August 1
The only thing of value we can give kids is what we are, not what we have.
John D. Rockefeller's three simple rules for anyone who wants to become rich:
1. Go to work early. 2. Stay at work late. 3. Find oil.
"In today's modern times, one out of every three people lives on less than $2 a day - 2.4 billion people total. That's impossible to comprehend. If a third of the world cannot afford one cup of Starbucks a day, that should matter to Christians." - The Green Bible (HarperOne, 2010)
"Life is too short to waste. Dreams are fulfilled only through action, not through endless planning to take action." -- David J. Schwartz
JOY 9
"The real battle is about whether God is Lord, or whether government is Lord. And make no mistake, if government can redefine or restrict our freedom of religion, our first freedom will be gone. And, as our Founders understood, when that freedom is gone, we will, in short order, lose the other freedoms as well." -- Chuck Colson
"It's not what you do once in a while; it's what you do day in and day out that makes the difference." -- Jenny Craig
"I love the man who can smile in trouble, gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection." -- Thomas Paine
"If I had to pick the No.1 key to success, it would be ... self-discipline." -- Brian Tracy
"No stream or gas drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled. No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated and disciplined." -- Harry E. Fosdick
"The secret of getting ahead is getting started." -- Agatha Christie
"Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future." -- Paul Boese
One Sunday morning when my son, David, was about 5, we were attending a church in our community. It was common for the preacher to invite the children to the front of the church and have a small lesson before beginning the sermon. He would bring in an item they could find around the house and relate it to a teaching from the Bible.
This particular morning, the visual aid for his lesson was a smoke detector. He asked the children if anyone knew what it meant when an alarm sounded from the smoke detector.
My child immediately raised his hand and said, "It means Daddy's cooking dinner."
Don't expect wisdom to come into your life like great chunks of rock on a conveyor belt. It isn't like that. It's not splashy and bold . . . nor is it dispensed like a prescription across a counter. Wisdom comes privately from God as a by-product of right decisions, godly reactions, and the application of spiritual principles to daily circumstances. Wisdom comes .
. . not from trying to do great things for God . . . but more from being faithful to the small, obscure tasks few people ever see. -- Charles R. Swindoll
Look back. Do you see God's hand working in your life? Remember the times when you dared to trust Him and you were not disappointed. Remember the times you thought you could not survive . . . but you did. Remember the times you thought you knew better . . . but now you see that His way would have been the right way. Can you see even those times when God was working on your behalf before you ever came to Him? --Rocky Henriques
Let us learn to be deliberate in our prayers. Many people pour out a reckless mass of ill-considered supplications much like a child blowing bubbles into the air, scarcely expecting to see them again.--A. B. Simpson
JOY 10
The Nature and Nuture of the Soul The soul of a person is the most important aspect of his being, more valuable than any amount of material luxuries or benefits. Caring for and nurturing the soul is the most important work in which any Christian can be involved.
That work begins in understanding the unique composition of the soul. The soul consists of three spiritual components - the heart, the mind, and the conscience. Of the three, the heart is the starting-point, the fount of all existence, the animating and guiding element of the soul. Our understanding of the soul, as well as the proper care of it, must begin with the heart. The heart is the heart of the matter when it comes to spiritual development and the nurture of the soul.
While the heart is frequently indicated as a source of intellectual activity (cf. Matt. 9:4), its primary role is to engender the affections that guide our lives. "Affections" are those strong inclinations that arise from within us and provide the motive power for all our existence. They include such powerful sentiments as love and hate, desire, revulsion, compassion, zeal, delight, longing, joy, and hope. As Jonathan Edwards explained in his classic work, A Treatise on Religious Affections, affections are of two sorts. First are those affections which incline us toward something - love, zeal, joy, enthusiasm, and so forth. On the other hand, there are those affections which cause us to move away from something - revulsion, anger, indifference, hatred. Both kinds of affections are valid and important, but they must be properly focused and continually monitored and re-invigorated if they are to serve us well. The challenge is always to make sure that our affections are properly engaged and that we are not being led astray in any way. Jeremiah reminds us that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked by nature (Jer. 17:9); left to itself, it will always incline us away from a Godly lifestyle and seek out the corridors of wickedness and sin. The proper nurture of our soul requires that we understand each of the affections and how God intends them to be focused, and then to put and keep in place all the affections in their proper function, and with their proper intensity. Here is a challenge that must occupy the believer throughout his life.
