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The Lord wants us to live all the time as if today would be our last. I believe it was John Wesley who was asked at one time, "What would you do if you knew that tonight you would die?" That great preacher of years gone by said, "I would do exactly what I have scheduled to do." Could you say that?
It�s pretty simple instruction.� �Love must be sincere.�� In that holiday classic It�s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Linus is striving to witness the arrival of great pumpkin.� And he tells Lucy several times that the most important characteristic of a great pumpkin watcher is that he or she must be sincere.
I’ve always wanted to be somebody, but I see now I should have been more specific. - Lily TOmlin
“Carry some quiet around inside thee,” the well-known Quaker, George Fox, used to say. “Be still and cool in thy own mind and spirit, from thy own thoughts, and then thou wilt feel the principle of God to turn thy mind to the Lord from whence cometh life; whereby thou mayest receive the strength and power to allay all storms and tempests.”
Be strong!
We are not here to play, to dream, to drift:
We have hard work to do and loads to lift;
Shun not the struggle: face it ‘tis God’s gift.
Be strong!
Say not the days are evil who’s to blame?
And fold the hands and acquiesce O shame!
Stand up, speak out, and bravely, in God’s Name,
Be strong!
It matters not how deep entrenched the wrong,
How hard the battle goes, the day, how long;
Faint not, fight on! Tomorrow comes the song.
- Maltbie Babcock (d. 1901)
A well-to-do businessman gave a fine car to his brother. One day when the brother went to the place he'd parked the car, he saw a ragged boy looking the car over with great interest. Instead of saying, "Get away from that car, kid," he smiled at the youngster. The boy was the first to speak. "Is that car yours, Mister?" "Yes, it is," was the reply. "What did it cost?" was the next question. "Nothing," said the man. The boy looked at him curiously and said, "You don't look like the kind of guy who would steal a car." The owner laughed and said, "No, it was a present from my brother." The boy seemed incredulous. "Do you mean to say he gave it to you as a present, and it didn't cost you anything?" "That's right." Then the boy said the most surprising thing of all: "I sure do wish I could be such a brother as yours." One might have expected him to say, "How I wish I could have such a brother as yours." The man asked him what he meant, and he explained: "I'll tell you. My youngest brother had polio and he can't walk to see all the shops in town and enjoy the toys, at least by seeing them in the windows. How I wish I had a car like this to take him around. Our father died, and we won't get any presents this Christmas. But at least I can walk along the streets and enjoy the shop windows; my brother can't even do this. That's why I'd like to be a brother like your brother."
Joe had a cat he loved very much. When he went west to California on a business trip he left the cat with his brother Al and his mother. When Joe arrived in Los Angeles he called his brother and asked him how the cat was doing. Al replied bluntly, “I’m real sorry, Joe, but your cat is dead.”
Brokenhearted, Joe said, “How could you be so cruel? You know how I loved that cat. You could have said, ‘Your cat is up on the roof and we can’t get her down!’ Then the next time I called you could have told me, ‘Your cat is off the roof but it has broken a small bone in its leg and is in the hospital.’“
“Then a few days later, when I was better prepared, you could have called and said, ‘Your cat has passed away in her sleep. She felt no pain.’“
“You’re right,” replied Al meekly. “I’m real sorry about how it was handled. Please forgive me.”
A couple of weeks later Joe once again called his brother from California. After chatting for awhile he asked, “Say, Al, how’s Mother?”
“Oh, Mother?” responded Al, “O.K., I guess, but she’s up on the roof and we can’t get her down...”
Let us be on our guard against this feeling. it is only too near the surface of all our hearts. Let us study to realize that liberal tolerant spirit which Jesus here recommends and be thankful for good works wheresoever and by whomsoever done. Let us beware of the slightest inclination to stop and check others merely because they do not choose to adopt our plans or work by our side. We may think our fellow-Christians mistaken in some points. We may fancy that more would be done for Christ if they would join us and if all worked in the same way. We may see many evils arising from religious dissensions and divisions. But all this must not prevent us rejoicing if the works of the devil are destroyed and souls saved. Is our neighbor warring against Satan? Is he really trying to labor for Christ? This is the grand question. Better a thousand times that the work should be done by other hands than not done at all. Happy is he who knows something of the spirit of Moses, when he said, “Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets,” and of Paul, when he says, “If Christ is preached, I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice” (Numb. 11:29; Phil. 1:18).
I’m just a plowhand from Arkansas, but I have learned how to hold a team together. How to lift some men up, how to calm down others, until finally they’ve got one heartbeat together, a team.
There’s just three things I’d ever say:
If anything goes bad, I did it.
If anything goes semi-good, then we did it.
If anything goes real good, then you did it.
That’s all it takes to get people to win football games for you.
One hot day, Herman Trueblood, all clean and cooled off by a nice swim in the ocean, saw a sweating man and his two sons trying on a hot day to push his disabled car up an incline. Two voices started yelling at each other inside him. One said, "There is an opportunity for service; you ought to help them push." The other voice protested, "Now that is none of your business. You will get yourself all hot and dirty. Let them handle their own affair." He finally yielded to his better impulse. He put his shoulder to the task. The car moved and kept moving.
