared to reach the top though it may cost your marriage, or the affection of your kids?" So what if you climb the ladder of success, only to find that it was leaning against the wall of the wrong building?
Michael Gordon is an attorney who often gets up at 3 a.m. and goes to the office before the roosters start to crow so he will be prepared for the "big one." Knowing he was a workaholic who was committed to succeeding, his brother gave him a hard hat and a pair of construction goggles when he got married along with this bit of advice: "Juggling family life and work is hard. Really hard. But if you keep at it and work hard, the rewards are sweet as sugar."
How do you balance business with family commitments? How do you respond when your son says, "Dad, how come you can never come to my game? All the other kids' dads are there"? So you stutter and stammer about how you can't get off work and that you are overloaded and so forth, but your son simply knows you are not there.
In my resource files are a variety of folders which are filed alphabetically by subject. Thinking of today's commentary, I happened to notice that the file captioned "LOVE" is nestled between the one captioned "LONELINESS" and the one on "MARRIAGE." It is pretty true to life. Love is what it takes to turn loneliness to marriage. Question: Is love only a Western idea, a romantic notion which came from Europe and is embraced by only segments of civilization? Or is love a universal emotion, a deep-seated response of the heart which can make the mind grow weak?
A medical doctor who says, "Look, this is what's wrong with you, and this is what you need to do to get rid of your problem" has done you a great favor. He has both accurately diagnosed your illness, and told you exactly what you need to do to be rid of the pain and suffering which brought you to his office. He's done you a great service. But a doctor who either ignores your symptoms or glosses over them, saying, "Look, everybody has aches and pains. Don't worry about them!" has done you a great disservice.
If mankind's greatest need had been for information, surely God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been for learning how to make money, God would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need had been for pleasure, surely God would have sent a comedian. But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent His Son who became the Savior of the world.
"After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done," wrote the writer of Chronicles, "Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah" (2 Chronicles 32:1). Whoa! For a moment look at life from the perspective of a man who had done everything right. He lived right, he supported the right causes, he was faithful to his family and just in his dealings, and sought to glorify God, who had raised him up and put him on the throne.
Most people called it, "An absolute disaster!" But Bill Eaton called it "an adventure!" It all started following several weeks of drenching rain when California took on the appearance of an Asian monsoon! The rains finally softened the earth beneath Bill and Lee Eaton's family home, and a massive hole began to swallow up their 4 bedroom house which had been home for 23 years. That home was full of memories, too. Here their family grew up. Christmases and birthdays, a wedding and scores of good memories ware all associated with the pale green house.
"Dear Dr. Sala," writes a friend of Guidelines, "when my husband and I get into an argument, he walks away and comes back as though nothing had ever happened. When he has hurt me and never asks for forgiveness, I feel offended and want to withdraw. Do you have any suggestions which might help?"
When you are only five feet three, and someone who is six feet five towers over you, you quickly learn what intimidation is, especially when the giant leans over you and threatens you. We'd much prefer enemies about our size giving us an equal chance; but, of course, life isn't always fair.
How a person responds to calamity or disaster tells an awful lot about what's inside! When things are not going well, there is a tendency for the old to become cynical and critical, and castigate those who are younger. You know the mentality--"The older I am, the better I was!" Having had years of experience, it is very easy for them to see immediately what's wrong with the world, especially people in the world, and be very clear in letting folks know that things aren't like they used to be, and that if they were still in control, it wouldn't be that way.
My wife and I had just had breakfast looking across the vast city of Seoul, Korea. The day was cloudy and dreary, but we commented on the number of churches which were visible, all of which had a cross silhouetted against the dark sky. I counted no less than a dozen crosses, many of which were outlined in red neon.
He was a relatively successful businessman with a good marriage and two great kids. Involved in his church, he actively participated in ministry outreaches. A good natured, outgoing man who didn't know what a stranger is, he could sell refrigerators to Eskimos and that's also what made him a valued team member in ministering to others. When he saw God touching the lives of people he had reached, he began thinking, "Perhaps God is calling me to do this all of the time."
We were flying at an altitude of about 35,000 feet. I had just picked up a book and started reading. Then I noticed that the bearded youth beside me was reading along with me. He had read the Oriental mystics, the philosophers of the ancient Middle East, and even a few college texts, but he had never seen anything quite like the book I was reading. His interest in my book amused me, but I said nothing and kept reading. Finally, he could stand it no longer and said, "What is this book you are reading?" I replied, "It is a commentary on the last book of the New Testament--the Book of Revelation. It is almost 2,000 years old. In this book God tells us of the future and what is going to happen." It is like history pre-recorded.
"Dear Dr. Sala," writes a friend of Guidelines, "when my husband and I get into an argument, he walks away and comes back as though nothing had ever happened. When he has hurt me and never asks for forgiveness, I feel offended and want to withdraw. Do you have any suggestions which might help?"
Pressure and stress will either make you or destroy you--it depends on you and how you react to them. The principle of pressure in nature is described in the law of thermodynamics, and this pressure principle results in many of nature's wonders. The world's most precious gem, the diamond, is the result of pressure. Carbon deposits in the depths of the earth respond to intense heat and pressure in producing these coveted bits of stone. This was demonstrated years ago when General Electric announced the "successful synthesis of diamonds." Scientists took carbons and submitted them to more than a million and a half pounds of pressure per square inch, coupled with temperatures of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit to produce the artificial diamond.
Bob Corbett recounts the joke about the cowboy with the arrow sticking through his chest. "It only hurts when I laugh," he quipped. It is an old story, and for doctors it is an even older problem. The problem is suffering, more narrowly defined, "pain." It is something like the weather. Everybody talks about it, but the only person who really knows what it is all about is the individual who is experiencing it. We sometimes refer to someone we dislike as "a pain in the neck." It demonstrates something of the nature of pain--often hard to diagnose and even harder to treat.
Do you ever feel like you stand alone, misunderstood and out of step with your colleagues? When people say, "Come on, everybody does it; why can't you, as well?" You aren't sure what to answer. The fact that you won't pad your expense account, or be unfaithful to your mate, convicts those who know it's wrong but haven't the moral courage to do what is right.
If ever a man was called by God to fail, that man was the prophet Jeremiah. He was the son of a priest, Hilkiah, and he lived in the little village of Anathoth, two and a half miles northeast of Jerusalem. Jeremiah lived a pretty normal life—normal, that is, until he heard the voice of God calling him to a mission which forever wrote his name in the annals of history.
Immediately before He returned to the Father's presence, Jesus made a promise to His followers: He boldly said, "And remember, I am with you always, day by day, until the close of the age" (Matthew 28:20, Weymouth). The book of Hebrews echoes those words, quoting Jesus as saying, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you!" You can dismiss this, suggesting that it was a promise intended only for those who were alive in the first century. Some do, thereby washing their hands of the whole matter. But if you are honest, you have to say, "That promise was made to all of God's children." If you do that, however, you may have another troublesome question to wrestle with: "If He is there, why don't I feel anything?"
"Dear Dr. Sala," writes a friend of Guidelines, "when my husband and I get into an argument, he walks away and comes back as though nothing had ever happened. When he has hurt me and never asks for forgiveness, I feel offended and want to withdraw. Do you have any suggestions which might help?"
When you are only five feet three, and someone who is six feet five towers over you, you quickly learn what intimidation is, especially when the giant leans over you and threatens you. We'd much prefer enemies about our size giving us an equal chance; but, of course, life isn't always fair.
Towards the end of his life David Livingstone, the great missionary, was brought back to his native Scotland to be honored by his countrymen and the University of Glasgow in particular. There was absolute silence as Livingstone told of his experiences in Africa, his left arm hanging limp at his side, the result of being mauled by a lion. He spoke of being felled by fever 30 times. He told of the various hardships he had gladly endured for the cause of Christ.
How a person responds to calamity or disaster tells an awful lot about what's inside! When things are not going well, there is a tendency for the old to become cynical and critical, and castigate those who are younger. You know the mentality--"The older I am, the better I was!" Having had years of experience, it is very easy for them to see immediately what's wrong with the world, especially people in the world, and be very clear in letting folks know that things aren't like they used to be, and that if they were still in control, it wouldn't be that way.
If ever there was a living saint, it was Corrie ten Boom. Should you ever have the opportunity of visiting Amsterdam, take the train from Central Station for a 20 minute ride to Haarlem, a delightful Dutch town. Walk past the city square and just off this, past the old church where Corrie's nephew was the organist, there you will find a watch shop made famous by the movie, "The Hiding Place."
You wake up in the night thinking about a situation which really distresses you. You silently pray, "God, please do something about this," yet sleep doesn't come. You toss and turn, asking, "What should I do?" At the same time, you know that worrying doesn't change anything and that you shouldn't worry.
When an actor or actress plays the part of another person, he or she tries to get inside the skin of the person, to so saturate himself or herself with the thought processes of that person that he or she begins to think as the other person as well as to act and look like the other person, and—to the extent possible—to be that person. Can that really be done? Yes, say those who earn their living acting professionally.
In both Marxist and revolutionary circles Jesus gained new prominence as one who had the courage to be different, as one who greatly changed the course of history. Jesus laid it on the line with His followers. He didn't sugarcoat the challenge. In fact, there were times when He actually made it difficult for men to follow. He believed that a nucleus of really dedicated men and women could accomplish far more than an army of Sunday warriors who tipped their hats to Him on Sunday morning and forgot Him for the rest of the week.
Few ideas in the scientific realm have ever been introduced without ridicule and unbelief. When men first suggested that the world was not flat and man could not sail off the end of the world, they were laughed to scorn. When Nicolaus Copernicus first suggested his theory of a sun-centered universe, he was so persecuted that he was forced to withdraw his hypothesis. When Henry Ford put his first automobile on the road, he was thought of as a fool who wasted his time on foolish inventions.
Have you ever had the experience of having to drive a considerable distance to an appointment; but, the vehicle that you are driving shows that the gas gauge is closer to empty than you would like? You are in a hurry—late for your meeting—so you decide to see if you can make it. The red warning light comes on. Then the fuel gauge starts to rest solidly on the empty mark, and your stomach grows tighter mile by mile. Perhaps you make it—and perhaps you don't. And as the light stays on and the indicator sits on empty, you become more tense. When do you refuel?
Karl Crowe tells the story: A missionary Bible translator was working on a language that had not been reduced to writing when she came across a portion of Scripture which had already been translated into the language she was working on. She noticed that the word idinide had been used for the English word Savior. The word literally means "picker upper" or "one who picks up something." She thought, "This is definitely not the right word!"
What is the value of a human life? There is enough phosphorous in the human body to tip twenty-two hundred matches, enough iron to make a small nail, enough fat to seven make bars of soap (in some cases a few more than that); enough calcium to whitewash a chicken coop; enough sulfur to delouse a dog and enough sugar to fill a small bowl. But, is not life worth a great deal more than a few elements from a periodic chart?
Question: Is it true that the more you give to God, the more you get back personally? Which side of that question would you come down on? Yes or no? Has that been true in your personal life? Or, would you say, "Hey, churches and organizations use that line to get my money and build strong financial bases!" Question #2: Is there anything in the Bible—I mean in its context and rightly understood—that seems to convey that truth? Did not Jesus Himself say, "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you" (Luke 6:37). Well, did He not mean what He said?
Out of the mouth of babes come some of the toughest issues that ever confront theologians, to say nothing of Sunday school teachers or parents. For example, the question that my son, then five years of age, once put to me in rush-hour traffic: "Daddy, how did Jesus get to be God?" What struck me about the question was that we hadn't even been talking about the subject. Surprising as it may seem to you that very issue was one of the first controversies in the early church. Did Jesus become God when He was born? Or rather was He always God and only appeared to be a man?
When the sky turns dark, your health fails, your marriage partner walks out on you, or you are fired from the job you hoped you would keep until retirement, your world gradually unravels. Paul's words, "In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus," seem to torment you. No matter how you try to put things together, it just doesn't make sense.
Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone. Deuteronomy 34:7
"Dear Dr. Sala," wrote a friend, "Would you have any suggestions to help people who have reached their eighties and feel they have nothing to live for? I admit feeling very useless at times. I am 82, in a wheelchair, and have little energy."
In recent days, there has been a graying of society as more and more of us are living longer and longer; and with the years come new challenges. Frankly, every year I hear from more and more people who are struggling with the challenges of ageing. I've done two things, thinking about this issue. First, I've asked again, "What does God say in His Word about this?" Then, I've talked with a number of seniors who are there and asked them what they have found that is helpful, which I can share with you.
The fact is that the number of men and women in their eighties has increased dramatically in the last two decades. Better medicines, better nourishment, and better health care in general have combined to give a lot of seniors more years. Whereas many would have succumbed to illnesses a few years ago, they now often fight back and have years to enjoy, provided they can enjoy them.
Far sooner than we would like to admit, the years turn into decades and we find ourselves doing fewer and fewer things for the first time and more and more things for the last time. How can seniors handle the changes of life?
May I suggest the following:
Guideline #1: Come to grips with the fact that you are here by the will of God, not fate or chance. God makes no mistakes and suffers no surprises. Paul wrote, "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will..." Never forget, until He calls you, you've got work to do.
Guideline #2: Realize that your true value as a person is dependent on your character and not your productivity. One of the flaws of our thinking, especially as we age, is that we are not worth much unless we are producing. This, of course, runs contrary to everything that the Bible says. It tells us that you are of value and worth, not because of what you do, but because of what you are. Paintings and fine books only become more valuable with age, and so it is with people.
Guideline #3: Accept your lessening strength with grace. "I greet each day as a gift," says Beatrice Cole, at age 90. She says that the last decade, from age 80 to 90, has been the best gift of her life, though she has been alone most of that time except for the company of her pet poodle.
Guideline #4: Force yourself to get out and mix with people. "After I lost Ethel," said Frank Emery, "I forced myself to get out, to travel, to play golf, to be with people. Sitting at home, refusing to reach out to others, only compounds your loneliness."
Guideline #5: Refuse to accept defeat at the hand of yourself. Theologian Dr. Wilbur Smith once wrote, "It's no sin growing old, but it's mighty inconvenient." My wife of 60 years and I recently co-authored a book entitled, Age is Just a Number. Now that we are both in our 80s, it's nice to write about something we have experienced firsthand. As the horses of time gallop down the lessening hills, share your life experiences with those who follow in your footsteps. Your memories will be with them long after you are gone. Indeed. Never forget that age is a matter of the mind. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.
Resource Reading: Isaiah 40:1-11
An eminent psychologist, Joseph Kreisler, recognized the importance of contentment from having observed problems of human nature from a professional viewpoint. Dr. Kreisler says, "If you wish to be miserable, think about yourself and what you want, what you like, what attention other people ought to pay you, and then you will find nothing will satisfy you. You will spoil everything you touch, and finally, you will make pain and misery out of everything God sent you."
"Faith," wrote the Quaker scholar Elton Trueblood, "is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation." Yet the fact is, faith seems to contradict the world of reality. It is no wonder that the writer of Hebrews described faith as the "conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1, NASB). It is the battle of the tangible versus the intangible, the seen versus the unseen, the material versus the spiritual.
When Dr. Stanley Collins, a renowned Bible teacher and conference speaker, was felled with a heart attack, he looked up towards heaven, and though he did not actually say these words, his heart cried out, "Why me, Lord?" Collins, like King Hezekiah who lay dying long ago, reminded the Lord of what he had been doing for Him. Then, without hearing any voices or seeing any visions in the sky, Collins says it was almost as if he heard a voice so clearly say, "Why not you?"
When Larry Alexander learned that he had eighteen months to live, his world came crashing down. The prospect of experimental surgery offered some hope, but the future was pretty bleak. His wife, Anne, then pregnant with their third child, faced the stress of having to raise their three children, provide for the family and nurse a man who faced the prospect of losing his life.
It's an old story retold many times. In the fourteenth century, there was a duke named Ranald who lived in the country we now know as Belgium. The duke was not only overweight; he was grossly indulgent. He craved food and his appetite for more was never fully satisfied, so much so that the peasants called him Crassis which in Latin means "the fat one."
Finding your way back after an adulterous relationship is difficult, but it can be done. There's a roadmap which guides you when you recognize what a dreadful thing has happened and you sincerely want forgiveness, healing, and--yes! --restoration with your husband or wife. The roadmap is found in Psalm 51, and David, the author, simply describes the components of restoration which he went through.
Grace is getting what you don't deserve; justice is getting exactly what you deserve, and mercy is not getting what you really deserve. David knew that, and that's why, following his affair with Bathsheba, he pled for God's mercy. "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions."
Along with many other dictionaries, The Oxford English Dictionary takes more space to define the word touch than any other word. Its vast gamut of meanings can hardly be compressed into a single dictionary definition. Without touch you lose one of the most important of all the five senses.
"Dear God, I'm having a tough time financially, and I'd like a refund on some of the money I've given to you. Do you think you could arrange it for me?" In reality that's what a single mother of four children had in mind recently, but the church who had been the recipient of the money tends to feel that God doesn't make refunds.
When times are tough and money is tight, disagreements often erupt. And when discussions take place, almost always we are quick to inform the other person that the mess belongs on the other side of the disagreement. A word that prominently figures is the personal pronoun you, as in "YOU are responsible for this mess," or "If YOU hadn't spent so much on that stupid car we wouldn't be in trouble." Another variation is "YOU charged too much on our credit cards."
Probably no other generation in history has been more committed to living for the moment than is our present one, or put in somewhat less refined terms, no generation has been more committed to squeezing every ounce of pleasure and fulfillment out of living than the present one. Now all of this is not bad, but the constant emphasis on self produces a distorted picture of the individual's true worth. The end result is a selfishness that produces a marked disregard for others, and totally distorts a person's actual importance. Nothing is much smaller than an individual's world who shuts others from the heart as well as the hand and purse.
There are only three things you can do with it: spend it, save it, or give it away. Only three choices. Yet when it comes to the bottom line of disagreements, you'll probably find it, almost every time. It's money! No matter how much they have, or how little they have, people don't agree on how it's spent. Playing a prominent part in at least 85% of all broken homes, the handling of money is one of the most explosive issues that confront people today, especially in times of recession and inflation.
When the level begins to sink in the honeycomb of life, it does not merely affect one aspect of your life--say the physical or the emotional. It affects everything--your body, your emotions, and your spiritual nature all at once. There has been a blind spot in our thinking that compartmentalizes life. You have aches or pains. "That is physical!" you think. You are sure that aspirin or an antibiotic will be enough to cure it, but it does not work that way. The physical may merely be the cause of tension, and aspirin or antibiotics would merely be treating the symptom--not the cause.
Have you ever had the experience of having to drive a considerable distance with an empty gas tank? You knew that you were running low on fuel, but you were late for an appointment, in a hurry to get somewhere, and you kept thinking, "Yeah, I've got enough to get there," but you were unconvinced. You kept glancing at the fuel gauge, then your watch. The fuel gauge was slightly above empty, then the red warning light came on, then your fuel gauge rested solidly on the empty mark. Your stomach grew tighter and tighter.
A school teacher asked her students to do at least one good deed every day. She explained that the next day she would ask them what good deeds they had done. The next day the dialogue between the teacher and the students went like this: "Michael, what good deed did you do yesterday."
It happened so very quickly! My wife and I had spent 16 hours on the overnight train from Donetsk, Ukraine to Kiev. For days the temperatures had hovered about 10 to 25 below zero centigrade. Everything was covered with frost and ice. We disembarked from the train and began to follow a friend through the crowd when trouble came very unexpectedly.
Is there anything too hard for the Lord?" Some three times, that question is asked in Scripture. But how would you answer it? Today we are faced with a quandary. Either we nod our heads and say, "Yes! God can do anything," unsure of whether we really believe this, or else we are confronted with empty hands and hearts, wondering why God didn't step in and reverse some troublesome situations confronting us.
