success

One of the stranger stories in European sports history is the story of a man named Yussif, the Terrible Turk.  Yussif was a 350-pound wrestling champion in Europe a couple of generations ago.  After he won the European championship, he sailed to America to wrestle an American wrestler, whose name was "Strangler Lewis".

"Strangler" was much smaller by comparison and weighed just over 200 pounds, but he had perfected a unique strangle-hold to defeat his opponents, which gained him his nick-name.  However, "Strangler" was no match for Yussif and was quickly defeated by his European counterpart. 

After winning the championship, the Turk demanded all five thousand dollars in gold.  After he wrapped the championship belt around his vast waist, he stuffed the gold into the belt and boarded the next ship back to Europe, the SS Bourgogne. 

Halfway across the Atlantic, a storm struck and the ship began to sink.  Yussif went over the side with his gold still strapped around his body.  The added weight was too much for the Turk and he sank like an anvil before they could get him into a lifeboat.  He was never seen again.

Maybe you're thinking, "What a fool!  He should have had a lot more sense than that!"  But, the truth of the matter is, we all tend to grasp the things of this world and hold on to them even while we're sinking.

Solomon made this observation:  "Then I returned and all I saw was meaningless vanity under the sun: There was a man all alone; he had neither a son nor a brother.  There was no end to his labors, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. 'For whom am I toiling,' he asked, 'and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?'  This too is meaningless and a miserable business!" (Ecclesiastes 4:8)

Solomon describes a man, who, like so many today, doesn't know how to quit.  He can't slow down.  He's driven to succeed, to achieve, to accumulate.  He works harder and harder to become the successful person he so wants to be.  And never once does he pause long enough to ask the question, "Who am I doing this for?  Why do I feel compelled to run faster and faster in the rat race?"

Success promises a view from the top.  But, without God in the picture, success will drag you down just as it did for Yussif, the Terrible Turk.

"Better is a handful of quietness than both hands full of toil and chasing after the wind." (Ecclesiastes 4:6)

I heard a story recently about a young girl who wrote a letter to a missionary to let him know that her class had been praying for him. But evidently she'd been told not to request a response to her letter because the missionaries were very busy. So the missionary got a kick out of her letter. It said, "Dear Mr. Missionary, we are praying for you. But we are not expecting an answer."

I can't help but think that that little girl summarized the prayer lives of many Christians. Sometimes we pray without expecting an answer, even though God has assured us that He does indeed hear our prayers. David said, "I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my supplications." (Psalm 116:1). But I think many of us struggle with the nagging question, "Is God really listening to me?" Yes, He heard David, He heard Elijah, and He heard the apostles. But does He hear me?

How do we really know that our prayers are answered? Sure, there are times when we see visible results. We may pray for someone who's sick and the next week they get well. But more often, our prayers don't produce flashing "neon" answers. We pray for help in financial problems, and we don't see things get any better. We pray for guidance in making right decisions, but the decisions don't get any easier. We pray for relationships with other people to improve, but they just seem to get worse. How do we as Christians account for that happening? How do we explain the fact that so many of our prayers seem to go "unanswered"?

The truth is, for a child of God there is no such thing as an unanswered prayer. Maybe you've heard it said before that God answers prayer in three ways. Sometimes the answer is "yes." Sometimes the answer is "no." And sometimes the answer is "wait a while." It's easy to accept an answer of "yes," but what about when God says, "no"?

Let me suggest three principles:

1. First of all, we need to trust God enough to realize that our all-loving, all-powerful Father loves us and has our best interest at heart. So when it seems that God says "no" to our prayers, we must trust Him enough to understand that there must be a good reason for it. It may be beyond our limited ability to understand, but we must simply trust God.

2. Secondly, we must not forsake God. Disappointment is a dangerous, powerful thing. When we get the feeling that God isn't listening to us, that He has said "no" to some prayer, we have a tendency to feel disappointed in Him. And Satan whispers to us, "God said He loves you, but He's not here." And if we allow that disappointment to harbor in our hearts, it can drive a wedge between us and God. We must continue to be faithful to our responsibility before God.