A simple thing then happened which Trueblood never forgot. The father stuck out his dirty hand, and Trueblood stuck out his dirty hand. The father said, "I am very glad that you came along. You had just enough strength, added to ours, to make the thing go."
"Years have passed since that hot day, but I can still hear that man saying, 'You had just enough strength, added to ours, to make the thing go,'" Trueblood reflected more recently. "There are many thousands of people struggling to get some heavy load over the hill, and I probably have 'just enough strength, added to theirs, to make the thing go.'"
Every Christian will bear spiritual fruit. Somewhere, sometime, somehow. Otherwise that person is not a believer. Every born-again individual will be fruitful. Not to be fruitful is to be faithless, without faith, and therefore without salvation.
Having said that, some caveats are in order.
1. This does not mean that a believer will always be fruitful. Certainly we can admit that if there can be hours and days when a believer can be unfruitful, then why may there not also be months and even years when he can be in that same condition? Paul exhorted believers to engage in good works so they would not be unfruitful (Titus 3:14). Peter also exhorted believers to add the qualities of Christian character to their faith lest they be unfruitful (2 Peter 1:8). Obviously, both of those passages indicate that a true believer might be unfruitful. And the simple fact that both Paul and Peter exhort believers to be fruitful shows that believers are not always fruitful.
2. This does not mean that a certain person’s fruit will necessarily be outwardly evident. Even if I know the person and have some regular contact with him, I still may not see his fruit. Indeed, I might even have legitimate grounds for wondering if he is a believer because I have not seen fruit. His fruit may be very private or erratic, but the fact that I do not see it does not mean it is not there.
3. My understanding of what fruit is and therefore what I expect others to bear may be faulty and/or incomplete. It is all too easy to have a mental list of spiritual fruits and to conclude if someone does not produce what is on my list that he or she is not a believer. But the reality is that most lists that we humans devise are too short, too selective, too prejudiced, and often extrabiblical. God likely has a much more accurate and longer list than most of us do. Nevertheless, every Christian will bear fruit; otherwise he or she is not a true believer. In speaking about the Judgment Seat of Christ, Paul says unequivocally that every believer will have praise come to him from God (1 Corinthians 4:5).
The late Earl J. Fleming, an Alaska state biologist, was perhaps the only man to investigate objectively the bear’s reputation for attacking humans. When Fleming encountered a bear, he neither ran nor shot. At the end of his unique study, he had encountered 81 brown bears, and although several staged mock charges, not one actually attacked.
In about 512 B.C., as Darius I of Persia led his armies north of the Black Sea, the Scythians sent him a message comprised of a mouse, a frog, a bird, and five arrows. Darius summoned his captains. “Our victory is assured,” he announced. “These arrows signify that the Scythians will lay down their arms; the mouse means the land of the Scythians will be surrendered to us; the frog means that their rivers and lakes will also be ours; and the Scythian army will fly like a bird from our forces.”
But an adviser to Darius said, “The Scythians mean by these things that unless you turn into birds and fly away, or into frogs and hide in the waters, or into mice and burrow for safety in the ground, you will all be slain by the Scythian archers.”
Darius took counsel and decided that the second was the right interpretation, and beat a retreat!
British conductor Sir Thomas Beecham wasn’t a great admirer of the music of his fellow Briton, composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. During the rehearsal of a Williams symphony, Beecham seemed to be doing little more than listlessly beating time. In fact, he was still beating time after the orchestra had stopped.
“Why aren’t you playing?” Beecham mildly asked the first violinist.
“It’s finished, Sir Thomas,” came the reply.
Beecham looked down at his score. “So it is!”
Blessed are they who understand
My faltering steps and my palsied hand
And blessed are they that know that my ears today
Must strain to hear what they have to say.
And blessed are they that seem to know
That my eyes are dim and my wits are slow.
And blessed are they that looked away
When my coffee spilled at lunch today.
Blessed are they with a cheery smile
Who stop to chat for a little while.
And blessed are they who never say
You told that story twice today.
And blessed are those who know the way
To bring back the memories of yesterday.
Blessed are they who make it known
That I’m loved, respected and not alone.
Blessed are they who know I’m at a loss
To find the strength to carry my cross.
Blessed are they who ease the days
Of my journey home, in loving ways.
Blessed are they who understand
My faltering step and palsied hand.
Blessed are they who know that my ears today
Must strain to catch the things they say.
Blessed are they who seem to know
That my eyes are dim and my wits are slow.
Blessed are they who looked away
When coffee spilled at table today.
Blessed are they with a cheery smile
Who stop to chat for a little while.
Blessed are they who never say,
“You’ve told that story twice today.”
Blessed are they who know the ways
To bring back memories of yesterdays.
Blessed are they who make it known
That I’m loved, respected and not alone.
Blessed are they who know I’m at a loss
To find the strength to carry the Cross.
Blessed are they who ease the days
On my journey Home in loving ways.
- Esther Mary Walker
The story is told of a nobleman who had a lovely floral garden. The gardener who tended it took great pains to make the estate a veritable paradise. One morning he went into the garden to inspect his favorite flowers. To his dismay he discovered that one of his choice beauties had been cut from its stem. Soon he saw that the most magnificent flowers from each bed were missing. Filled with anxiety and anger, he hurried to his fellow employees and demanded, “Who stole my treasures?”
