Pastoral Resources

Nineteen out of every twenty who become Christians do so before they reach the age of 24.

After 25, only one in 10,000

After 35, only one in 40,000

After 45, only one in 200,000

After 55, only one in 300,000

After 65, only one in 500,000

After 74, only one in 700,000

One time Spain controlled both sides of the narrowest part of the Strait of Gibraltar. At that narrowing of the two land masses (Africa and Europe), there was a huge marker called the “Pillar of Hercules,” and prior to Columbus’ voyage in 1492, it carried a three word Latin saying chiseled into stone: NE PLUS ULTRA, which, translated, said, “No More Beyond.”

Coins, like stamps, can tell us about a country. They celebrate victories, praise founders, sloganize ethnic styles, and advertise scientific breakthroughs. “No More Beyond” was the standard belief of that time. No one would dare question the prevailing conviction that the western horizon contained nothing new.

After Columbus’s discovery of a new world beyond Spain, recognition of the revised outlook was pressed into its coins. Coins were struck with a simple Latin slogan, two words: PLUS ULTRA: which meant “More Beyond.” Coins in circulation in Florida in 1796, still had that slogan!

In South America there is a tribe of Indians that interprets the past and future quite differently from us. We look at the past as being behind us and the future as lying ahead of us. We may laugh at this tribe as being less advanced than we, but they place the past in the future, and the future in the past. Instinctively they are more discerning than we. Look at their logic: what they've experienced and lived through they place before them to teach them. The sufferings of the past become the lessons of the future. We've known this, but often we haven't practiced it. They look at the future as lying behind them because it is entirely unknown; it's something that follows rather than precedes them.

• There cannot be any peace where there is uncertainty.
  
  
• There is no knowledge like that of a man who knows he is saved, who can look up and see his "title clear to mansions in the skies."
  
  
• I believe hundreds of Christian people are being deceived by Satan, now on this point, that they have not got the assurance of salvation just because they are not willing to take God at His word.
  
  
• "But," a man said to me, "no one has come back, and we don't know what is in the future. It is all dark, and how can we be sure?" Thank God! Christ came down from heaven, and I would rather have Him coming as he does right from the bosom of the Father, than anyone else. We can rely on what Christ says, and He says, "He that believeth on Me shall not perish, but have everlasting life." Not that we are going to have it when we die, but right here to-day.
  
  
• Now, I find a great many people who want some evidence that they have accepted the Son of God. My friends, if you want any evidence, take God's word for it. You can't find better evidence than that. You know that when the Angel Gabriel came down and told Zachariah he should have a son he wanted a further token than the angel's word. He asked Gabriel for it and he answered, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of the Lord." He had never been doubted, and he thundered out this to Zachariah. But he wanted a further token, and Gabriel said, "You shall have a token: you shall be dumb till your son shall be given you."

Do not be in too great a hurry. There is time for everything that has to be done. He who gave you your lifework has given you just enough time to do it in. The length of life’s candle is measured out according to the length of your required task. You must take necessary time for meditation, for sleep, for food, for the enjoyment of human love and friendship; and even then there will be time enough left for your necessary duties. More haste, less speed! The feverish hand often gives itself additional toil. “He that believeth shall not make haste.”

Women who never have children enjoy the equivalent of an extra three months a year in leisure time, says Susan Lang, author of Women Without Children. If that figure seems high, remember that the average mother spends 3.5 more hours a week doing housework than would a woman without children, plus 11 hours a week on child-related activities. This adds up to an additional 754 hours of work every year—the equivalent of three months of 12-hour, 5-day work weeks.

Elizabeth Prentiss, the wife of a Presbyterian minister, spent most of her adult life as an invalid, seldom knowing a day without constant pain throughout her body. Yet she was described by her friends as a bright-eyed, cheery woman with a keen sense of humor.

Elizabeth was always strong in faith and encouraging to others, until tragedy struck the Prentiss family beyond what even she could bear. The loss of two of their children brought great sorrow to Elizabeth’s life. For weeks no one could console her. In her diary she wrote of “empty hands, a worn-out, exhausted body, and unutterable longings to flee from a world that has so many sharp experiences.”

During this period of grief, Elizabeth cried out to God, asking Him to minister to her broken spirit. It was at this time that Elizabeth’s story became a living testimony! For over 100 years the Body of Christ has been encouraged as they sing the words penned by Elizabeth Prentiss in her deepest sorrow:

More love to Thee, O Christ, more love to Thee!

Hear Thou the prayer I make on bended knee;

This is my earnest plea:

More love, O Christ, to Thee…

Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest;

Now Thee alone I seek—Give what is best;

This all my prayer shall be:

More love, O Christ, to Thee…

Let sorrow do its work, send grief and pain;

Sweet are Thy messengers, sweet their refrain,

When they can sing with me,

More love, O Christ, to Thee…

Then shall my latest breath whisper Thy praise;

This be the parting cry my heart shall raise;

This still its prayer shall be:

More love, O Christ, to Thee.

A good many years ago a steel executive, strolling through one of the company’s plants, stopped to talk to a long-time employee who was shoveling ore. “How much do you get a week, Flynn?” the executive asked. The man told him. “You ought to be getting more than that. We should pay you a certain amount extra after you have shoveled a stated amount each day.”

“There’d be no use in doing that,” the man answered, “I work as hard as I can now. And no matter how hard I work, I can’t shovel more than a ton of ore each day.”

The steel executive returned to his office and, in spite of what the man had said, gave instructions to the payroll department to pay him more if he shoveled more. A few weeks later the executive again stopped to chat with the worker who now seemed somewhat embarrassed.

“What’s the matter, Flynn?” he asked. “Well,” said the fellow, “I’ll tell you. The other day when you were here I told you I couldn’t shovel more than a ton of ore a day. I thought I was telling you the truth at the time. But since you have made that new arrangement, I am handling four tons a day, and it does not seem as hard as the one ton I formerly did. Each time a shovelful shoots through the air, I say to myself, ‘There’s more money for Flynn!’”