3. Thirdly, we need to realize that the answer may not be "no," but only "wait a while." God always answers our prayers immediately, but sometimes there's a delay in the giving of the answer and that can be a difficult thing for us to accept. The ability to wait for an answer is one of the marks of maturity. Be willing to let God answer in his own time, in his own way, and in his own power.

Many people see God as a divine vending machine in which you deposit one prayer and out pops a blessing. But what happens when you put your money in the Coke machine and nothing comes out? You get angry, you kick the Coke machine. So it's not surprising that such a view of God and prayer leads to disappointment when God says no.

I believe that we need to foster an entirely different view of prayer from that one. Our God is the Great God of the Universe, the Creator of all things that exist other than Himself. For us to even venture to speak to Him is presumptuous. For us to ask Him to pay attention to our requests and then hope for Him to meet them requires bold expectation. In fact such would be arrogance if it were not for the simple fact that God tells us to do just that.

Looking from the proper perspective, we will not ask "What happens when God says no?" but rather "What happens when God says yes?" That the God of the heavens would listen to us and our needs is a great testimony to His great love for us. And it is that love that will lead Him to say no from time to time. At those times, we must trust Him knowing that he loves us and desires what is best for us. We must never forsake Him nor our duty toward Him. And we must realize that what we interpret to be an answer of "no" may just be God telling us to wait a while.

"This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us."   (I John 5:14)

push

A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. This the man did, day after day.

For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore, and worn out, feeling  that his whole day had been spent in vain. Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, the adversary decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man's weary mind:

"You have been pushing against  that rock for a long time, and it hasn't budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it." Thus giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. "Why kill myself over this?" he thought. "I'll just put in my time, giving just the minimum effort and that will be good enough." And that is what he planned to do until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the  Lord.

"Lord" he said, "I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I  have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?"

The Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, when I asked you to serve me  and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock  with all, your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to  you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push, and now you come  to me, with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is  that really so?

Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and  your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown  much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet, you  haven't moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and  to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. This you have done. I, my  friend, will now move the rock."

At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to  decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is just simple  obedience and faith in Him.... By all means, exercise the faith that moves mountains, but know that it is still God who moves the mountains.

P.U.S.H!

When everything seems to go wrong,...just P.U.S.H.!

When the job gets you down,...just P.U.S.H.!

When people don't react the way you think they should,...just P.U.S.H.!

When your money looks funny and the bills are due,...just P.U.S.H.!

When you want to tell them off for whatever the reason,...just P.U.S.H.!

When people just don't understand you,...just P.U.S.H.!

P.U.S.H  -  Pray  Until  Something  Happens!!!!!

will

The will of God will never take you,

     Where the grace of God cannot keep you.

     Where the arms of God cannot support you,

     Where the riches of God cannot supply your needs,

     Where the power of God cannot endow you.

The will of God will never take you,

     Where the spirit of God cannot work through you,

     Where the wisdom of God cannot teach you,

     Where the army of God cannot protect you,

     Where the hands of God cannot mold you.

The will of God will never take you,

     Where the love of God cannot enfold you,

     Where the mercies of God cannot sustain you,

     Where the peace of God cannot calm your fears,

     Where the authority of God cannot overrule for you.

 The will of God will never take you,

     Where the comfort of God cannot dry your tears,

     Where the Word of God cannot feed you,

     Where the miracles of God cannot be done for you,

     Where the omnipresence of God cannot find you.

basket

The story is told of an old man who lived on a farm in the mountains of eastern Kentucky with his young grandson. Each morning, Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading from his old worn-out Bible.

His grandson who wanted to be just like him tried to imitate him in any way he could. One day the grandson asked, "Papa, I try to read the Bible just like you but I don't understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bible do?" The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and said, "Take this coal basket down to the river and bring back a basket of water." The boy did as he was told, even though all the water leaked out before he could get back to the house.

The grandfather laughed and said, "You will have to move a little faster next time," and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again.