One of his helpers replied, “The nobleman came into his garden this morning, picked those flowers himself, and took them into his house. I guess he wanted to enjoy their beauty.” The gardener then realized that he had no reason to be concerned because it was perfectly right for his master to pick some of his own prize blossoms.
At a meeting of the American Psychological Association, Jack Lipton, a psychologist at Union College, and R. Scott Builione, a graduate student at Columbia University, presented their findings on how members of the various sections of 11 major symphony orchestra perceived each other. The percussionists were viewed as insensitive, unintelligent, and hard-of-hearing, yet fun-loving. String players were seen as arrogant, stuffy, and unathletic. The orchestra members overwhelmingly chose “loud” as the primary adjective to describe the brass players. Woodwind players seemed to be held in the highest esteem, described as quiet and meticulous, though a bit egotistical. Interesting findings, to say the least! With such widely divergent personalities and perceptions, how could an orchestra ever come together to make such wonderful music? The answer is simple: regardless of how those musicians view each other, they subordinate their feelings and biases to the leadership of the conductor. Under his guidance, they play beautiful music.
He wrote some of the most beautiful music in the history of humanity. Yet his life could not be called beautiful; it was full of tragedy. By the age of ten, both parents had died. He was raised begrudgingly by an older brother who resented another mouth to feed. Even as an adult, his life was difficult. His first wife died after 13 years of marriage. Of 20 children from two marriages, ten died in infancy, one died in his twenties, and one was mentally retarded. Eventually he went blind and then was paralyzed from a stroke. Yet he wrote great music-music of profound praise, thunderous thanksgiving, and awe-filling adoration.
Who is this victim of so much tragedy? Johann Sebastian Bach-a Lutheran and perhaps the world's greatest composer of church music. Perhaps it was because Bach knew the depths of tragedy that he also knew the heights of faith and praise.
So when we seem to be in the depths of despair, look up, for the Lord is going to bless us and others.
Joyce Brothers, well-known and popular psychologist, points out in Better than Ever that “beautiful people have beautiful personalities…We consistently judge them to be more sensitive, kind, intelligent, interesting, sociable, and exciting than less attractive people.” Dr. Brothers goes on to speak of a study made in a school among kindergartners and teachers regarding the people to whom they were most often attracted: “They (the children) picked the most attractive children as their favorites. Their teachers did likewise, and considered the less attractive children more likely to be troublemakers.” She continues, “When we grow up, for both men and women, higher salary levels and greater advancement have a high correlation with pleasant looks, at all ages and in all fields.”
Bertrand Russell was born into a Christian home and taught to believe in God, but he rejected his training and became an outspoken atheist. His daughter, Katherine Tait, said of him, “Somewhere at the bottom of his heart, in the depths of his soul, there was an empty space that once had been filled by God, and he never found anything else to put in it.”
F. B. Meyer wrote about two Germans who wanted to climb the Matterhorn. They hired three guides and began their ascent at the steepest and most slippery part. The men roped themselves together in this order: guide, traveler, guide, traveler, guide. They had gone only a little way up the side when the last man lost his footing. He was held up temporarily by the other four, because each had a toehold in the niches they had cut in the ice. But then the next man slipped, and he pulled down the two above him. The only one to stand firm was the first guide, who had driven a spike deep into the ice. Because he held his ground, all the men beneath him regained their footing. F. B. Meyer concluded his story by drawing a spiritual application. He said, “I am like one of those men who slipped, but thank God, I am bound in a living partnership to Christ. And because He stands, I will never perish.”
"He that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting" (Gal 6:8).
One need not look far today to see that most of society does not want to be bothered with things that are spiritual; they have no time to look at, or reflect on anything spiritual; rather they seem to be primarily concerned with the economy and the temporal things of this life. So much that we used to hold dear-the historical ideals of conduct that were associated with the Judeo-Christian heritage-seem of little importance. Even our TV screens portray homosexuality and loose morals as simply another lifestyle and nothing to be worried about.
Paul refers to this at length in the first chapter of Romans, and we can see that these are the very things that seem to be creeping into the fabric of society all around us. The only thing that has probably stopped God's judgment on the human race thus far is the fact that He still has a remnant; a people that seek to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, and be a light in the midst of increasing darkness. May we ever be on our guard as we journey onward, in order that the truth of the gospel will continue to influence the people around us, and ultimately people around the world.
One day, while my son Zac and I were out in the country, climbing around in some cliffs, I heard a voice from above me yell, “Hey Dad! Catch me!” I turned around to see Zac joyfully jumping off a rock straight at me. He had jumped and them yelled “Hey Dad!” I became an instant circus act, catching him. We both fell to the ground. For a moment after I caught him I could hardly talk. When I found my voice again I gasped in exasperation: “Zac! Can you give me one good reason why you did that???”
He responded with remarkable calmness: “Sure...because you’re my Dad.” His whole assurance was based in the fact that his father was trustworthy. He could live life to the hilt because I could be trusted. Isn’t this even more true for a Christian?