We may experience times of unusual closeness, when every prayer is answered in an obvious way and God seems intimate and caring. And we may also experience "fog times," when God stays silent, when nothing works according to formula and all the Bible's promises seem glaringly false. Fidelity involves learning to trust that, out beyond the perimeter of fog, God still reigns and has not abandoned us, no matter how it appears.
-- Philip Yancey
If your manna has to drop straight from heaven looking like a perfect loaf of butter-crust bread, then chances are you are going to go hungry a lot. --Barbara Brown Taylor
"For peace of mind, we need to resign as general manager of the universe." -- Larry
Eisenberg
Three Kinds of Givers
There are three kinds of givers: the flint, the sponge, and the honeycomb. Which kind are you? To get anything from the flint, you must hammer it. Yet, all you get are chips and sparks. The flint gives nothing away if it can help it, and even then only with a great display. To get anything from the sponge, you must squeeze it. It readily yields to pressure and the more it is pressed, the more it gives. Still, one has to squeeze it. To get anything from the honeycomb, however, one must only take what freely flows from it. It gives its sweetness generously, dripping on all without pressure, without begging or badgering. The honeycomb is a renewable resource. Unlike the flint or the sponge, the honeycomb is connected to life; it is the product of the ongoing work and creative energy of bees. If you share like a honeycomb giver your life will be continually replenished and grow as you give.
When we share we freely give and we acknowledge that all we have is on loan and others have as much right to the things of God’s creation as we do.
Making the Situation Worse
When I was a kid, I was often ravaged by poison ivy. The key to poison ivy, once you have it, is not to scratch. Restraining yourself is hard, for your skin itches and you want relief. But scratching only makes poison ivy worse.
Greed works the same way. We get infected, and we want to scratch, although we know we shouldn't do so. Possessing more and more promises relief, but only makes the situation worse. We keep scratching, but it's no solution.
Jesus issues a warning, a warning inspired by a squabble over inheritance, but one that all of us need to hear. He says: "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions."
Clarence Jordan's translation of this verse brings out its original earthiness. Here's what Jesus says according to Jordan: "You all be careful and stay on your guard against all kinds of greediness. For a person's life is not for the piling up of possessions."
In these few words, Jesus rejects much of what keeps our society humming. He warns us against greed, avarice, the desire to possess more than we need, more than we can use, more than we want. Charles Hoffacker, Avarice: The Disease and Its Cure
Thoughts On Advertising
- Advertising is the fine art of convincing people that debt is better than frustration.
- Advertising helps raise the standard of living by raising the standard of longing.
- One of life's biggest disappointments is discovering that the person who writes the ads for the bank is not the one who makes the loans.
- An ad executive's career: Yes sir, No sir, Ulcer.
- If you think advertising doesn't work, consider the millions of people who now think that yogurt tastes good.
- You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements.
- Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The trouble is, I don't know which half.
Rich in Things, Poor in Soul
This is how I see our situation today: We’re killing ourselves on junk food – we watch mindless drivel on TV with vulgar displays of sexuality and horrific scenes of violence; we listen to endless chatter on the radio with never-ending conflict and criticism; we chase after every conceivable form of entertainment and pleasure; all the while, coming up empty and, ironically, craving for more.
We’re like children in a video arcade – no matter how many quarters or tokens you give them, when the last game’s over, they always ask for “just one more.” There’s no end to it. In the words of Harry Emerson Fosdick, we’re “rich in things and poor in soul.”
What’s the answer? The answer is that we need to get back to the basics and re-establish our priorities. In a word, we need to put God first. We need to follow the Great Commandment, to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mt. 22:37-39) It’s as simple as that: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Mt. 6:33)
"To really know a man, observe his behavior with a woman, a flat tire and a child." - Unknown
Someone asked John D. Rockefeller (of all people) "How much wealth does it take to satisfy a person?" He replied, "Just a little bit more." The Romans had a proverb: "Money is like sea water; the more you drink, the thirstier you become."