This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was "impossible to carry water in a basket," and he went to get a bucket instead. The old man said, "I don't want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You can do this. You're just not trying hard enough," and he went out the door to watch the boy try again. At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got far at all. The boy scooped the water and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket was again empty.

Out of breath, he said, "See Papa, it's useless!"

"So you think it is useless?" The old man said, "Look at the basket." The boy looked at the basket and for the first time he realized that the basket looked different. Instead of a dirty old coal basket, it was clean. "Son, that's what happens when you read the Bible. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, it will change you from the inside out.

That is the work of God in our lives - to change us from the inside out and to slowly transform us into the image of His son.   Take time to read a portion of God's word each day.

..us

Praise lifts us.

Prayer strengthens us.

Trials purify us.

Failure humbles us.

Forgiveness heals us.

Friends encourage us.

God works in all these things for our good.

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." (Romans 5:8)

-ray pritchard

trespas

The sign nailed to the tree said "No trespassing." The red letters stood out for yards in every direction. But that didn't stop the young boys from climbing the fence in order to reach the apples that grew on the trees on the other side.

One day, a small boy slipped while he was climbing the apple tree, and fell into a pile of sharp branches, cutting himself badly and breaking his ankle. Alone and afraid, the young boy lay crying for hours amidst the tumble of sticks.

Finally, the owner of the property happened by. He came out and lifted the boy from the branches. The child was afraid of the wrath of the farmer who had posted such ominous signs, but the old gentleman merely smiled at the boy and said, "I didn't put the signs up to be mean. I put them there to try to keep things like this from happening. It was a kindness which caused me to want to protect little boys just like you."

Our loving heavenly Father gives us rules for the same reason. He is hoping to save us from pain and suffering. When we ignore His guidance, we find ourselves in terrible situations. We can feel confident that God is trying to protect us by His rules.

Joshua 1:8 “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”

 

Psalm 119:165 “Great peace have those who love your law and nothing can make them stumble.”

 

...donkey

"Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them" (Matt 21:2-3).

 

In Bible times, donkeys were a primary means for distributing goods and services. They represented commerce in the scriptures. Jesus told the disciples He had need of someone's donkey to ride into Jerusalem, the religious and spiritual center of their society. It would become known as Jesus' triumphal entry.

 

A friend and I were attending a Christian business conference in Singapore. It was the night before I was to speak a second time when I was prompted to add a teaching segment on the above passage of scripture.

 

I am sure the disciples must have been uneasy with their master's request to untie a perfect stranger's donkey and take it. After all, He was asking them to take what was the equivalent to a man's "truck." And men love their trucks! Jesus was illustrating that He wanted to use that man's donkey, or that which represented their work, to bring glory to the Father.

 

The next morning my friend and I went to breakfast. While we were eating, a lady named Maggie joined us. Maggie was from Malaysia and was an intercessor for the conference. She fasted 40 days in preparation for the event. "So, Maggie, has the Lord spoken to you about this conference?" I said. "Oh yes," she said, very excitedly. On September 17 the Lord said that the Singapore business people needed to give their donkeys to the Lord." My friend and I looked at one another in amazement. God was confirming His Word to me from the night before.

 

That day the focus of our conference became the need for the Singapore business people to "give their donkeys" to the Lord.

 

Friend, have you ever dedicated your work life to the Lord? Today, why not commit your donkey to the Lord. He will use it to bring glory to Himself and fulfill your life more than you could ever imagine.

-os hillman

faith

"To love means...  
       loving the unlovable.
To forgive means... 
       pardoning the unpardonable.
Faith means...
       believing the unbelievable.
Hope means...
       hoping when everything seems hopeless."
--G. K. Chesterton

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4:10-11)

eyes

"Then they were willing to take Him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading." (John 6:21)

The disciples were traveling across the lake to Capernaum when a strong wind arose and the waters grew rough. Suddenly they saw a figure on the water, and they were terrified until Jesus called out to them and identified Himself.