Lying at your feet is your dog. Imagine, for the moment, that your dog and every dog is in deep distress. Some of us love dogs very much. If it would help all the dogs in the world to become like men, would you be willing to become a dog? Would you put down your human nature, leave your loved ones, your job, hobbies, your art and literature and music, and choose instead of the intimate communion with your beloved, the poor substitute of looking into the beloved’s face and wagging your tail, unable to smile or speak? Christ by becoming man limited the thing which to Him was the most precious thing in the world; his unhampered, unhindered communion with the Father. - C. S. Lewis
Today’s young women are more likely to become depressed than their mothers were and at a younger age. Reasons: increased economic pressure to contribute to family income...changing role in society...inability to meet their own expectations...a sense of having lost control.
“Becoming husbands and fathers is the universal prescription of human societies for the socialization of the male. It is how societies link male aggression, energy, purpose—maleness—to a pro-social purpose. The most important predictor of criminal behavior is not race, not income, not religious affiliation. It’s a father absence. It’s boys who grow up without their fathers.”
When Rosina Hernandez was in college, she once attended a rock concert at which one young man was brutally beaten by another. No one made an attempt to stop the beating.
The next day she was struck dumb to learn that the youth had died as a result of the pounding. Yet neither she nor anyone else had raised a hand to help him. She could never forget the incident or her responsibility as an inactive bystander.
Some years later, Rosina saw another catastrophe. A car driving in the rain ahead of her suddenly skidded and plunged into Biscayne Bay. The car landed head down in the water with only the tail end showing. In a moment a woman appeared on the surface, shouting for help and saying her husband was stuck inside.
This time Rosina waited for no one. She plunged into the water, tried unsuccessfully to open the car door, then pounded on the back window as other bystanders stood on the causeway and watched. First she screamed at them, begging for help, then cursed them, telling them there was a man dying in the car.
First one man, then another, finally came to help. Together they broke the safety glass and dragged the man out. They were just in time—a few minutes later it would have been all over.
The woman thanked Rosina for saving her husband, and Rosina was elated, riding an emotional high that lasted for weeks. She had promised herself that she would never again fail to do anything she could to save a human live. She had made good on her promise.
On a visit to the Beethoven museum in Bonn, a young American student became fascinated by the piano on which Beethoven had composed some of his greatest works. She asked the museum guard if she could play a few bars on it; she accompanied the request with a lavish tip, and the guard agreed. The girl went to the piano and tinkled out the opening of the Moonlight Sonata. As she was leaving she said to the guard, “I suppose all the great pianist who come here want to play on that piano.”
The guard shook his head. “Padarewski [the famed Polish pianist] was here a few years ago and he said he wasn’t worthy to touch it.”
Since it is God’s will that you should outlive me, remember our friendship. It was useful to God’s church and its fruits await us in heaven. I do not want you to tire yourself on my account. I draw my breath with difficulty and expect each moment to breathe my last. It is enough that I live and die for Christ, who is to all his followers a gain both in life and in death.
When you are disposed to criticize a friend,
Just remember, the beginning's not the end;
When within this urge you find,
These three questions bring to mind:
Is it TRUE? Is it NEEDFUL? Is it KIND?
Sir Walter Raleigh was continuously submitting requests to Queen Elizabeth on behalf of convicts. Once the Queen said to him: "Sir Walter, when will you stop being a beggar?" "When Your Majesty ceases to be a giver," was the wise answer. Oh, how wonderful to know that God is the inexhaustible source of blessing!
Holy Sweat, Tim Hansel, Word, 1987, p.69
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Behavior and belief - If you don’t live it, you don’t believe it.
If you don’t live it, you don’t believe it.
Jesus was the greatest servant who ever lived. "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Mar 10:45).
Christ came to serve and to give, and God desires the same for us. "And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister" (Mat 20:27-28).
The finest model of serving, except Christ Himself, was the Apostle Paul. Almost without exception he begins every one of his epistles with words to this effect: "Paul, a servant...." or "Paul, a bond slave...." He was indeed an apostle, but he conducted himself as a servant.
Very few of us want to be known exclusively as a servant. We want to be known as a servant and a great preacher, or a famous missionary, or an outstanding elder, or a well-known business man. What we fail to realize is that true servanthood does not have hidden aspirations to be great in the eyes of men.
When we think of our relationship to Christ, can it be said of us that we want only to serve Him?
Although his religious philosophy was questionable, Albert Schweitzer was a man willing to abandon a great career in order to serve his fellow man. In 1913, he sailed for Africa, having turned his back on fame, money and prestige. His first hospital was an old abandoned hen house and his first operating table an old campboard.
On a trip to the United States, a reporter asked, "Dr. Schweitzer, have you found happiness in Africa?"
"I have found a place of service," he replied, "And that is enough for anyone."
This does not represent the feelings of many of us who are members of the church. It is not sufficient to simply have a place of service. Many of us want a place of recognition and a road to fame.
All of us need to do some serious thinking and praying about this matter of being a servant.
We need to make this prayer ours: "O God, help me to be the master of myself, that I may be a servant of others."
Mrs. B. R. Kirkindall contributed a story to the October 1981 Reader�s Digest that illustrates the importance of being honest. She said that as she stood in a line of people waiting to board a charter flight to
�She suddenly realized that it was very important to be honest. If we see the need for starting over, we also need to come to a point where we see that we cannot fool God. But coming to a point where we are honest about our relationship with God is difficult, because we like to see ourselves as better than we really are. When we come face to face with the awesome presence of God, we can no longer pretend that we are anything other than sinful.