"A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for." - William Shedd
John D. Rockefeller's three simple rules for anyone who wants to become rich:
1. Go to work early. 2. Stay at work late. 3. Find oil.
"In today's modern times, one out of every three people lives on less than $2 a day - 2.4 billion people total. That's impossible to comprehend. If a third of the world cannot afford one cup of Starbucks a day, that should matter to Christians." - The Green Bible (HarperOne, 2010)
"Life is too short to waste. Dreams are fulfilled only through action, not through endless planning to take action." -- David J. Schwartz
JOY 9
"The real battle is about whether God is Lord, or whether government is Lord. And make no mistake, if government can redefine or restrict our freedom of religion, our first freedom will be gone. And, as our Founders understood, when that freedom is gone, we will, in short order, lose the other freedoms as well." -- Chuck Colson
"It's not what you do once in a while; it's what you do day in and day out that makes the difference." -- Jenny Craig
"I love the man who can smile in trouble, gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection." -- Thomas Paine
"If I had to pick the No.1 key to success, it would be ... self-discipline." -- Brian Tracy
"No stream or gas drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled. No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated and disciplined." -- Harry E. Fosdick
"The secret of getting ahead is getting started." -- Agatha Christie
"Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future." -- Paul Boese
One Sunday morning when my son, David, was about 5, we were attending a church in our community. It was common for the preacher to invite the children to the front of the church and have a small lesson before beginning the sermon. He would bring in an item they could find around the house and relate it to a teaching from the Bible.
This particular morning, the visual aid for his lesson was a smoke detector. He asked the children if anyone knew what it meant when an alarm sounded from the smoke detector.
My child immediately raised his hand and said, "It means Daddy's cooking dinner."
Don't expect wisdom to come into your life like great chunks of rock on a conveyor belt. It isn't like that. It's not splashy and bold . . . nor is it dispensed like a prescription across a counter. Wisdom comes privately from God as a by-product of right decisions, godly reactions, and the application of spiritual principles to daily circumstances. Wisdom comes .
. . not from trying to do great things for God . . . but more from being faithful to the small, obscure tasks few people ever see. -- Charles R. Swindoll
Look back. Do you see God's hand working in your life? Remember the times when you dared to trust Him and you were not disappointed. Remember the times you thought you could not survive . . . but you did. Remember the times you thought you knew better . . . but now you see that His way would have been the right way. Can you see even those times when God was working on your behalf before you ever came to Him? --Rocky Henriques
Let us learn to be deliberate in our prayers. Many people pour out a reckless mass of ill-considered supplications much like a child blowing bubbles into the air, scarcely expecting to see them again.--A. B. Simpson
JOY 10
The Nature and Nuture of the Soul The soul of a person is the most important aspect of his being, more valuable than any amount of material luxuries or benefits. Caring for and nurturing the soul is the most important work in which any Christian can be involved.
That work begins in understanding the unique composition of the soul. The soul consists of three spiritual components - the heart, the mind, and the conscience. Of the three, the heart is the starting-point, the fount of all existence, the animating and guiding element of the soul. Our understanding of the soul, as well as the proper care of it, must begin with the heart. The heart is the heart of the matter when it comes to spiritual development and the nurture of the soul.
While the heart is frequently indicated as a source of intellectual activity (cf. Matt. 9:4), its primary role is to engender the affections that guide our lives. "Affections" are those strong inclinations that arise from within us and provide the motive power for all our existence. They include such powerful sentiments as love and hate, desire, revulsion, compassion, zeal, delight, longing, joy, and hope. As Jonathan Edwards explained in his classic work, A Treatise on Religious Affections, affections are of two sorts. First are those affections which incline us toward something - love, zeal, joy, enthusiasm, and so forth. On the other hand, there are those affections which cause us to move away from something - revulsion, anger, indifference, hatred. Both kinds of affections are valid and important, but they must be properly focused and continually monitored and re-invigorated if they are to serve us well. The challenge is always to make sure that our affections are properly engaged and that we are not being led astray in any way. Jeremiah reminds us that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked by nature (Jer. 17:9); left to itself, it will always incline us away from a Godly lifestyle and seek out the corridors of wickedness and sin. The proper nurture of our soul requires that we understand each of the affections and how God intends them to be focused, and then to put and keep in place all the affections in their proper function, and with their proper intensity. Here is a challenge that must occupy the believer throughout his life.