George Washington Carver, the scientist who developed hundreds of useful products from the peanut: “When I was young, I said to God, ‘God, tell me the mystery of the universe.’ But God answered, ‘That knowledge is reserved for me alone.’ So I said, ‘God, tell me the mystery of the peanut.’ Then God said, ‘Well, George, that’s more nearly your size.’ And he told me.”

When given a choice of two different career paths, 78% of men and women surveyed opted for flexible full-time hours with more time left over for family pursuits and slower on-the-job advancement … only 13% decided on the traditional work ethic—inflexible hours and a faster climb up the career-success ladder.

I have found, in my own spiritual life, that the more rules I lay down for myself, the more sins I commit. The habit of regular morning and evening prayer is one which is indispensable to a believer’s life, but the prescribing of the length of prayer, and the constrained remembrance of so many persons and subjects, may gender unto bondage, and strangle prayer rather than assist it.

Alexander the Great subdued the world about him, but he was conquered by his own lusts; he died in a drunken stupor. The Christian conquers his own lusts in order to subdue the world within him. Through Christ, we are more than conquerors (Rom 8:37).

On his tenth birthday, a sensitive boy received 10 shiny silver dollars from a thoughtful uncle. The child was very appreciative. He immediately sat down on the floor and spread the coins before him. Then he began to plan how to use the money. He set aside the first dollar saying, "This one is for Jesus." He then went on to decide what to do with the second, and so on until he came to the last dollar. "This one is for Jesus," he said. The boy's mother interrupted, "But I thought you gave the first dollar to Jesus." "I did," the boy replied. "The first one really belongs to Him, but this one is a gift to Him from me."

Queen Victoria was a close friend of Principal and Mrs. Tullock, of St. Andrews. Prince Albert died and Victoria was left alone. Just at the same time, Principal Tullock died and Mrs. Tullock was left alone. Quite unexpectedly, Queen Victoria came to call on Mrs. Tullock when she was resting on a couch in her room. The Queen stepped forward. "My dear," she said, "don't rise. I am not coming to you today as a queen to a subject, but as one woman to another who has lost her husband." She put herself in her friend's place. That is what God did for us. That is what we should do for others.

A large sum of money was given to Rowland Hill to dispense to a poor pastor. Thinking that the amount was too much to send all at once, Hill forwarded just a portion along with a note that said simply, “More to follow.” In a few days the man received another envelope containing the same amount and with the same message, “More to follow.” At regular intervals, there came a third, and a fourth. In fact, they continued, along with those cheering words, until the entire sum had been received.

C. H. Spurgeon used this story to illustrate that the good things we receive from God always come with the same prospect of more to follow. He said:

“When God forgives our sins, there’s more forgiveness to follow. He justifies us in the righteousness of Christ, but there’s more to follow. He adopts us into His family, but there’s more to follow. He prepares us for heaven, but there’s more to follow. He gives us grace, but there’s more to follow. He helps us to old age, but there’s still more to follow.”

Spurgeon concluded, “Even when we arrive in the world to come, there will still be more to follow.”

Rowland Hill tells a good story of a rich man and a poor man in his congregation. The rich man desired to do an act of benevolence, and so he sent a sum of money to a friend to be given to this poor man as he thought best. The friend, just sent him five pounds, and said in the note: "This is thine; use it wisely; there is more to follow." After a while he sent another five pounds and said, "more to follow." Again and again, he sent the money to the poor man, always with the cheering words, "more to follow." So it is with the wonderful grace of God. There is always "more to follow."

Have you on the Lord believed?
Still there's more to follow;
Of His grace have you received?
Still there's more to follow;
Oh, the grace the Father shows!
Still there's more to follow,
Freely He His grace bestows,
Still there's more to follow.

CHO.-- More and more, more and more,
Always more to follow,
Oh, his boundless matchless love!
Still there's more to follow.
Have you felt the Saviour near?
Still there's more to follow;
Does His blessed presence, cheer?
Still there's more to follow;
Oh, the love that Jesus shows!
Still there's more to follow,
Freely He His love bestows,
Still there's more to follow.--Cho.

Have you felt the spirit's power?
Still there's more to follow;
Falling like the gentle shower?
Still there's more to follow;
Oh, the power the spirit shows!
Still there's more to follow,
Freely He His power bestows,
Still there's more to follow.--Cho.

P. P. Bliss.

The branch that bears the most fruit bows lowest to the ground while the branch with little or no fruit stands most upright. So it is with humility and conceit. Humility carries with it the weight of wisdom while conceit has the light-headedness of pride.

I have found, in my own spiritual life, that the more rules I lay down for myself, the more sins I commit. The habit of regular morning and evening prayer is one which is indispensable to a believer’s life, but the prescribing of the length of prayer, and the constrained remembrance of so many persons and subjects, may gender unto bondage, and strangle prayer rather than assist it.

When God made the oyster, he guaranteed his absolute economic and social security. He built the oyster a house, his shell, to shelter and protect him from his enemies. When hungry, the oyster simply opens his shell and food rushes in for him. He has freedom from want. But when God made the eagle he declared: “The blue sky is the limit—build your own house!” So the eagle built on the highest mountain. Storms threaten him every day. For food he flies through miles of rain and snow and wind. But think of it, the eagle, not the oyster, is the emblem of America.

Roman Catholic theology distinguishes between mortal and venial sins. A mortal sin removes your justification, and if you die with unconfessed mortal sin on your soul, you will be sent to hell. Venial sins do not destroy your justification, and only reduce your rewards or add to your time in purgatory. The Reformation rejected this system because of its works- orientation, but did not reject the idea of degrees of sin. John Calvin said that all sin is mortal in the sense that it deserves death, but no sin is so severe that it can destroy the grace of justification.

Film director Elliot Silverstein, on location in Louisiana, said he found two kinds of mosquitoes there: “Those small enough to get through screen doors - and those big enough to open them.”

Dr. Robert Travis, co-director of Marital and Health Studies at the Universtiy of Alabama, lists the most common complaints of husbands and wives:

WIVES: He doesn’t listen to me, He takes me for granted, He’s not romantic, He doesn’t help much with the children.