C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity wrote,
“Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. There are many things below it, but there are also things above it. You cannot make it the basis of a whole life. It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling. Now no feeling can be relied on to last in its full intensity, or even to last at all....In fact, the state of being in love usually does not last....But of course ceasing to be ‘in love’ need not mean ceasing to love. Love...is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by the grace which both partners ask and receive from God....They can retain this love even when each would easily, if they allowed themselves, be ‘in love’ with someone else. ‘Being in love’ first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enable them to keep their promise. It is on this love that the engine of marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it.”
From the world of business, Robert J. Kriegel offers an observation about being proactive that applies to churches,
“Research shows that the overwhelming majority of Americans (85 percent) are reactive and static, not action- or dynamic- or instinct-oriented. They wait and meet, meet and wait. With a ready arsenal of conservative, conventional wisdom at their disposal, they try to control outcomes in an out-of-control world.”
Joseph Laitin, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs under Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger, remembers his former boss: “Defense Secretary Schlesinger tended to speak his mind, especially when questioned on matters he considered personal. His prickly manner sometimes carried into routine dealings with the press, often to his advantage. Once, while the Secretary and I sipped coffee at NBC before the start of the “Today” show, I learned that Tom Pettit would be doing the interview. I hastily gave Schlesinger a quick briefing on what he’d probably be subjected to in front of the camera. Pettit had a habit of bullying his guests for a good show. “Don’t let this guy get under your skin with outrageous questions,” I cautioned. “Keep cool and get your points across.” Just then, Pettit walked in, a clipboard containing his questions tucked under his arm. As they entered the studio, Schlesinger plucked the board from a startled Pettit and glanced at it. “Pretty stupid questions, Pettit,” he said, handing the man back his board. They were on the air 30 seconds later. Pettit was a pussycat.
One of the most tragic events during the Reagan Presidency was the Sunday morning terrorist bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, in which hundreds of Americans were killed or wounded as they slept. Many of us can still recall the terrible scenes as the dazed survivors worked to dig out their trapped brothers from beneath the rubble.
A few days after the tragedy, I recall coming across an extraordinary story. Marine Corps Commandant Paul X Kelly, visited some of the wounded survivors then in a Frankfurt, Germany, hospital. Among them was Corporal Jeffrey Lee Nashton, severely wounded in the incident. Nashton had so many tubes running in and out of his body that a witness said he looked more like a machine than a man; yet he survived.
As Kelly neared him, Nashton, struggling to move and racked with pain, motioned for a piece of paper and a pen. He wrote a brief note and passed it back to the Commandant. On the slip of paper were but two words—“Semper Fi” the Latin motto of the Marines meaning “forever faithful.”
With those two simple words Nashton spoke for the millions of Americans who have sacrificed body and limb and their lives for their country—those who have remained faithful.
“In 1963…65 percent of Americans said they believed in the absolute truth of all words in the Bible. Within 15 years, by 1978, the proportion of the population holding this belief had declined to 38 percent. The current figure of 32 percent represents a new low in literal belief in the Bible” (PRRC Emerging Trends (January 1992):1). The same thing has happened in England. The proportion of people who believe in a personal God has declined from 36 percent in 1981 to 31 percent today. Those who believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God has fallen from 52 percent in 1981 to 48 percent today (International Christian Digest (July/August 1992)).
The world is full of nominal Christians-but how many are Christians in deed? The Bible makes it clear that mere belief is not enough.
A United States Senator recently quoted a very moving, yet indicting poem, "Listen Christian!" (by Bob Rowland), which reads as follows:
A little boy came to the preacher and asked him to have the folks in prayer meeting pray that the Lord might cause his sister to read the Bible. The preacher made the request known, but as soon as someone began to pray about it, little Johnny got up and left. Everyone thought him very rude, and the next day the preacher scolded him for it. But Johnny said, "Sir, I wanted to go and see my sister read the Bible for the first time."
Believing things ‘on authority’ only means believing them because you have been told them by someone you think trustworthy.
Ninety-nine percent of the things you believe are believed on authority. I believe there is such a place as New York. I could not prove by abstract reasoning that there is such a place. I believe it because reliable people have told me so. The ordinary person believes in the solar system, atoms, and the circulation of the blood on authority—because the scientists say so.
Every historical statement is believed on authority. None of us has seen the Norman Conquest or the defeat of the Spanish Armada. But we believe them simply because people who did see them have left writings that tell us about them; in fact, on authority. A person who balked at authority in other things, as some people do in religion, would have to be content to know nothing all his life. - C. S. Lewis
James Engel summarized the belief system and the presuppositions that commonly prevail among what he calls modern man:
God, if He exists at all, is just an impersonal moral force.
Man basically has the capacity within himself to improve morally and make the right choices.
Happiness consists of unlimited material acquisition.
There really is no objective basis for right and wrong.
The supernatural is just a figment of someone’s imagination.
If a person lives a “good life,” the eternal destiny is assured.
The Bible is nothing other than a book written by man.
When Rear Admiral Du Pont explained to his superior officer, Farragut, why he had failed to take his ships into Charleston Harbor, Farragut heard him through to the end and then said, "Admiral, there is one explanation which you haven't given."
"What is that?" asked Du Pont.
"This: you didn't believe that you could do it."
That lack of confidence has been the secret of failures not only in the field of war but also in this greater warfare of the soul.