Has hell lost its sizzle? Or has it? It all depends on whom you listen to, and accordingly, fewer and fewer people believe it really exists. Years ago, the Puritan preacher by the name of Jonathan Edwards held a manuscript before his weakened eyes and preached his famous sermon known as "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." Many of those who heard him fell to their knees and cried out in anguish and fear, asking God to save them from hell. But hell has lost its dread for many people. Frankly, hell has about entirely lost its sizzle.
Walking away from your nets when Jesus calls you is never easy! Vast numbers of people hear his voice. They know the voice of the Shepherd and would like to be counted among the fortunate who sit at his feet, but their hands seem to be frozen to their nets. Yes, they will gladly follow provided they can bring their nets with them, but to turn loose is more than they can handle.
Jack and his wife Sue should have more than enough to be satisfied! He's an attorney with an income in six figures and a growing practice. She's an interior decorator. Ten years before, Jack had married his childhood sweetheart. In the early years of their marriage, they often talked hours at a time, and when words were exhausted, they held hands and their hearts communicated with each other.
A certain woman wanting to join her church group going to Israel wondered if she should spend the money. "God," she prayed, "please give me a sign and show me what I should do." Placing the glossy brochure on her table beside the bed, she drifted off to sleep. Waking the next morning, she noticed the digital clock read 7:47 AM. "Didn't the brochure say we were traveling on a Boeing 747?" she asked herself as she picked up the brochure for another look.
Once you have seen the hand of God that reaches out towards His created subjects, you will never forget it. I'm thinking of the tremendous work done by Michelangelo in the Sistine chapel. In that simple depiction is the story of the entire Bible--God reaching out to touch us at the point of our needs. All theology only puts meaning to that truth. All history only demonstrates it. Unlike angry deities who must be satisfied with blood sacrifice--sometimes even the life of your firstborn--the God of the Bible is a loving God who reaches out to touch you at the point of your need, where you hurt.
Surrounding almost every major city in the world is a circle or ring of highways that facilitate the flow of traffic. Some are called beltways, others traffic rings, or whatever. They are intersected by roads which go to the very heart of the city and, of course, lead away from it in the opposite direction. They serve a function and purpose, allowing people to move back and forth without having to go through the heart of the city or going very far away from it at the same time.
When Jesus confronted the crowds that came to hear him, they went away saying, "Never did anyone speak as does He!" In the message we call "The Sermon on the Mount," ten times Jesus said, "You have heard it said to the people long ago…" and then challenged that conventional wisdom saying, "But I say unto you!" Talk about someone specializing in unconventional wisdom!
As the pastor led his congregation in the recitation of the Apostles' Creed, that begins with the words, "I believe…" one man quietly said, "I used to believe…" and continued to mumble the words, recited by Christians for centuries.
When fire swept through Laguna Canyon near our office one of the properties destroyed was a botanical garden containing more than two thousand varieties of plants and flowers. Known as the Hortense Miller Garden, the place was a veritable paradise of beautiful flowers and greenery. The fire, of course, blackened the hillside as it left its ugly scars. Disaster? Yes! That is what people called it, and that it was. Yet, just five months later, the hills were alive with the beauty of wild flowers, which had not been seen in the area for thirty to one hundred years.
"I believe in God…" begins the affirmation of the Apostles' Creed. But does what you believe make much difference in how long you live, or even more pointedly, in the quality of the life you live? It does, contends a growing body of scientific evidence. The relationship between your belief system and your health is better documented every year. Dr. Harold G. Koenig, director of Duke University's Center for the Study of Religion/Spirituality and Health says scientists and doctors "have to confront it. They can't just say religion is irrelevant to health. It is relevant."
You have a problem and it's got to be solved! So, problem-solvers that we are by nature, we go to work on a solution. Occasionally, all of us feel the need for reinforcement, and that's when we inform God in prayer as to how He should handle the situation. I've discovered through trial and error, and more error than I would like to admit, that quite often my solution is at cross-purposes with God's solution.
How does a parent help an adult child? When your little boy or girl was small and fell down and hurt himself, you as the parent picked up your child and fussed over him smothering the scratched knee with kisses and love. Your loving care climaxed with the application of a Band-Aid put on with all the tenderness of a mother's love. But, what do you do when you have an adult son or daughter whose heart is breaking, and you desperately wish you could give him or her the same comfort you did when your child was four years old?
Some called it "the Protestant work ethic!" But it isn't, really. It is simply the application of several phrases found in Scripture which can be paraphrased, "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right; so give it your best effort!" Four times in the Bible you find a phrase that says, "whatever you do" and emphasizes a relationship between you and God. The first is found in the Old Testament wisdom literature, specifically the book of Proverbs, mostly written by Solomon. "Commit to the LORD whatever you do," says Proverbs 16:3, "and your plans will succeed." In this same context, the writer says that we as mortals make our plans, but the Almighty, not simply our scheming, determines their outcome. That first "whatever you do" forges a link between your efforts, God, and success. Application: When you really take Him as your partner in life--whether it is business or a marriage--what some think of as luck, the Bible says is really the blessing of God.
Is it possible for you to embrace Jesus Christ as your Savior, but not really as your Lord? Put it another way: Can you take this whole business in stages, believing some things but not really becoming a radical? "After all," you may reason, "I want to go to heaven but I don't want to get fanatical about this whole business."
He is loved and venerated by Jews, Muslims, and by Christians. Though he lived over 4,000 years ago, his life is a refreshing study of what it means to live and walk by faith. Here was a man at the season of life when people are thinking of retirement, but God called him and said, "Abraham, I want you to follow me into a strange land which I will eventually give to you as an inheritance.
The ominous clouds of war were hanging over Europe in 1937. Claiming that he could turn the economy around and put people to work, Adolf Hitler began to strengthen his grip on Germany. Those who dared to oppose him were silenced as the detention camps were opened, eventually to be known as concentration camps.
Is it really wrong to worry? Who would deny that there is plenty to worry about--the state of the economy, our health, the Middle East, the domestic problems including feeding the hungry (which few of us really worry about unless we are on the hungry end of the issue), and a lot of other things? But can we help worrying any more than we can help our hair thinning out or what happens to our good looks after age 50?
"If I can just get through this problem, I'm sure that everything will be okay." Ever think that? So you grit your teeth and, sure enough, you get through that problem, only to find that several more have cropped up on the horizon. It's something like pedaling a bicycle. Going uphill is so slow and takes so much energy, while the downhill run so quickly turns into another uphill climb.
"Due to the current financial constraints, the light at the end of the tunnel will be turned off until further notice!" so reads a notice on a local notice board. How's that for contending for a gold medal in pessimism? Nobody can take away the power of hope unless you let him. Hope is as essential to life as oxygen is to your human body.
William Carey was one of the pioneers of the modern missionary movement as he left his native England and went to India. In the process Carey established himself and began to translate the Bible into the language of the people he worked with. Before the days of linguists and computers, it was a long slow process. Eventually a printer joined him, and, after years of effort, Bibles were printed and the process of distribution was begun. One day, however, Carey returned from a time of ministry elsewhere to find that a disastrous fire had broken out and had completely destroyed the building housing his offices and press, but far more damaging, his manuscripts, grammars and dictionaries had all gone up in flames as well. Nothing short of death could have struck such a blow.
One of the most beautiful structures in the world, the Notre Dame Cathedral, stands on the banks of the Seine River in the heart of modern Paris. This beautiful building dating from the Middle Ages gains elegance and uniqueness partially from the lovely flying buttresses or arches which gracefully support the walls.
Long ago Joshua and his staff could have saved themselves all kinds of heartaches had they only stopped long enough to ask God for guidance. Here's how they got themselves into trouble. After God gave them two great victories--one at Jericho and Ai--they met together and renewed their commitment to serve God. The law was read and the people nodded their heads in agreement.
God made you in such a way that you can survive tremendous ordeals--illness, imprisonment, persecution, and privation. You can live without food and water--far longer than you might think. You can handle a tremendous amount of stress, but there is one thing with which you cannot do without. Apart from this you quickly despair. It is hope! You can rebuild when illness has ravished your body. You can put your finances together again, and you can pick up the broken pieces of your world when the bottom drops out, and go on, but when you are overcome by the despair of hope, you give up and die!
You may have seen the headline yourself: "Rouge executioner a born-again Christian." The Reuters news story began, "The chief executioner of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, who ordered thousands of people killed in the 1970's, is a born-again Christian ready to face justice, the Far Eastern Economic Review said."
"No one can say 'Jesus is Lord,'" wrote the Apostle Paul, "except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:3). Thousands of men and women today do recognize Jesus as their Savior, but they are still struggling to run their own lives and have never discovered the Lordship of Christ. "We are not our own bosses to live or die as we ourselves might choose" wrote Paul to the Romans. Many sincere, well-intentioned believers are really afraid to turn loose, not certain that God can handle their lives. They remind me of the legend involving the Greek philosopher, Diogenes.
He was once a trusted friend, but something happened. His friendship became treachery, and the man who had been a companion, a family friend, and confidant became an enemy. Have you ever had it happen? Painful, isn't it? The person that you thought would have gone to the wall with you slowly begins to drift away. Your phone doesn't ring. It's a one-way friendship. When you call or drop by, you get the connection but it's cold, routine, and your friend gives you the impression that he's outgrown your friendship.
The English poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow captured an age-abiding truth when he wrote, "Lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime. And, departing, leave behind us footprints on the sands of time." He's right, and one man who left footprints stretching across 2000 miles of time was an unlikely candidate for success—a fisherman by trade. He was scarcely qualified to do more than perhaps organize the union of fisherman on Galilee until the day that Jesus walked by and said, "Follow me!" Then Peter got up, left his nets and followed Jesus Christ.
While the cross is unquestionably the universal symbol of redemption, Albrecht Dürer's praying hands have become the symbol of prayer. The story, though, behind his creation of those praying hands, makes it even more poignant. Dürer was a German painter who had a friend who also was a painter, and though his friend worked hard, he never became famous. One day Dürer, looking at the hands of his obscure friend, saw in his folded hands the embodiment of what prayer is about. Common, ordinary, unfulfilled men and women who are needy and poor in spirit, fold their hands in reverence and surrender and lift their hearts to God.
When the British expositor and teacher, Joseph Parker, saw the suffering his wife endured as she lay dying with cancer, he was perplexed. Yes, he prayed and cried out to the Lord, but day by day, her suffering increased, and finally she lay still. When she died, for a week Parker, according to his own testimony, wallowed in the dark despair of atheism. He said that if he had had a dog who suffered as did the one he loved, he would have put the animal out of its misery.
"Jesus is Lord" says the words of the song, but what do you really mean when you say those words? It is certain that believers of the first century had some understanding of those words and their implication, for the Roman Emperor Domitian proclaimed himself a god and demanded that the subjects of the empire recognize him as such. It was really a pledge of political loyalty, but believers in Christ saw far more in that act of commitment than a pledge of allegiance to an emperor. All that was necessary would be to go to the temple and offer a pinch of incense saying, "Kaisar estin Kurios," which means "Caesar is Lord." Then they could go anywhere and worship as they pleased. Believers, however, refused to say that Caesar was Lord, for they believed that there was only one Lord for them--Jesus Christ.
"He is Lord, He is Lord," sings the church. "He is risen from the grave and He is Lord." Yet while they are singing, a man edges forward on his seat thinking, "Wish they would hurry up and get this thing over so I can watch the big game." Like the phrases, "the Trinity" and "The Rapture of the Church," the phrase, "The Lordship of Christ" does not appear in the pages of the New Testament, yet the concept of Christ as being Lord of the believer's life is on every page of Bible.
Abdul Rahman was on death row with little prospect of avoiding execution. The case against him was air-tight. He confessed his crime; one allegedly committed some 16 years before. There was a public outcry as well to execute the bearded, sad-faced man for what he had done. Thousands of people rallied in the streets demanding that he be executed. And what was the crime that he had committed?
Everything in life is relative! What seems to be a major catastrophe to some is a mere bump in the road to others. Some suffer in silence, never letting others know the pain or heartache they are enduring, while others broadcast the slightest wrong they have suffered.
Living in a broken world creates a kind of spiritual skepticism in our lives, especially when we see human failure mirrored in the lives of those whom we have put on pedestals thinking of them as a cut above the ordinary. Then when they fail you, you ask, "Is there anyone who really lives the life, instead of simply of using the language and saying the right things?"
So, you think you have problems, do you? Consider the plight of a woman who held a rummage sale to get rid of her junk and put some money in her purse at the same time.
My daughter asked me if I had heard of a certain theologian who was better known in the 70s than today. "Yes," I told her, "he has one of the most brilliant minds of any evangelical alive today. But he is very eccentric, quirky, and never seems to stay in any one place very long."
It's a well-established fact: how you get along with your mate can either keep you healthy or kill you, and I'm not suggesting that your mate kill you. It's how you get along with each other that can drive your blood pressure over the top, producing hypertension, and, yes, eventually a heart attack. A three-year study done by the University of Toronto Medical School tracked 103 couples, each one of whom had one party who had hypertension. And what did they find at the end of the study? They divided couples into the "happily married" group or the "not-so-happily-married" group who argued and fought a lot. At the end of the three-year study, those who were happily married were spending more time with each other and were healthier, while those who were not so blessed had seen their blood pressure go up by an average of six points and were spending less time together.
"I'm just not adequate to do the job!” If you have never thought that, you are probably the exception because almost everyone at times looks at the height of the mountain to be climbed or the depth of the chasm that has to be crossed and says, “Not me! I'm just not up to it.”
When you have heart pains, you should go to a cardiologist. The word comes from two Greek words cardia and logia. The first word is translated, "heart"; the second means the study of something. Hence, a cardiologist is one who has studied the heart, a heart-doctor.
When the renowned German surgeon, Dr. Werner Forssmann (1904-1979) was in medical school, he had an idea. He believed that if a small tube were inserted into an artery and run into the heart, then the diseased heart was x-rayed, it would be possible to diagnose the problem and thus save many lives. His professors, however, were horrified and forbade him to do the experiment.
An anonymous observer wrote that it "doesn't complain about the condition of the weather, seeks no 'social security' and never asks for a vacation. It will work best when treated well, but will do its utmost to give good service when working conditions are unduly taxing its strength." No, it isn't your dog--man's best friend--who sits by the gate and awaits your arrival with wagging tail. It is your heart, located six inches below your collarbone slightly off-center on the left side of your body.
Show an optimist a glass of water which is only partly filled and he would describe it as half-full, but show the pessimist the same glass and he would call it half-empty. What is the difference? It is how we see life. It is whether we put the accent on the negative or the positive, and when it comes to home and relationships, the principle is just as true.
Time does not come to you in hours or days--not even in minutes. It is dribbled out to you by God, one second at a time. Like fine sand through our fingers, seconds that are wasted slip away and eventually pile up into minutes and hours. Years ago, the Apostle Paul provided guidelines for living when he said that we are to walk "not as unwise" but we are to "…make the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:16).
If you had a bank that credited your account each morning with $86,400, and your bank carried over no balance from day to day, but allowed you to keep whatever cash you could spend, and each evening canceled out whatever amount you had failed to use during the day, what would you do? Naturally, you would draw out every last dollar. Of course! Actually, you do have such a bank and its name is "time." Every morning it credits your account with 86,400 seconds. Every night it rules as lost whatever of this you have failed to invest.
In response to the question, "According to your understanding, who is Jesus Christ?" two-thirds of some 10,000 college students interviewed said they believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Yet when these same students were asked how they could become Christians, 90% said they did not know. What those students expressed is quite true of all men. It is not a question of facts; it is a matter of acting on those facts. What counts is not knowledge, but action!
There's a curse on the world today–denied by many, trivialized by others, and ignored by the vast majority of people. It is there, nonetheless. The curse of evil in our world is a horrible, hideous reality.
When I visited a neighbor's home I was surprised to see a freshly painted sign on the door. No, not a quarantine sign warning of an infectious disease, but it did generate almost as much surprise. The notice read simply, "LOVE SPOKEN HERE." I could not help wondering just what kind of a home this was where they wanted visitors and friends to know that the language spoken within was LOVE.
Have you ever heard someone say, "I would be a Christian but there are too many hypocrites"? Now in absolute honesty, perhaps, you may admit that you, too, have had such a thought. A hypocrite is someone who pretends to have something he really does not possess. He's a fraud, a fake, a pretender.
Have you ever noticed how many times it is the little things in life that get you down? You can drive your car off a cliff, someone kidnaps your mother-in-law, or your mortgage is foreclosed on, and these things do not bother you quite as much as the little things such as running out of razor blades, your phone battery dying, or not being able to get your computer to work properly. I think we would all agree that the little things in life often irritate us far more than the major disasters. Solomon revealed a great truth when he said it is the little foxes that spoil the vines.
Do you find yourself increasingly bored, dissatisfied, and thoroughly unhappy with life?
Have you ever had one of those days when you were tired and discouraged? It can happen to anybody--times when you felt like quitting!
For the individual who believed that his giving was a strictly private matter—between only God and himself, a lot of what Jesus said when He was on Earth must have been rather disturbing. Author Randy Alcorn says that about 15% of everything that Jesus said has to do with your possessions and what you do with them. So why was what Jesus said so disconcerting to people? Repeatedly he urged people—not to give money to Him personally--but rather to give to the poor and needy, and thereby have treasure in heaven.
Have you ever been to a party where they played the "Newlywed Game?" The emcee separates the men and women and then asks them the same questions independently, then compares answers to see how nearly they say the same thing.
There's a problem which is quite common these days which afflicts people and does a great deal of damage to relationships. Primarily, though not exclusively, men suffer from this disorder; however, quite often children and teenagers are also afflicted by it. I define the malady as the PADD syndrome. Never hear of it? PADD is an acronym for a condition I describe as the Periodic Amnesia and Deafness Deficiency (PADD) syndrome.
Do you ever ask yourself, "Why do people end up marrying jerks?" I'm talking about a situation where a person has married someone who is totally undeserving of the other, someone who treats the other person disrespectfully, or is in no way an equal. It happens. Marry in haste and repent in leisure, goes the old saying.
In spite of the fact that he lived with an unhappy marriage himself, the English author Charles Dickens understood the importance of communication. He wrote, "Never close your lips to him to whom you have opened your heart!" Dickens realized that communication is the key to real love, but is that the only reason to learn communication skills? Not at all.
He cheated his brother out of his inheritance. He deceived his father into giving him the inheritance which, by right of birth, should have gone to his brother Esau. He lied to his father-in-law about the size of his flocks, yet he is venerated as the third of the patriarchs--remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? And the writers of Scripture in several places refer to God as "the God of Jacob." God, however, saw beyond the character defects which I've just mentioned. He saw his heart.
There is a vast difference between hesitancy and uncertainty when it comes to a decision and waiting on the Lord to show you clearly what is His will for your life. So how do you know which is which?
Many intelligent, well-meaning folks have been asking themselves just what part God plays in the affairs of life today. When they see what is happening in the Middle East, Moscow, Beijing or Washington, they wonder who is really running the world. At first glance, they are prone to think that God may have created the world and then left it to mortals to run.
Jim Warren, like thousands of other people, believed in God. In fact, he went to church--not every Sunday, but most Sundays. He was good man. He worked hard to support his family. He was faithful to his wife, Ruth, and occasionally took his boys fishing. Jim really didn't need God. He had too many other good things going for him.
How far away is God? Tough question, right? Even pondering an answer brings us a host of other questions. How do you measure distance between us and God--miles or kilometers as we measure distance? Or should we measure distance in terms of light years as scientists measure the distance between us and the heavenly bodies?