HUSBANDS: She doesn’t understand that I need time by myself, She nags about little things, She expects too much emotionally, She complains that I spend too much time at work. Fathergram, March, 1985.

Author Leo F. Buscaglia, on the moment he’d most like to forget:

“When speaking in public I perspire profusely, and thus always carry a few neatly pressed white handkerchiefs. Once, before a large audience, I had already used two handkerchiefs. I reached for number three and proceeded to wipe my forehead—only to find to my horror that I was using a pair of pressed white briefs, underwear that had inadvertently been piled among the handkerchiefs. With as much poise as I could muster, I completed the dabbing and quickly returned the underwear to my pocket. I often wonder how many viewers in the national audience shared the ‘brief’ embarrassment.

Q. Most flat tires occur Monday mornings and Friday afternoons, statistics show. Why these particular times?

A. Real flat tires? Or unverified reports of flat tires? All I know is Monday mornings are when most people don’t want to go in, and Friday afternoons are when most people don’t want to go back.

- L.M. Boyd

Thomas J. Watson, Sr. , died six weeks after naming his son as the new head of IBM, the company the elder Watson had led for more than forty years. The junior Watson said his promotion made him “the most frightened man in America.” But he took the helm and led IBM into the computer era and ten-fold corporate growth. His success was made possible, he said later, by his dad’s confidence in and acceptance of him during his college years, when he was more interested in flying airplanes than in studying or applying himself.

The SIX most important words: “I admit I made a mistake.”

The FIVE most important words: “You did a good job.”

The FOUR most important words: “What do you think?”

The THREE most important words: “After you, please.”

The TWO most important words: “Thank you.”

The ONE most important word: “We”

The LEAST important word: “I”

Stephen Hawking is an astrophysicist at Cambridge University and perhaps the most intelligent man on earth. He has advanced the general theory of relativity farther than any person since Albert Einstein. Unfortunately, Hawking is afflicted with ALS Syndrome (Lou Gehrig’s disease). It will eventually take his life. He has been confined to a wheelchair for years, where he can do little more than sit and think. Hawking has lost the ability even to speak, and now he communicates by means of a computer that is operated from the tiniest movement of his fingertips.

Quoting from an Omni magazine article: “He is too weak to write, feed himself, comb his hair, fix his glasses—all this must be done for him. Yet this most dependent of all men has escaped invalid status. His personality shines through the messy details of his existence.”

Hawking said that before he became ill, he had very little interest in life. He called it a “pointless existence” resulting from sheer boredom. He drank too much and did very little work. Then he learned he had ALS Syndrome and was not expected to live more than two years. The ultimate effect of that diagnosis, beyond its initial shock, was extremely positive. He claimed to have been happier after he was afflicted than before. How can that be understood? Hawking provided the answer.

“When one’s expectations are reduced to zero,” he said, “one really appreciates everything that one does have.” Stated another way: contentment in life is determined in part by what a person anticipates from it. To a man like Hawking who thought he would soon die quickly, everything takes on meaning—a sunrise or a walk in a park or the laughter of children. Suddenly, each small pleasure becomes precious. By contrast, those who believe life owes them a free ride are often discontent with its finest gifts.

A scientist has found out that poison from the skin of a tiny South American tree frog is far more toxic than any other known venom. Rain forest Indians use the venom from the skin of the kokoi frog to poison their blowgun arrows.

There is a poison even more deadly-the poison from an evil tongue. "The tongue is a fire, a word of iniquity." "With their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness" (Jam 3:6 and context; Rom 3:13-14).

Are you a Christian, able to control your tongue? If so, you are a mature Christian. "For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body" (Jam 3:2).

Old age can be a most rewarding period of life. For those who have found the satisfaction of a loving and close relationship with the Heavenly Father through faith in His Son, the “sunset years” can be more appropriately labeled the “golden years.”

Henry Durbanville felt that way. In his book The Best Is Yet To Be he wrote, “I feel so sorry for folks who don’t like to grow old...I revel in my years. They enrich me...I would not exchange...the abiding rest of soul, the measure of wisdom I have gained from the sweet and bitter and perplexing experiences of life; nor the confirmed faith I now have in the...love of God, for all the bright and uncertain hopes and tumultuous joys of youth. Indeed, I would not! These are the best years of my life...The way grows brighter; the birds sing sweeter; the winds blow softer; the sun shines more radiantly than ever before. I suppose ‘my outward man’ is perishing, but ‘my inward an’ is being joyously renewed day by day.

Robertson McQuilkin wrote, “God planned the strength and beauty of youth to be physical. But the strength and beauty of age is spiritual. We gradually lose the strength and beauty that is temporary so we’ll be sure to concentrate on the strength and beauty that is forever.”

Among the Jews there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if He was God. . . Now let us get this clear. Among Pantheists, like the Indians, anyone might say that he was a part of God, or one with God: there would be nothing very odd about it. But this man, since He was a Jew, could not mean that kind of god. God, in their language, meant the Being outside the world Who had made it and was infinitely different from anything else. And when you have grasped that, you will see that what this man said was, quite simply, the most shocking thing that has ever been uttered by human lips.

I once read that the United States Navy has 768 ships which comprise what they call the "mothball navy." These ships are anchored in various harbors around the country. They receive regular maintenance, being repainted periodically and receiving frequent electrical impulses to retard the process of rust and corrosion. Moisture content of the air in their inner compartments is kept at a proper level with giant humidifiers. While these ships can be readied for combat on very short notice, at the present time they just sit there doing absolutely nothing. The only purpose they presently serve is to provide jobs for those who provide the upkeep.

It set me thinking about "mothball Christians." How many do you suppose comprise that fleet? They are being preserved somewhat through the ministry of concerned friends. They consume incredible amounts of time and energy in local churches. Periodically someone must go after them and try to reactivate them. Their talents and abilities are not being used for anything constructive. They are on the church roll and perhaps feel snugly harbored because of it. They receive a lot of attention and loving concern, but never give anything in return. They are served, not serving.