After the battle of Pittsburgh Landing and Murfreesboro' I was in a hospital at Murfreesboro'. And one night after midnight, I was woke up and told that there was a man in one of the wards who wanted to see me. I went to him and he called me "chaplain!"--I wasn't a chaplain--and he said he wanted me to help him die. And I said, "I'd take you right up in my arms and carry you into the kingdom of God if I could but, I can't do it I can't help you to die." And he said, "Who can?" I said: "The Lord Jesus Christ can--He came for that purpose." He shook his head and said, "He can't save me I have sinned all my life." And I said, "But He came to save sinners." I thought of his mother in the North, and I knew that she was anxious that he should die right, and I thought I'd stay with him. I prayed two or three times, and repeated all the promises I could, and I knew that in a few hours he would be gone. I said I wanted to read him a conversation that Christ had with a man who was anxious about his soul. I turned to the third chapter of John. His eyes were riveted on me, and when I came to the 14th and 15th verses, he caught up the words, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life." He stopped me and said, "Is that there?" I said "Yes," and he asked me to read it again, and I did so. He leaned his elbows on the cot and clasped his hands together and said, "That's good won't you read it again."
I read it the third time, and then went on with the rest of the chapter. When I finished, his eyes were closed, his hands were folded, and there was a smile on his face. Oh! how it was lit up! What a change had come over it! I saw hits lips quivering, and I leaned over him and heard, in a faint whisper; "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life." He opened his eyes and said, "That's enough; don't read any more." He lingered a few hours and then pillowed his head on those two verses, and then went up in one of Christ's chariots and took his seat in the Kingdom of God.
You may spurn God's remedy and perish; but I tell you God don't want you to perish. He says, "As I live I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked." "Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die?"
Bruce Larson, in Believe and Belong, tells how he helped people struggling to surrender their lives to Christ:
For many years I worked in New York City and counseled at my office any number of people who were wrestling with this yes-or-no decision. Often I would suggest they walk with me from my office down to the RCA Building on Fifth Avenue. In the entrance of that building is a gigantic statue of Atlas, a beautifully proportioned man who, with all his muscles straining, is holding the world upon his shoulders. There he is, the most powerfully built man in the world, and he can barely stand up under this burden. ‘Now that’s one way to live,’ I would point out to my companion, ‘trying to carry the world on your shoulders. But now come across the street with me.’
On the other side of Fifth Avenue is Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, and there behind the high altar is a little shrine of the boy Jesus, perhaps eight or nine years old, and with no effort he is holding the world in one hand. My point was illustrated graphically.
We have a choice. We can carry the world on our shoulders, or we can say, ‘I give up, Lord; here’s my life. I give you my world, the whole world.’”
- Richard A. Hasler
There are radio waves all around us sent out by transmitters. Only a receiving set can catch them. If you don't tune your radio to the waves of the transmitter you'll never understand what the speaker is saying. If you're not tuned in to God, you'll never understand Him either. Don't try in your unbelief to understand and know God. It's impossible. You must believe before you can receive His regenerating nature. St. Paul knew this when he said, "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Gal_2:20). Then your battles, the temptations that beset you, will be fought by Christ Himself. He can more easily bear the burdens of your life than you can by yourself.
Some think it hard that there should be nothing for them but ruin if they will not believe in Jesus Christ; but if you will think for a minute you will see that it is just and reasonable. I suppose there is no way for a man to keep his strength up except by eating. If you were to say, “I will not eat again, I despise such animalism,” you might go to Madeira, or travel in all lands (supposing you lived long enough!), but you would most certainly find that no climate and no exercise would avail to keep you alive if you refused food. Would you then complain, “It is a hard thing that I should die because I do not believe in eating?” It is not an unjust thing that if you are so foolish as not to eat, you must die. It is precisely so with believing. “Believe, and thou are saved.” If thou wilt not believe, it is no hard thing that thou shouldst be lost. It would be strange indeed if it were not to be the case.
I would recommend you either believe God up to the hilt, or else not to believe at all. Believe this book of God, every letter of it, or else reject it. There is no logical standing place between the two. Be satisfied with nothing less than a faith that swims in the deeps of divine revelation; a faith that paddles about the edge of the water is poor faith at best. It is little better than a dry-land faith, and is not good for much. - C. H. Spurgeon
Born into the world John 16:21
Given out of the world John 17:6
Delivered from the world Gal. 1:4
Crucified to the world Gal. 6:14
Not of the world John 17:16
Hated by the world John 17:14
Internal, with the flesh Gal. 5:17
Not after the flesh 2 Cor. 10:3
With the armor of light Rom. 13:12
External, with the world John 16:33
Not by resistance but submission James 4:7
With the armor of righteousness 2 Cor. 6:7
Infernal, with the devil Eph. 6:12
Not by submission but resistance James 4:7
With the whole armor of God Eph. 6:13
1. Of his promise in Christ, salvation Eph 3:6
2. Of the divine nature, regeneration 2 Peter 2;4
3. Of the inheritance, competency Col 1:12
4. Of the heavenly calling, position Heb 3:1
5. Of Christ’s sufferings, discipleship 1 Peter 4:13
6. Of fatherly chastisement, discipline Heb 12:6
7. Of the glory, prospective 1 Peter 5:1
In one of his lighter moments, Benjamin Franklin penned his own epitaph. He didn’t profess to be a born-again Christian, but it seems he must have influenced by Paul’s teaching of the resurrection of the body. Here’s what he wrote:
The Body of B. Franklin, Printer
Like the Cover of an old Book
Its contents torn out,
And stript of its Lettering and Guilding,
Lies here, Food for Worms,
But the Work shall not be wholly lost:
For it will, as he believ’d,
Appear once more
In a new & more perfect Edition,
- Corrected and amended by the Author.
