Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 9 – No. 4107 October 13, 2007
Thought for the week:"Your worth as a person is not dependent on what you do but on who you are—a child of God." – Author Unknown
3. Student Wins Talent Show After School Reverses Decision That Banned Christian Song
Monroe, MI – A student at Monroe High School won first place in a school talent show last night by singing a Christian song that school officials had banned the day before the program. School officials reversed their position after Liberty Counsel became involved and allowed sixteen-year-old sophomore James Whipper to perform the Christian rap song, "He's Calling." After James performed to wild applause, a DJ for a local radio station that was broadcasting the event asked for an encore. During James's second performance, a roar swept through the crowd as students spontaneously joined in the chorus, singing "He's Calling" while pointing upward.
All of us know how much the world fawned over Marilyn Monroe, but few know how rejected she felt throughout life. A reporter from the New York Times was interviewing her and he was aware of her troubled background, so he posed a question. He asked her, "Did you ever feel loved by any of the foster families with whom you lived?" "Once," Marilyn replied, "when I was about seven or eight. The woman I was living with was putting on makeup, and I was watching her. She was in a happy mood, so she reached over and patted my cheeks with her rouge puff.... For that moment, I felt loved by her."
Helen Colton, The Gift of Touch [NY: Seaview/Putnam, 1983], p. 102. Adapted. Cited on Sermons.com
Sam Rayburn was a Democratic politician who served as the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives for 17 years, and is regarded by many as the most effective Speaker of the House in American history. Allow me to share with you some of his most memorable statements:
"Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good actions; try to use ordinary situations."
"No one has a finer command of language than the person who keeps his mouth shut."
"You'll never get mixed up if you simply tell the truth. Then you don't have to remember what you have said, and you never forget what you have said."
When Harry Truman was thrust into the presidency at the death of FDR, Sam Rayburn gave him some fatherly advice. "From here on out, you're going to have lots of people around you. They'll try to put a wall around you and cut you off from any ideas but theirs. They'll tell you what a great man you are, Harry. But you and I both know you ain't."
Later on, when Sam Rayburn discovered that he was quite ill, he announced to the House of Representatives that he was going home for medical tests. Some wondered why he didn't stay in Washington where there were excellent medical facilities. He supplied the answer when he told Congressman Jim Wright, "Bonham [Texas] is a place where people know it when you're sick, and where they care when you die."
I like that last statement because I think it's true of the church [a good church that is]. We live in a world where people often don't care what happens to others around them. Everyone is too interested in getting what they want to even notice what is going on in the lives of others. But the church is a place where people "rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep." (Romans 12:15). It's a place "where people know it when you're sick, and where they care when you die."
God knew that we need a place like that—a group of people who share the same commitment to God that we have, a place where we will be loved unconditionally, a place where we can find shoulders to lean on and arms to comfort us in times of trial.
Alan Smith, Thought for the Day (March 9, 2007)
Helen Street Church of Christ
Fayetteville, North Carolina. www.tftd-online.com
"Sticks and stones will break your bones, but words will never hurt you." Not so, according to Joseph Telushkin in his profoundly impactful book, Words That Hurt, Words That Heal.
Harsh criticism, snide sarcasm, nasty nicknames, and thoughtless gossip and rumors can inflict deep and lasting harm on individuals and their relationships. Some of the worst and most enduring pains we've suffered were caused by words.
What's more, Telushkin says, most of us say hurtful things about others much more than we realize. He challenges readers to go 24 hours without saying an unkind word to, or about, anyone. I flunked.
He's particularly down on gossip. Although we justify it as harmless and entertaining chatter, many things we say about others are fundamentally unkind and often unfair. Even worse, as anyone knows who has been the target of someone else's digs, jabs, and judgments, whether the gossip is innocent, insensitive, or malicious, the result is often the same: hurt feelings and damaged reputations and relationships.
Next time you're tempted to say unkind things about another—either to them or behind their back—ask yourself:
What is the point and purpose? Is there any good that could come of these remarks?
Could my words create or reinforce negative opinions that could harm or hurt the person I'm talking about?
Would I be comfortable if the object of my gossip overheard my comments?
Tact, timing, and tone are all important. When we start being more responsible for our words, we realize the wisdom of the old adage: "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands ... so that you will not be dependent on anybody."1
One of the great principles we need to emphasize to keep our society healthy and productive is the principle of personal responsibility. It's a principle that needs to be programmed and engrained into our belief system. It needs to be taught and demonstrated in the home and at every level of society.
If people don't believe they are responsible, they will not behave responsibly. If they believe they are responsible, most will consistently act and behave responsibly.
Obviously, we weren't responsible for our upbringing, but we are fully responsible for what we become. The world doesn't owe us a living. As the Bible teaches, if we refuse to work, we shouldn't eat.
Furthermore, when we repeatedly do anything for others that they can and need to do for themselves, we can make and keep them over-dependent, immature and irresponsible. It is not the loving thing to do. It is being irresponsible.
I remember reading about some sea gulls in a fishing village that, for many years, fed on the scraps the fishermen left. When the fishing industry in this place closed, the sea gulls had forgotten how to gather food for themselves. They died of starvation.
The same principle applies to people. When we do things to keep them over-dependent, we destroy their growth and maturity. It's the same with God, he will bend the heavens to touch the earth to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves—such as paying the penalty for all our sins by dying on the cross at Calvary in our place to pay the penalty for all our sins—but, while he has promised to give us wisdom and guidance, he won't do for us what we can and need to do for ourselves.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me always to be responsible for my actions and not expect others to do for me what I can and need to do for myself. Also, please help me not to take on anyone else's responsibilities and thereby keep them over-dependent on me. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
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