Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 12 – No. 3710 September 11, 2010
Thought for the week: "Death leaves a heartache no one can heal. Love leaves a memory no one can steal." – Headstone in Ireland
"I will prepare and some day my chance will come." – Abraham Lincoln
"Better to be prepared and not called than to be called and not prepared." – James Wallace
"Losing is a learning experience. It teaches you humility. It teaches you to work harder. It's also a powerful motivator." – Yogi Berra
"The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving." – Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
"Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones." – Phillips Brooks
"The key to successful time management is doing the most important task first, and giving it your full concentration, to the exclusion of everything else." – Alex MacKenzie
During World War II, Nazi Germany dropped pornographic pamphlets from the sky over enemy territory.
The reason? To distract the soldiers' minds with fascinations, causing them to ignore the front line. This has been the strategy of porn from its inception; while we fight the diversionary tactic of pornography, the enemy rolls in behind our backs and destroys our homes.
Imagine conquering an entire nation in less than 60 years by simply planting destructive seed in the minds of a few men and watching it spread to the masses. That is what Satan did through the likes of Hugh Heffner and Bob Guccione in the 50s when Playboy and Penthouse became nationally distributed magazines. Over the years, images of undressed women and men engaged in illicit activity have jumped from the pages of ... magazines to the privacy of our own personal computer screens. Today, US porn revenue exceeds the revenues of ABC, CBS, and NBC combined, and contrary to its previous consumer group of mostly adult males; its largest demography today is 12-17-year-old males and females.
Jesus knew that something as small as gazing at the bait would [or could] lead to total entrapment.
We've all read about the terrible destruction caused by recent earthquakes, especially in Haiti. According to Dr. Tod Bolsinger, there was an earthquake in Mexico some twenty years ago and the only building left standing was a church that was built 300 years earlier. It had been built well for the glory of God.
"That's just the way I am." When we hear this, someone's usually telling us to "Get off my back" or "Accept me as I am."
Often it's a response to us criticizing them. It could be about the person's chronic lateness, thoughtlessness, broken promises, physical or verbal abuse, or infidelity. Whatever it is, we're asked to let it go.
In the end, this is a ploy to get us to lower our expectations, based on the dubious idea that bad habits are an intrinsic part of character, and therefore beyond our control. We're expected to believe it's foolish and futile to expect others to change.
Lots of things, of course, are beyond our control: short stature, big bones, receding hairline. Fortunately, character is different. That's completely within our control. The poor and the rich, the slow and the smart, the plain and the pretty all have an equal opportunity to become people of character.
Sure, character can be influenced by heredity and environment, but it's determined by choice. No disposition, circumstance, or experience is so powerful that it forever fixes our character. Our character is never finished. It's constantly shaped and sculpted by the choices we make to nurture or ignore our more noble instincts and to surrender to, or overcome, negative impulses and corrupting temptations.
When it comes to what we demand of ourselves or others, we should never lower our standards. Character is a function of choice. Weaknesses and bad habits are not excuses not to get better.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."1 In other words, God always keeps his word and his promises.
As a school child I was taught the importance of keeping my word and my promises. "It is a mark of character," my teacher emphasized. Unfortunately, the following story which I read some time ago, typifies far too many people in today's "hang-loose" society and, pathetically, far too many business people.
According to the story, "There was a rich young man who became critically ill and was taken to the hospital. His condition worsened, and his doctor told him that he wasn't sure if he'd recover, but that they would do all they could for him. The man was terrified and said to the doctor, 'Please, doctor, do everything you can, I don't want to die, I have so much to do yet in life, and if you can help me get better, I'll even donate $10,000 to the fund for the new hospital.' The young man happily began to improve and recovered, and a few weeks later was released and went home.
"Several months later he ran into the doctor who asked him how he was doing. The young man said, 'Doc, I haven't felt better any time in my life.' The doctor said, 'that's great because I wanted to ask you about the money you said you would donate to the new hospital fund. You remember you said if you got well, you'd like to donate $10,000. We could really use that now.' The young man said, 'Man, if I said that, I must have been really sick.'"2
Keeping one's word and his/her promises is indeed a mark of character. May it be said of you and me, "He is a man of his word," and/or "If she says she'll do it, you can count on her to do it." And what about our promises to God? May we always keep them.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you that I can always depend on your word, knowing that you always keep your promises. Help me to be a person of my word and always keep my promises. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
1. Isaiah 55:11 (NIV).
2. Author and source unknown.
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