Still, as failures go, we’re in good company. Take Benjamin Franklin. As a young man, Ben composed a master list of 12 resolutions, later tacking on a killer 13th (“Imitate Jesus and Socrates”). He had particular difficulty, he notes in his Autobiography, with Resolution No. 2 (“Silence—Avoid trifling conversation”), No. 3 (“Order—Let all your things have their places”) and No. 5 (“Frugality—Waste nothing”).
Ben kept track of his performance in a small book in which he entered a black mark each day for each resolution broken. He had intended to reuse the little book, eventually erasing old black marks as his performance improved. It didn’t. So many black marks appeared on top of black marks that the little book developed holes. He had to resort to keeping his records on a piece of ivory, from which the accumulated black marks could be tactfully mopped off with a wet sponge.
At age 14 he ran away from home and fought in the French and Indian War. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, he joined the American army as a colonel and in 1775 shared a command with Ethan Allen in the capture of Ticonderoga. Later he led 1000 men into Canada where he fought in the battle of Quebec. His courage in battle won him a promotion to brigadier general. But something went wrong. Thoughts of compromise ate away at his patriotic zeal. Soon the unthinkable happened. He offered his services to the British, and in 1780 devised a plan to surrender West Point to British control. Today, instead of being remembered as a national hero, Benedict Arnold is synonymous with “traitor.”
When Benjamin Franklin wished to interest the people of Philadelphia in street lighting, he didn’t try to persuade them by just talking about it. He hung a beautiful lantern on a long bracket in front of his home. He kept the glass highly polished. Every evening at the approach of dusk, he carefully lit the wick. People saw the light from a distance and when they walked in its light, found that it helped them to avoid sharp stones on the pavement. Others placed light at their homes, and soon Philadelphia recognized the need for street lighting. As others learn of the peace and joy you have in your life in Christ, they will recognize their need for Him. Your witness through personal testimony may be just what someone is waiting for!
Benjamin Franklin settled on thirteen virtues, including:
Silence: “Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation”
Frugality: “Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; that is, waste nothing”
Industry: “Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions”
Tranquillity: “Be not disturbed at trifles or at accidents common or unavoidable”
He set up a book with a page for each virtue, lining a column in which to record “defects.” Choosing a different virtue to work on each week, he daily noted every mistake, starting over every 13 weeks in order to cycle through the list four times a year.
For many decades Franklin carried his little book with him, striving for a clean thirteen-week cycle. As he made progress, he found himself struggling with yet another defect. “There is perhaps no one of natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it. Struggle with it. Stifle it. Mortify it as much as one pleases. It is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself….even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility.
Still, as failures go, we’re in good company. Take Benjamin Franklin. As a young man, Ben composed a master list of 12 resolutions, later tacking on a killer 13th (“Imitate Jesus and Socrates”). He had particular difficulty, he notes in his Autobiography, with Resolution No. 2 (“Silence—Avoid trifling conversation”), No. 3 (“Order—Let all your things have their places”) and No. 5 (“Frugality—Waste nothing”).
Ben kept track of his performance in a small book in which he entered a black mark each day for each resolution broken. He had intended to reuse the little book, eventually erasing old black marks as his performance improved. It didn’t. So many black marks appeared on top of black marks that the little book developed holes. He had to resort to keeping his records on a piece of ivory, from which the accumulated black marks could be tactfully mopped off with a wet sponge.
In one of his lighter moments, Benjamin Franklin penned his own epitaph. He didn’t profess to be a born-again Christian, but it seems he must have been influenced by Paul’s teaching of the resurrection of the body. Here’s what he wrote:
The Body of B. Franklin, Printer
Like the Cover of an old Book
Its contents torn out,
And stript of its Lettering and Guilding,
Lies here, Food for Worms,
But the Work shall not be wholly lost:
For it will, as he believ’d,
Appear once more
In a new & more perfect Edition,
Corrected and amended by the Author.
Benjamin Franklin settled on thirteen virtues, including
Silence (“Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation”)
Frugality (“Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; that is, waste nothing”)
Industry (“Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions”)
Tranquility (“Be not disturbed at trifles or at accidents common or unavoidable”).
He set up a book with a page for each virtue, lining a column in which to record “defects.” Choosing a different virtue to work on each week, he daily noted every mistake, starting over every 13 weeks in order to cycle through the list four times a year. For many decades Franklin carried his little book with him, striving for a clean thirteen-week cycle.
As he made progress, he found himself struggling with yet another defect. “There is perhaps no one of natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it. Struggle with it. Stifle it. Mortify it as much as one pleases. It is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself…even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility.
Bernard Shaw played the “What If” game shortly before he died. “Mr. Shaw,” asked a reporter, “if you could live your life over and be anybody you’ve know, or any person from history, who would you be?”