I can see a legitimate reason for maintaining our "mothball navy." National security is at stake. But there is no excuse for believers to remain inactive. The energy and manpower needed to win the world is sidetracked-used up on those who should be involved in helping reach the world. Every Christian is responsible for using his God-given abilities for the salvation of the world.

The speaker at our women’s club was lecturing on marriage and asked the audience how many of us wanted to “mother” our husbands. One member in the back row raised her hand.

“You do want to ‘mother’ your husband?” the speaker asked.

“Mother?” the woman echoed. “I thought you said ‘smother.’

Many years ago, a young mother was making her way on foot across the hills of South Wales, carrying her infant son. A blinding blizzard overtook the pair, and the mother never reached her destination. Searchers found her lifeless body, with the baby snuggled beneath her, warm and alive. She had wrapped her outer clothing and scarf around the boy and then covered him with her own body. That baby grew up to be David Lloyd George, British Prime Minister and one of England’s greatest statesmen.

A Hindu professor at Creighton University Department of Business wrote,

“On this confused Earth, which is busy with materialistic goal-achieving, there was only one person closest to God: Mother Teresa. She cannot die. She simply merged with the Supreme Being....Her religion of service to the needy transcended any single religion. In fact, one might say that she followed the path of karma yoga (selfless action) for achieving union with God.”

John Cardinal O’Connor, reflecting more the Catholic mindset, said, “If she is not in heaven [bypassing purgatory?], then I am really terrified of dying, because of all she did.”

A one-line letter to the editor of a small-town newspaper had this to say: “If Mother Teresa doesn’t have a nonstop ticket to Heaven, no one does.” In other words, if she didn’t earn her way in, there’s no hope for the rest of us.

A Mother’s love is something that no one can explain,

It is made of deep devotion and of sacrifice and pain,

It is endless and unselfish and enduring come what may

For nothing can destroy it or take that love away...

It is patient and forgiving when all others are forsaking,

And it never fails or falters even though the heart is breaking...

It believes beyond believing when the world around condemns,

And it glows with all the beauty of the rarest, brightest gems...

It is far beyond defining, it defies all explanation,

and it still remains a secret like the mysteries of creation...

A many-splendored miracle man cannot understand

And another wondrous evidence of God’s tender guiding hand.

A teacher asked a boy this question: “Suppose your mother baked a pie and there were seven of you—your parents and five children. What part of the pie would you get?” “A sixth,” replied the boy. “I’m afraid you don’t know your fractions,” said the teacher. “Remember, there are seven of you.” “Yes, teacher,” said the boy, “but you don’t know my mother. Mother would say she didn’t want any pie.

Professor William James, Harvard's famous psychologist and the author of that well-known book, The Varieties of Religious Experience, said: "A teacher asked a boy this question on fractions: 'Suppose that your mother baked an apple pie, and there were seven of you-your parents and five children. What part of the pie would you get?' 'A sixth, ma'am,' the boy answered. 'But there are seven of you,' said the teacher. 'Don't you know anything about fractions?' 'Yes, teacher,' replied the boy, 'I know all about fractions, but I know all about Mother, too. Mother would say she did not want any pie!' "

A little girl's definition of "mother": "A mother is a person who takes care of her kids and gets their meals and if she is not there when you get home from school you wouldn't know how to get your meals and you wouldn't feel like eating them anyhow."

I remember in the Exposition building in Dublin, while I was speaking about Heaven, I said something to the effect that at this moment a mother is looking down from Heaven expecting the salvation of her daughter here to-night, and I pointed down to a young lady in the audience. Next morning I received this letter:

"On Wednesday, when you were speaking of heaven, you said, 'It may be this moment there is a mother looking down from heaven expecting the salvation of her child who is here.' You were apparently looking at the very spot where my child was sitting. My heart said, 'That is my child. That is her mother.' Tears sprang to my eyes. I bowed my head and prayed, 'Lord, direct that word to my darling child's heart; Lord save my child.' I was then anxious till the close of the meeting, when I went to her. She was bathed in tears. She rose, put her arms around me, and kissed me. When walking down to you she told me it was that same remark--about the mother looking down from heaven--that found the way home to her, and asked me, 'Papa, what can I do for Jesus?'"

My son found a bird's nest. It was empty. After just one season, the mother bird was finished with it. Next year she will build another. But I am glad human mothers are not like birds.

Did you know that if someone handles eggs in a wild bird's nest the bird may stop sitting on them? And, that if a mother bird has a defective chick she will shove it out of the nest and not allow it to grow up?

Thank God our mothers care for us, regardless of the many problems we have. They take care of us when we are hurt or sick. Like God, they love us even when we do wrong things.

A mother bird keeps busy feeding her young and protecting them. That is all she does, though. Think of how often our mothers have to be nurses, teachers, housekeepers, cooks, chauffeurs, counselors, and friends. With all we ask it is a wonder they don't push us out of the nest.

Baby birds are out of the nest in one season. The mother becomes free from caring for them. Our mothers are forever. They continue to do things for us even when we get older. They never stop caring for us. They pray for us. They become grandmothers and care for our children.

Mothers are a treasure. Take a moment to meditate on all that your mother has done for you. Be sure to honor and thank the mother God gave you.

"Do not forsake the law of your mother" (Pro 1:8).

The law of your mother-unwritten, but indelibly stamped upon your mind! It's the law of love, of kindness, of selflessness, of giving!

Motherhood-just think of its blessings, joys, sorrows, challenges and triumphs. There's no greater ecstasy than holding her newborn, and no greater anguish than the broken heart a child may cause. A mother's love is the nearest thing on earth to God's love.

The wisdom of God is exhibited in motherhood. We are not the by-product of some impersonal biological process. We were not made on an assembly line by the combination of chemicals. Our mothers nurtured us and formed an intimate relationship with us before we were born. She jeopardized her life for us. The greatest lessons we have ever learned have come from loving, caring, sacrificing mothers who were always available to us.