One of my memories of growing up was the trip to my grandmother's house, two doors down from Mrs. Schuler's house, where I took piano lessons. Among the pool of memories I will always treasure, is the platter of oatmeal cookies which Grandma always had available. After I married, I asked Grandma for the recipe. "Well," she said, "you take about a cup of oatmeal and a couple tablespoons of this, and a pinch of that" and so forth.
Divide and conquer is not only the modus operandi of warfare, but it is also the strategy of kids who know that if they can play parents against each other, or pit weariness against the single parent, they have won the battle. Our English word discipline comes from a Latin word, discere, which means to know, or, in the broader sense, to discern.
"Do you know the difference between a lawyer and God?" asks a comedian, and when someone says, "No, what?" he responds, "God knows he's not a lawyer." While most folks (excluding you, who are attorneys) may smile at that, a great many people today tend to play god. Struggling over the issue of control, we think that we have to make things happen, and when we can't, we worry. And when we can't change things that we dislike, we become afraid of losing control so we worry all the more and live as though there were no God in the universe, no one to whom we can turn when we have reached our human limits.
When Terry Anderson was taken captive by a guerilla group, little did he realize that he would be enduring what no one should ever be subjected to. Anderson, age 40
at the time, had been the chief Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press. Soon after he was taken captive, he was given a Bible by his Shiite Muslim captors, and for the duration of his four-and-a-half-years of captivity, he drew strength and hope from the pages of this grand old book.
Everybody these days is subject to stress. Whether you live in Manila, Tokyo, or Los Angeles, you live at a faster pace than at any time in history. It's the traffic, the pressures and stress of life, along with family stress that can cause you to reach the boiling point, and when that happens, you explode. You can refine the expression and say that you are just "letting off steam," but any way you look at it, anger has the best of you. When your temper gets out of hand, you are embarrassed and feel disappointed with yourself because you know you have hurt others. Looking at it from a selfish viewpoint, you not only hurt others, but you hurt yourself and your future as well.
There are times when I wish everybody would get it together and do the same thing everywhere--like pass an international law that all the water faucets in all the world would be standardized--hot water on the left, cold on the right. Red for hot and blue for cold, and that all of them would turn on and off the same way. Do any color combination the United Nations wants! Just do the same thing everywhere.
When Jesus was accused by the Pharisees of casting out demons by the power of the devil, He countered with a question: “If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then,” he asked, “can his kingdom stand?” (Matthew 12:26). As He often did, Jesus had asked a rhetorical question which forced a decision. He followed with another hard-to-answer question, “how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house” (Matthew 12:29). “Bind the strong man,” is another translation.
The difference between an oak and a bonsai--apart from their size--is the root system. Whereas the bonsai may be interesting, perhaps even curiously captivating, it is the oak that has strength which endures the test of time and is there after the fire, the drought, and the storm.
The Dead Sea is five times saltier than ocean water; and consequently, it’s almost impossible for someone to drown in it. A certain visitor to the area, not knowing this, fell off a pier into the water and wildly began to flail his arms and legs because he couldn’t swim.
There's a bit of doggerel which says, "Three moves are as good as a fire," and anyone who has packed his possessions more than twice in a given year mumbles to himself, saying things such as, "What in the world am I keeping this for?" Nonetheless, you keep that old stuff--just in case you might need it some day.
William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, was once asked. “What’s your secret?” Booth thought pensively for a moment and said, “God has had all there was of me!” Few can really say that. But some can, with all honesty and candor. One of my spiritual heroes, Dwight L. Moody, could have said the same thing. He was known for the declaration, “The world has yet to see what God will do with a man fully consecrated to Him. I will strive to be that man.”
A certain farmer, deeply touched by the revival which had taken place in his community, decided to dedicate a section of his farm to the Lord. Choosing a piece which was somewhat marshy and not terribly productive, he felt reasonably smug in his decision. After all, he had done something for the Lord, and he didn’t expect the cost to be very great.
On his sickbed prior to his death, the British preacher, Charles Spurgeon, said, “If you do not wish to be full of regrets when you are forced to lie still, work while you can. If you desire to make a sickbed as soft as it can be, do not stuff it with mournful reflections that you wasted time when you were in health and strength.” I suppose it is only natural that when you get to the place Spurgeon described that you have some regrets. You can no longer climb that mountain or swim the lagoon. Neither can you jump stairs two at a time or run and leap across the meadow.
"Every man should keep a fair-sized cemetery in which to bury the faults of his friends," wrote Harriet Ward Beecher. Most of us, however, never get to the cemetery with those faults. We gunnysack them. We file them away in our memory banks, we store them in the closet; and then when the time is right, we marshal them and use them as weapons and clubs to wreak vengeance upon our enemies.
When General James Edward Oglethorpe said to John Wesley, “I never forgive,” Wesley answered, “Then I hope, sir, that you never sin.” Why did Wesley say that? Because sooner or later, you do sin, you say something you ought not to have said, you do something that hurts someone, perhaps someone you love, and you need to be on the receiving end of forgiveness.
Before they put astronauts aboard the spacecrafts that were sent to the moon, scientists used a rather elaborate system to keep the missiles on the right path in space. It seems that, in spite of their great accuracy, the missiles would deviate from the correct trajectory and wander off course. The slightest deviation would, of course, cause them to go hurtling off in space forever, and miss the moon entirely. To correct the deviation, scientists installed receivers in the rockets. From Cal‑Tech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a message would be radioed through space to the missile. The receiver aboard the spacecraft would translate the message, causing the great retro-rockets to fire for a precise number of seconds to correct the course of the space missile gone astray.
In one of his plays, William Shakespeare wrote, "There is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them how we will." What the great poet of England was saying is that the hand of God guides us, and, at times, His guidance overrides the human will.
Michael Fortino is a time-management specialist. He is one of those capable individuals who analyzes businesses and tells management how to be more productive and efficient, but Fortino has changed his mind about some things. In the 1980s the personal computer was born. Now we have the Internet, e-mail, cell phones, instant messaging. What we thought would be labor saving devices end up eating up more and more of our time.
To be honest with you, it’s almost a bit scary staring another year in the face. Looking back, we think, “What happened to the good intentions and resolutions we made a year ago—ones which we have not only failed in attaining but can’t even remember what they were?”
Suppose you had awakened at the stroke of 12:01 a.m. on January 1, and there, standing before you, was an individual in shining clothing which you immediately recognized as an angel, and you then heard these words: “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged” (Deuteronomy 31:8). Would you be afraid to tackle the New Year?
You will never have to convince Josh Dennis that angels are real. He learned that fact, first-hand. It all started when he got separated from the Boy Scouts that were exploring Hidden Treasure Mine. When he got lost, people expected that he would be found in a matter of hours. But long hours soon turned into days. What rescuers had not counted on was the treachery of the drop-offs and the hidden pockets of darkness with floors of deep water.
The headlines of the newspaper read, "GUNSHOT BLAST KILLS HEMINGWAY!" It was dated Monday, July 3, 1961. One of my literary heroes lay dead of a self-inflicted wound, bringing his life to a tragic end. Hemingway was a man's man. I admired his style of writing, and I admit I was rather fascinated by the way he seemed to stare life in the face and go after it. He wrote about wars, bullfighting, big game hunting, physical adventure as man was pitted against his environment--things that were of interest to a young man in his mid-20s.
In a tribal area in Northern Luzon in the Philippines, a witch doctor sprinkles chicken blood on the door posts of a new house and chants a prayer asking that the spirits bless the residents. In Yangon merchants step out of their sandals and walk barefooted up the steps to the great Shedagon Pagoda and sit in contemplation before a golden Buddha. Half-way around the world, families fill parking lots, then with Bibles under their arms stream into churches looking more like modern shopping centers than traditional ones with spires and organs. While their paths to God may be as divergent as the distance between the three groups I mentioned, all of them, right or wrong, are reaching out to God as they conceive him to be.
It’s an old story but one worth repeating. A man rushed into the railroad station and breathlessly asked, “When does the 8:01 leave?” “At 8:01,” replied the railroad clerk, not bothering to look up from his newspaper. “Well,” said the man, “it’s only 7:55 by my watch,” but, somewhat worried, added, “it’s 8:04 by the station clock. Which one should I go by?” Sardonically the railroad clerk replied, “You can go by any clock you wish, but you won’t be going on the 8:01 because it has already left.”
Christmas is over, at least it is for most of you. However, in some places such as in Russia, Christmas is observed in early January. But no matter when you celebrate Christmas, there comes a time when it is over; and when it is over, it is over.
For a few well-deserved minutes, sit back and relax, and ponder how different things might have been if Jesus Christ had been born in today's world instead of the first century Palestine. Naturally, any event today of even minimal importance is a media happening; and who would deny that the best way to get sensational coverage is to claim something is supernatural, out of the ordinary, perhaps even bizarre, and what would be more "news worthy" than the allegation that God has actually become man, to say nothing of the interesting angle that a baby is born without a human father.
It has now been documented. Research polls indicate that Christmas is more popular than Easter. Surprised? It seems to me that a lot of research only certifies the obvious. That’s like asking people whether they prefer going to a baby dedication or christening, or a funeral. Of course, Christmas is more popular. And why not?
The month of December and depression seem to go together! Ask any counselor, any pastor, anyone who has staffed a suicide hot line, and they will tell you that the number of people fighting depression accelerates during the month of December. "It's the weather," some say. "No, it's too much alcohol at the Christmas party," another chirps in. But I suspect that it is something deeper than the weather or the amount of alcohol which is consumed--both of which undoubtedly contribute to the problem.
Annoyed by the fact that his company had to be closed for Christmas and Easter, a certain man who was an atheist was complaining that Christians seem to have all the holidays. He mentioned Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Good Friday and All Saints Day, adding, “We who are atheists have no holidays at all.” “Oh, yes you do,” rebutted a friend, “April Fool’s Day.”
There is a difference between expressing thanks for something and being genuinely grateful for it. For example, let's suppose you are a craftsman and you agree to do a certain amount of work for so much money, and you fulfill your obligation. The work is done within the prescribed period of time and you do it well. When you fulfill your contract you are paid. Common courtesy demands that you respond, saying, "Thank you!" as you pick up the check in the brown manila envelope and take your tools home.
The air was hot and heavy as the temperature and the humidity hovered around the 100° mark. A young politician, longer on rhetoric than good sense, droned on and on, wiping beads of perspiration from his forehead as he jabbed the air with his handkerchief to accent his point.
Amy Carmichael, a missionary leader in India, said that her mission--the Dohnavur Fellowship--had a rule for conversation: "The absent one must be safe among us." That was her way of reminding people that to talk about another person in a derogatory or degrading way in their absence when we would never say the same thing in their presence takes unfair advantage of the person. "The absent one must be safe among us..."
You never know what to expect when a child opens his mouth! He may embarrass you; he may amuse you; or he may say something that reveals wisdom beyond his years.
How far will an individual go just to get someone to listen? Take for example the man who robbed a bank near our office. He had no sooner asked for the money, which was placed in a brown paper bag, then he sat down on the floor and started to cry; and he kept on crying until the police arrived. You see, he has two children who needed physical help, and he was willing to go to prison for someone to hear his furtive cry for help.
"Dear Dr. Sala," writes a listener, "I'm 26 years of age, and at this point in my life, I have such an empty feeling. I'm a member of a Baptist Church (which I haven't been to for at least a month). I'm trying to reach for something but I don't know what!! I'm spiritually weak. Is there a time in our lives when we become stumped--you don't know which way to go? If you are able to answer these questions, please reply."
When he went to war in 1941, his brother told him, "Be strong!" And for 30 years, Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier, was strong! He refused to quit fighting. Even when the war was over, he kept on hiding, running, sabotaging the enemy, striving to be as strong as was humanly possible.
Frank Mihalic tells of a man with a deeply infected tropical ulcer who, hobbling on crutches, came to the local clinic asking for help. A nursing sister looked at the open wound, infected and enlarged with redness that reflected poison that could take his leg, or possibly his life. What should she do? Medicines were sparse but she also knew that his condition was serious.
After I had spoken in a church, I was standing at the door talking with people when a guest approached me. "I suppose you are one of those people who believe God sends people to hell!" the person somewhat sarcastically directed to me. "No," I said somewhat matter-of-factly, "I don't believe God sends people to hell at all," pausing for this to register and then added, "I think we send ourselves there when we refuse the life God offers us, the One who sent His son to save us from such a place."
It's a fact: There is little agreement among people, scholars, or religious groups as to what hell is like. Some think of it as literal place of torment. Others conceive it in terms of unpleasantness in the present. Still others think of it as simply ceasing to exist, separated from goodness and certainly God.
When he was asked his thoughts on death, comedian Woody Allen said, "I am not afraid of dying--I just don't want to be there when it happens." Allen isn't alone. A century before him, Mark Twain is reported to have said that he wished he knew where he was going to die because he would never go near the place.
I was invited to speak at a school in Russia in a place where I’d never been before and I was immediately confronted with two questions: Where is this place? And how do I get there?
American poet Edgar Albert Guest wrote, "It takes a heap of livin' to make a house a home." That's another way of saying there is a tremendous difference between a house and a home. You may have visited some of the mansions of the great such as Buckingham Palace in London, or Holyrood House in Edinburgh, or Hearst Castle in Northern California. They are interesting to look at, and we are fascinated by those who live in them, but the average person would say, "No thanks! I'd prefer where I live right now." Why? Most mansions and castles are not very user-friendly.
If you were to describe the most beautiful place in the world, what would you select? The Dolomites in Italy or the Swiss Alps? Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia, a garden of incredible beauty? Perhaps you would describe a beach in the Philippines, or the peak of a sunset over rolling fields of grain. James Michener described the South Sea island of Bora Bora as the most beautiful place in the world. To single out the most beautiful place in the world would be tough, right?
When I travel overseas, going to a place I've never visited, I'm always curious. I want to know what it's like, what people wear there, what we are going to do when we get there, what's the weather like, what are the customs and what are people like who live there. There are only two ways to find out: read the travel books, look it up online, or talk to someone who has been there.
"Let not your heart be troubled," said Jesus in the Upper Room at the Feast of the Passover, "ye believe in God, believe also in me" (John 14:6, KJV). When Jesus spoke those words, there were plenty of reasons for His followers to be worried and troubled. He had just taken a basin and washed the feet of the disciples, telling them that there was a traitor in their midst who would betray Him. As He took the cup to share the Passover meal, Satan entered into the heart of Judas, who would sell Christ for 30 pieces of silver.
"Let not your heart be troubled," said Jesus in the Upper Room at the Feast of the Passover, "ye believe in God, believe also in me" (John 14:6, KJV). When Jesus spoke those words, there were plenty of reasons for His followers to be worried and troubled. He had just taken a basin and washed the feet of the disciples, telling them that there was a traitor in their midst who would betray Him. As He took the cup to share the Passover meal, Satan entered into the heart of Judas, who would sell Christ for 30 pieces of silver.
The woman died all alone at the age of 71. Because she had not seen a physician recently, the coroner was called to determine the cause of her death. “Malnutrition,” was the verdict. The little lady’s weight was only 50 pounds. Neighbors said that she had begged food from them, sometimes going door to door. The local outlet of the Salvation Army knew her. That’s where she had bought her clothes—all second-hand, of course.
"Why should we be concerned about poverty in Africa or the plight of the homeless? We didn't cause the problems that confront people there, so why should we give?" challenged one person who seemed to feel that what happens somewhere else in the world should be left to someone else to solve.
Have you ever had the experience of feeling that you are the "odd person out?" You have to attend a professional meeting or something you feel you should attend but would prefer to skip it. But you can't. You have to attend. Others stand around talking, laughing, and conversing, but you stand in the back of the room alone and intimidated, looking for the exit, thinking only about getting out. What you really want to do is escape, and as fast as possible.
When you are only five feet three, and someone who is six feet five towers over you, you quickly learn what intimidation is, especially when the giant leans over you and threatens you. We'd much prefer enemies about our own size, giving us an equal chance; but of course, life isn't always fair.
A Sunday school teacher, trying to impress the boys in her class, told the story of David and Goliath. In the class was one boy with an attitude. He thought he was pretty tough himself, so the teacher stressed how big Goliath was, picturing him as so big and tall that he would have dwarfed Yao Ming, the seven-foot five giant of a basketball player—China's import to the Houston Rockets at the time.
A senior citizen, eyeing a parking spot that had just been vacated at a mall, was slowly backing up his aging luxury car, to get room to maneuver into the spot when a teenager in a small, red sportscar came from the other direction and zipped into the spot. Jumping over the side of his little car, the youth called out, "That's 'cause I'm young and fast." The old man revved up his engine and plowed ahead—straight into the little sportscar folding it up like an accordion. Then, turning to the horror-stricken youth, he said, "That's 'cause I'm old and rich."
Haste is the parent of nine-tenths of our mistakes! Do you believe that? If you question that fact, think back on some of the wrong turns in life which you took, decisions that you made without thinking through the consequences. Those panic-driven decisions are the choices which we live to deeply regret.
Doug Nichols describes it as "what seminary can't teach." It's one of the lessons learned in the school of experience which is otherwise described as "the school of hard knocks." In 1967, Doug, who founded a Christian ministry known as Action International Ministries, was serving as a missionary in India. When he contracted tuberculosis, he was eventually sent to a sanitarium to recuperate.
John Redman tells the story of a farmer who came to town and asked the chef of a new French restaurant if he could use about a million frog legs. "Oui!" he responded enthusiastically, but he quickly asked, "Where in the world would you find so many frogs?" "I have a pond at home that is filled with them," replied the farmer, adding, "they drive me crazy night and day."
"Nobody knows the trouble I've seen," begins an old song, but today the words might be more accurate: "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen. Nobody knows but my best friend, my neighbor, my mother, my dentist, and some woman I sat next to on the bus yesterday."
The distinguished French painter Pierre Auguste Renoir was afflicted with arthritis that gradually crippled his hands. Little by little his hands became gnarled and twisted, and it became increasingly painful to just hold a brush. Anyone who has been strong and then has had pain begin to cripple him can relate to what Renoir went through, but Renoir's pain didn't go away with a few aspirin. Eventually holding a brush became a painful challenge. At last, the arthritis put him in a wheelchair and the easel had to be lowered for him to even reach it.
Have you as a parent ever felt like giving up on a teenager when he turned his back to you and God and went the route of the Prodigal? Then today's devotional is just for you. Is it possible for a parent to separate behavior from acceptance? Not only is it possible, it is absolutely necessary. Sooner or later almost every parent has to say, "Look, kid, I love you, but what you are doing isn't ok. You reject the behavior, not the person.
"There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer; no disease that enough love will not heal; no door that enough love will not open; no gulf that enough love will not bridge; no wall that enough love will not throw down; no sin that enough love will not redeem. It makes no difference how deeply seated may be the trouble, how hopeless the outlook, how muddled the tangle, how great the mistake, a sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all...If only you could love enough, you would be the happiest and most powerful being in the world..." so wrote poet Emmett Fox as he described the power of love. Yet his words contain a fatal flaw, "if only you could love enough..."
Florence Allshorn was a missionary sent to Uganda by the Church Missionary Society long before the advent of jets that span oceans and continents before the sun rises and sets. A number of missionaries had been there before Florence, but all of them had given up and come back home. The problem wasn't the climate or the cockroaches. Neither was it the headhunters or unfriendly natives to whom missionaries, especially female ones, were quite a novelty. The real problem was the senior missionary who was a strong-willed woman with a will of iron who had single-handedly stopped the plague by burning down entire villages.