“I would choose,” replied Shaw “to be the man George Bernard Shaw could have been, but never was.”
“I do not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly human can believe in everlasting punishment.…I must say that I think all this doctrine, that hellfire is a punishment for sin, is a doctrine of cruelty.”
A young woman asked for an appointment with her pastor to talk with him about a besetting sin about which she was worried. When she saw him, she said, “Pastor, I have become aware of a sin in my life which I cannot control. Every time I am at church I begin to look around at the other women, and I realize that I am the prettiest one in the whole congregation. None of the others can compare with my beauty. What can I do about this sin?”
The pastor replied, “Mary, that’s not a sin, why that’s just a mistake!”
Willard Scott of “The Today Show” remembers his radio days when he received his all-time favorite letter from a fan: “Dear Mr. Scott—I think you’re the best disc jockey in Washington. You play the best music and have the nicest voice of anyone on the air. Please excuse the crayon—they won’t let us have anything sharp in here.”
Contrary to current theories, happy couples don’t express anger freely, don’t see marriage as a 50-50 proposition, don’t think separate interests are as important as shared activities. They do view their partners as their best friends, regard marriage as a sacred, long-term commitment, agree on aims and goals in life.
In about 512 B.C., as Darius I of Persia led his armies north of the Black Sea, the Scythians sent him a message comprised of a mouse, a frog, a bird, and five arrows. Darius summoned his captains. “Our victory is assured,” he announced. “These arrows signify that the Scythians will lay down their arms; the mouse means the land of the Scythians will be surrendered to us; the frog means that their rivers and lakes will also be ours; and the Scythian army will fly like a bird from our forces.” But an adviser to Darius said, “The Scythians mean by these things that unless you turn into birds and fly away, or into frogs and hide in the waters, or into mice and burrow for safety in the ground, you will all be slain by the Scythian archers.”
Darius took counsel and decided that the second was the right interpretation, and beat a retreat!
Desk sign at St. Louis Office Supply Company: “Don’t be indispensable. If you can’t be replaced, you can’t be promoted.”
Sometime, when you’re feeling important, Sometime, when your ego’s in bloom; Sometime, when you take it for granted You’re the best qualified man in the room; Sometime, when you feel that your going Would leave an unfillable hole, Just follow this simple instruction And see how it humbles the soul. Take a bucket and fill it with water; Put your hand in it, up to the wrist; Pull it out; and the hole that’s remaining is a measure of how you’ll be missed. You may splash all you please, when you enter, You can stir up the water galore, But stop and you’ll find in a minute That it looks quite the same as before.
The moral in this quaint example Is do just the best that you can, Be proud of yourself, but remember— There’s NO indispensable man!
During the filming of Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat, actress Mary Anderson asked the famed director what he thought was her best side. “My dear,” he replied, “you’re sitting on it.”
Better a bald head than none at all. - Austin O’Malley
In the movies and on television, previews show coming attractions. Designed to create interest, the previews always show the most dynamic and dramatic parts, such as the chase scenes, love scenes, and fight scenes in the show. The whole point of the previews is to whet our appetites for the upcoming programs.
Someday a big show will come to town, and Jesus will be the star. It will be a worldwide performance, and the cast will be sensational. But until then, He has left previews of coming attractions in the world. He has left His church to provide clips of the major production that is to come.
Unfortunately, some of the clips are so bad that people have little interest in attending the major performance. The church has been so weak in demonstrating the power and wonder of the main feature that fewer and fewer people have interest in it.
It is time for God's people-the church-to start showing previews that are worth watching: previews to the world that will prompt the questions, "Where can I buy a ticket for the show?" Then we can respond, "No purchase is necessary. We are giving the tickets away. The price has already been paid."
The work of Japanese painter Hokusai spanned many years before his death in 1849 at age 89. But toward the end of his life, the artist dismissed as nothing all the work he had done before age 50. It was only after he reached 70 that he felt he was turning out anything worthy of note. On his deathbed Hokusai lamented, “If heaven had granted me five more years, I could have become a real painter.”
When Billy Graham was driving through a small southern town, he was stopped by a policeman and charged with speeding. Graham admitted his quilt, but was told by the officer that he would have to appear in court.
The judge asked, “Guilty, or not guilty? ”When Graham pleaded guilty, the judge replied, “That’ll be ten dollars—a dollar for every mile you went over the limit.”
Suddenly the judge recognized the famous minister. “You have violated the law,” he said. “The fine must be paid—but I am going to pay it for you.” He took a ten dollar bill from his own wallet, attached it to the ticket, and then took Graham out and bought him a steak dinner!
“That,” said Billy Graham, “is how God treats repentant sinners!”
Being general director of the New York opera took a toll on Beverly Sills; she ballooned into obesity. “It made me sick to look at myself. I’d reached the point where I didn’t want to have my clothes made anymore. It was too embarrassing. So I ordered everything from catalogues.”
Eventually Sills was forced to face the problem. “I woke up one day and realized I was really ill.” She went to see a specialist. “He put me on the scales. They read 215 pounds.
‘I cannot possibly weigh that much!’ I gasped.
And the doctor said, ‘Please look down. Are those two fat feet on the scale yours or mine?’”
Beverly smiles. “Once I accepted the problem, I was on my way.”