A woman's greatest, most fulfilling and far-reaching role is expressed in motherhood. LET US THANK GOD FOR CHRISTIAN MOTHERS! Let us be sensitive and grateful, not only on Mother's Day-but everyday for our mothers and the mother of our children.

In his book Being the Best (Thomas Nelson Publishers), Denis Waitley has some interesting observations about procrastination.

“When you stop to think about it,” he says, “there is no such thing as a future decision. You face only present decisions that will affect what will happen in the future. Procrastinators wait for just the right moment to decide. If you wait for the perfect moment, you become a security seeker who is running in place, going through the motions, and getting deeper in a rut.

“If I wait for every objection to be overcome, I will attempt nothing. My personal motto is, Stop Stewing and Start Doing. I can’t be depressed and active at the same time. I like changing the word motivation slightly to reflect a personal commitment to take charge of today and make it the best day I can—motive plus action equals motive-action.

“Everybody is looking for new ways to get motivated. Companies and corporations pay sizable fees to consultants who try to make their personnel more productive and fire up their salespeople. A motivated person thinks, I’m going to try it. But motivation must turn into motive-action, or nothing will happen. “That is the quandary of the unknown poet who wrote:

I spent a fortune

On a trampoline,

A stationary bike,

And a rowing machine

Complete with gadgets

To read my pulse,

And gadgets to prove

My progress results,

And others to show

The miles I’ve charted—

But they left off the gadget

To get me started!

“The gadget that can get you started is motive-action. “Try it and see!”

Jonathan Edwards inaugurated the great spiritual awakening in colonial America because he was possessed by a conviction. "Resolved that all men should live to the glory of God," he wrote in his diary at the age of nineteen. Then he added, "Resolved, second, that whether others do this or not, I will." Jonathan Edwards was possessed by a great conviction.

William Booth's marvelous work with the Salvation Army was motivated by a conviction. He wrote in the autograph album of King Edward VII these words, "Some men's ambition is art, some men's ambition is fame, some men's ambition is gold. My ambition is the souls of men."

The same truth appears in the lives of men and women in every field. One of today's most prolific writers is W. Phillip Keller. His books on faith as seen through the eyes of nature have been phenomenally successful, particularly A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23. In his autobiography, Keller describes the beginning of his writing career. His desire to write motivated him to use his space time to produce a book manuscript. He worked on it for hundreds of hours. He explained, "I would actually write and rewrite steadily for the next eleven years of my life before a single line was ever accepted for publication." Why did he do it? Because of a conviction that drove him.

Few have earned universal acclaim like Paderweski, whose name is synonymous with excellence on the piano. He would often play a bar of music forty or fifty times before a performance to get it right. After playing before Queen Victoria, he received this word of praise, "Mr. Paderewski, you are a genius." Paderewski responded, "That may be, but before I was a genius, I was a drudge." Why such discipline? Because of the conviction which controlled him. -Brian L. Harbour

Countless icebergs float in the frigid waters around Greenland. Some are tiny; others tower skyward. At times the small ones move in one direction while their gigantic counterparts go in another. The small ones are subject to surface winds, but the huge ice masses are carried along by deep ocean currents.

Some people are motivated by a desperate situation. A famous paratrooper was speaking to a group of young recruits. When he had finished his prepared talk and called for questions, one young fellow raised his hand and said, “What made you decide to make your first jump?” The paratrooper’s answer was quick and to the point. “An airplane at 20,000 with three dead engines.”

Motivates us to holy living: like father, like son. Holiness (I Peter 1:15-16), Righteousness (I John 3:7), Purity (I John 3:3), Love (Eph. 5:1-2), Forgiveness (Col. 3:13), Compassion (Luke 6:36), Endurance (Heb. 12:2-4), Submission (I Peter 2:21-4), Humility and obedience (Phil. 2:5-8), Kindness (Luke 6:35), Generous Giving (II Cor. 8:1-9), Service (John 13:14-5).

One enterprising home builder has found a way to motivate his employees. For exceptional work he names streets after them in his housing developments.

There are a great many actions which, in and of themselves, are neither right nor wrong. They are made right when we act in love. They become wrong if we act in selfishness.

It's like playing the piano. There are no right or wrong notes. There are only right or wrong notes in the context of the musical score. We many not like G or F, or be very favorable to middle C, but the note is only wrong in the context of what is being played. Likewise, choices become right or wrong based on the motivation behind them.

Bob Kuechenberg, the former Miami Dolphins great, once explained what motivated him to go to college.

My father and uncle were human cannonballs in carnivals. My father told me, “go to college or be a cannonball.” Then one day my uncle came out of the cannon, missed the net and hit the ferris wheel. I decided to go to college.

Frank Laubach learned to live above his failure. At 45, missionary Frank Laubach was a theological seminary professor in the Philippines. He was next in line for president of the seminary. However, the board selected someone else. Laubach took off for the hills to sulk. He was angry about the unfairness of life and God's seeming lack of justice. He was a failure in his own eyes.

Was that the end of his story? Not on your life. Frank developed in his solitude a technique for teaching hundreds of millions of people throughout the world to read for the first time. He became the father of the modern literacy movement. A failure, Frank Laubach learned to live above that failure, and on that new level, he found how to achieve excellence.

Gen. William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, could never be accused of mincing words or doing things half-heartedly. He believed if he could hold each of his young Salvation Army officers over hell for a few minutes, he would never have any trouble keeping them motivated about being witnesses to Christ.

The outstanding Baptist preacher, Dr. George W. Truett, was helping a struggling congregation raise money for their church building. They still needed $6500. Truett found the response weak. With only $3000 pledged he said in exasperation, “Do you expect me to give the other $3500 needed to reach your goal? I’m just a guest here today.”

Suddenly, a woman near the back stood. Looking at her husband seated on the platform recording pledges, she said in a shaking voice, “Charlie, I wonder if you would be willing for us to give our little home? We were offered exactly $3500 cash for it yesterday. If the Saviour gave His life for us, shouldn’t we make this sacrifice for Him?”

