I heard it said that a great marriage is the union of two great forgivers. A broken world teaches us to have a bitter heart. A loving God teaches us to let it go. “We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). None of us can avoid getting hurt, but we can control how long we stay hurt.… Read the rest
Legend has it a wise Chief once said that he had a BATTLE in his mind. It was a battle between his old nature and his new nature. He said it was like two dogs fighting. When asked, “Which dog wins?” he simply replied, “The one I feed most.” Friends, we can’t fight a spiritual war with our human understandings.… Read the rest
I read about a local church that caught fire and a painting of Jesus, which had hung unnoticed, was endangered. Two men rushed into the fire and rescued the painting. Interestingly, after the fire was out, people began to gather around the picture and admire it. The leaders of the church were amazed that so many people were interested in the picture that had hung for so many years, seemingly unnoticed. And then someone spoke, “Funny, when the church caught fire and moved Jesus to the street people became interested.”… Read the rest
Nobody wants to be rejected. And if we would be truly honest with ourselves, some of our deepest wounds came at the hands of it. Charles R. Solomon writes, “There are two kinds of people in the world, those who have been rejected, and those who have been rejected more.” Isn’t it great to know that, regardless, God accepts us just the way we are? “He made us accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6).… Read the rest
I read a story of a Sunday school teacher who was trying to impress his class with the importance of living a good Christian life. “Why do people call me a Christian?” he asked. After a long pause, one of the boys replied, “Maybe it’s because they don’t know you.” How do you want to be remembered?… Read the rest
When Andrew Carnegie died, they found a little slip of paper on which he had written his life goal: “I’m going to spend the first half of my life accumulating money. I’m going to spend the second half of my life giving it all away.” And he did just that – to the sum of 450 million dollars. “He who gives generously…will be powerful and respected” (Psalm 112:9).
I can tell you this: the most respected people I know are the most generous people I know.… Read the rest
Don’t bet on America; bet on Jesus. “They, God’s people, did not conquer by their own strength and skill, but by God’s power, His mighty power” (Psalm 44:3). Surely we can win a battle or two, but God won the war.… Read the rest
Never forget: only God can turn our TRIals into a TRIumph, take our MESSes and write them into a MESSage, and transform every TEST into a TESTimony. Paul was right when he said, “Jesus treated us much better than we deserve” (Titus 3:7).… Read the rest
The Bible tells us to not be selfish, but to think of others as better than ourselves (Philippians 2:3). You see, when we focus on the rewards of what we get in any of our relationships, those relationships will last only until those rewards run out. Conditional love will always reap a conditional harvest.… Read the rest
Martin Luther once said, “I am more afraid of my own heart than of the Pope and all his cardinals. For I have within me the greatest of popes, self.” Nothing is more powerful than self – good or bad. It can quickly destroy a marriage, divide a friendship, and more importantly, dishonor God. It’s been said, “The smallest package we’ve ever seen is a man wrapped up in himself.”… Read the rest
Legendary golfer Bobby Jones once said, “Competitive sports are played mainly on a five-and-a-half inch court – the space between your ears.” Our minds – our thoughts – are the most life-changing tools we have. Our character, who and what we do, is thus the sum total of them. For Solomon wrote, “As a man thinketh…so he is” (Proverbs 23:7).… Read the rest
I’ve often said that quitters are a dime a dozen, but finishers are one in a million. And if you think about it, why would you want it any other way? There’s no quit in God, and it was precisely in that image that we were created. “I fought the good fight. I kept the faith. I finished the race” (1 Timothy 4:7).… Read the rest
“Do not throw in the towel; use it for wiping the sweat off your face.” Staying power is essential to successfully facing life’s challenges. And every time you stay the course, you prove to yourself that nothing is as big as once thought. And always remember, your God is filled with blessings, not curses, for those who follow the path of endurance. “For whoever stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13).… Read the rest
There’s an old African-American proverb that says, “Nobody will think you’re somebody if you don’t think so yourself.” Our self-image is ultimately our self-reflection. More often than not, people see exactly the way we see ourselves.… Read the rest
I’ve heard it said that “Excellence is not a singular act, but a habit. You are what you do repeatedly.” One of the greatest acts of maturity for me is learning to do the same thing over – as long as that same thing, over and over, are precepts of God.… Read the rest
True forgiveness has no end – it’s limitless. As the great prophet Buzz Light Year once spouted, “It’s to infinity and beyond.” You see, when Jesus taught that we are to forgive not seven times, but seventy times seven, He wasn’t suggesting a mathematical formula of keeping score, but to teach us grace in keeping “no record of wrongs” (1 Corinthians 13:5). I know it seems impossible, but not to Him.… Read the rest
Recognize your influence, because we all have it. As the old adage goes, “You can play only the cards you’ve been dealt.” God gave you everything you need to win the game. Never assume that you’ve been dealt a raw deal. You can’t influence with what you’re not. You can influence others only with what you got. “So make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given. Then sink yourself into that” (Galatians 6:4).… Read the rest
I read once, “Don’t be a thermometer – which reflects the heat of the culture. Be a thermostat – that controls the heat of the world.”… Read the rest
Everything we have is from God. And it was given to us by God to influence others. Paul writes, “Don’t use your freedom to satisfy your own self…but instead, use your freedom to influence others” (Galatians 5:13). Our lives, their solitary purpose, was given to us by God to influence others. The Prophet Jeremiah stated, “You are to influence others” (Jeremiah 15:19).… Read the rest
What you see is what you get – bars or stars. It depends on which side of the cell you choose to live. Hope is that ability to believe what God can do in spite of your circumstances or surroundings. You can hope, or you can cope. We need to be a people with imaginations who think new thoughts, who dream God-dreams.… Read the rest
Grace is love that seeks us out when we have nothing to give in return. It’s being loved by God when we are pretty much unlovable. It defies logic. It makes no demands. It just gives. As Dante so clearly said, “The Love that moves the sun and the other stars.” God is love (1 John 4:8-9).… Read the rest
The Bible is not a record of the blessed good, but rather the blessed bad. It is not a witness of the best people making it up to God; it’s a witness of God making it down to the worst of people. The so-called heroes of the Bible had fallen and failed over and over; they made huge mistakes, got afraid, were often selfish, deceptive, and unreliable. The thesis of the Bible, then, is not the efforts of the redeemed, but the amazing work of the Redeemer.… Read the rest
We live in a conditional world, and that same condition has entered the church. For every promise of reward, there is the threat of punishment. And round and round it goes, and the message is always the same: accomplishment precedes acceptance; achievement precedes approval. This is not what God had intended.… Read the rest
Christianity is not about good people getting better. It is good news for bad people coping with their failure to be good. The heart of the Christian faith is Good News, not good advice, good techniques, nor good behavior.… Read the rest
If we’re not careful, we can give people the impression that Christianity is first and foremost about the sacrifice we make for Jesus, rather than the sacrifice Jesus made for us. It can easily become our performance for Him rather than His performance for us. The hub of Christianity is not ‘do something for Jesus.’ The hub of Christianity is that ‘Jesus had done everything for us.’… Read the rest