Isn't that the first thing we do when unexpected calamities or even something that we have never experienced before comes into our life? We panic until we can see that God is behind these events in our lives. In Romans, Paul tells us that, "from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen" (Rom. 11:36). God has an eternal filter in which nothing can touch us unless He permits it.

God shows us a second principle in this story. The Scriptures say when the disciples were willing to take Jesus into the boat, they reached the shore where they were heading. Recently, I was faced with some very difficult circumstances in my business. I had no income for some time, and I saw no immediate remedy to the situation. The circumstances created fear in my heart. The anxiety began to grow until, one day after my evening prayer walk, the Lord said, "How long do you want to keep your eyes on the circumstances instead of Me? Do you think I have brought you this far to throw you into the water?" The truth was that I was halfway in already because my eyes were looking at the "big waves" surrounding my boat.

One night, in a support group for divorced men, the leader asked each of us to keep our eyes on two men who were going to walk from the room. One man represented Jesus, the other, our circumstances.

"Now, I want you to keep your eyes on both people," he said. The men stood up and began walking across the room in opposite directions. It was impossible to keep looking at each of them at the same time. So we had to choose which we would focus on.

The lesson was clear. We could not keep our eyes on Jesus and our circumstance at the same time.

-steve blair

prayer

Keep praying, but be thankful that God's answers are wiser than your prayers!

--William Culbertson

Prayer is simple, prayer is supernatural, and to anyone not related to our Lord Jesus Christ, prayer is apt to look stupid.

--Oswald Chambers

 

Pray the largest prayers.  You cannot think a prayer so large that God, in answering it, will not wish you had made it larger. Pray not for crutches but for wings!

--Phillips Brooks

"Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up." (Luke 18:1)

promises

"So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."  (Isaiah 55:11)  In other words, God always keeps his word and His promises.

As a school child I was taught the importance of keeping my word and my promises. "It is a mark of character," my teacher emphasized. Unfortunately, the following story which I read some time ago, typifies far too many people in today's "hang-loose" society and, pathetically, far too many business people.

According to the story, "There was a rich young man who became critically ill and was taken to the hospital. His condition worsened, and his doctor told him that he wasn't sure if he'd recover, but that they would do all they could for him. The man was terrified and said to the doctor, 'Please, doctor, do everything you can, I don't want to die, I have so much to do yet in life, and if you can help me get better, I'll even donate $100,000 to the fund for the new hospital.' The young man happily began to improve and recovered, and a few weeks later was released and went home.

"Several months later he ran into the doctor who asked him how he was doing. The young man said, 'Doc, I haven't felt better any time in my life.' The doctor said, 'that's great because I wanted to ask you about the money you said you would donate to the new hospital fund. You remember you said if you got well, you'd like to donate $100,000. We could really use that now.' The young man said, 'Man, if I said that, I must have been really sick.'"

Keeping one's word and his/her promises is indeed a mark of character. May it be said of you and me, "He is a man of his word," and/or "If she says she'll do it, you can count on her to do it." And what about our promises to God? May we always keep them.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you that I can always depend on Your Word, knowing that You always keep Your promises. Help me to be a person of my word and always keep my promises. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

 -dick innes

anger

"A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control." - Proverbs 29:11

 

The workplace can be a pressure-packed world. The demands that are often put on us can bring out things that we never knew were there. Sometimes we begin to think that the source of that pressure is to blame for our response to the pressure. It could be an event, a spouse, a boss, a client, a child, or even a driver who cuts us off in traffic.

 

 

I recall responding to a close friend one time, "If you had not done that, I would never have responded that way." Later I learned that this response had little truth to it. We all choose to get angry. No one else is to blame for our anger.

 

"The circumstances of life, the events of life, and the people around me in life, do not make me the way I am, but reveal the way I am" [Dr. Sam Peeples].

 

This simple quote has had a profound impact on how I view my anger now. Anger only reveals what is inside of me. I can't blame anyone but me for my response to a situation. I have learned that anger is only the symptom of something else that is going on inside of me. This quote now resides on my refrigerator door as a dailyreminder of the truth about my response to life's situations.

