Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 13 – No. 0311 January 15, 2011
Thought for the week: "The willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life is the source from which self-respect springs." – Joan Didion
"Wisdom is knowing what to do; virtue is doing it." – David Jordan
"Knowledge has to be improved, challenged and increased constantly, or it vanishes." – Peter Drucker
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose!" – Jim Elliot
"Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others." – Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Most of the important things in the world have been accompanied by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all." – Dale Carnegie
"Temptation usually comes in through a door that has deliberately been left open." – Unknown
A Reminder: "The real battle is about whether God is Lord, or whether government is Lord. And make no mistake, if government can redefine or restrict our freedom of religion, our first freedom will be gone. And, as our Founders understood, when that freedom is gone, we will, in short order, lose the other freedoms as well."
1. If I refuse to give anything to missions this year, I practically cast a ballot in favor of the recall of every missionary.
2. If I give less than heretofore, I favor reduction of the missionary forces proportionate to my reduced contribution.
3. If I give the same as formerly, I favor holding the ground already won; but I oppose any forward movement. My song is "Hold the Fort," forgetting that the Lord never intended His army to take refuge in a fort. All His soldiers are commanded to "Go."
4. If I increase my offering beyond former years, then I favor an advance movement in the conquest of new territory for Christ.
Somebody said that it couldn't be done,
But he with a chuckle replied,
That maybe it couldn't, but he would be one
Who wouldn't say no till he tried.
So he buckled right in, with a trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried, he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done and he DID it!
Some years ago, a senior executive at a large company objected when I asserted that corporations have an ethical, as well as a legal, obligation to keep promises and honor their contracts. He said the decision to live up to or ignore contractual commitments is a business decision, not an ethical one. His primary responsibility, he said, was to the stockholders. He noted that most of the time it is wise to fulfill your promises because there are legal and relationship risks involved in breaking contracts, but in the end the decision to honor or renounce a business agreement should be based on a cost/benefit analysis. Ethics has nothing to do with it. This claim that business executives are justified in treating the pursuit of self-interest as a moral imperative is disturbing and dangerous. It's also common.
The theory that expediency, not ethics, should control decision making in business flourishes because many people compartmentalize their lives into personal and business domains, choosing to believe each domain is governed by different moral standards.
As a result, fundamentally good people who would never lie, cheat or break a promise in their personal lives delude themselves into thinking they can properly do so in business.
Nonsense! There's no such thing as "business" ethics. There's only ethics. Fundamental standards of right and wrong, such as trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and good citizenship, do not become irrelevant when we enter the workplace.
And it doesn't matter how many people think otherwise. Ethics is not a description of the way people actually behave. It's a prescription for how we ought to behave. In business—and, for that matter, in politics, sports, journalism, and parenting—ethical principles are not simply factors to be taken into account; they're ground rules.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
Jesus said, "Heaven can be entered only through the narrow gate! The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for all . . . who choose its easy way. But the Gate-way to Life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it."1
Some years ago Bishop Fulton J. Sheen was scheduled to speak at the town hall in an unfamiliar city. He decided to walk, and on the way got lost. He saw some boys so asked them the way to City Hall.
"What are you going to do there?" asked one of the boys.
"I'm going to give a lecture," replied the bishop.
"About what?"
"On how to get to heaven. Would you care to come along?"
"Are you kidding?" said the boy, "You don't even know how to get to City Hall!"
How tragic that so many people are lost, not on their way to any human address but on the way to their eternal destination. So many believe, as I once did, that if I did enough good things to outweigh the bad things I had done, that would get me into God's heaven.
Not so, I'm afraid. Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father [God] except through me."2 This is because, no matter how good we may be by human standards, every one of us is born with the "dis-ease of sin." And if God allowed sin's disease into heaven, it would destroy heaven as it has earth.
The only way to God and heaven is not through our good works but by accepting God's Son, Jesus Christ, as our personal Lord and Savior. Jesus died to pay the penalty of our sin so he could deliver us from the effects of sin's disease which is eternal death and separation from God--the source of all love and life.
Because of what Jesus did, God now offers you and me a free pardon for all our sins. All we need to do is admit we are sinners, thank Jesus for dying on the cross in our place for our sin, invite him into our life as personal Lord and Savior, and accept his forgiveness, his gift of eternal life, and a home in heaven forever. This is God's special Christmas to all who believe.
Had there been any other way to be in a right relationship with God and heaven, then God never would have had to send his Son to die on the cross for us. So, if you have never accepted God's gift of forgiveness and eternal life, and would like help to do that right now, be sure to read: How to Be Sure You're a Real Christian without having to be religious at: http://tinyurl.com/real-christian.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you for your great Christmas love gift to the world and for giving your Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for my sins. I believe and ask you to forgive all my sins. And Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross in my place and I invite you into my heart and life as Lord and Savior. Help me to live for you always in all ways. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
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Oprah Winfrey: "Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi." – Oprah Winfrey
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"Because the world is hungry,
go with bread.
Because the world is filled with strife,
go with peace.
Because the world is filled with deceptions and lies,
go with truth.
Because the world would die without,
go with the love of God."
