You are precious and honored in my sight, and… I love you.
- Isaiah 43:4
You are not your own; you were bought at a price.
- 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.
- Deuteronomy 8:17-18
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Saturday, February 16, 2008
A Relationally-Attractive You
In order to live victoriously as singles, we must get to the place where we live contentedly, without expecting our circumstances to change. It is in living for today, as the day presents itself, that we become healthy, whole individuals… Remember it doesn’t take halves to make a couple; it takes two whole people coming together to become a tribute to oneness.
- Michelle McKinney Hammond
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Why Not the Best?
Man finds it hard to get what he wants, because he does not want the best.
God finds it hard to give, because He would give the best, and man will not take it.
God finds it hard to give, because He would give the best, and man will not take it.
- George MacDonald
Friday, February 8, 2008
No Good Thing Will He Withhold
"For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." (Psalm 84:11)
This verse has long been a comfort to me, especially at times when God withheld what I thought was best for my life. Reading and mediating on this verse helped me to realize that if what I had thought was best really was best, God would have indeed have allowed me to have it or keep it. The fact that He withheld just what I'd wanted helped me to accept that it was not His best for me.
It is a comfort to know that, not only will God give us His best, but He will withhold and protect us from that which is not His best. Sometimes this is before we are very attached to this not-so-good thing, but other times we have to do a lot of grieving as God pries it out of our hands. It's only much later that we realize how much He has saved us from.
There is a clause in this verse that indicates that God only does this for certain people: those who walk uprightly. There's another verse that says, "The eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him" (II Chronicles 16:9). This doesn't mean that we have to be perfect, but it does mean that God is anxious to work on behalf of those whose heart is turned fully towards Him, and who desire to be fully obedient no matter the cost.
This verse has long been a comfort to me, especially at times when God withheld what I thought was best for my life. Reading and mediating on this verse helped me to realize that if what I had thought was best really was best, God would have indeed have allowed me to have it or keep it. The fact that He withheld just what I'd wanted helped me to accept that it was not His best for me.
It is a comfort to know that, not only will God give us His best, but He will withhold and protect us from that which is not His best. Sometimes this is before we are very attached to this not-so-good thing, but other times we have to do a lot of grieving as God pries it out of our hands. It's only much later that we realize how much He has saved us from.
There is a clause in this verse that indicates that God only does this for certain people: those who walk uprightly. There's another verse that says, "The eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him" (II Chronicles 16:9). This doesn't mean that we have to be perfect, but it does mean that God is anxious to work on behalf of those whose heart is turned fully towards Him, and who desire to be fully obedient no matter the cost.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
What will make you happy?
When we want to be something other than the thing God wants us to be, we must be wanting what, in fact, will not make us happy.
- C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Living in America can make you sick
Gary R. Collins reports some interesting findings about the American lifestyle. Would you agree that this phenomenon is even more prominent among single adults?
Living in America can make you sick. That’s the conclusion of a research-based article in Monitor on Psychology (April 2007). Despite record amounts spent on health care, Americans have higher rates of sickness than other Western nations. Two factors are especially toxic.
First, compared to most other developed nations, Americans work longer hours, take fewer vacations, and more often have two jobs. This increases stress and undermines health.
Second, Americans live in an isolated nation. We are mobile people who make frequent moves leaving friends and family behind. After work every day we withdraw into our houses, have few contacts with neighbors and a decreasing network of confidants.
Overachieving parents run their kids from activity to activity so everybody is tired and there is no time for relaxing with friends. When we teach children to excel and seek material success, they jump on the activity wheel even at the expense of healthy lifestyles and social interactions.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
The Buzzard, The Bat, and The Bumblebee
The BUZZARD
If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet. Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.
The BAT
The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkably nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.
The BUMBLEBEE
A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.
PEOPLE
In many ways, we are like the buzzard, the bat, and the bumblebee. We struggle about with all our problems and frustrations, never realizing that all we have to do is look up.
Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, but faith looks up.
If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet. Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.
The BAT
The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkably nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.
The BUMBLEBEE
A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.
PEOPLE
In many ways, we are like the buzzard, the bat, and the bumblebee. We struggle about with all our problems and frustrations, never realizing that all we have to do is look up.
Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, but faith looks up.
- author unknown
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