 

It has been said that anger is like the warning panel on the dash of your car. It is the light that tells us something is going on under the hood and we need to find out what is the source of the problem. I discovered that the source of anger is often unmet expectations or personal rights. We believe we are entitled to a particular outcome to a situation. When this doesn't happen, it triggers something in us. At the core of this is fear, often a fear of failure or rejection, fear of what others think, fear of the unknown.

 

If you struggle with anger, ask God to reveal the source of that anger. Ask Him to heal you of any fears that may be the root of your anger. Ask God to help you take responsibility for your response to difficult situations.

-os hillman 

...sermon

"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."   (James 1:22).

In 1953, reporters gathered at a Chicago railway station waiting to meet the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize winner.  He was a big man, well over six feet tall, with bushy hair and a large mustache.

Reporters were excited to see him and expressed what an honor it was to meet him.  Cameras were flashing, compliments were being expressed when, looking beyond the adulation, the visitor saw an elderly black woman struggling to carry her two large suitcases.

"Excuse me," he said as he went to the aid of this woman. Picking up her cases, he escorted her to a bus and then apologized to the reporters for keeping them waiting.

The man was Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the famous missionary-doctor who had invested his life helping poor and sick people in Africa.

A member of the reception committee remarked to one of the reporters, "That's the first time I ever saw a sermon walking." 

The measure of any man or woman is not their name, nor their fame, nor what they say, but what they do.  "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says!"  (James 1:22)

"I'd Rather See A Sermon"

By Edgar Guest

I'd rather see a sermon

Than hear one any day;

I'd rather one should walk with me

Than merely tell the way.

The eye's a better pupil

And more willing than the ear,

Fine counsel is confusing,

But example's always clear;

And the best of all the preachers

Are the men who live their creeds,

For to see good put in action

Is what everybody needs.

I soon can learn to do it

If you'll let me see it done;

I can watch your hands in action,

But your tongue too fast may run.

And the lectures you deliver

May be very wise and true,

But I'd rather get my lessons

By observing what you do;

For I might misunderstand you

and the high advice you give,

But there's no misunderstanding

how you act and how you live.

And all travelers can witness

That the best of guides today

Is not the one who tells them,

But the one who shows the way.

Though an able speaker charms me

With his eloquence, I say,

I'd rather see a sermon

Than to hear one, any day.

stop

"Do everything without complaining" (Philippians 2:14)

Complaining is toxic. It contaminates both the complainer and everyone within earshot. Sometimes we think we're helping by complaining. We maintain, 'If somebody doesn't say something, nothing's ever going to change!' - as though positive change can come from negative words.

We imagine we've contributed something worthwhile by our complaint. But, complaining is what we do to avoid facing, dealing with and solving the problem. It's what we do instead of contributing to constructive change, and it makes us part of the problem instead of the solution. The more you complain the more problem-focused you become, and the more problem-focused you become the more you complain. Ultimately, your complaining affects you more than anyone else. The Psalmist said,  "...I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed." (Psalm 77:3).

If no one else pays attention to your words, you do. Before you say them, you think them: "...out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34). And when you say them, you hear them and believe them just as you would the words of a trusted authority. Every time you repeat them you reinforce their power over you until eventually you make yourself the victim of your own complaints! Your spirit (attitude) will be overwhelmed, not by the problems and difficulties people bring to you, but as the self-inflicted product of your own complaints.

So, "Do all things without complaining... that you may become blameless and harmless... without fault... in a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world" (Philippians 2:14-15).

ahead

“Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose his own soul?"' Luke 9:23-25

One night, my wife and I were in the mall needing to make some returns to a couple of stores.  It was near closing time when we left the first store and the other store was on the other end of the mall.  As we began to walk to the next store, my wife said, “Tim, go ahead of me to the store because you can get there faster and I will come behind you.”  Knowing that my legs are longer and that I could get there faster, she left it up to me to do what needed to be done while she followed close behind.