An amazing thing about the human body is that it tends to reject anything that is foreign to it. Take a splinter, for instance, which has worked its way under your skin as a thorn did my thumb when I was pruning my roses. Unable to dig it out with a needle, I said to myself, "I'll just let nature take care of it," and sure enough, it was sore for a few days and then the surface around the thorn toughened as the flesh began to isolate the foreign object. In a few days, the thorn worked to the surface where I could get it with tweezers.
One of the marks of affluence in Russia today is the vast network of hastily constructed metal storage sheds which look like corrugated matchboxes just large enough to hold a car or protect building materials from greedy eyes. With no windows and a large padlock, these storage sheds become a virtual prison for anyone unfortunate enough to be inside when the door closes.
Item #1: A busload of Korean mourners gathers at the spot where the giant 747 crashed. They sprinkle flowers on the barren, desolate ground and offer prayers. Item #2: A father kneels by the grave of his 21-year-old son and cries, "I never got to tell you how proud of you I have been and how much I really loved you." Item #3: The family of a young woman whose daughter was abducted as she drove home late one night wants to watch the grim execution of the alleged murderer.
When a certain businessman bought an Italian sports car known as a Lamborghini, he phoned the local parish priest and asked him if he would bless the new vehicle, which was no small investment. Hesitatingly the priest asked, "Just what is a Lamborghini?" That was it! "Well, if you don't know what one is, I don't think your blessing would amount to much," the man replied, and hung up. Then he called a Baptist preacher and asked him if he would bless the sports car. The pastor immediately responded: "A Lamborghini? Wow! That's great. Zero to 60 in 5.3 seconds. Best engineered sports car in the world." Then he hesitated and said, "You want me to bless it? What's a blessing?"
When a certain businessman bought an Italian sports car known as a Lamborghini, he phoned the local parish priest and asked him if he would bless the new vehicle, which was no small investment. Hesitatingly the priest asked, "Just what is a Lamborghini?" That was it! "Well, if you don't know what one is, I don't think your blessing would amount to much," the man replied, and hung up. Then he called a Baptist preacher and asked him if he would bless the sports car. The pastor immediately responded: "A Lamborghini? Wow! That's great. Zero to 60 in 5.3 seconds. Best engineered sports car in the world." Then he hesitated and said, "You want me to bless it? What's a blessing?"
Business journals and MBAs are convinced that strategic planning is important, a vital key to success; and no thinking person would deny the importance of knowing where you want to go and having a plan to get there. But for the business person who takes the promises of God's Word at face value and is serious about making God his senior partner, is business success simply a matter of finding out what the need is and how you can fill it? Where does the leadership of the Holy Spirit fit into the equation of success?
Business journals and MBAs are convinced that strategic planning is important, a vital key to success; and no thinking person would deny the importance of knowing where you want to go and having a plan to get there. But for the business person who takes the promises of God's Word at face value and is serious about making God his senior partner, is business success simply a matter of finding out what the need is and how you can fill it? Where does the leadership of the Holy Spirit fit into the equation of success?
Years ago, an immigrant succeeded the hard way. He worked long hours, made the customer feel important, and was sensitive to the needs of those who came to his shop. All of his hard labor paid off, and determining to give his son more than he had, he saved and sent the youth off to college.
Years ago, an immigrant succeeded the hard way. He worked long hours, made the customer feel important, and was sensitive to the needs of those who came to his shop. All of his hard labor paid off, and determining to give his son more than he had, he saved and sent the youth off to college.
Amy Carmichael called it the "age-long minute," the period of time between when you pray, asking God to undertake, and the moment when His strong arm moves on your behalf. The "age-long minute!"
Amy Carmichael called it the "age-long minute," the period of time between when you pray, asking God to undertake, and the moment when His strong arm moves on your behalf. The "age-long minute!"
"Ever since our mother died, my sister won't talk about it. It seems that she wants to just seal that part of her life off and pretend it didn't happen," confided a friend, wondering what he could do to help his sister.
"Ever since our mother died, my sister won't talk about it. It seems that she wants to just seal that part of her life off and pretend it didn't happen," confided a friend, wondering what he could do to help his sister.
Frustration is no stranger to the child of God. Believers live in a world of broken pieces, and buses that are late, and budgets which will not balance, just the same as the man who is an atheist. Let's go back to the source of much of our frustration--goals that are not reached, accomplishments that are not realized, and expectations that are not met. The result: frustration.
Frustration is no stranger to the child of God. Believers live in a world of broken pieces, and buses that are late, and budgets which will not balance, just the same as the man who is an atheist. Let's go back to the source of much of our frustration--goals that are not reached, accomplishments that are not realized, and expectations that are not met. The result: frustration.
Andrew Murray had a philosophy of life which enabled him to go through periods of difficulty. In the flyleaf of an old Bible of mine is a clipping quoting Murray, who wrote, "In times of trouble, God's trusting child may say, FIRST: He brought me here; it is by His will I am in this strait [difficult] place: in that will I rest. NEXT: He will keep me here in His love, and give me grace in this trial to behave as His child. THEN: He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me the lessons He intends me to learn, and working in me the grace He means to bestow. LAST: In His good time He can bring me out again--how and when, He knows. SAY: I am here-- (1) By God's appointment, (2) In His keeping, (3) Under His training, (4) For His time."
Andrew Murray had a philosophy of life which enabled him to go through periods of difficulty. In the flyleaf of an old Bible of mine is a clipping quoting Murray, who wrote, "In times of trouble, God's trusting child may say, FIRST: He brought me here; it is by His will I am in this strait [difficult] place: in that will I rest. NEXT: He will keep me here in His love, and give me grace in this trial to behave as His child. THEN: He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me the lessons He intends me to learn, and working in me the grace He means to bestow. LAST: In His good time He can bring me out again--how and when, He knows. SAY: I am here-- (1) By God's appointment, (2) In His keeping, (3) Under His training, (4) For His time."
"Dear Mr. Sala, I need help! I am 34 years old, and I have not accomplished or feel that I am accomplishing any of my goals. I attend college in the evenings. I have done very well in bringing up my grade standards, but I seem to come in contact with situations that I cannot control or have the faith to overcome. That is why I am writing. I am faithless. I thought I really believed in God, but I do not. I don't even believe in myself. I have listened to your Guidelines. Can you please send me help or suggest help that is real?" Signed, "With great frustration…" Can you relate to that letter? You bet you can!
"Dear Mr. Sala, I need help! I am 34 years old, and I have not accomplished or feel that I am accomplishing any of my goals. I attend college in the evenings. I have done very well in bringing up my grade standards, but I seem to come in contact with situations that I cannot control or have the faith to overcome. That is why I am writing. I am faithless. I thought I really believed in God, but I do not. I don't even believe in myself. I have listened to your Guidelines. Can you please send me help or suggest help that is real?" Signed, "With great frustration…" Can you relate to that letter? You bet you can!
"I can't love people in slices," says King Arthur in Camelot, "I take the good with the bad." Maybe that's why King Arthur presided successfully over a vast array of knights and we seem to preside over the dissolution of relationships gone bad. Can we love people in slices, choosing what we like, rejecting what we dislike? There's a problem with that philosophy—nobody, myself included, is completely lovable. In every person there is a diversity of attitudes, habits, and mannerisms—some of which are wonderful, and some of which must surely be annoying to the most holy saints.
"I can't love people in slices," says King Arthur in Camelot, "I take the good with the bad." Maybe that's why King Arthur presided successfully over a vast array of knights and we seem to preside over the dissolution of relationships gone bad. Can we love people in slices, choosing what we like, rejecting what we dislike? There's a problem with that philosophy—nobody, myself included, is completely lovable. In every person there is a diversity of attitudes, habits, and mannerisms—some of which are wonderful, and some of which must surely be annoying to the most holy saints.
When British rock star Liam Gallagher's father took a hammer and struck his mother, he blamed God. "I stopped believing in God because of what happened to me," he said, explaining that he and his mother and two brothers were forced to move into an apartment and start another life.
When British rock star Liam Gallagher's father took a hammer and struck his mother, he blamed God. "I stopped believing in God because of what happened to me," he said, explaining that he and his mother and two brothers were forced to move into an apartment and start another life.
Peter Sedore got a hole-in-one at the Panorama Village Golf Course where he often played. It wasn't his first, either. Actually, it was his eighteenth career hole-in-one, something which golfers recognize isn't an everyday occurrence by a long shot. Neither did Peter, age 83, realize it would be his last hole-in-one, either. One hole later, he collapsed from an aneurysm in his brain, and was pronounced dead upon arrival at a local hospital. "There was no other way he would have wanted it," said Sedore's son, Dennis, adding, "Maybe God wanted him to do it one more time before taking him."
Peter Sedore got a hole-in-one at the Panorama Village Golf Course where he often played. It wasn't his first, either. Actually, it was his eighteenth career hole-in-one, something which golfers recognize isn't an everyday occurrence by a long shot. Neither did Peter, age 83, realize it would be his last hole-in-one, either. One hole later, he collapsed from an aneurysm in his brain, and was pronounced dead upon arrival at a local hospital. "There was no other way he would have wanted it," said Sedore's son, Dennis, adding, "Maybe God wanted him to do it one more time before taking him."
“Are the Bible’s Stories True?” asks a Time article. “Was Abraham a myth? Did the Exodus happen? Did Joshua conquer the city of Jericho? Was there a Moses?” ask segments of the article. Typical of so many secular articles focusing on archaeology and biblical history, the author cites recent archaeological finds but leaves the reader with the impression that until science documents events in the Old Testament, this book had better be left in the category of religious myth. Statements such as “There is no direct evidence, other than the Bible, to suggest that Abraham’s exploits… ever happened.” And Abraham is not the only person whose historicity is questioned. Unless there is undeniable confirming evidence from archaeology, some theologians and scientists refuse to accept any part of the Bible as history.
“Are the Bible’s Stories True?” asks a Time article. “Was Abraham a myth? Did the Exodus happen? Did Joshua conquer the city of Jericho? Was there a Moses?” ask segments of the article. Typical of so many secular articles focusing on archaeology and biblical history, the author cites recent archaeological finds but leaves the reader with the impression that until science documents events in the Old Testament, this book had better be left in the category of religious myth. Statements such as “There is no direct evidence, other than the Bible, to suggest that Abraham’s exploits… ever happened.” And Abraham is not the only person whose historicity is questioned. Unless there is undeniable confirming evidence from archaeology, some theologians and scientists refuse to accept any part of the Bible as history.
"I'm an atheist; I don't need any religion to help me," were the words of a young pilot as he brushed off the chaplain's invitation to attend chapel. The chaplain, however, held more than a half-dozen degrees including several from Oxford. Not to be turned aside so easily, J. Edwin Orr asked, "Could I ask you a couple of questions?" Thinking this would be easy, the pilot said, "Sure, go ahead and shoot."
"I'm an atheist; I don't need any religion to help me," were the words of a young pilot as he brushed off the chaplain's invitation to attend chapel. The chaplain, however, held more than a half-dozen degrees including several from Oxford. Not to be turned aside so easily, J. Edwin Orr asked, "Could I ask you a couple of questions?" Thinking this would be easy, the pilot said, "Sure, go ahead and shoot."
John always reads the obituaries—so he says--and then, not finding his name listed among the deceased, decides he is still alive and well, therefore, has to get up and go to work. Right!
John always reads the obituaries—so he says--and then, not finding his name listed among the deceased, decides he is still alive and well, therefore, has to get up and go to work. Right!
When the Swiss Air flight went down off the coast of Newfoundland, the black box on the plane indicated that sixteen minutes elapsed from the time the pilot first recognized the plane was in trouble until the fatal crash. Sixteen minutes—one minute more than a quarter of an hour. Sixteen minutes to make peace with God.
When the Swiss Air flight went down off the coast of Newfoundland, the black box on the plane indicated that sixteen minutes elapsed from the time the pilot first recognized the plane was in trouble until the fatal crash. Sixteen minutes—one minute more than a quarter of an hour. Sixteen minutes to make peace with God.
A certain pastor was spending far too much time with a staff member in his church, and the man was honest enough to admit that he was attracted to her and considering leaving his wife and family for the other woman. A doctor friend, who was distantly related to the pastor, confronted him over the issue. "How can you do this?" she challenged, adding, "You know that what you are doing is wrong."
A certain pastor was spending far too much time with a staff member in his church, and the man was honest enough to admit that he was attracted to her and considering leaving his wife and family for the other woman. A doctor friend, who was distantly related to the pastor, confronted him over the issue. "How can you do this?" she challenged, adding, "You know that what you are doing is wrong."
It’s an old story but one worth repeating. A young man who is being promoted goes in to talk to the CEO, who has been with the company for many years. “What is the secret of your success?” he asks the old gentleman, who replies, “Making good decisions.” “Yes,” answers the young man, “but how did you learn to do this?” This time his answer was one word. “Experience,” he replies. “I understand that, sir,” replies the young man, “but I haven’t had the advantage of many years of experience as you have. How do I gain the wisdom of your experience?” “By making bad decisions.” Well, so much for experience.
It’s an old story but one worth repeating. A young man who is being promoted goes in to talk to the CEO, who has been with the company for many years. “What is the secret of your success?” he asks the old gentleman, who replies, “Making good decisions.” “Yes,” answers the young man, “but how did you learn to do this?” This time his answer was one word. “Experience,” he replies. “I understand that, sir,” replies the young man, “but I haven’t had the advantage of many years of experience as you have. How do I gain the wisdom of your experience?” “By making bad decisions.” Well, so much for experience.
An old legend tells of a farmer who had a beautiful daughter who was courted by a variety of young men, all wanting to marry her. So, the farmer promised the hand of his daughter in marriage to the young man who could walk through his field of corn, never backtracking, and select the largest, most perfect ear of corn in the entire field. And did it work? No, the beautiful daughter, so goes the myth, ended up unmarried. Here's why.
An old legend tells of a farmer who had a beautiful daughter who was courted by a variety of young men, all wanting to marry her. So, the farmer promised the hand of his daughter in marriage to the young man who could walk through his field of corn, never backtracking, and select the largest, most perfect ear of corn in the entire field. And did it work? No, the beautiful daughter, so goes the myth, ended up unmarried. Here's why.
A college professor was striving to motivate his students to make quick evaluations followed by good decisions. To illustrate a point, he calls on a student who drove a truck in his spare time and asked him to respond to this situation. "You are a truck driver with a fully loaded semi-truck coming down a steep decline. On your right is a 500-foot drop off with no guardrail. On the left side of the road is a mountain bluff. A few hundred yards distant is another truck. Suddenly, a passenger car attempts to overtake the truck coming toward you. Quickly you step on your brakes and your foot goes to the floor. No brakes at all. You have three seconds to make a decision. What will you do?"
A college professor was striving to motivate his students to make quick evaluations followed by good decisions. To illustrate a point, he calls on a student who drove a truck in his spare time and asked him to respond to this situation. "You are a truck driver with a fully loaded semi-truck coming down a steep decline. On your right is a 500-foot drop off with no guardrail. On the left side of the road is a mountain bluff. A few hundred yards distant is another truck. Suddenly, a passenger car attempts to overtake the truck coming toward you. Quickly you step on your brakes and your foot goes to the floor. No brakes at all. You have three seconds to make a decision. What will you do?"
"Hope," said Thales, the Greek founder of philosophy, "is the most universal thing in the world, for hope stays with those who have nothing else."
"Hope," said Thales, the Greek founder of philosophy, "is the most universal thing in the world, for hope stays with those who have nothing else."
It happens every day in every major city of the world. A car is proceeding down the highway when another vehicle pulls directly into its path. There is the screech of tires as brakes are jammed on, but it is too late. The sickening thud is followed by the tearing of metal and the shattering of glass, punctuated with the screams of suffering. A broken, bruised body is pulled from the twisted wreckage, and soon an ambulance is racing towards the hospital with siren wailing and lights making eerie designs on the inside walls. The victim is unconscious and unaware of reaching the hospital; but upon his arrival a team of specialists go to work to save the life of the accident victim.
It happens every day in every major city of the world. A car is proceeding down the highway when another vehicle pulls directly into its path. There is the screech of tires as brakes are jammed on, but it is too late. The sickening thud is followed by the tearing of metal and the shattering of glass, punctuated with the screams of suffering. A broken, bruised body is pulled from the twisted wreckage, and soon an ambulance is racing towards the hospital with siren wailing and lights making eerie designs on the inside walls. The victim is unconscious and unaware of reaching the hospital; but upon his arrival a team of specialists go to work to save the life of the accident victim.
Ernest Hemingway, when confronted with despairing in his own personal life, took the path of least resistance, and took his own life. In my file is an anonymous quote where somebody wrote, "It takes more courage to be faithful in routine things than to risk one's life in a moment of spectacular danger." Do you believe that? Yes, it is one thing to dash into a burning building to snatch a child from the jaws of death, and it is another thing to stand by your sick wife month after month, or to face the routine of a job you don't particularly like.
Ernest Hemingway, when confronted with despairing in his own personal life, took the path of least resistance, and took his own life. In my file is an anonymous quote where somebody wrote, "It takes more courage to be faithful in routine things than to risk one's life in a moment of spectacular danger." Do you believe that? Yes, it is one thing to dash into a burning building to snatch a child from the jaws of death, and it is another thing to stand by your sick wife month after month, or to face the routine of a job you don't particularly like.
I often hear from frustrated, sometimes angry, sometimes confused people who ask a lot of variations of the same question: Where was God when trouble knocked at my door?
I often hear from frustrated, sometimes angry, sometimes confused people who ask a lot of variations of the same question: Where was God when trouble knocked at my door?
Whenever trouble knocks at the door of my life, I ask myself three question: 1) Is God trying to tell me something, and I've been too dense to hear His voice so now He's getting my attention? 2) Is the trouble the result of Satanic attack? or 3) Is this difficulty circumstantial--something that possibly I brought on myself, or may have happened simply because I got caught in the wake of a poor economy, or just happened to be in harm's way?
Whenever trouble knocks at the door of my life, I ask myself three question: 1) Is God trying to tell me something, and I've been too dense to hear His voice so now He's getting my attention? 2) Is the trouble the result of Satanic attack? or 3) Is this difficulty circumstantial--something that possibly I brought on myself, or may have happened simply because I got caught in the wake of a poor economy, or just happened to be in harm's way?
It's amazing what parents will do to see growth in their children. When a parent suddenly realizes that his or her child is significantly shorter than all the others in a given group, most parents start booking appointments with doctors and embark on a regimen of nutrition or medication. They don't want their youngster to be a "small fry!"
It's amazing what parents will do to see growth in their children. When a parent suddenly realizes that his or her child is significantly shorter than all the others in a given group, most parents start booking appointments with doctors and embark on a regimen of nutrition or medication. They don't want their youngster to be a "small fry!"
Rick Warren, a pastor who speaks to some 12,000 people every week, says that the question which people ask more than any other is, "Why did this happen to me?" Has that question ever come from your heart? A phone call in the night brought news that your best friend had been injured in an automobile accident. You were laid off at work, replaced by a younger person. The company that you thought was on the way up went south with your savings. Just when your husband retired and you thought you could enjoy life, a stroke changed everything.
Rick Warren, a pastor who speaks to some 12,000 people every week, says that the question which people ask more than any other is, "Why did this happen to me?" Has that question ever come from your heart? A phone call in the night brought news that your best friend had been injured in an automobile accident. You were laid off at work, replaced by a younger person. The company that you thought was on the way up went south with your savings. Just when your husband retired and you thought you could enjoy life, a stroke changed everything.
Living faster than ever before and enjoying it less? Millions of people are like that, living in a pressure cooker environment, packing more and more into less and less time, but liking it less every day. Whatever makes life worth living–the leisure walk through the woods, the time to sit and play with your baby, a candlelight meal with your husband, time to read and reflect–are all swallowed up by the monster of doing more and more in less time?