We may experience times of unusual closeness, when every prayer is answered in an obvious way and God seems intimate and caring. And we may also experience "fog times," when God stays silent, when nothing works according to formula and all the Bible's promises seem glaringly false. Fidelity involves learning to trust that, out beyond the perimeter of fog, God still reigns and has not abandoned us, no matter how it appears.
-- Philip Yancey
If your manna has to drop straight from heaven looking like a perfect loaf of butter-crust bread, then chances are you are going to go hungry a lot. --Barbara Brown Taylor
"For peace of mind, we need to resign as general manager of the universe." -- Larry
Eisenberg
Three Kinds of Givers
There are three kinds of givers: the flint, the sponge, and the honeycomb. Which kind are you? To get anything from the flint, you must hammer it. Yet, all you get are chips and sparks. The flint gives nothing away if it can help it, and even then only with a great display. To get anything from the sponge, you must squeeze it. It readily yields to pressure and the more it is pressed, the more it gives. Still, one has to squeeze it. To get anything from the honeycomb, however, one must only take what freely flows from it. It gives its sweetness generously, dripping on all without pressure, without begging or badgering. The honeycomb is a renewable resource. Unlike the flint or the sponge, the honeycomb is connected to life; it is the product of the ongoing work and creative energy of bees. If you share like a honeycomb giver your life will be continually replenished and grow as you give.
When we share we freely give and we acknowledge that all we have is on loan and others have as much right to the things of God’s creation as we do.
Making the Situation Worse
When I was a kid, I was often ravaged by poison ivy. The key to poison ivy, once you have it, is not to scratch. Restraining yourself is hard, for your skin itches and you want relief. But scratching only makes poison ivy worse.
Greed works the same way. We get infected, and we want to scratch, although we know we shouldn't do so. Possessing more and more promises relief, but only makes the situation worse. We keep scratching, but it's no solution.
Jesus issues a warning, a warning inspired by a squabble over inheritance, but one that all of us need to hear. He says: "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions."
Clarence Jordan's translation of this verse brings out its original earthiness. Here's what Jesus says according to Jordan: "You all be careful and stay on your guard against all kinds of greediness. For a person's life is not for the piling up of possessions."
In these few words, Jesus rejects much of what keeps our society humming. He warns us against greed, avarice, the desire to possess more than we need, more than we can use, more than we want. Charles Hoffacker, Avarice: The Disease and Its Cure
Thoughts On Advertising
- Advertising is the fine art of convincing people that debt is better than frustration.
- Advertising helps raise the standard of living by raising the standard of longing.
- One of life's biggest disappointments is discovering that the person who writes the ads for the bank is not the one who makes the loans.
- An ad executive's career: Yes sir, No sir, Ulcer.
- If you think advertising doesn't work, consider the millions of people who now think that yogurt tastes good.
- You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements.
- Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The trouble is, I don't know which half.
Rich in Things, Poor in Soul
This is how I see our situation today: We’re killing ourselves on junk food – we watch mindless drivel on TV with vulgar displays of sexuality and horrific scenes of violence; we listen to endless chatter on the radio with never-ending conflict and criticism; we chase after every conceivable form of entertainment and pleasure; all the while, coming up empty and, ironically, craving for more.
We’re like children in a video arcade – no matter how many quarters or tokens you give them, when the last game’s over, they always ask for “just one more.” There’s no end to it. In the words of Harry Emerson Fosdick, we’re “rich in things and poor in soul.”
What’s the answer? The answer is that we need to get back to the basics and re-establish our priorities. In a word, we need to put God first. We need to follow the Great Commandment, to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mt. 22:37-39) It’s as simple as that: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Mt. 6:33)
"To really know a man, observe his behavior with a woman, a flat tire and a child." - Unknown
Someone asked John D. Rockefeller (of all people) "How much wealth does it take to satisfy a person?" He replied, "Just a little bit more." The Romans had a proverb: "Money is like sea water; the more you drink, the thirstier you become."
"A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for." - William Shedd
posted by joypastordon at 10:50 PM
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