There are times in our lives in which following God can be difficult for a variety of reasons.  Not knowing exactly what He is doing makes following difficult.  Not knowing why He is asking us to do something makes following difficult.  Being unaware of the future of something makes following difficult.  The list of times when following God is sometimes difficult can be endless.  During these times, we sometimes want to walk ahead of God and do things "our way".  However, we must recognize that God’s legs, heart, and love for us are longer and greater than what we could ever have.  Knowing this and that God knows exactly what He is doing and exactly where we are, we must have the courage to let Him walk ahead of us and do what needs to be done while we follow close behind. 

 

Prayer:  “God, forgive me when I get ahead of you.  Go ahead of me. Guide me.  Direct me.  Prepare the way for me.  Lead me, Father and I will follow”

-timothy jackson, jr.

value

The story is told of an American tourist in Paris who picked up an amber necklace in a trinket shop.  When he arrived at New York and went through customs he was shocked at the high duty he had to pay for the necklace.  So when he came home, he spoke with a jeweler and the jeweler told him he would give $25,000 for the necklace.  The man was stunned and suspected that there was a reason for the offer.  So he took the necklace to an expert who appraised it at an astronomical amount.

When he asked the appraiser what made the necklace so valuable, he told him to look into the magnifying glass and see for himself.  When he placed his eye next to the glass, he saw an inscription which read: "From Napoleon Bonaparte to Josephine."  It was the name on the necklace that gave it extraordinary worth.

We have no intrinsic value -- that is to say, we are not of great value because of who we are or what we've accomplished.  Our value is determined by the One who bought us and owns us.  Those of us who are Christians have the name of Christ "stamped" on our lives to remind us who we are and whose we are.  Knowledge of this truth causes us to rethink what we do with our lives.

For example, if you have an old pair of ragged tennis shoes, you may think nothing of getting out in a muddy garden to do some work.  But if you're wearing an expensive pair of dress shoes, you'll be hesitant to wear them in the mud.  The value of what you're wearing will keep you from going certain places and doing certain things.

Paul says that's why we as Christians should avoid sexual immorality (as well as other misuses of the body).  If our bodies were of little value (as some believe), we would think nothing of "dragging them through the mud."  But knowing the value of our bodies, we're forced to think twice about where we go and what we do.

 "For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." (I Cor. 6:20).

Look closely at the inscription on your life.  You'll notice the name of the One who bought you and owns you.  Your value just went up!

-alan smith

mind

   I heard once about a man who went to the doctor after weeks of symptoms. The doctor examined him carefully, then called the patient's wife privately into his office.  He said to her, "Your husband is suffering from a rare form of anemia. Without treatment, he'll be dead in a few weeks. The good news is, it can be treated with proper nutrition."

     "You will need to get up early every morning and fix your husband a hot breakfast—pancakes, beef and eggs, the works. He'll need a home-cooked lunch every day, and then an old-fashioned meat-and-potato dinner every evening. It would be especially helpful if you could bake frequently. Cakes, pies, homemade bread—these are the things that will allow your husband to live.

     "One more thing.  His immune system is weak, so it's important that your home be kept spotless at all times.  I can't impress upon you just how important this is.  If you don't do these things, your husband is going to die.  Do you have any questions?"  The wife said, "No."

     The doctor said, "Do you want to break the news to him, or shall I?"  The wife said, "I'll do it."

     She walked back into the examination room. Her husband, sensing the seriousness of his illness, said to her, "It's bad, isn't it?"  She nodded, tears welled up in her eyes. He asked her, "What's going to happen to me?"

     And, with a sob, his wife blurted out, "The doctor says you're gonna die!"

     While I would like to think that those of us who are husbands and wives would be willing to serve our mates in a situation like that, the truth of the matter is that we don't usually get very excited about the opportunity to serve someone else.

     Paul says in Philippians 2:5 to, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus".  And the "mind" or "attitude" that Paul tells the Philippian Christians to take on is the attitude of selflessness, humility, service.  "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.  Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others." (Philippians 2:3-4).  The attitude a Christian should have is one that focuses on the needs and interests of others.