Living faster than ever before and enjoying it less? Millions of people are like that, living in a pressure cooker environment, packing more and more into less and less time, but liking it less every day. Whatever makes life worth living–the leisure walk through the woods, the time to sit and play with your baby, a candlelight meal with your husband, time to read and reflect–are all swallowed up by the monster of doing more and more in less time?
How you speak two words tells a great deal about your outlook on life--two very important words that are often spoken at the beginning of the day. Those two very revealing words are, "ANOTHER DAY." Think for a moment. When you awake in the morning and say, "Another day...," how do you say it? The inflection of your voice reveals a lot about your attitude.
How you speak two words tells a great deal about your outlook on life--two very important words that are often spoken at the beginning of the day. Those two very revealing words are, "ANOTHER DAY." Think for a moment. When you awake in the morning and say, "Another day...," how do you say it? The inflection of your voice reveals a lot about your attitude.
Do you remember when your friend made a bad choice, a wrong decision like walking out of a marriage, or quitting a job over a petty disagreement, or allowing a disagreement to break a long-time friendship? And you said, "That person isn't thinking straight!"
Do you remember when your friend made a bad choice, a wrong decision like walking out of a marriage, or quitting a job over a petty disagreement, or allowing a disagreement to break a long-time friendship? And you said, "That person isn't thinking straight!"
Have you ever had the experience of waking up in the morning and asking yourself, "How have I gotten to this place? What has happened to me? Where did I go wrong?" The realization that you were in the wrong place under the wrong set of circumstances hit you like a ton of bricks. You suddenly realized that you had missed the right turn a few miles back down the road of life. Now you are asking, "How do I get out of this mess? Or is there a way out at all?"
Have you ever had the experience of waking up in the morning and asking yourself, "How have I gotten to this place? What has happened to me? Where did I go wrong?" The realization that you were in the wrong place under the wrong set of circumstances hit you like a ton of bricks. You suddenly realized that you had missed the right turn a few miles back down the road of life. Now you are asking, "How do I get out of this mess? Or is there a way out at all?"
Only ten percent of all people really think. Seventy-five percent think they think, and fifteen percent would rather die than think. Do you believe that? I often close a program with the phrase, "Think about it!" Yet, quite often, we prefer not to think because when we really do think about something, we are confronted with the consequences of our actions which we prefer not to see.
Only ten percent of all people really think. Seventy-five percent think they think, and fifteen percent would rather die than think. Do you believe that? I often close a program with the phrase, "Think about it!" Yet, quite often, we prefer not to think because when we really do think about something, we are confronted with the consequences of our actions which we prefer not to see.
The human brain is an amazing creation. It has spawned the marvelous inventions of space and plummeted the depths of the biological kingdom. It has given birth to the space program, the marvelous advancements of medicine, the libraries of the world, the advancements of civilization, the remarkable achievements in the fields of science, history, anthropology, literature, social studies and a jillion things that neither time nor space allow me to mention. It has also produced the negative rationale behind two world wars and a host of lesser conflicts and the hideous reality of concentration camps, and has filled the prisons of the world because of man's failure to think through the consequences of his actions.
The human brain is an amazing creation. It has spawned the marvelous inventions of space and plummeted the depths of the biological kingdom. It has given birth to the space program, the marvelous advancements of medicine, the libraries of the world, the advancements of civilization, the remarkable achievements in the fields of science, history, anthropology, literature, social studies and a jillion things that neither time nor space allow me to mention. It has also produced the negative rationale behind two world wars and a host of lesser conflicts and the hideous reality of concentration camps, and has filled the prisons of the world because of man's failure to think through the consequences of his actions.
Some 3000 years ago the wise man—perhaps Solomon himself—said it so well: "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he." Simply put, you become what you think—negative or positive. Your thinking shapes your attitude, and your attitude is like the wood carver's tool that molds you into the image you become.
Some 3000 years ago the wise man—perhaps Solomon himself—said it so well: "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he." Simply put, you become what you think—negative or positive. Your thinking shapes your attitude, and your attitude is like the wood carver's tool that molds you into the image you become.
"How could God really love me if He let this happen to me?" If you have never said it, chances are you have thought it--at least for a fleeting moment, and perhaps that thought took root in your mind and the logic has become a real problem. In coping with the problem of circumstances which run counter to your belief in a good God who loves you, you may well have to disengage yourself from the broken relationship which stands as a barrier between you and God's love.
"How could God really love me if He let this happen to me?" If you have never said it, chances are you have thought it--at least for a fleeting moment, and perhaps that thought took root in your mind and the logic has become a real problem. In coping with the problem of circumstances which run counter to your belief in a good God who loves you, you may well have to disengage yourself from the broken relationship which stands as a barrier between you and God's love.
Afflictions come to us in all sizes and shapes. I am thinking of two individuals in particular--one of whom sustained brain damage in a sports injury and then faced a life-long physical impairment, and another who has grown bitter over the loss of a baby girl found dead in her crib. Both of them talk of God's love. The first speaks of it as a comfort and a strength; the other as an obstacle--"How could God really love us and allow this to happen?" In one case the injury drove him to God; in the other, it drove her away from God.
Afflictions come to us in all sizes and shapes. I am thinking of two individuals in particular--one of whom sustained brain damage in a sports injury and then faced a life-long physical impairment, and another who has grown bitter over the loss of a baby girl found dead in her crib. Both of them talk of God's love. The first speaks of it as a comfort and a strength; the other as an obstacle--"How could God really love us and allow this to happen?" In one case the injury drove him to God; in the other, it drove her away from God.
Have you ever doubted that God does love you? Have you ever faced circumstances that caused you to say, "How could God love me when He has allowed circumstances as these?" It may have been the death of your child, or a mate who deeply disappointed you, or something about which you prayed, and your prayer went unanswered—or so you thought. Possibly you did not verbalize it at all, but way down in your heart you just allowed those thoughts of, "How could this happen if God really loved me?" to reverberate in your soul.
Have you ever doubted that God does love you? Have you ever faced circumstances that caused you to say, "How could God love me when He has allowed circumstances as these?" It may have been the death of your child, or a mate who deeply disappointed you, or something about which you prayed, and your prayer went unanswered—or so you thought. Possibly you did not verbalize it at all, but way down in your heart you just allowed those thoughts of, "How could this happen if God really loved me?" to reverberate in your soul.
Have you discovered that when someone says, "God told me to do something," we think that either we are confronted with a deeply spiritual individual or someone who needs a psychiatrist?
Have you discovered that when someone says, "God told me to do something," we think that either we are confronted with a deeply spiritual individual or someone who needs a psychiatrist?
Have you ever had the experience of being somewhere away from the noise and din of the city, perhaps in the mountains somewhere, or in a desert; and as you sat and looked at the starry sky, you were amazed at the silence? It was quiet, right? Wrong! It wasn't quiet; it was just that you couldn't hear the sounds. Strange but true is the fact that the atmosphere around you is filled with a thousand voices, but you just aren't tuned to them. You can't pick them up. If someone asks you what kind of a device you're listening to, you would say, "Well...it's a radio." Or "I'm listening online over the internet." There are "voices"—sound waves, cellular and digital signals all around us!
Have you ever had the experience of being somewhere away from the noise and din of the city, perhaps in the mountains somewhere, or in a desert; and as you sat and looked at the starry sky, you were amazed at the silence? It was quiet, right? Wrong! It wasn't quiet; it was just that you couldn't hear the sounds. Strange but true is the fact that the atmosphere around you is filled with a thousand voices, but you just aren't tuned to them. You can't pick them up. If someone asks you what kind of a device you're listening to, you would say, "Well...it's a radio." Or "I'm listening online over the internet." There are "voices"—sound waves, cellular and digital signals all around us!
Back when the world's population was less than 250 million, a mere fraction of what it is today, the prophet Isaiah wrote, "Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!" (Isaiah 5:8, KJV). I wonder how he would feel today when skyscrapers puncture the skyline of almost every major city on earth, yet one of the ironic contradictions of our day is that there are more people alive today than have died since creation, and furthermore, there is more loneliness than ever before. Strange, isn't it? You would think that with more people, there would be less estrangement and loneliness. But it just does not work that way.
Back when the world's population was less than 250 million, a mere fraction of what it is today, the prophet Isaiah wrote, "Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!" (Isaiah 5:8, KJV). I wonder how he would feel today when skyscrapers puncture the skyline of almost every major city on earth, yet one of the ironic contradictions of our day is that there are more people alive today than have died since creation, and furthermore, there is more loneliness than ever before. Strange, isn't it? You would think that with more people, there would be less estrangement and loneliness. But it just does not work that way.
Alone! is the title of Admiral William Byrd's autobiography. It’s the story of his life as this celebrated explorer tells about his experience in a little hut in the Antarctic near the South Pole. Byrd tells how the isolation of seeing no other human being day after day began working on his mind and emotions as he spent the long winter alone, separated from friends and loved ones, even separated from friendly animals which might have offered some companionship or comfort. "Alone!" None would deny it, but a person does not have to spend a long arctic night in a little hut near the pole to know what it is to experience feelings of isolation and loneliness.
Alone! is the title of Admiral William Byrd's autobiography. It’s the story of his life as this celebrated explorer tells about his experience in a little hut in the Antarctic near the South Pole. Byrd tells how the isolation of seeing no other human being day after day began working on his mind and emotions as he spent the long winter alone, separated from friends and loved ones, even separated from friendly animals which might have offered some companionship or comfort. "Alone!" None would deny it, but a person does not have to spend a long arctic night in a little hut near the pole to know what it is to experience feelings of isolation and loneliness.
In the event that you are ready to lose faith in humanity, let me tell you about Jean Rosenstein and what happened to her. Mrs. Rosenstein sat down at a small table in her cramped, one‑bedroom apartment and painfully put her thoughts on paper. The arthritis in her fingers made the writing difficult and painful but she continued.
In the event that you are ready to lose faith in humanity, let me tell you about Jean Rosenstein and what happened to her. Mrs. Rosenstein sat down at a small table in her cramped, one‑bedroom apartment and painfully put her thoughts on paper. The arthritis in her fingers made the writing difficult and painful but she continued.
The composer Peter Tchaikovsky knew what loneliness is. He raised the shades on the window of his heart as he wrote in a minor key, "None but the lonely heart can feel my anguish..." There are more people today than ever before who know the anguish of the lonely heart. In spite of the fact that more people are alive right now than have ever died from the days of Adam and Eve to the present, there are also more lonely people than ever before. It takes more than masses of people to eliminate loneliness.
The composer Peter Tchaikovsky knew what loneliness is. He raised the shades on the window of his heart as he wrote in a minor key, "None but the lonely heart can feel my anguish..." There are more people today than ever before who know the anguish of the lonely heart. In spite of the fact that more people are alive right now than have ever died from the days of Adam and Eve to the present, there are also more lonely people than ever before. It takes more than masses of people to eliminate loneliness.
It is said, "Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty." Yes, and the worse malady mankind struggles with is on the rise. We are all becoming lonelier and social scientists say, it may be a result of replacing our flesh and blood relationships with the virtual "friendships" of social media. Replacing face to face relationships with Facebook friends or whatever, interacting with people that we may actually hardly know, real human social interaction has declined. In 1985, only 10 percent of Americans said they had no one with whom to discuss important matters, and 15 percent said they had only one such good friend. By 2004, 25 percent had nobody to talk to, and 20 percent had only one confidant.[1] Our relationships may stretch wider, but they are much more shallow. We can be reached 24/7 but our hearts are less touchable by another real person than ever before.
[1] http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/is-facebook-making-us-lonely/308930/. Accessed 5/16/16.
Robert Knowles thought that he knew the formula for conveying values to children. He told the press that he really believed a child would turn out just fine if the parents loved the child, spent plenty of time with him, involved him in wholesome activities, and helped him get a balanced education. Quote: "Suddenly after 17 years of dedicated effort, something happened to my fool-proof plan. I found I was the father of a murderer."
Dr. Karl Menninger, the often-quoted authority on mental illness, said, "Love is the medicine for our sick old world." Few would disagree! Yet it is one thing to love the masses of the world--say, for example, China with its 1.4 billion people, and another thing to love the Chinese family who owns the local hardware store. Soren Kierkegaard wisely points out the fact that there is nothing in the Bible about loving man in the mass--only clear commands about loving individuals.
How much is a human life really worth? Is the life of a youth worth more than that of an elderly person? Is the life of a peasant equal in value, say, to that of a youth who has a college degree and has his life before him? That question was debated in China, when an old peasant fell into a night-soil pit, and a twenty-four-year-old medical student, Zhang Hua, seeing his distress, waded into the pit to save the old man.
Long before the age of jet airplanes, the Internet, or digital television, theologian Arthur Pink wrote the following: "what man despises, God esteems; and what man admires, He abominates. The world is mad, and speed is one of the 'gods' which is now worshipped by the multitudes. And living as we yet are in the world; God's own people are infected with its evil spirit. Much need has each of us to beg the Lord to lay His cooling and calming hand upon the feverish 'flesh' in us. Rush, hurry, and hustle are the terms which best describe modern activities; but 'stand', 'sit', and 'wait' are words that have a prominent place in the Scriptures."
Do you ever get the feeling that if you could just get everything done, cross everything off of your "to do" list, return every phone call, make every meeting, and get everything done at home, that God would be very pleased with you? Would you, then, expect Him to sit back and say, "Good job!" much like you do when your son brings home a report card with straight A's on it?
That God answers prayer is seldom challenged—at least by those who believe the Bible. But the manner by which God answers never falls into neat categories or boxes. I'm thinking of the story which circulated on the internet about a poor woman who was desperately in need of food. Her neighbor, an affirmed atheist, knowing of her prayers decided that it would be great sport to buy a basket of food, put it on her porch, then ring the doorbell and hide. And this he did. But as soon as the poor woman saw the food, she began praising and thanking God for it.
At a street meeting that was held by a Salvation Army group, a young man who was a drummer in the band reflected on his past life and how it had changed. "Before I was converted," he said, "I used to drink a lot, but I don't drink anymore. Before I was converted, I used to swear a lot, but I don't swear anymore. Before I was converted, I used to womanize, but I don't do that anymore." Then, he added, "Since I was converted, about all I do is stand on this street corner and beat this old drum!"
When I was a youth growing up, there was a radio program called "Truth or Consequence!" What I most remember is that dishonesty always resulted in certain consequences.
I never cease to be amazed at the vast amounts of money spent on research which at times only certifies the obvious. Don't misunderstand me. Undoubtedly, there is value in proving scientifically what almost everybody already suspects.
"I was blessed with a wonderful mother," says David Moore, "[who] taught me how to pray for all things, great and small and then to trust Him to answer in the way that was best for me."
Have you found any real bargains lately? Found any good buys? A trait of human nature makes us all want to get something for a good price. Haven't you ever come home from a big sale with items you saved so much on, but really did not need? That dress that really did not fit, or that shirt with a collar an inch too big. Nearly everybody, when he or she is honest, will have to admit that he has something he does not need, or even did not really want, something that did not fit, but bought it anyway because it was a bargain. You, too? Welcome to the club. Why did you do it, anyway? Because it was a bargain? But have you really saved when it does not fit? We are all bargain hunters because of that tendency of human nature to want something for nothing.
Sometimes genius is slow coming to the surface. Think your youngster is a slow learner? It's possible he's just not interested in the trivial. The fact is that many of our most famous people showed no indications of being outstanding when they were young. To the contrary, many of them, like Thomas Edison, were actually considered slightly slower than their contemporaries. Two of the world's best loved humorists, Will Rogers and Mark Twain, showed little interest either in school or in humor in their early years. As a child, Albert Einstein was slow in learning to talk; then as a boy he was considered backward. Ignace Paderewski, the great Polish pianist, was in his late teen years before he showed any interest in learning to play the piano.
Richard Senac stumbled across the great need people have for someone to listen to them. No, he isn’t a counselor. He was a hospital nurse recruiter who found that getting people up in the morning was no small task, so he started a business called Roosters, named after the barnyard creature that crows about the time the sun rises. Roosters was a telephone calling service that would awaken you in the morning with a variety of several hundred different sounds, from a 21‑gun salute to fingernails scratching on a blackboard if your starter takes something a little more bizarre to get you going in the mornings. Roosters would also put you to sleep at night with a variety of sounds.
He was once a trusted friend, but something happened. His friendship became treachery, and the man who had been a companion, a family friend, and confidant became an enemy. Have you ever had that happen? Painful, isn't it? The person that you thought would have gone to the wall with you slowly begins to drift away. Your phone doesn’t ring. It’s a one-way friendship. When you call or drop by, you get the connection but it’s cold, routine, and your friend gives you the impression that he’s outgrown your friendship.
The man who sat in the office of psychologist Ed Fish was middle‑aged and quite successful. He began talking about his daughter's forthcoming marriage, but instead of looking forward to it, he dreaded it. Why? Because he did not like the man she was marrying? Not at all! He liked him. "I would really like to have somebody from the family at the wedding," he wistfully remarked.
The story is told about a certain mountain climber who slipped and fell off a cliff, but on the way down, he grabbed the roots of a tree and held on for dear life. Looking beneath him, he saw a sheer drop of several thousand feet. He yelled for help but none came. Finally, he cried out, "God, help me!" And then came a voice saying, "Just turn loose; I'll catch you," but looking around he didn't see anyone and not liking the alternatives called out again, "Anybody else up there?"
A certain couple were in deep water financially. They tried to borrow money from the bank, from a brother-in-law, from friends and acquaintances, but without success. Talking over their plight the wife said, "We've tried everything--there is nothing we can do but trust God!" "Oh, no!" exclaimed the husband, "Has it really come to that?"
Some call it revival. Others call it a spiritual renewal, but no matter what you call it, what the Church needs today is a great move of God's Spirit as He breaks the fallow ground of our hearts and brings conviction and cleansing in the body of Christ which results in His power being manifest in our lives.
The Miriam-Webster Dictionary attempts to define the word "revival" as "a period of renewed religious interest, an often highly emotional evangelistic meeting or series of meetings." It describes the popular understanding of the word--canvas tent, flamboyant evangelist who works the crowd for the offering and an orchestrated attempt to touch the emotions of people.
Pastor Thorleif Holm-Glad was walking through the empty sanctuary of Bethlehem Church in Oslo, Norway when the old caretaker of the church stopped him and soberly announced, "See these empty seats? This year there will be revival in this church!" The pastor was startled to say the least. Yes, he knew the church had empty seats and plenty of them. No, not during the week when people were working but during services when the empty seats should have been filled. He also knew the caretaker was a good man, not given to exaggeration.
In the dome of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington DC is an inscription which reads, "One far‑off event towards which all creation moves." A visitor, seeing the inscription, turned to a guide and asked, "What does that mean?" Hesitating for a moment the guide replied, "I think it refers to the second coming of Jesus Christ."
Mao Zedong, who died in 1976, began his Selected Works by asking two important questions: "Who are our enemies?" and "Who are our friends?" Mao was concerned not just with political entities that had to be faced, such as the United States and Russia. He was even more interested in ideologies that represented power.
It is called Syria today, but in ancient days it was known as Assyria. Historians often referred to the Assyrians as the Romans of ancient Asia. Their religion wasn't much different from that of the Babylonians whom they had displaced as the greatest power in the world. They believed in many gods who supposedly directed human destiny and controlled the earth, water, storms and fire. In their temples, they worshipped Nabu, the god of learning; Ishtar, the goddess of love and sex; and Niruta, the god of war. But most of all, they believed in their weapons, and they used them well.