Truett reported that the fine husband responded with equal generosity. “Yes, Jennie, I was thinking the same thing.”

Turning to Truett, he said, “Brother Truett, if it’s needed, we’ll raise our pledge by $3500.” Silence reigned for a few moments. Then some of the folks began to sob. Those who fifteen minutes earlier had refused to do more now either added their names to the list or increased their donations. In a short time, their goal had been achieved, and Charlie and Jennie didn’t have to forfeit their home. Their willingness to sacrifice had stimulated others to similar generosity.

The believer is assured of salvation from hell and is eternally secure, since that salvation is based solely upon the finished work of Jesus Christ (John 10:28,29; Rom 8:38,39). Therefore, it is inconsistent with the Gospel and with Scripture to seek to gain or keep eternal salvation by godly living. The Scripture, however, does present several motivations for obedience in the Christian life.

1. A powerful motivation for living the Christian life is gratitude to God for saving us by His grace (Rom. 12:1,2; 2 Cor. 5:14,15; Gal. 2:20).

2. Believers should also be motivated by the knowledge that their heavenly Father both blesses obedience and disciplines disobedience in His children (Heb. 12:3-11; Lev. 26:1-45).

3. Finally, every Christian must stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, not to determine his destiny in heaven or hell, but to assess the quality of his Christian life on earth (2 Cor. 5:10; Rev. 22:12). Anticipating either reward or loss of reward at the Judgment Seat should also motivate believers to perseverance and to faithfulness to God’s revealed will (I Cor. 3:10-17, 9:24-27; Jas. 5:8,9; 1 John 2:28).

An Egyptian architect was commissioned by one of the Pharaohs to build a lighthouse at the mouth of the Nile. On a piece of rock that was duly selected, Cnidus, the architect, erected a fine edifice. Engraved upon the cement covering the outside of the lighthouse was the name Pharaoh. In a few years the effect of wind and rain had worn the cement away and Pharaoh's name had vanished. Then it was discovered that the wily Cnidus had engraved his own name in the masonry beneath. Even Christian work may be done outwardly for the glory of God; but, when the underlying motive is laid bare, our own glory often turns out to be the real aim.

The motto of every missionary, whether preacher, printer, or schoolmaster, ought to be “Devoted for life.”

In addition to Mt. Rushmore, one of Gutzin Borglum’s great works as a sculptor is the head of Lincoln in the Capitol at Washington. He cut it from a large, square block of stone in his studio. One day, when the face of Lincoln was just becoming recognizable out of the stone, a young girl was visiting the studio with her parents. She looked at the half-done face of Lincoln, her eyes registering wonder and astonishment. She stared at the piece for a moment then ran to the sculptor.

“Is that Abraham Lincoln?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Well,” said the little girl, “how in the world did you know he was inside there?”

Many residents of Washington remember exactly where they were and what they were doing on the morning Mount St. Helen’s blew wide-open. The shock wave rattled windows for hundreds of miles around.

Prior to the eruption, scientists monitoring the peak didn’t know when it would go off or how big the blast would be. But all the signs of a live volcano were evident. It was just a matter of time.

Local media issued warnings and faithfully reported St. Helen’s vital signs. But as time elapsed and the big eruption did not occur, people became less wary and more bold. Campers, photographers, and others moved in to get a closer look.

Then on May 18, 1980, the mountain that had been dormant since 1857 spewed ash skyward and killed at least thirty people. They had failed to heed warnings, and they died needlessly.

In May, 1953, two men became the first in history to climb to the top of Mt. Everest; Edmund Hillary, a New Zealand beekeeper and explorer, and his Sherpa guide from Nepal, Tenzing Norgay. They reached the summit together and attained instant international fame.

On the way down from the 29,000-foot peak, Hillary slipped and started to fall. He would almost certainly have fallen to his death, but Tenzing Norgay immediately dug in his ice-axe and braced the rope linking them together, saving Hillary’s life.

At the bottom the international press made a huge fuss over the Sherpa guide’s heroic action. Through it all Tenzing Norgay remained very calm, very professional, very uncarried away by it all. To all the shouted questions he had one simple answer: “Mountain climbers always help each other.”

In his book, The Americanization of Edward Bok, Edward Bok, one-time editor of the Ladies’ Home Journal, tells a story about his grandfather, who lived in Denmark. It seems the grandfather had been commissioned by the King of Denmark to lead a band of soldiers against pirates who were playing havoc with shipping along a certain coastal area. The elder Bok set up his headquarters on a lonely, rocky, desolate island just off the coast, and after a few years was able to clear the pirates out of the area.

Upon returning to the mainland Bok reported to the King. The King was very pleased and offered Bok anything he wanted. All he wanted, he told the King, was a plot of land on the island where he had just lived and fought for so many months. They told him the island was barren. Why would he want to live there? “I want to plant trees,” was Bok’s reply. “I want to make the island beautiful.” The King’s aides thought he was crazy. The island was constantly swept by storms and high winds. He would never be able to get a tree to grow there.

Bok, however, insisted, and the King granted him his wish. He went to live on the island, built a home, and finally was able to bring his wife to it. For years, they worked industriously, persistently, planting trees, shrubs, grass. Gradually the vegetation took hold, the island began to flourish. One morning they arose to hear birds singing. There had never been any birds on the island before.

Eventually the island became a showplace and now is visited by thousands of tourists each year. When he died the grandfather requested that the following words be inscribed on his tombstone: “Make you the world a bit more beautiful and better because you have been on it.”

But the story doesn’t end there. Edward Bok, the grandson, who had become an American citizen, believed that anyone who was able to do so should retire at 50 and spend the rest of his life making the world a more beautiful and better place to live. And he was as good as his word. At 50 he retired as editor of the Ladies’ Home Journal.

One day, while traveling around central Florida, he came upon Iron Mountain, elevation 324 ft. above sea level, the highest point in Florida. Immediately the thought hit him—why not repeat in America what his grandfather had done in the old country? He bought the site and set to work. Eventually he was more than successful. The place is called Mountain Lake Sanctuary, Lake Wales, Florida. Upon his death, Edward Bok willed it to the State of Florida, and it is now a major tourist attraction. Upon the younger Bok’s catafalque were the words: “Make you the world a bit more beautiful and better place because you have been in it.”