     That's not something that comes naturally. When Christ came into this world, he brought into being a whole new approach to relationships with people.  Listen to what he said to his disciples one day when they were arguing among themselves regarding who was to be greatest in his kingdom:

     "You now that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.  Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.  And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave -- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:25-28).

     Jesus said that in the Gentile world, in the world around us, there's very little humility.  People operate basically out of selfish motives.  They have little or no interest in helping others to reach their goals -- except when it might benefit themselves.  The name of the game is to get power and authority and then to exercise that power and authority.

     But that's not how Christians are supposed to act.  And Christ did more than just teach us that truth.  He lived it out as well.  He demands nothing of us that he wasn't willing to demonstrate himself.

     "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus."

...sand

"For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." Hebrews 8:12

A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. At a specific point of the journey, they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one, who got slapped, was hurt, but without anything to say, he wrote in the sand: "TODAY, MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE."

They kept on walking, until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who got slapped and hurt started drowning, and the other friend saved him. When he recovered from the fright, he wrote on a stone: "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE."

The friend who saved and slapped his best friend, asked him, "Why, after I hurt you, you wrote in the sand, and now you write on a stone?"

The other friend, smiling, replied: "When a friend hurts us, we should write it down in the sand, where the winds of forgiveness get in charge of erasing it away, and when something great happens, we should engrave it in the stone of the memory of the heart, where no wind can erase it" 

battle

I used to introduce my younger son by calling him "my baby" which is a little ridiculous if you look at the two of us. The boy I used to pick up is now the man who picks me up. And that's pretty embarrassing. He would greet me at an airport or some public place, still does, put his arms around me and lift me in the air. When I stand next to this moose in our family, I ask myself, "How did this child of mine ever get so much bigger than I am?"

A while back, a disturbing thought occurred to me, maybe this isn't just about my son growing. Could it be I'm shrinking? I'm sure I used to measure like 5'8", but the doctor says I'm 5'7" now. Hello! Who took the inch? Don't you dare tell me it went to my waist either!

Actually, I understand as you keep having birthdays that your tissues and vertebrae begin to sort of scrunch together and you start to shrink. That's a pretty depressing thought when you don't have that much to start with in the first place! But shrinking as you get older may not be all bad.

In a sense, I actually hope I'm shrinking as I get older in the way John the Baptist described when he was talking about his relationship with Jesus. It's in our word for today from the Word of God, John 3:30 - "He must become greater; I must become less." John's goal was to shrink. I think I understand that better now than I used to. John wanted his life and his work to involve an increasingly smaller percentage of him and a progressively larger percentage of Jesus. In the strange economics of discipleship, the less there is of you in what you do, the greater you become.

This is especially difficult for those of us who want to be "make it happen" people. There are two lifelong battlefields where we wrestle with the Lord over the "me first" thing. One is the area of control. We don't mind giving the Lord time, or money, or service. We give Him loyalty, we give Him hard work. We'll give Him anything but control. I want to maintain control of the areas that really matter to me. It might be my career, or my family, my children, my money. I want to control my ministry, or my image, my talent, my plans.

For most of us, there is a major control issue that lets the control of Jesus Christ go only this far and no farther. And there can never be less of me and more of Jesus until that issue is settled with my white flag. And maybe you've been through just enough pain, just enough humbling that you're finally ready to surrender what you have held tightly for so long and that you have tried so hard to control.

The other battlefield where our ego wrestles against the takeover of Jesus is the issue of credit. We really want the credit for what we do. We want to be noticed, appreciated, promoted, and admired. Recognition is important to us. But God has said, "I am the Lord; that is My name; I will not give My glory to another." We can't know the power of having Jesus really in charge until we are ready to say, "I don't care if my name's on it or not. I don't care who knows. I am here to get people to think about You, Jesus, not me."

If you can surrender the control, if you can surrender the credit, you are ready for the incredible shrinking you. Our lives become more incredible than we could have ever imagined as our ego and our interests and our self-reliance begin to recede, and our lives become more about Jesus than they ever have before.

Frankly, I'm looking forward to the years ahead, and to shrinking more and more, so my life can be bigger than ever as I make more and more room for my Jesus.