If ever a man had reason to feel that God had let him down, that man was Hezekiah. "Hezekiah who?" you may be saying. Hezekiah, the king of Judah who ascended the throne of David about 726 B.C. If you're a bit rusty on Old Testament history, I'll brief you. Having replaced his father Ahaz, who had been a careless ruler, Hezekiah got his act together. He began a great reformation. He broke down the idols Ahaz had set up. He re-opened the temple, and restored the service of God. He even dipped into his own funds to provide for restoration and repairs.
There is always a story behind the story! Whether it is the National Geographic magazine or the Bible, you have to go beyond the headline. I'm thinking of a statement written long ago. It's found in the Old Testament book of Chronicles where we read: "After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah..." (2 Chronicles 32:1). What's the story behind the headline?
When she was 16 years of age, Elisabeth Elliot wrote in the back of her Bible the words of a prayer written by Betty Stam, who was martyred in China. The prayer read, "Lord, I give up all my own plans and purposes, all my own desires and hopes, and accept thy will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all, utterly to thee to be thine forever. Fill me and seal me with thy Holy Spirit, use me as thou wilt, send me where thou wilt, work out thy whole will in my life at any cost, now and forever."
Question: If you were tempted, is it possible that under certain circumstances, you might not be able to resist? It isn't a question of whether or not you could resist; it's simply that you know you possibly would not. At that moment, your brain would shut off and feelings would take over. You would not think about the fact what you would do could destroy your career, your marriage, your integrity. Under certain circumstances you just don't think; you act.
All he wanted to do was to burglarize the apartment he had broken into, so he told the court, but when he saw the sleeping victim who had shed most of her clothing on that warm summer evening, he said that he was unable to control himself. When he was arrested and brought to court, he explained that he was suffering from a thyroid illness which made him lose control of his passions; therefore, he argued, he was not responsible. The court, however, didn't buy that line of reasoning and found him guilty of both rape and burglary.
A Cambodian man was so infuriated when he came home and found his wife gone and no lunch on the table that he set fire to the family house and burned it to the ground. The 37-year-old husband told police that he wanted to teach his wife a lesson. The police, however, felt that he had some lessons to learn himself and detained him in the local jail where he was assured of regular meals.
Why God chooses to use some and not others who seemingly have far greater talents and abilities has never been completely clear to me. The fact is that God often uses individuals who have little in the natural to recommend them. I think of Gideon, who demanded a sign from God, and Barak the military leader who wouldn't face the enemy unless a woman went with him; Rahab, the prostitute, who was of the lineage of Jesus Christ. Include the twelve who were common fishermen, farmers, tax collectors and laborers, who walked with Jesus... along with St. Augustine, Mary Slessor, the Scottish lass who left such a mark on Africa in the nineteenth century, and on and on. But two common threads seem to be evident: Men and women who are used by God in some measure or capacity are people of simple faith, and have lives characterized by complete obedience.
Success, says the dictionary, is "the degree or measure of succeeding," or "the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence." It's the latter definition which is the one our kids embrace. Success is the shiny new car, the most sophisticated computer, the Rolex watch--or at least something stylish and better than the Timex variety. It often includes a beautiful girl on your arm, or a handsome guy who has the looks and the car to match.
It's a catch-22 situation, one where you can't win. That expression "catch-22" was made famous by a book by the same title, one that came out of the war experiences of Joseph Heller. Heller was flying over France in World War 2 when shrapnel hit his plane, a B-25 bomber. Up to that time, he had been pretty well fearless, but no longer. He wanted out.
Your doctor tells you, "Put your house in order; you're going to die." Then someone says, "Hold it! You've got fifteen years to go!" How would you feel? Elated! Joyful! Thrilled beyond words! Suddenly your life would take on new meaning. What you thought was important pales in comparison because you were alerted for the knock of the grim reaper, and suddenly the darkness gives way to the dawn of hope. Fifteen years is a long time.
How often have you heard the line, "He just couldn't say no!" or the feminine version of that, which is, "She knew better than that. That's not how she was raised!" What's the problem? Was it what the individual did, or the lack of discipline that brought confrontation with a situation which the person knew to be wrong?
When you don't in a world that generally does, you stand out like a sore thumb! In other words, when almost everybody cheats, and you don't, you are penalized. When almost everybody lies to get ahead, and you feel compelled to tell the truth, you are at a distinct disadvantage. When almost everybody uses company time for their own personal business or pleasure and you don't, you are thought strange or even stupid.
When Larry Krusinski left the hospital after a stay of almost one year, he went home to a woman he couldn't remember marrying but a woman who cared so deeply for him that he literally fell in love with her twice.
Can you relate to the following? A husband and a wife come together in marriage and celebrate their love. Nine months later a son is born. They name him Jezreel but call him Jesse for short. Don't think that children always bring you closer together. In many cases children put stress on a marriage, and that's what happened with this couple. The husband was preoccupied with his work and he and his wife began to drift.
Years ago, before videogames, smartphones and tablets, kids used to play "Let's pretend!" Perhaps you can remember back that far—fighting pirates in the Caribbean, riding wild horses or discovering buried treasure. For just a minute, let's pretend we can turn back the calendar nearly 2000 years and walk the streets of ancient Ephesus, one of the most beautiful cities in the Roman world.
When China opened its doors to foreigners in the late 1970s, I was among the first 7000 to be granted a visa to see the land described as a sleeping giant. For decades, Chinese friends had been denied what we take for granted--freedom of expression and, certainly, freedom of religion. The group I traveled with was international, with people from all over the world. At dinner, a fellow traveler from Britain told of a strange encounter with a youth on the street seeking a Bible.
When Henry Allan Ironside was just two years old, his father died of typhoid fever and left the family destitute. His mother was forced to take in sewing to provide for the two little boys who were left without a daddy. Money was always tight, but biographers tell about the occasion when there was nothing to eat. Henry’s mother, nonetheless, set the table and poured water. The two little boys and their mother sat down, and in spite of the fact there was no food on the table, they bowed their heads to give thanks to God for, at least, the water. But no sooner had they finished their prayer when a resounding knock at the door brought them to attention.
When a young Jewish intellectual was striving to discover who he really was, a friend said to him, "Do you know what we really need to learn today?" Art Katz thought, "Here's another one of these smart guys who thinks he has all the answers when he doesn't even understand the questions." But since he was riding in the friend’s car, he went along. "No, what do we really need?"
Is it possible that one of the reasons we see so little caring and compassion in the world is that we are overwhelmed with our sense of estrangement and searching? Not understanding who we are, self-fulfillment is an endless search instead of an anchor, and the end result is that life is a selfish, "me first" game that results in our wanting to win every round or insisting that everyone be first, provided it is first, after you.
Three individuals were talking about a mutual friend. One related how the friend had been struck by a car and had been killed. The second said, "No, you are wrong. That's not the way it happened at all." Explaining, he told how that the individual had been riding in a taxi, and the taxi had been involved in an accident. As the result the individual was injured and lost his life.
Two individuals both take an oath in court. They are asked, "Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God"? Both say, "I do!" Yet when the two take the witness stand, their stories contradict each other. Both cannot be telling the truth. One of them has to be lying, yet both seem to be sincere. Both have good reputations. Both speak convincingly. Which one is telling the truth? Tough issue, right? How can individuals lie so convincingly?
Have people lost the ability to care about other people because they are overwhelmed with personal needs? Have we become so concerned with our own welfare and importance that others don't count? Yes, and no! That we have become preoccupied with self today is without question, but the ability to care is by no means something lost in the press of life today.
He was in his late 40's; she was a bit younger. Married for 17 years, he was an account executive, and she was busily involved in social and church work. They had a near picture-book family: three normal kids, a lovely home and a beach cottage where they often spent weekends. They had finally reached the place in life where they weren't terribly concerned about money. Yet with so much, they had so little of real happiness.
"Dear Dr. Sala," wrote a friend of Guidelines, "Being raised in the Baptist denomination, I always heard that people who did not meet the biblical requirements of being saved would burn in a literal hell after death and this would be a continuous burning forever and ever. I still hear this in the church I attend today. But somehow, I can't seem to understand why God would create this so-called eternal barbeque pit. Once a person is dead and can no longer harm or hurt anyone, does God get some kind of revenge or satisfaction from seeing persons… suffer in burning anguish forever and ever?"
For just a few moments, let's suppose. Let's suppose that a certain judge in your city faces an indigent who was accused of a crime, and that this unfortunate individual had only a court-appointed attorney. Furthermore, the defendant has a surly disposition—the kind that, just by looking at the person, you "know" he committed the crime. Sure enough, in almost record time, the judge says, "Guilty!" as he slams down his gavel and pronounces a harsh sentence.
When you look at a piece of furniture and see the beautiful graining in the wood, you are aware that the variation of the graining is simply the polished surface of the whole. It is only the exterior that you see. When it comes to God, His essential attributes or characteristics are somewhat like the grain of a beautiful piece of wood with its intertwined veins, which blend together and glow with a deep radiance and beauty. When it comes to seeing God, we only see a very small part, yet because we are human and strive to understand God in terms of human relationships or behavior, we talk about his qualities which we call attributes.
In his book, God Works the Night Shift, Ron Mehl recalls the first game of the basketball season when his Bible school team played the smartest kids in the league, the Cal Tech squad. “Cal Tech may not have been the most talented basketball team in our league,” says Ron, adding, “but they were the smartest.”
In a chaotic world that is constantly changing, nothing can be more comforting than to know there is a God who never changes and to have a secure relationship with Him. Change always seems to be threatening to us—whether it is encountered by a child who graduates from elementary school where he has been the king of the hill and has to go to a school where older children intimidate the new arrivals, or the aged pensioner who has to leave the home where she has lived for 80 years to take up residence in a care facility.
Shortly before his death, A. W. Tozer wrote the following: “In this hour of all-but-universal darkness one cheering gleam appears: within the fold of conservative Christianity there are to be found increasing numbers of persons whose religious lives are marked by a growing hunger after God Himself. They are eager for spiritual realities and will not be put off with words, nor will they be content with correct ‘interpretations’ of truth. They are athirst for God, and they will not be satisfied till they have drunk deep at the Fountain of Living Water.”
It's an old story but one that bears repeating. A little girl was drawing a picture with bold strokes in bright colors when her teacher, viewing the work of art that had engrossed the child, said, "Tell me about your picture." The little girl responds, "I'm drawing a picture of God!"
In 1889, a dam broke on the South Fork Reservoir, some 12 miles east of Johnstown, Pennsylvania in a valley of the Allegheny Mountains. Raging waters surged down the valley and swept over the town, taking 25 lives and causing some $50 million in damages, a considerable amount for those days.
"Dear Dr. Sala," begins a letter from a very discouraged friend of Guidelines, who neither gave his full name nor an address. Jason tells about a broken home and the heartache he has experienced as his dreams and hopes fell apart. He says, "Many times before I left, I cried to God and begged him to save my marriage. What happened? Where was He? Why didn't he knock some sense into us?" He described his ordeal as a long valley through which he was walking and then, thinking about taking his life, asked, "How long are valleys supposed to last? Would you address the subject of suicide?"
One of the reasons we tend to worry is that life can quickly get out of control. Someone you care about, someone you love, isn't listening, isn't responding, or just doesn't get it. Say, for example, you are responsible for someone or something, and your best effort isn't enough. You can't walk away from the situation. Quitting isn't an option. It may be a teen, an aged parent who depends on you for help, or a family business which seems to be going the wrong way.
The most difficult time of your Christian experience is when the sky seems to fall in and your world comes apart. No, you don’t deserve it. No, you are not being punished. No, God hasn’t closed the door on you and shut off phone service, and certainly He hasn’t picked you out to see if you can withstand the punishment Job endured. But just the same, when you are hurting—whether it is from the loss of a baby or when you become a victim of pain and sorrow—you feel alone and often feel estranged from God.
"As long as the present is at war with the past," said Winston Churchill at the conclusion of World War 2, "there is no hope for the future!" The connection between the present and the past is something like the force of heredity. It's there, but it can't always get you where you want to go. Writing to the Philippians, Paul stressed the importance of forgetting the past and focusing on the future. He wrote, "Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14).
Home is the canvas on which you paint the memories of your life! It isn't how elaborate is the house in which you live that makes it home. It's who lives there and the love that turns a house into a home. Your house is built of steel and beams, but your home is built of love and dreams. When you live in a rented house, you hang pictures on the barren walls and try to make it as warm as possible, but you live with the reality that this house isn't going to be your home forever; it's temporary. Then you are able to put together enough money to make the down payment on a house. You buy it or you build it. This time it's different. You can paint the walls purple with yellow stripes; you can tear out the bath and replace it. You can redo the kitchen. It's yours. That house becomes your home.
Homes and mansions or castles are vastly different. Take for example, Hearst Castle with its marble statuaries mirrored in a reflecting pool; or the Vanderbilt Estate; Buckingham Palace, the home of British Royalty; Warrick Castle; and the Forbidden City in Beijing, the residence of Chinese Emperors. One of the most beautiful dwelling places in all the world would surely be Peterhof Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, with fountains spewing forth water in crystalline streams. Then contrast living there with what you call home. Would you trade the warmth of your fireplace or your favorite nook in the family room, for life in a palace or castle? It’s not even tempting to me, to say nothing of thinking about the cost of repairs or taxes, should you be given a palace.
The person who stands for nothing will fall for anything, so goes conventional wisdom, but the person who does stand for something--whether it is the refusal to cover for fellow employees who cheat on their time cards, or has the conviction to abide by what he or she believes is right--will soon discover that everybody doesn't appreciate that commitment to decency. It makes them squirm to have such a one in their midst. It's true that people do love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.
One of the lessons which we often learn too late is that it is not only hard to keep the peace but far more difficult to bring peace where there is none. "Blessed are the peacemakers," said Jesus, "for they will be called sons of God" (Matthew 5:9).
The head may be the center of the intellect, the control center of the human body, but it is the heart which has captured the interest of lovers and the fancy of poets because the real emotional issues of life come from the heart. Long ago, Jesus put this truth in focus when He said, “... out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34).
A certain woman whose vanity exceeded her looks had her picture taken by a local photographer, and when she went to view the proofs which had not been touched up to cover her flaws, she was noticeably disturbed. "These pictures do not do me justice," she angrily flung at the photographer. "Lady," he responded, "it isn't justice you need; it's mercy!" The fact is that we are all in need of mercy, and like the woman, think that we are in better condition than we really are.
Every person, no matter what his age or geographic location, has certain drives which are fundamental to existence. Among the strongest are the physical drives for food and water, but there are others, including a desire to know God, to know where we came from and what lies beyond our last breath here on earth.
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you want to do something badly and you are quite sure that no one will know if you do it? There is one catch--you know that you should not do it. It is against your better judgment and deep within your heart you feel that you should not. Then you think, "Nobody will know and besides just this one time won't count." That is the predicament of TEMPTATION and it is a dilemma as old as the human race. Way back in the Garden of Eden, man first faced temptation and yielded to it. From that day to the present, men and women, teens and children have battled temptation. It comes in all sizes and varieties-- there are as many different kinds of temptation as there are human predicaments.
Dr. William Glasser told about the time when he was preparing to give his son a bath. At that time the little boy was five years old. The Glassers had two tubs--a large one that would have allowed the little boy to kick and splash and a smaller one which had been used when he was little. The little boy asserted his rugged individualism--otherwise described as "stubborn independence"--and announced that he wanted his bath in the small tub even though he knew the larger tub was easier to fill.
"Our needs just were not being met," says the father of four, "so we dropped out of church." "He just is not meeting my needs," says a young wife to her best friend. "Dad" says a teenager, "I need a new pair of pants for the game next Saturday." "Heavenly Father," prays a businessman, "I need that deal I am working on. Please help me to get the contract rather than my competitor."
Centuries ago the writer of Scripture said, "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver" (Proverbs 25:11). That is an interesting phrase, "apples of gold in pictures of silver." Some think it referred to the lustrous beauty of the apricot amidst the bright foliage paled by the Palestinian sun. Others think that it referred to the beautiful craftsmanship of an apple of solid gold amidst the delicate setting of silver, and certainly, the proverb written in the days of the wealthy King Solomon could have meant just that. At any length, the writer is saying that the right word at the right time is indeed a beautiful thing.
Arnold Toynbee, a historian and critic of Western civilization, will long be remembered. Toynbee, who died at the age of 86, was born on April 14, 1889 into a family of distinguished scholars and philanthropists. Although he was best known for his twelve-volume A Study of History, which was written over a 34-year period, Toynbee was still vocal about a wide range of topics from sex to religion to the spread of cities.
When Jesus responded to the request of the disciples, to teach them to pray, one of the things which Jesus said we should pray for is: "Our daily bread."
A youth was speaking admirably of his father when he said, "When Dad's in trouble, he almost always prays." Many of us are like that. When we're facing danger, we are quick to call on the Almighty to get us out of a tough spot. Many of our prayers are filled with rather personal requests--"Lord, give me this and give me that"--often asking for financial blessings, which we tend to think would solve all our problems.
When the disciples came to Jesus and asked Him to teach them to pray, He said, "This is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven...'" Stop! But just where is heaven? Literally the words are "in the heavens." The space that surrounds planet earth is really pretty vast, right? Is this what He is talking about? Yet, if you are in China and look overhead, you're looking at the opposite direction of our friends in Quito, Ecuador who are listening to this program. Just where is the dwelling place of the Father? For a few moments, think with me about how vast the heavens really are.
"To be a Christian without prayer," said Martin Luther, "is no more possible than to be alive without breathing." Yet, so often, we voice words mechanically and perfunctorily, and fail to grasp the meaning behind them. How often have you prayed, "Our Father who art in heaven..." and repeated a prayer by rote, without even thinking of what you were saying?
Those of you who are familiar with computers are aware of pull-down menus. When you touch one item, a whole series of possibilities opens up before you. Such is the way it is with 57 Greek words which, translated into English, constitute a prayer we commonly refer to as The Lord's Prayer. Each phrase in this dynamic prayer opens powerful vistas of spiritual insight and potential.
"I've always had a heart for missions and the needy," writes a Guidelines' friend, "and our church does not support Christian missions. Sometimes I don't approve the decisions of the church and how the money is used. A bit extravagant at times.... What is right in God's eyes?"
In his famous sermon on money, John Wesley advised, "Get all you can, save all you can, give all you can." Today--some 200+ years later--we understand the part about getting all you can, especially without having to work very hard for it. But the saving and giving parts of it are often misunderstood today.
I had just flown into a rather primitive area in Northern Luzon, a tribal area of the Philippines, where Bible translators from Wycliffe had given the New Testament to a group who were reading it for the first time. Along towards evening, men came from the fields and women and children joined their husbands in assembling in the group house to hear the Good News.
There are only three things that you can do with it: 1. Save it; 2. Spend it; and 3. Give it away. It's money--the most explosive and troublesome issue involving families today. It isn't really how much you have, or how little you have, but what you do with what you have. The handling of money is the #1 problem facing people today. Our problem, simply put, is that we spend far too much, save far too little, and end up with nothing to give.
“Good morning Dr. Sala,” writes a friend of Guidelines, “I have a question to ask you. I am confused about tithing, and I want to be obedient to God’s Word. I understand a tenth is required, and in Malachi 3:10 that it should be brought into the storehouse which I assume means the church. I have been giving half to church and another half [to missions]. Sometimes I don’t approve of the decisions of the church and how the money is used. What is right in God’s eyes?”
There is a mindset today which paralyzes our good intentions and causes our heads to turn from that which is unpleasant and causes us discomfort. It's the mentality that the needs of the world are so great, and our personal ability to make a difference is so tiny and inconsequential, that what we can do to change anything just doesn't count. So, the end result is that we do nothing.