Not long ago Newsweek magazine reported on what it called the new wave of mountain men. It’s estimated that there are some sixty thousand serious mountain climbers in the U.S. But in the upper echelon of serious climbers is a small elite group knows as “hard men.” For them climbing mountains and scaling sheer rock faces is a way of life. In many cases, climbing is a part of their whole commitment to life. And their ultimate experience is called free soloing: climbing with no equipment and no safety ropes. John Baker is considered by many to be the best of the hard men. He has free-soloed some of the most difficult rock faces in the U.S. with no safety rope and no climbing equipment of any kind. His skill has not come easily. It has been acquired through commitment, dedication and training. His wife says she can’t believe his dedication. When John isn’t climbing, he’s often to be found in his California home hanging by his fingertips to strengthen his arms and hands.

A man once testified in one of D. L. Moody’s meetings that he had lived “on the Mount of Transfiguration” for five years. “How many souls did you lead to Christ last year?” Moody bluntly asked him. “Well,” the man hesitated, “I don’t know.” “Have you saved any?” Moody persisted. “I don’t know that I have,” the man admitted. “Well,” said Moody, “we don’t want that kind of mountaintop experience. When a man gets up so high that he cannot reach down and save poor sinners, there is something wrong.”

There is an analogy between our lives and the different kinds of boats we have today. There is the rowboat, the sailboat, and the steamboat. All three of them are able to carry loads. The rowboat carries the least because its motion depends on the strength of those who row. The sailboat carries a little more for its motion depends on the wind. However, there is a chance that the wind will toss the boat around quite a bit, and it will be difficult to reach the goal. The steamboat, however, depends neither on human strength nor on the winds, but on the power within which will move it to its destination in spite of the weakness of human strength and the fury of outside circumstances. This is what Christ desires of us. He desires His followers to develop the capacity to carry a heavy load in life without permitting that load to depress them, but rather allowing it to help them to move smoothly. I do not know if you have ever traveled on a boat which is empty, which has no cargo. The motion is terribly rough and the seamen dread it. But when the boat is loaded, it goes along smoothly. That is the goal of trials in the Christian journey. They help us to get settled on the sea, furious though it may be, and move smoothly on to our destination.

In 1937 architect Frank Lloyd Wright built a house for industrialist Hibbard Johnson. One rainy evening Johnson was entertaining distinguished guests for dinner when the roof began to leak. The water seeped through directly above Johnson himself, dripping steadily onto his bald head. Irate, he called Wright in Phoenix, Arizona. “Frank,” he said, “you built this beautiful house for me and we enjoy it very much. But I have told you the roof leaks, and right now I am with some friends and distinguished guests and it is leaking right on top of my head.” Wright’s reply was heard by all of the guests. “Well, Hib, why don’t you move your chair?”

Sam Goldwyn, the movie producer, used to mangle the English language so badly that his malapropos and mixed metaphors came to be known as Goldwynisms. Some that have become classics are... A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry is named William. Now, gentlemen, listen slowly. For your information, I would like to ask a question. Include me out. Don’t talk to me while I’m interrupting. I may not always be right, but I’m never wrong.

Back in 1931, Irving Thalberg of MGM decided he wanted to buy the film rights to Tarzan, written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. so Thalberg sent Sam Marx to negotiate with Burroughs, telling Marx not to spend more than $100,000, an extraordinarily large sum in those days. Marx contacted Burroughs and asked how much he wanted for the film rights.

“$100,000,” said Burroughs.

When Marx offered him $25,000, Burroughs walked out of the meeting. However, Marx and Burroughs continued to negotiate throughout the summer. Burroughs eventually settled for $40,000. After signing the contract, Burroughs admitted that he had wanted MGM and Thalberg to make the picture so badly, they could have had it for nothing if they had insisted.

“Mr. Burroughs,” replied Marx, “If you had held out, you would have gotten $100,000!”

According to a January 15, 1989 article in the Lexington Herald-Leader, the family living in a home in West Palm Beach, Florida, told a film crew it was okay to use the front lawn as a set for an episode of “B. L. Stryker” television series. They knew cars would be crashing violently in front of the house.

While the front yard was being blown up, the owner of the home was tipped off and called from New York demanding to know what was happening to his house. It seems the people who were living in the house were only tenants and had no right to allow the property to be destroyed as the cameras rolled.

Many times we live our lives under the mistaken impression that they belong to us. Paul tells us we were “bought with a price.” We must live as those who know God will call us to account for the ways we have used this life entrusted to us.

- Bruce S. Bidwell

Lord, I’ve never moved a mountain and I guess I never will.

All the faith that I could muster wouldn’t move a small ant hill.

Yet I’ll tell you, Lord, I’m grateful for the joy of knowing Thee,

and for all the mountain moving down through life You’ve done for me.

When I needed some help you lifted me from the depths of great despair.

And when burdens, pain and sorrow have been more than I can bear,

you have always been my courage to restore life’s troubled sea,

and to move these little mountains that have looked so big to me.

Many times when I’ve had problems and when bills I’ve had to pay,

and the worries and the heartaches just kept mounting every day,

Lord, I don’t know how you did it. Can’t explain the wheres or whys.

All I know, I’ve seen these mountains turn to blessings in disguise.

No, I’ve never moved a mountain, for my faith is far too small.

Yet, I thank you, Lord of Heaven, you have always heard my call.

And as long as there are mountains in my life, I’ll have no fear,

for the mountain-moving Jesus is my strength and always near.

In the house of Mr. & Mrs. Spouse

He and she would watch TV,

And never a word between them was spoken,

Until the day The set was broken.

Then, “How do you do?” said He to She.

I don’t believe we’ve met. Spouse is my name.

What’s yours?” he asked. “Why, mine’s the same!”

