Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 12 – No. 1710 April 24, 2010
Thought for the week: "Your personal philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out." – Jim Rohn
"It's better to light a candle than curse the darkness." – Eleanor Roosevelt
"A life making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing at all." – George Bernard Shaw
"Life is too short to trudge through it depressed and defeated. You are never defeated, nor can you be defeated, until you give up. There will always be unforeseen obstacles in life. Never give in and never give up." – Ray Lammie
"The world is a great mirror. It reflects back to you what you are. If you are loving, if you are friendly, if you are helpful, the world will prove loving and friendly and helpful to you. The world is what you are." – Thomas Dreier
"Self-discipline begins with the mastery of your thoughts. If you don't control what you think, you can't control what you do." – Napoleon Hill
"Positive self-direction is the action plan that all winners in life use to turn imagination into reality, fantasy into fact, and dreams into actual goals." – Denis Waitley
A minister, who was going to visit a patient in hospital, couldn't find a parking space. So he jumped the curb, and tucked the following note under his windscreen wiper: "I've circled this car park for thirty minutes. If I don't see the patient, I'll have to answer to the Church Council. 'Forgive us our trespasses.'"
When he came back he found a parking ticket and the following note: "I've circled this car park for twenty years. If I don't give you a ticket, I'll have to answer to the Hospital Board. 'Lead us not into temptation.'"
Years ago some soldiers at Ft. Dix were fighting a forest fire...
They were out in the forest with the flames all around them when a plane flew over unexpectedly. The unidentified pilot flew very low over the firefighters and began to drop notes with weights tied to them. Three times he did this. This is what the notes said, "You are surrounded by flames and are going to perish unless you take action immediately. There is one narrow corridor left open and that is your only escape; before long it will be cut off." The firefighters read the note, obeyed it and their lives were saved.
A message came from above and told them something they could not know in the midst of the smoke, heat and furor. Thankfully, the firefighters did not question the authenticity or reliability of the note; they acted on it by faith; they acted on it in time, and they were saved.
What a picture of our society today. We are in a fire storm of trouble; we are in an inferno of problems. We face a rising tide of violence, the horrible disease of AIDS, just to name a few. God has given us his message from above, and there is a way to escape and to live for him in an X-rated society.
Ed Note: To escape the hell-fire of God's judgment of all sin, be sure to accept God's forgiveness and gift of eternal life. For help, read "How to Be Sure You're a Real Christian ... without having to be religious" at: http://www.actsweb.org/christian
We are taught that winning and achieving are about getting and keeping, when the truth is that winning is about giving. Winners are go-givers, not go-getters. While it is hard to fathom living a life of giving when everyone else is on the take, there is an ancient law which ensures that if we did, we would never go without.1
Jesus said, "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."2
In the Dallas Seminary Daily Devotional, Chuck Swindoll wrote, "In a cartoon strip some years ago a little guy was taking heat from his sister and friends for a newly found "calling"—patting birds on the head. The distressed birds would approach, lower their little feathered pates to be patted, sigh deeply, and walk away satisfied. It brought him no end of fulfillment—in spite of the teasing he took from others. "What's wrong with patting birds on the head?" he wanted to know. "What's wrong with it?" his embarrassed friends replied, "No one else does it!"
"If your niche is encouraging, please don't stop. If it is embracing, demonstrating warmth, compassion, and mercy to feathers that have been ruffled by offense and bruised by adversity, for goodness' sake, keep stroking. Don't quit, whatever you do.
"I think many Christians are dying on the vine for lack of encouragement from other believers. Proverbs 15:23 says, 'A man has joy in an apt answer, And how delightful is a timely word.' Isn't that true? It's a delightful thing to receive a good word just at your time of need. Encourage someone today. If God made you a 'patter,' then keep on patting to the glory of God."
Think of the most ethical person you know. Do a lot of people come to mind or only a few? Are you having trouble thinking of anyone?
If I asked that question of the people who know you well, how many would name you? Almost all? About half? Just a few?
Unless this commentary makes you more humble, you will probably be among the vast majority who say that half or more of the people they know would think of them as an ethical role model. That's highly unlikely. It's more probable that almost no one you know would put you at the top of the list. Let's face it; that's a tough roster to get on.
Surveys show that about 95 percent of us want others to think of us as highly ethical, so our delusion of grandeur regarding our moral reputation is probably a case of wishful thinking. But wishful thinking won't do it.
I wish I were thin. Unfortunately, my slim ambitions won't change my waist size. For me, thinness will be an elusive dream until I convert my desire to actions: exercising regularly and eating moderately.
It's the same with being ethical. Most of us suffer from moral flabbiness. This doesn't mean we're bad, but it does suggest we can be better. What we need is a "Be a Better Person" fitness program to tone up our character and strengthen our ethics. Just like working on our waist, hips, or arms, we could work on our honesty, fairness, and responsibility.
Who knows? If you really work at it, you could even make the list.
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 ourselves and our society healthy and productive is the principle of personal responsibility. It's a principle that needs, through repetition, to be programmed into our belief system. It needs to be taught and demonstrated in the home and at every level of society—including among the highest business and political leaders in our communities and nation.
If people don't believe they are responsible, they will not act responsibly. If they believe and know they are responsible, most will consistently act responsibly.
Obviously, we weren't responsible for our background and upbringing, but we are fully responsible for what we do about these, and for what we become. The world doesn't owe us a living. As the Bible teaches, if we are unwilling to work we shouldn't eat.
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.
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 can't do for ourselves—such as on the cross of Calvary—but he won't do for us what we can and need to do for ourselves. As another has said, "God feeds the sparrows but he doesn't throw the food into their nest."
One effective way to program responsibility into one's unconscious mind is by constantly saying to yourself, either silently or out loud, "I am responsible. I am responsible. I am responsible." And say it with the feeling that you really mean it and believe it. Just mouthing the words is meaningless.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, I am responsible. Thank you for granting me this freedom. Help me to act accordingly always in all ways. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
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