"We took on Goliath!" advertises a small business whose product is overshadowed by a major manufacturer. The David versus Goliath syndrome means the little guy goes against the giant. There are times when the little guy goes against the big one and gets flattened like a steamroller does a stray cat. But what's the real story behind the confrontation of David with Goliath long ago?
Jesus illustrated great truths with human interest stories. One of them involved a wealthy man who turned over his estate to three men, entrusting each with a certain amount of wealth. Today we use dollars, yen, pesos or euros (depending on who has issued the currency) to measure wealth, but in Jesus' day the unit of measurement was a talent. Our English word for talent is a transliteration of the Greek word, the one Jesus used, which was talanton. A single talent in Roman days represented the equivalent of a working man's salary for a period of fifteen years. Thus, a talent represented a lot of money in any currency.
"Do you have investments?" a businessman asked me, "and what do you invest in?" I explained that I had some rather large investments, but they were not subject to the whims of markets and a capricious economy. I told them that I had invested my life in the kingdom of God--in people around the world, which included my children and family. From the look that I got as I explained what was important in my life, I recognized that we were on different pages when it came to what we consider important.
If you were asked, "What do you invest in?" I suspect that you would mention stocks, bonds, real estate, or perhaps precious metals. Or you might say, "You've got to be kidding. We're fortunate to have enough to buy rice and fish for dinner tonight!"
There are times when you can help a person the most by not helping that person at all. Sounds contradictory? Let me illustrate. There's a word which is wafted about quite freely: codependency. It's one of those buzzwords among people who are trying to overcome some of the problems they grew up with.
A brilliant young Oxford don, H.A. Hodges, was an agnostic, and felt that it was not intellectually honest to profess a belief in God, since he was certain that nobody could really prove His existence. But of course, he also acknowledged that the existence of God could not be disproven. He just wasn't sure and decided to remain neutral. One day, however, he strolled down Oxford's main thoroughfare and stopped before a store window. His interest was captured by a painting, a rather simple one done by a Christian artist. The subject: Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. Hodges, however, was gripped by the scene, and he said, "If God is like that then that God shall be my God!" Conversions take place in strange ways, and that painting was part of the circumstances which resulted in his conversion to Christianity.
Whenever I go overseas on a mission's ministry, someone always says, "Hey, can't you find enough hurting people where you are without going to the trouble and expense of traveling?"
When you have a difficult person in your life—and who doesn't? —you have four basic options—much the same as how you would deal with a pair of shoes that hurt your feet because a nail has worked its way through the sole. You can walk away from him, ignore him — perhaps getting calloused to his difficult personality, put some space between you and him (which allows you to live with the situation) or respond to the difficult person, which allows you to cope. Usually this is the most positive and most satisfactory course of action when a difficult person really begins to get to you.
Dr. Harold Voth, who served as senior psychiatrist at the Menninger Clinic for many years, was one of the leading voices in the 20th century for health care and mental illness. Dr. Voth used to say, "Hugging is an excellent tonic." He contended that it has been scientifically demonstrated that people who are mentally run-down and depressed are far more prone to sickness than those who are not. Hugging, he says, can lift depression, enabling a body's immune system to become toned up. He says that hugging breathes new life into your tired body and makes you feel younger and more vibrant.
How do you know when to say, "when!" How do you know when it's time to hang it up and quit? Do you grit your teeth and say, "They will have to take me out feet first," or do you see the handwriting on the wall, and you know it's time to say, "when?" Do you grasp the golden parachute, as they call a good retirement in business, or do you wait until they give you ten minutes to clean out your desk and a security guard walks you to the door and you are history?
How do you pray when your world is falling apart? Or do you stop praying and decide that God has ignored you or forgotten that you exist? I've been thinking about that very issue as I've answered some of the messages which have come to our office from people who are really hurting, but more than that, they have all but given up on God because they prayed for something, like winning the lottery, and it didn't happen. Some have even contemplated suicide because the financial blessing they asked for didn't materialize, or the burden of poor health wasn't lifted.
In his book, Why Us? Warren Wiersbe tells of visiting a dear friend whose world had come apart. Her husband had gone blind, and then her health failed. As she struggled with an incurable disease, followed by a stroke that caused her to give up employment, she was forced to remain at home caring for her husband when she actually needed care herself.
If you had the power to change something that happened yesterday, would you do it? Of course, every one would. Yet you can no more change what has already happened than you can turn back the sun as it races across the sky or reverse the flow of sand through the hourglass of time.
Every person should have some spiritual heroes—men and women whom you admire and respect. But I've also discovered that our heroes—the ones we have put on pedestals—also make us feel pretty insignificant and inadequate. It's like the two cows in the field munching their cud. As a large new stainless-steel truck, gleaming with chrome and new paint which bore the words, "Homogenized, Sanitized, Purified Milk" on the side passed by, the one cow mooed to the other, "Sure makes you feel inadequate, doesn't it?"
Some words are coined especially for use in heaven, and outside the Christian community it is difficult to really understand their meaning. Such is the word, blessed!
One of the amazing things about life is the fact that we know so little about some things which are very common, and we take those things for granted--not sensing how very important they are to our survival.
Second by second 2000 years have trickled through the hourglass of time since Jesus Christ walked the shores of ancient Galilee. Shortly after the death and resurrection of Christ, a faith-filled Apostle wrote, "The light continues to shine in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it" (John 1:5 Williams). John, of course, meant that Christ had come as a light in a dark world, and with His coming, man had a new purpose in living, a new hope to brighten the day. Two thousand years later, it takes even greater faith to believe that darkness is really passing away.
If you think that you have troubles, let me tell you about Albert Kruger. He had one of those days that will haunt him for years. The last straw came when firemen, cleaning up a blaze that caused extensive damage to his home, greeted him at the door. His home wasn't the only thing burned up. By that time Kruger was pretty hot himself. He told the firemen that his troubles started early in the morning when the family cat gave birth to five kittens, three of them stillborn. This upset his wife and children who, in turn, upset Kruger.
Do you ever feel like the person who prayed, "God, give me patience, and give it to me right now"? You may feel like that at the present moment. You have been facing a particular situation or irritation day after day, hour after hour, and you feel like you cannot stand it another day. You are thinking, "I'm up to my chin and I just can't take more of this." It could be your husband or your wife, possibly the person you work with. It could be your teenager, or if you are a teenager, it may be your mom or dad! There are times which confront us all when we feel our ire building, and we know that we have reached the danger zone of what we can handle. It's the red alert.
Nothing is so frustrating as attempting to do something you know is a waste of time and effort. Right? Ask any fisherman who has toiled hour after hour, perhaps throwing his best hardware into the water, gently allowing his lure of bait to drift into the shadows where he thinks the big one is. But, then, eventually, he concludes, "There's nothing here! Absolutely nothing."
In his book by the same title Phil Yancey asks the question, "Where is God when I hurt?" If you have never asked that question, take heart. Someday that cry may rise from your heart as you try to reconcile what happens to you with the belief that God is a good God who loves you.
Question: Is God a divine accommodation, something or someone we have invented to make us feel good about ourselves, particularly when we know we have done wrong? Can God be manipulated to get what we want, a kind of divine sugar daddy of the sky? One to whom we can turn when we need a good cry, or someone to tell us, "What you have done is OK. You're not nearly as bad as some"?
Have you noticed that invariably when you connect with someone who answers your call on a cell or mobile phone, you immediately ask, "Where are you?" Whether it is your teenager who is checking in with you, your husband who is on a business trip, or a friend you haven't heard from for a while, you want to know where the person is, so instinctively you ask, "Where are you?" Inversely if you get a call that originates from a friend who calls you on a cell phone, you are asked, "Do you know where I am?" Knowing this establishes an identity and a personal connection.
If you had an opportunity to ask God just one question, what would it be? Would you ask how old the universe really is—a question that would put to rest once and for all the debate about the age of the Earth? Possibly. Or would you ask a theological question—say, about free will versus the sovereign will of God?
"I am from mainland China," writes a friend of Guidelines who tells how someone introduced him to Jesus Christ. "Miraculously, I was filled with peace and happiness," he says as he began to study the Bible. But some of what he read in this book troubled him, especially what Jesus said. He wrote, "I find it impossible to love my enemy and pray for the person who hates me. My culture teaches me to pay an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But Jesus said, 'Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.'"
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth! Do the same thing to the other person that he or she first did to you. It's in the Bible, right?" If you are saying the right to extract vengeance or to inflict on someone the same injury they inflicted upon you is biblical, I have to say, "No, that's not in the Bible."
Conflicts don't destroy relationships. It's the refusal to resolve a conflict that eventually causes a relationship to become strained, then broken. Saying with sincerity and feeling, "I'm sorry; forgive me," can turn a conflict into a learning experience and put a bad situation behind you as you find solid footing and move on, but those words are difficult at best and impossible at worst for many people.
Under Roman law a person who had been condemned had no life of his own, no plans for the future, no personal agenda, He was the living dead. It was only a matter of time as life was measured out by the hours until gruel was shoved under the prison door. With that understanding, something the apostle Paul wrote years ago has powerful implications. To the Romans, he penned these words: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). The living dead suddenly become the dead living! "No condemnation?" cries the prisoner. "Do you mean, 'I'm free'?" Can you not imagine the joy as a Roman jailer would respond, "Yes, you're free to leave"?
My friend Wayne Pederson used to sign his letters and e-mails with the words, "Focus forward!" No more. He's changed the complimentary close to read, "Seize Today!" He discovered that when he was always focused forward, pushing to reach goals and objectives, he missed a lot of the view on the journey. Here's how he describes it: "At a meeting I was checking e-mail when the leader asked me a question. I had entirely tuned out of the discussion. Busted!
Dwight David Eisenhower, the general who became an American President once said, "An atheist is a person who goes to a Notre-Dame-Southern Methodist football game and doesn't care who wins."
Shortly before Boris Yeltsin came to the United States to ask for aid, he attended church, something which politicians occasionally do, especially when the press covers it. But Yeltsin later told the ITAR-Tass news agency, "I came here today to undergo cleansing...." What struck me about Yeltsin's actions and his comments was the fact that he is an avowed atheist, at least he says that he is. But deep down in his heart, is he really? One does not usually talk about chocolate cake unless you believe that there is a cook in the kitchen. Nor do you talk about God unless you believe He exists.
Shortly before Boris Yeltsin came to the United States to ask for aid, he attended church, something which politicians occasionally do, especially when the press covers it. But Yeltsin later told the ITAR-Tass news agency, "I came here today to undergo cleansing...." What struck me about Yeltsin's actions and his comments was the fact that he is an avowed atheist, at least he says that he is. But deep down in his heart, is he really? One does not usually talk about chocolate cake unless you believe that there is a cook in the kitchen. Nor do you talk about God unless you believe He exists.
She was not a skeptic or an agnostic...neither was she looking for an argument. The question came from a cultured, refined woman who asked in sincerity, "Dr. Sala, what is a Christian?" Strangely enough, if you ask the question of twenty different individuals as I have done, you would probably come up with twenty different answers. Often when someone answers that question, "What is a Christian?" they describe certain activities that are associated with the Christian life.
There are very few things in the world which can accurately be described as unshakable, or unmovable. Today we can dynamite them, blast them into oblivion, or if they are immaterial, we apply pressure to get something or someone to change. There is no such thing as an immovable object meeting an irresistible force. So when something is described as unshakable or unmovable, you had better pay attention.
It doesn't take long for anyone who reads the Bible to learn that God has made special promises to His own, no matter when or where they live. To Jacob, who was fleeing for his life, having stolen his brother's inheritance, God said, "I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you" (Genesis 28:15).
Have you noticed that invariably when you connect with someone who answers your call on a cell phone, you immediately ask, "Where are you?" Whether it is your teenager who is checking in with you, your husband who is on a business trip, or a friend you haven't heard from for a while, you want to know where the person is, so instinctively you ask, "Where are you?" Inversely if you get a call that originates from a friend who calls you on a cell phone, you are asked, "Do you know where I am?" Knowing this establishes an identity and a personal connection.
"Dear Dr. Sala," wrote an eight-year-old friend, "Is Jesus and God a Christian, or don't they have to be one because they're the God?" Out of the mouths of babes come some of the most profound issues. Were Jesus and God "Christians" or "don't they have to be one?" Our eight-year-old friend is doing some serious thinking, and to be honest with you, that's a tough question to answer, but let me see what I can do. Let's begin by identifying what "God" we are talking about. Sometimes we use language and assume that everybody understands, when in reality they are talking about something entirely different.
In 1975 Raymond Moody, a medical doctor, published a book entitled Life After Life. It chronicled the experiences of 150 people who died, or were near-death and then came back. Moody was the first to use the expression "near death experience" and he tells how these experiences forever changed the lives of the people who had them. In some cases, as death approached, individuals had flashbacks, going back to childhood. In some cases, they saw Jesus standing in the shadows. Some saw light—a brilliant, vivid light which they believed was God—at the end of a long, dark tunnel. But no matter how the experiences differed, their lives changed. They became "more altruistic, less materialistic, and more loving."
When Jesus was crucified, one of the thieves put to death with Him cried out, "Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom!" And Jesus responded, "Today you shall be with me in Paradise." But scores of people are not sure that they can apply that to their personal lives. Are they to believe that when God's child draws his last breath here on Earth, his next one is going to be drawn in heaven?
Want to put stress into perspective? Then Guideline #1: Get God's perspective.
Guideline #2: Let your relationship with Him be an anchor or a gyroscope which holds the ship of your life steady. Hebrews 6:9 speaks of faith as an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast. A boat without an anchor drifts with the winds and tide, and so do individuals who don't have anything lasting to hold them steady in the face of stress.
Articles on stress and how to cope with it have proliferated like weeds in an unkept garden. And having read them, most people are about as satisfied as the farmer's son who has to pull the weeds out of the garden. Like a mother's kiss on a child's skinned knee, they may help some, but often their uplift is temporary, more like a desensitizer than a real cure.
If you have ever been tempted to think that Christians should not face stress, ponder the stress that some of the heroes of the Bible faced. Consider Daniel in the lion's den. If God doesn't bring deliverance, he's on the menu for breakfast the next morning--which would have been "terminal stress." Think of Esther, the young woman who risked her life going before King Xerxes. "If I perish, I perish!" she cried. Yes, she knew what stress is. Then there is Joseph, falsely convicted of sexual assault, unjustly thrown in prison and seemingly forgotten by God because of his moral uprightness. Don't think that Joseph was a stranger to stress.
Researchers are telling us today that stress is causing more emotional and physical damage than our grandparents could have imagined in their worst nightmares, from producing cancer to lowering IQ in our children. There is no question that it produces ulcers, hypertension, heart disease, and a whole lot of emotional hassle which doesn't make anyone very happy.
was really planned, or the last time you reached for the aspirin because you had a headache? Chances are about 10 to 1, you remember reaching for the aspirin. That tension-headache which made you snarl at the kids and grouch at your wife wasn't necessarily organic. It doesn't mean you have a brain-tumor or need to see a neurologist. Your headache, however, was a red flag. It signaled stress as your nervous system screamed, "Help! I'm overloaded. I just can't handle this."
Chawnga Pudaite, the son of a headhunter, met a Welshman by the name of Watkin Roberts. The year was 1910, and the five days that Roberts spent in the hills of the Hmar territory in India changed Chawnga's future. The quiet, soft-spoken Welshman told Pudaite of a living God who sent His Son into our world to bring life, and that week Chawnga Pudaite made a decision which cost him dearly. When he decided to follow Jesus, he was driven from his home and family. But when his son was born, he prayed that he might be able to read, write and take the Bible back to the hills of Hmar from which he had come.
"One must forgive one's enemies," said Sigmund Freud, "but not before they have been hanged." Such graciousness! One who adopts that attitude must hope never to have enemies himself, for the person who cannot forgive burns the bridge over which he himself must someday certainly pass.
Everything changes, yet nothing changes! Culture and civilization undergo tremendous changes, yet we who are part of that changing scene actually change so little. I mean, bottom line, human nature doesn't really change. Our struggles, our heart cries, our needs, our temptations all seem to repeat themselves generation after generation like repetitious themes in a third-rate play when the only thing that really changes is the scenic backdrop in the theater.
How much is enough? Have you ever pondered the question in relationship to your own lifestyle? When John D. Rockefeller was asked how much money it would take to be satisfied, he replied, "Just a little bit more!"
The American humorist, Mark Twain, wrote, "Civilization is a limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities." I wonder what old Twain would have said had he been alive today. Never before has the consumer been confronted with so many choices.
Do you ever find yourself asking, "Why do I feel as I do?" Sometimes there are answers, but more often than not, we don't really understand the complex feelings and emotions that make us feel the way we do.
When Ashley was growing up and displeased her father, she was told, "You'll never amount to anything. You've got bad blood in you" (referring to her mother's side of the family). The message got through, and as a little girl, Ashley felt like something was very wrong with her, something which she didn't understand. Nonetheless it made her feel very inadequate and inferior.
While Socrates became famous for his saying "Know Thyself!" the man who was born some 400 years later, Jesus Christ, lived the admonition, "Give thyself!" There is a great deal of difference between knowing yourself and giving yourself.
In his day, Socrates was both loved and hated. Those who listened to him as he spoke in the agora or marketplace usually applauded the manner in which he took on the leadership of his day. His pungent, cutting remarks, however, were not greatly appreciated by the city fathers whose hypocrisy and fraud were often the subjects of his salty comments.
In the classic movie Chariots of Fire, the competitive Oxford athlete, Harold Abrams, watches his arch rival, Eric Liddell, run and is afraid that he cannot outrun him in a contest. He's sitting in the bleachers after the crowd has left, alone and dejected, his head buried in his hands when his girlfriend sits down to console him. "If I can't win, I won't run," he cries. And she replies, "If you don't run, you can't win!"
He rowed alone across the Pacific Ocean 8,990 miles but fell short of his goal by 33 miles. Peter Bird attempted to become the first man to single-handedly row from San Francisco in the United States across the Pacific. He almost succeeded, but approaching the east coast of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, Bird encountered stormy weather and choppy seas. He was looking for a passage through the coral. Actually he was within one nautical mile of the reef when he had to radio for help fearing that he could not make it.
In the Upper Room Jesus told His disciples what was about to happen. They were at a Passover meal, and as part of that celebration Jesus took a loaf of bread and broke it: "This is my body," He told them. Then He took the cup and said, "This is my blood… which is poured out for many" (Mark 14:24).
They are larger than ducks but smaller than swans, and bird watchers have identified more than 130 varieties of them. Geese, however, which mate for life have almost human characteristics in the way they relate to each other and protect each other. Flying almost as high as a Boeing 747, migrating geese can rise to an altitude of 29,000 feet or 12,000 meters.
"Dear Dr. Sala," wrote an eight-year-old friend, "Is Jesus and God a Christian, or don't they have to be one because they're the God?" Out of the mouths of babes come some of the most profound issues. Were Jesus and God "Christians" or "don't they have to be one?" Our eight-year-old friend is doing some serious thinking, and to be honest with you, that's a tough question to answer, but let me see what I can do. Let's begin by identifying what "God" we are talking about. Sometimes we use language and assume that everybody understands, when in reality they are talking about something entirely different.
Richard Le Gallienne is credited with saying, "Time's horses gallop down the lessening hill." That is a colorful way of saying, "Time flies." The Romans said, "Tempus fugit." No matter how you put it, you know what they mean, for you feel the pressures that are made on your time. With all the inventions of modern technology, no one has come up with any means of putting more hours in the day.
