Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 9 – No. 4807 December 01, 2007
Thought for the week: "You don't 'have' a soul. You 'are' a Soul. You 'have' a body." – Clive Staples Lewis
"Do not be afraid. Do not be satisfied with mediocrity. Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." – John Paul II, pope
"Everyone wants to be appreciated. So if you appreciate someone, don't keep it a secret." – Mary Kay Ash
"The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself." – Mark Caine
"We are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel." – Unknown
"When one door closes, another door opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the ones which open for us." – Alexander Graham Bell
"You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him." – Leo Aikman
"I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacations with better care than they plan their lives. Perhaps that is because escape is easier than change." – Jim Rohn
"One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility." – Eleanor Roosevelt
The story is told of a motorcycle patrolman who was rushed to the hospital with an inflamed appendix. The doctors operated and advised him that all was well. However, the patrolman kept feeling something pulling at the hairs on his chest. Worried that it might be a second surgery the doctors hadn't told him about, he finally got enough energy to pull his hospital gown down enough so he could look at what was making him so uncomfortable.
Taped firmly across his hairy chest were three wide strips of adhesive tape, the kind that doesn't come off easily.
Written in large black letters was the sentence. "Get well quick ... from the nurse you gave a ticket to last week."
There is a part of us that is anxious to repay someone else for hurt they may have caused us in the past. We almost view it as a virtue in our culture to "get even," to refuse to be someone else's doormat, to stand up for our rights. The result is that while many Christian qualities are viewed favorably in the world, the quality of a forgiving spirit is seen by many as a sign of weakness.
But the words of Paul are clear: "Repay no one evil for evil.... Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath.... Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:17,19,21).
It is a natural response to repay evil with evil, but that is not a quality of Jesus Christ and it must not be a quality of those of us who are his followers. So, how do you treat those who have done you wrong? Don't respond by telling me how you treat your friends. Jesus says that anybody can do that (Matthew 5:46). That doesn't make you any different from an atheist or a heathen. The question is, are we willing to strive to have a quality that will quickly set us apart as a follower of Jesus Christ?
That's not an easy path to follow, but then again, Jesus never promised that it would be!
According to legend, an elder Cherokee Native was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them, "A fight is going on inside me ... it is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, truth, friendship, empathy, generosity, faith, and compassion. The same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too."
They thought about it for a minute, then one child asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"
When we find something we like at the store, one of the first things we do is look at the price tag.
"Whoa! It looks really cute hanging right there on that rack!"
Wouldn't it be nice if temptation were the same way, if we understood the cost of sin right up front?
If the forbidden fruit had been rotten and crawling with worms, do you think Eve would have taken any? But Genesis tells us, "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it."
She acted on her immediate desires without looking at the price tag.
You'll be faced with a lot of decisions today. Would you ask God to give you discernment?
He can help you recognize the cost of sin, no matter how attractive it looks at the moment.
According to a survey of parents, 93 percent of them want schools to teach basic values like honesty and respect. The problem is, schools are left to contend with the seven percent who disagree. In any enterprise that seeks to avoid conflict and find consensus, that small minority may often dictate policy.
Too often, aggressive objectors bully administrators into quick surrender with the threat of contentious and prolonged opposition. This has created a tyranny of the minority. The way it works is that five percent make so much noise they seem like 25 percent, and when it comes to a decision, they're treated as if they were 55 percent.
I strongly support the right of all people to speak their minds and the corollary duty of administrators to listen to and consider what everyone has to say. My concern is, we seem to have elevated the right to be heard into a right to win. We seem to be turning the basic democratic principle "the majority rules" upside down so that "the minority controls." That's not how democracy is supposed to work.
Of course, the will of the majority never should be allowed to trample basic human rights of a minority. I'm not talking about persecution or discrimination. I'm talking about how we deal with disagreements.
Just as we must always guard against oppressive majorities, we must also guard against dictatorial minority philosophies. That means we need leaders who have the moral courage to stand up to those who would thwart the will of the majority with demands, protests, and backdoor politicking.
We also need more people who are willing to lose and subject their personal preferences to the will of the majority. Democracy requires respect from all sides.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."1
Imagine living in a world without emotions. It would be like living in a world without color—a world without blue skies, white fluffy clouds, red roses, or beautiful rainbows and sunsets. Everything would be a dull monotonous gray. Life would be deadly dull and boring—as it is when emotions are repressed.
Like many others, especially men, I grew up being taught that feelings weren't important and that you couldn't trust them."
Thank God it isn't so. Feelings are God-given. They are an inner monitor letting us know what is going on inside of us. The more we are in touch with our true emotions, the more they can inform us when our life is out of harmony and we need an emotional tune up, caution us of impending danger, warn us when we are around unsafe people, affirm us when we are with safe people, guide us when we have major decisions to make, keep us in tune with God's leading, and assure us when our life is in harmony with others and God. Admittedly, if we don't understand them, they can confuse us and get us tied in knots!
Feelings are a gift from God. To deny and repress them we now know can be disastrous, physically, emotionally and spiritually. The first three fruits of God's Spirit—love, joy, and peace—are emotions. Thus, if our emotion of love is repressed, how can God's love flow through us? It can't.
Yes, it may take a while but we can learn to trust our feelings. What we can't always trust is how to interpret them correctly. It can be like learning a new language, but a language well worth learning, without which there can be no true intimacy either with my loved ones or with God.
Another way of describing emotions could be E-Motions or Energy in Motion! One thing is sure. Without emotions we are characteristically bored with life and lose our energy and our drive. Thank God for emotions.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, as you desire truth in the innermost being,2 please deliver me from the 'sin of denying my true emotions,' help me to get in touch with my true feelings and inner self, and learn how to understand them and express them creatively when such is needed. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
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