Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 12 – No. 1410 April 03, 2010
Thought for the week: "Life is a voyage in which you choose neither the vessel nor the weather. Your job is to trim the sails and mind the rudder." – Author Unknown
"Strong people make as many and as ghastly mistakes as weak people. The difference is that strong people admit them, laugh at them, learn form them. This is how they become strong." – Richard Needham
"Counselor to new boy at camp: 'We want you to be happy, so enjoy yourself here. If there's something you want we haven't got, I'll show you how to get along without it.'" – Unknown
"I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do." – Leonardo DaVinci
"Loving people live in a loving world. Hostile people live in a hostile world ... Same world." – Wayne Dyer
"People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something one finds. It is something one creates." – Thomas Szasz, psychiatrist
"Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear." – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
In his article, "Rolling the Dice," motivational speaker, Brian Tracy, says that "Gambling is perhaps the most perfect example of the desire to get something for nothing. The whole idea behind gambling is there is some fast, easy way to get money that you have not earned. Proponents of legalized gambling declare that it is an innocent form of entertainment. But gamblers always lose eventually. It is only a matter of time. The billion-dollar casinos and gambling resorts have not been built with losses.'"
Tracy concludes by saying, "It is not possible to outlaw gambling. But like an addictive narcotic, the only way you can avoid its destructive effects is to avoid it altogether. You can recognize that it is an attempt to get something for nothing, which is inherently wrong. Worse, it weakens your moral immune system and makes you susceptible to other temptations to get something for nothing."
"Everything you do counts; everything you don't do counts. Minute by minute, day by day and year by year, it all adds up. The things you do and things you don't do become YOU. Life does keep score."
There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She told her boyfriend, "If I could only see the world, I will marry you."
One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend.
He asked her, "Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?" The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn't expected that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him.
Her boyfriend left in tears, and days later wrote a note to her saying: "Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before they were yours, they were mine."
This is how the human brain often works when our status changes. Only a very few remember what life was like before, and who was always by their side in the most painful situations.
Life Is a Gift
Today, before you say an unkind word,
Think of someone who can't speak.
Before you complain about the taste of your food,
Think of someone who has nothing to eat.
Before you complain about your husband or wife,
Think of someone who's crying out to GOD for a companion.
Today, before you complain about life,
Think of someone who died too early on this earth.
Before you complain about your children,
Think of someone who desires children but they're barren.
Before you argue about your dirty house someone didn't clean or sweep,
Think of the people who are living in the streets.
Before whining about the distance you drive,
Think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.
And when you are tired and complain about your job,
Think of the unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your job.
But before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another,
Remember that not one of us is without sin.
And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down,
Put a smile on your face and think: you're alive and still around.
Author unknown.
Submitted by John Marshall, Adelaide, Australia
There's a well-traveled story about a teacher who showed his class a one-gallon jar and a dozen large rocks.
After a little rearranging, he got all the rocks into the jar, filling it to the top. He then dumped a bag of gravel into the jar until the spaces between the rocks were filled. Next he poured sand into the jar, shaking it so the sand filled the spaces between the rocks and the gravel. Finally, he emptied a pitcher of water into it.
"What does this demonstration prove?" he asked.
One student said, "No matter how full your life seems, you can always take on a little more."
Another said, "Sequence and planning is important to maximizing productivity."
A third said, "It's about setting priorities. If you don't deal with the big rocks first, all you'll end up with is a jar of wet sand and gravel."
There's validity to each response, but the idea of identifying and dealing with the big rocks first is a particularly valuable insight.
We will live fuller and more fulfilling lives if we set our priorities—not only at work but in our life as a whole. Our relationships, work, spiritual life, hobbies, and charitable causes all claim our attention. We have to decide what's really important.
Too often we surrender control of our days, even the direction of our lives, by letting circumstances or other people determine how we spend our time. Thus, we deal with what comes at us in the order that it comes or with squeaking wheels and demanding people.
Unless we distinguish between the rocks, gravel, sand, and water in our lives, we're likely to neglect or forget the things that truly matter.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering."1
A Daily Encounter reader writes, "I understand Jesus died for our sins. I believe it but I just can't understand why he had to do it. Didn't God have power over everything? I have looked for the answer to this question for a long time. Please help."
I'm sure that many people struggle with this same issue so let me explain. Because God is a God of infinite justice, he cannot forgive sin without justice being served. Otherwise he wouldn't be God. This means that all sin must be judged according to the moral law of God and the universe. We can no more defy this law and live than we can defy the law of gravity by jumping out of an airplane without a parachute. The end result will be death unless—unless we apply another law, the law of aerodynamics. This law makes it possible for an airplane to fly and a parachute to lower us to the earth gradually and thereby save us.
There is another universal law that we cannot defy and live. It is "the law of sin and death," which means that the judgment and penalty of all sin is death and eternal separation from God. That is, unless we apply a higher law which is "the law of the Spirit of Life," which is a God-given "spiritual parachute" to save us from eternal death. God provided this law through the death of Jesus who died in our place to pay the penalty for our sin.
Furthermore, because God is also a God of absolute holiness, no sin or unforgiven sinners can survive in his presence. As some bacteria are not able to survive in the light and die if they are exposed to it, so it is with us. In our sinful state if we were exposed to God and his incredible light, we would be destroyed instantaneously. And herein lies our dilemma.
However, God's answer to our dilemma lies in the fact that God is not only a God of infinite justice and absolute holiness, but also a God of eternal love. Because of his love, God gave his very own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in our place to pay the penalty for our sins to meet the automatic demands of his (God's) justice and holiness. Christ's death made possible God's "law of the Spirit of Life"—our God-given "spiritual parachute"—to save us from eternal death.
Not to accept and use God's "parachute" means certain death from which there is no other escape. In other words, anyone who doesn't accept God's pardon will automatically die for him/herself—which means eternal separation from God, the author of all love and life, in the place or condition the Bible calls hell. All we need to do is confess our sinfulness, believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that he died in our place for our sins, and ask God for, and accept, his forgiveness and pardon. If you have never done this, you can do so right now by praying the following prayer.
"Dear God, I confess that I am a sinner and am sorry for all the wrongs that I have done. I believe that your Son, Jesus Christ, died on the cross for my sins. Please forgive me. I invite you, Jesus, to come into my heart and life as Lord and Savior. I commit and trust my life to you. Please give me the desire to be what you want me to be and to do what you want me to do. Thank you for dying for my sins, for your free pardon, for your gift of eternal life, and for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name. Amen."
If you prayed this prayer and truly meant it, please let us know by clicking on the "My Decision" link at http://tinyurl.com/pgntm and we will send you a free copy of the e-leaflet, "How to Grow" to help you in your new spiritual life.
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