Of the more than 9,000 varieties of birds in the world, none is more common than the sparrow. The adjective "common" well describes this little bird that is found throughout much of the world, from the extreme reaches of the north to the southern hemisphere. Geese have been seen over the Himalayas in Asia at a height of more than 29,000 feet, where jet airplanes fly. But not the little sparrow that hovers quite close to the ground. While an African ostrich may stand 8 feet tall and weigh 300 pounds, the little sparrow can rest in your hand. Some birds, such as the peacock, have brilliant plumage, but sparrows are pretty basic and plain little birds mostly brown in color, with an occasional touch of white or black, or a suggestion of red.
If the Bible really is a supernatural book, then should it not follow that the Bible has a unique and distinctive flavor to it? Something that rings different from the flood of inane books that have been written? Even something that distinguishes it from the classics that have been recognized down through the centuries?
In 1874 a young man, only 23 years of age, wrote a little book called "The Greatest Thing in the World." The thesis of Henry Drummond's work was that love is the most powerful force in the world. Someone may say, "That may have been true in his day, but it certainly does not hold water today. Things have changed!" I grant you, things have changed. That is one point no one will argue.
"I am sixty-five and I'm lonely and have never found peace." So wrote the famed British author, H. G. Wells, on his 65th birthday. Despite his fame and fortune, Mr. Wells, according to his own statement, felt alone and troubled.
"How good must you be for God to love you?" Ever have that question come to your mind? Recently it came to the mind of a listener who wrote and asked if God performs plastic surgery of the heart to take away the scars of childhood. The listener told of being born to parents who didn't love her, so they gave her up for adoption. The adopting parents told her, if you are good, we will love you. She went to church and got the message, "If you are good, God will love you and take you to heaven when you die." She told of the time when she invited Christ to be her Savior, and then she knew she could not be good enough for God to love her‑‑she desperately wanted God to love her, but knew she could not be good enough.
When I was in college and my roommate started dating, it was easy to tell when he fell in love. For one thing, he walked around glassy-eyed and his nose actually turned red. We also knew that something was going on when he stood in front of Judy's picture for hours at a time making strange sighing noises.
Planet earth with its diameter of 7, 926 miles (measured through the poles), rests basically on nothing, yet the earth races along its elliptical orbit around the sun in exactly three‑hundred sixty‑five and a-quarter days. Isaac Newton defined this force in his "law of gravitation" when he said that the gravitational force is directly proportional to the product of two masses (e.g., the Earth and the Moon) and inversely proportional to the distance between them squared. The entire universe is held in harmony by an intricate system of balances and tensions.
Some 239,000 miles in space lies the amorphous chunk of rocks and minerals we call the moon. Unlike the sun which is a boiling mass of gases and fire, the moon is cold and dark. It's lifeless, yet who would be convinced of that fact on a night when the full radiance of the sun is reflected from it to our world? But the light of the moon is only a reflection which comes from a far more powerful source, the sun.
A generation ago, Dr. Harry Ironside wrote a book entitled, Holiness: The True and the False. Ironside hit upon an important truth--people always counterfeit the real thing. Trying to reproduce the characteristics of holiness without understanding the nature of the real thing, though, is much like counterfeiting money: it's fraudulent and a practice which can get you into a lot of trouble.
Cartoonist Bob Thaves pictured a couple sitting in front of their television, cans of beer in their hands, junk food at their elbows. The caption reads: "There is no problem with your set. The rubbish you see on the screen is real. Please adjust your standards downward."
It's an old story but one that still brings a chuckle: Three preachers were at a conference, and prompted by a message on "besetting sins," late one evening the three began to reveal some of their secret flaws. One said that his besetting sin was that he enjoyed an occasional drink. Naturally, he explained, he didn't like folks in his congregation knowing about it so he was quite discreet in his drinking.
If you should pick up a book by Erling Kagge, you would find a drab, monochrome cover imprinted with only the title of the book, a subtitle and the author's name. The title: "Silence!" The sub-title, "In the age of noise," and the author, Erling Kagge. And like myself, you may be asking yourself, "And who is Erling Kagge and why did he write the book?"
When the Dutch woman, Corrie ten Boom was a prisoner of the Germans, confined in a concentration camp where most prisoners were executed, there were times when she would say, "Lord Jesus, I know this problem is way too big for you; I'll have to worry about it myself!" Then she would smile and say, "How foolish!" The reality is that we are often confronted with issues that are troubling and we struggle with them as though there is no help from heaven and the burden is much too great for God to do anything about.
If you ever saw her picture, you surely would remember it for the rest of your life. It gained notoriety in the 1970s as an antiwar icon when a photographer took her picture as she was running naked from a napalm attack in Vietnam.[1] The 9-year old girl whose picture was so riveting became known as the "Napalm Girl," and the picture appeared in newspapers and magazines around the world. As an adult, writing of the horrible and devastating event, Kim Phuc said, "I had not been targeted. I had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some 45 years after that dark, hideous day, Kim has recorded the story of her life--the pain, the fear, the hatred, as well as the transformation that eventually purged the anger, bitterness, and resentment toward those who caused her suffering in a book entitled, "Fire Road: The Napalm Girl's Journey Through the Horrors of War to Faith, Forgiveness, and Peace," published by Tyndale.
[1] Publishers Weekly.com, Dec. 22, 2017
C.S. Lewis, the author of Mere Christianity and a host of other significant books, said, "Integrity means doing the right thing even if no one is watching you!" Before him, by almost 400 years, the English playwright, William Shakespeare, said, "To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."
Your reputation is what people think of you; your character is what God knows you to be, the mental and moral qualities that are distinctive to an individual. Someone once said that you can easily judge the character of a person by how he or she treats those who can do nothing in return--how he treats those who are not in a position to retaliate or reciprocate.
"Pastors need prayer, too," contended Will Bruce in an article by the same title. The following is what he wrote, which I consider so important that, with his permission, I'll share it with you.
There is a line from an old song which goes, "If the Lord be willing, and the creek don't rise." While it was neither an English major nor a theologian who wrote those lines, it does bring a powerful question into focus: "To what extent does God will that the creek does not rise?" And there's a second, "Why doesn't God stop it when the creek turns into a river that turns into a flood?"
One of the differences which distinguish man from lower forms of life is that man, made in the image of God, worships a god who is greater than he. Worship is a universal act of adoration no matter where men and women are, no matter what their culture or background. The worship of the true God begins when sinful man encounters a holy, righteous God.
A young man invested his life savings in a new Ferrari sports car, and having made the investment of his life, felt that he ought to have someone bless his car‑‑just to be on the safe side. Unsure of whom to call, he phoned the local Catholic priest, who said, "Yes, it's a bit out of the ordinary but I do baptize things for people"; but then he added, "Oh, by the way, what's a Ferrari?"
You find yourself caught up in the rush of living so you scarcely remember which day of the week it is. You jump out of bed in the morning, gulp down a cup of coffee and you're off to work. Then you rush home, eat dinner quickly so that you can get to an evening appointment. And then you crawl into bed, bone weary, so that you'll be able to get up in the morning, gulp down your coffee and repeat the cycle.
When your best friend marries the girl you dated, it's hard to get excited. When the employee whom you hired gets promoted, leap-frogging over you, you may wish him luck and be polite, but inwardly you'd probably like to put a dagger in his back. Your neighbor wins the lottery—not you. How do you handle other people's good fortune? Are you glad for them, or do you detest their good fortune, wishing it had happened to you? There's a part of human nature which remains the same, year after year, generation after generation.
What is it that can bring down empires, can literally shake down a craggy granite peak, yet has the power to heal a wound and change a life? Described as the greatest power on earth by some, that force is TIME. It was time that defeated Napoleon's forces at the gates of Russia's wealth. It is the erosion allowed by time's forces that will eventually split the granite peak and bring it crashing to the floor of the valley. It is time which allows healing of the human heart when the heart has been broken by loss and grief. Time has been described as the most powerful force on earth, for it ultimately brings down the mightiest of men. Some 200 years ago Benjamin Franklin wrote, "Dost thou love time? Then use time wisely, for that's the stuff that life is made of."
An eighteen-year-old fathers a child and then walks away saying, "How do I know that I'm the only one who could have done this?" A widow with a considerable bank account is overwhelmed with the personal interest shown to her by a man young enough to be her own son. Following a romantic fling, she marries him. Her family is quite certain that the man is more interested in her money than in her. A father of three children, a great musician whose worship choruses are sung all over the world, walks out on his family, saying, "I don't want to be married anymore!"
When a reporter interviewed a prostitute on a late night TV show, he noticed that she was wearing a small cross on a gold chain around her neck. "Are you a religious person?" he asked commenting on her cross. Somewhat embarrassed, she quickly said, "Oh, not at all. I got away from all of that." She then told how she had gone to Sunday school as a girl, but then as a teenager she strayed far from the teaching of the little church she once attended.
"Like a shepherd he takes care of his flock," wrote Isaiah the prophet of Israel. "He gathers the lambs in his arms. He carries them in his arms. He gently helps the sheep and their lambs" (Isaiah 40:11, GWV). No wonder the soul of George Frederick Handel, the man who wrote Messiah, was stirred as he pondered those words.
"Joy," wrote G.K. Chesterton, "is the gigantic secret of the Christian." Yet to many it appears to be such a well‑kept secret that they never fully discover what it all is.
"The problem with you Christians," commented an atheist, "is that you have monopolized all the holidays. You have Christmas, Easter, Good Friday, All Saints Day, and what have you. What we atheists need is a holiday all of our own." With a wry smile on his face, the friend countered, "How about April 1?" Centuries ago, the Psalmist wrote, "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God'" (Psalm 14:1). But it could well be translated, "There is no God for me!" A lot of people who describe themselves as atheists have second thoughts when the going gets tough.
Mark Twain, the American humorist, once wrote, "I am an old man and have known many troubles, but most of them never happened." What Twain was saying is that most of the things we worry about never occur. Paul Myers, founder of the old Haven of Rest Broadcast, used to say, "Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday."
The National Institute of Mental Health did a study that required more than six years to complete. It was the most extensive piece of psychological research that has ever been conducted by this prestigious organization, or, for that matter, by any such organization anywhere. Their research confirmed what I have suspected for a long time: that the number one mental health disorder today is anxiety.
"The real issue in the moral, ethical, and philosophical world today is the question of final reality," so wrote Francis Schaeffer, shortly before his death in 1984. He continued, "The Christian believes final reality is the infinite, personal God of moral absolutes who truly is there. The humanist believes it is impersonal material or energy which has existed in some form forever, and is shaped into its present form by pure chance. On this basis, man makes himself the measure of all things."
In the Upper Room Jesus charged the disciples: "Don't be troubled; don't be afraid!" He knew what was ahead; they didn't. But instead of struggling with panic, Jesus was calm, fully in control. When you are stronger than the circumstances which confront you, you, too, can have that peace. Jesus finished his challenge to the disciples, saying, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).
"My peace I leave with you," said Jesus as He met with the disciples in the Upper Room. This was immediately followed by two commands: Don't be troubled; don't be afraid." What Jesus had in mind was a good deal more than worry, being concerned about something. The word means to be confused, to be in turmoil, to be distraught. And that's the condition of many people today who have trouble sleeping, are anxious, fearful, and have hearts filled with worry.
Why are we always apprehensive about the future? Because, we just don't know what's out there. What lurking terrors await us? What surprises are there? We may whistle in the dark, or pretend we're unconcerned, but the reality is that our world will never go back to the days when things were normal--whatever that is.
Six days before the Jewish Passover, Jesus and His disciples came to Jerusalem. At the Passover meal, Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, giving them an example to follow, then opened His heart and talked with them. So important was it that John recorded it explicitly. You'll find it in the Gospel that bears his name, beginning with chapter thirteen.
Google the phrase, "Peace Institutes in the world," and you will be amazed at the number that exist today. Among them are The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Global Peace Institute, Peace Brigades International and a host of others, all dedicated to what they call "a scientific basis for permanent peace." Described by some as "the science of human survival" these brain trusts are searching for a formula that will allow men to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks as Micah said would someday happen.
Facing the New Year is always somewhat scary. Who knows what the year may hold of bane or blessing? Have you ever asked yourself, "Why fear the unknown? When you were born, you had two basic fears: the fear of loud noises, and the fear of falling. But soon after your birth you began to develop other fears. The fears that you had at birth were necessary to survive. But as you grew older, you became afraid of other things, and sometimes by the time we reach adulthood, our list of fears has grown quite long.
Then Jesus took his disciples up the mountain and gathered them around him. He taught them saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are they that thirst for justice. Blessed are you when you suffer. Be glad and rejoice for your reward is in heaven."
"Look here, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there for a year. We will do business there and make a profit.' How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it's here a little while, then it's gone," reads a paraphrase of what James, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote in the first century.
A lonely, dejected man sat in the office of Dr. James Hamilton, a British physician who practiced in Manchester, England. The patient told of a sickness which he said was taking his very life. "I am frightened of the terror of the world around me. I am depressed by life. I can find no happiness anywhere. Nothing amuses me, and I have nothing to live for." He continued, saying, "If you can't help me, I shall kill myself."
Christmas is over, at least it is for most of you. However, in some places such as in Russia, Christmas is observed in early January. But no matter when you celebrate Christmas, there comes a time when it is over; and when it is over, it is over.
Over 365 names and inscriptions are found in the Bible referring to Jesus Christ, but none is more lovely than the one found in Isaiah where the prophet said, "His name shall be called WONDERFUL" (Isaiah 9:6, KJV). As a light that sparkles on a tree, the wonder of Christ can hardly be reduced to a treatment of a few minutes, but in that length of time I can give you the ten wonders of Christmas.
When the Communists took over in China in 1949, two missionaries were left behind--Rudolph Bosshardt and Arnolis Hayman. The two were arrested and thrown into prison. Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. China is a vast country, approximately the same size as the United States (about 4,000 miles from east to west and 2,000 miles from north to south), but what many do not realize is that in the northern part of China it gets very cold as the Siberian winds come whistling from the north.
If you haven't heard the music, it may be because you're not listening. What music? The song first sung over the fields of Bethlehem as angels sang, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests" (Luke 2:14). The traditional French carol put it, "Angels we have heard on high/ Sweetly singing o'er the plains:/ And the mountains in reply, Echoing their joyous strains. / Gloria in excelsis Deo! Gloria in excelsis Deo."
No emotion is more connected to Christmas than joy—the universal language of an overflowing heart. Notice the gleam in the eyes of children as they open gifts, or stand on their tiptoes to see the display in the store window as they focus on dolls and sleds, on trains and toys. But it shouldn't simply be children whose hearts are filled with joy. To the contrary, joy should be every person's response to God's great gift.
"Dear Dr. Sala," writes a friend, "I'm in my early 20's and find it very difficult to meet other people. I'm so lonely. What can I do?" Scores of people can identify with the feeling--parties, people, laughter, entertainment and perhaps even good food, yet you feel so inadequate that you ask yourself, "What am I doing here? I just don't fit."
You are not just tissue, bones and organs, but a living being, a person made in God's image. Some 50 trillion cells—a unique mixture of body, soul, and spirit—constitute the real you! No one sees what you see or feels what you feel. The Bible says that you were of such great importance to God that He sent His Son to redeem you, forgive your sins and failures, and to reveal His purpose and will for you.
One of the most powerful cases for the authority of Christianity, is the way it transforms the lives of people into something better, something different, something more Christ-like than the individual was before an encounter with Jesus Christ. "Well," you may be saying, "look: Christianity isn't the only belief system that transforms lives," as you quickly add, "Let me tell you about…" Yes, I concede the point, but the question is, "Does transformation produce hatred, anger, strife, and murder or does it result in compassion, in generosity, in kindness and love?"
The battle for your body takes place in your mind. Everything that defiles the human body--whether it comes through drugs, food in excess, or sexual license-- first originates as a thought. When Paul wrote to the Romans who were struggling to determine what God expected of them, he urged them to "stop being conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of their minds"—a negative followed by a positive.
When Paul wrote his classic letter to the Romans, he spoke of sacrifices—something that both Jews and Gentiles understood clearly. Wherever anthropologists have unearthed the remains of a temple, they have found sacrifices of one kind or another. Temples and sacrifices went together as part and parcel of the same experience: this god, no matter how the deity was defined, had to be worshiped; and because of our shortcomings, of necessity, sacrifices should be offered as an acknowledgment of human frailty.
Anthropologists will tell you that in almost every known culture and civilization there is an unspoken understanding that comes with a gift–a reciprocity that, in effect, says this: Because I have done this for you, you have an obligation to return the favor by doing something for me. In some cultures, there are very clear expectations that need to be followed. I remember, years ago, being invited to a child's first birthday celebration in Korea. It was not a balloons and birthday cake sort of thing for the one-year-old, but a very formal gathering of family and friends. Many were dressed in ceremonial attire and there was a veritable feast of wonderful food. But what I most remember is that everyone who attended brought quite expensive gifts or sums of money for the birthday child, and all the gifts were duly noted by the family of the birthday child in a book. With each gift there was an obligation, over a period of years, to return the same value to the donor.
You prayed that your husband would get the position, and after the third interview, it seems that he's got it wrapped up. Then at the last minute, a local man shows up, one who can be hired for considerably less money. He gets the job. Your husband gets a polite "Thanks, but no thanks" phone call.
An old fortress some 20 miles southwest of the Dead Sea in Israel today has been called "one of the most spectacular finds of recent decades in all Israel." Archaeologists have unearthed the walls of a massive Iron Age fortress, built about 800 B.C., which are some 300 feet on each side and had massive towers on each corner. "OK," you may be thinking, "Why get excited over a pile of very old rocks in a desert?" Good question. And the answer goes deeper than archaeology. It embraces the historical trustworthiness of the Bible at the same time.
A college professor under whom I once studied spoke of a theologian with whom he disagreed, saying, "It isn't that he isn't a brilliant man‑‑it's just that he knows so many things that aren't true." If truth is subjective, if it is only a matter of personal opinion, then good men can disagree and both be right. But if historical data is supported by corroborating evidence, and if the character of the men who wrote it is supportive, then ultimately, we have to come face to face with facts. That is the situation when it comes to accepting or rejecting the credibility of the Bible.
What is truth? This question was once asked of Jesus Christ by a man named Pontius Pilate. The scene was a Roman courtroom. Christ was being tried on charges of sedition, of trying to overthrow the Roman government. It was a strained situation that prompted the question about truth. Pontius Pilate was a governor in the land of Israel. His office was political and had been purchased by power maneuvers. During his reign, truth had been irrelevant in his political conquest. Bribery, graft and corruption, linked with murder and violence, had been tools of Pontius Pilate in maintaining Roman supremacy. Now Pilate raises the philosophical question, "What is truth?"
Josh McDowell, a one-time agnostic turned apologist, has asked over 1400 young people whether or not they believe the Bible, and when they respond that they do, he asks, "Why?" While Josh says there are more than 50 legitimate answers to that question, only one person has ever given him an adequate answer.
When I was a young pastor, I encountered suicide for the first time. A local mortuary called and asked if someone could conduct a memorial service. It was a large church I was involved in, and the family really wanted a kind of generic--not very specific--kind of funeral, something which I did not know when I first got the call.
Looking back, his mother said that the problems started with her 19-year-old son when he was turned down at the school he wanted to attend. Trade school was their recommendation. About then he started drinking pretty heavily and started smoking pot. "Makes me feel better," he said. His appearance took a hit too. Whereas he had been pretty well groomed, he stopped bathing regularly and seemed to be withdrawn and sullen. He often shut himself in his room and listened to music or slept the day away. "I wish I was dead," he told a friend.
Children lie for the same reasons that adult lie: to avoid punishment, to win respect or to appear better than they are, because they don't trust someone with the truth, or because they feel threatened with power. Without realizing it, many parents teach their children to lie and actually encourage them in the practice at the very time they dislike what they see and punish their child because of it.