Said She to He. “Do you suppose we could be...?”

But the set came suddenly right about

And they never did find out.

I want to tell you how I got the first impulse to work solely for the conversion of men. For a long time after my conversion I didn't accomplish anything. I hadn't got into my right place that was it. I hadn't thought enough of this personal work. I'd get up in prayer meeting, and I'd pray with the others, but just to go up to a man and take hold of his coat and get him down on his knees, I hadn't yet got round to that. It was in 1860 the change came. In the Sunday school I had a pale, delicate young man as one of the teachers. I knew his burning piety, and assigned him to the worst class in the school. They were all girls, and it was an awful class. They kept gadding around in the school-room, and were laughing and carrying on all the while. And this young man had better success than anyone else. One Sunday he was absent, and I tried myself to teach the class, but couldn't do anything with them they seemed farther off than ever from any concern about their souls. Well, the day after his absence, early Monday morning, the young man came into the store where I worked, and, tottering and bloodless, threw himself down on some boxes. "What's the matter?" I asked, "I have been bleeding at the lungs, and they have given me up to die," he said. "But you are not afraid to die?" I questioned, "No," said he, "I am not afraid to die, but I have got to stand before God and give an account of my stewardship, and not one of my Sabbath-school scholars has been brought to Jesus. I have failed to bring one, and haven't any strength to do it now."

He was so weighed down that I got a carriage and took that dying man in it, and we called at the homes of everyone of his scholars, and to each one he said, as best his faint voice would let him, "I have come to just ask you to come to the Saviour," and then he prayed as I never heard before. And for ten days he labored in that way, sometimes walking to the nearest houses. And at the end of that ten days everyone of that large class had yielded to the Saviour. Full well I remember the night before he went away (for the doctors said he must hurry to the South), how we held a true love-feast. It was the very gate of heaven, that meeting. He prayed, and they prayed; he didn't ask them, he didn't think they could pray; and then we sung, "Blest be the tie that binds." It was a beautiful night in June that he left on the Michigan Southern, and I was down to the train to help him off. And those girls everyone gathered there again, all unknown to each other; and the depot seemed a second gate to heaven, in the joyful, yet tearful, communion and farewells between these newly redeemed souls and him whose crown of rejoicing it will be that he led them to Jesus. At last the gong sounded, and, supported on the platform, the dying man shook hands with each one, and whispered, "I will meet you yonder."

Who was United States Senator Edmund G. Ross of Kansas? I suppose you could call him a “Mr. Nobody.” No law bears his name. Not a single list of Senate “greats” mentions his service. Yet when Ross entered the Senate in 1866, he was considered the man to watch. He seemed destined to surpass his colleagues, but he tossed it all away by one courageous act of conscience. Let’s set the stage.

Conflict was dividing our government in the wake of the Civil War. President Andrew Johnson was determined to follow Lincoln’s policy of reconciliation toward the defeated South. Congress, however, wanted to rule the downtrodden Confederate states with an iron hand. Congress decided to strike first. Shortly after Senator Ross was seated, the Senate introduced impeachment proceedings against the hated President. The radicals calculated that they needed thirty-six votes, and smiled as they concluded that the thirty-sixth was none other than Ross.’

The new senator listened to the vigilante talk. But to the surprise of many, he declared that the president “deserved as fair a trial as any accused man has ever had on earth.” The word immediately went out that his vote was “shaky.” Ross received an avalanche of anti-Johnson telegrams from every section of the country. Radical senators badgered him to “come to his senses.”

The fateful day of the vote arrived. The courtroom galleries were packed. Tickets for admission were at an enormous premium. As a deathlike stillness fell over the Senate chamber, the vote began. By the time they reached Ross, twenty-four “guilties” had been announced. Eleven more were certain. Only Ross’ vote was needed to impeach the President. Unable to conceal his emotion, the Chief Justice asked in a trembling voice, “Mr. Senator Ross, how vote you? Is the respondent Andrew Johnson guilty as charged?”

Ross later explained, at that moment, “I looked into my open grave. Friendships, position, fortune, and everything that makes life desirable to an ambitions man were about to be swept away by the breath of my mouth, perhaps forever.” Then, the answer came—unhesitating, unmistakable: “Not guilty!” With that, the trial was over. And the response was as predicted.

A high public official from Kansas wired Ross to say: “Kansas repudiates you as she does all perjurers and skunks.” he “open grave” vision had become a reality. Ross’ political career was in ruins. Extreme ostracism, and even physical attack awaited his family upon their return home.

One gloomy day Ross turned to his faithful wife and said, “Millions cursing me today will bless me tomorrow…though not but God can know the struggle it has cost me.” It was a prophetic declaration.

Twenty years later Congress and the Supreme Court verified the wisdom of his position, by changing the laws related to impeachment. Ross was appointed Territorial Governor of New Mexico. Then, just prior to his death, he was awarded a special pension by Congress. The press and country took this opportunity to honor his courage which, they finally concluded, had saved our country from crisis and division.

At the singles’ club, “I’ve had it looking for Mr. Right. Now I’m looking for Mr. Pretty Good.”

Woman to friend, “He’s really not Mr. Right—He’s just Mr. Right Now.”

It does not matter where He places me or how. That is rather for Him to consider than for me. For the easiest positions, He must give grace; and in the most difficult, His grace is sufficient. So, if God places me in great perplexity, must He not give me much guidance? In positions of great difficulty, much grace? In circumstances of great pressure and trial, much strength? As to work, mine was never so plentiful, so responsible, or so difficult; but the weight and strain are all gone. His resources are mine, for He is mine!

- J. Hudson Taylor

Twas much,

that man was

made like God before,

But that God should

be like man

much more.

John Donne

The boxer Muhammad Ali was known as “the champ,” arguably the most famous athlete of his generation. He was on top, and his entourage of trainers and various helpers shared the adulation with him. But the party ended, leaving many of Ali’s loyal followers disillusioned—and in some cases, destitute. Ali himself, now halting in speech and uncertain in movement, says “I had the world, and it wasn’t nothin.’”