Pastoral Resources

Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, knew the secret of strength through weakness. Complimented once by a friend on the impact of the mission, Hudson answered, “It seemed to me that God looked over the whole world to find a man who was weak enough to do His work, and when He at last found me, He said, ‘He is weak enough—he’ll do.’ All God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them.”

I was once conducting a rap session with high school teenagers. I told them that they could ask me any question on any subject, and I would try and answer it. Their questions were typical of ones I had received in similar sessions scores of times before. As the session drew to a close, one girl toward the back, who had not said anything, raised her hand. I nodded, and she said, “The Bible says God loves everybody. Then it says that God sends people to hell. How can a loving God do that?” I gave her my answer, and she came back to me with arguments. I answered her arguments, and she answered my answers. The conversation quickly degenerated into an argument. I did not convince her, nor did she convince me. After a few more questions I dismissed the session.

After the session I approached her and said, “I owe you an apology. I really should not have allowed our discussion to become so argumentative.” Then I asked, “May I share something with you?” She said, “Yes.” So I took her through a basic presentation of the gospel. When I got to Romans 3:23 and suggested that all of us were sinners she began to cry. It was then that this high school senior admitted she had been having an affair with a married man. The one thing she needed was forgiveness. When I finished the presentation of the gospel, she trusted Christ. The reason she did not believe in hell was because she was going there. In her heart she knew she had sinned. Her conscience condemned her, but rather than face the fact of her guilt, she simply denied any future judgment or future hell.

Two hikers were walking through the woods when they suddenly confronted a giant bear. Immediately, one of the men took off his boots, pulled out a pair of track shoes and began putting them on. “What are you doing?” cried his companion. “We can’t outrun that bear, even with jogging shoes.”

“Who cares about the bear?” the first hiker replied. “All I have to worry about is outrunning you.”

Do not be worn out by the labors which you have undertaken for My sake, and do not let tribulations ever cast you down. Instead, let My promise strengthen and comfort you under every circumstance. I am well able to reward you above all measure and degree. You shall not toil here long nor always be oppressed with griefs. A time will come when all labor and trouble will cease. Labor faithfully in My vineyard; I will be thy recompense. Life everlasting is worth all these conflict, and greater than these. Are not all plentiful labors to be endured for the sake of life eternal? Lift your face therefore to heaven; behold I and all My saints with me—who in this world had great conflicts—are now comforted, now rejoicing, now secure, now at rest, and shall remain with Me everlastingly in the kingdom of My father.

T. E. Lawrence once said, “All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds awake to the day to find it was all vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for the many act out their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible...”

“I often wish that I could lie down and sleep without waking. But I will fight it out if I can.”

So wrote one of the bravest, most inspiring men who ever lived, Sir Walter Scott. In his 56th year, failing in health, his wife dying of an incurable disease, Scott was in debt a half million dollars. A publishing firm he had invested in had collapsed. He might have taken bankruptcy, but shrank from the stain. From his creditors he asked only time. Thus began his race with death, a valiant effort to pay off the debt before he died.

To be able to write free from interruptions, Scott withdrew to a small rooming house in Edinburgh. He had left his dying wife, Charlotte behind in the country.

“It withered my heart,” he wrote in his diary, but his presence could avail her nothing now. A few weeks later she died. After the funeral he wrote in his diary: “Were an enemy coming upon my house, would I not do my best to fight, although oppressed in spirits; and shall a similar despondency prevent me from mental exertion? It shall not, by heaven!”

With a tremendous exercise of will, he returned to the task, stifling his grief. He turned out Woodstock, Count Robert of Paris, Castle Dangerous, and other works. Though twice stricken with paralysis, he labored steadily until the fall of 1832. Then came a merciful miracle. Although his mental powers had left him, he died September 21, 1832, happy in the illusion that all his debts were paid. (They were finally paid in 1847 with the sale of all his copyrights.)

Thomas Carlyle was to write of him latter: “No sounder piece of British manhood was put together in the eighteenth century of time.”

I will tell you the secret: God has had all that there was of me. There have been men with greater brains than I, even with greater opportunities, but from the day I got the poor of London on my heart and caught a vision of what Jesus Christ could do with me and them, on that day I made up my mind that God should have all of William Booth there was. And if there is anything of power in the Salvation Army, it is because God has had all the adoration of my heart, all the power of my will, and all the influence of my life.

William Booth

Thomas Edison invented the microphone, the phonograph, the incandescent light, the storage battery, talking movies, and more than 1000 other things. December 1914 he had worked for 10 years on a storage battery. This had greatly strained his finances. This particular evening spontaneous combustion had broken out in the film room. Within minutes all the packing compounds, celluloid for records and film, and other flammable goods were in flames. Fire companies from eight surrounding towns arrived, but the heat was so intense and the water pressure so low that the attempt to douse the flames was futile. Everything was destroyed. Edison was 67. With all his assets going up in a whoosh (although the damage exceeded two million dollars, the buildings were only insured for $238,000 because they were made of concrete and thought to be fireproof), would his spirit be broken? The inventor’s 24-year old son, Charles, searched frantically for his father. He finally found him, calmly watching the fire, his face glowing in the reflection, his white hair blowing in the wind. “My heart ached for him,” said Charles. “He was 67—no longer a young man—and everything was going up in flames. When he saw me, he shouted, ‘Charles, where’s your mother?’ When I told him I didn’t know, he said, ‘Find her. Bring her here. She will never see anything like this as long as she lives.’“ The next morning, Edison looked at the ruins and said, “There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew.” Three weeks after the fire, Edison managed to deliver the first phonograph.

I remember when in the old country a young man came to me--a minister--and said he wanted to talk with me. He said to me: "Mr. Moody, you are either all right and I am all wrong, or else I am right, and you are all wrong." "Well, sir," said I, "You have the advantage of me. You have heard me preach, and you know what doctrines I hold, whereas I have not heard you, and don't know what you preach." "Well," said he, "the difference between your preaching and mine is that you make out that salvation is got by Christ's death, and I make out that it is attained by His life." "Now, what do you do with the passages bearing upon the death?" and I quoted the passages, "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission," and "He Himself bore our own sins by His own body on the tree," and asked him what he did with them, for instance. "Never preach them at all." I quoted a number of passages more, and he gave me the same answer. "Well, what do you preach?" I finally asked. "Moral essays," he replied. Said I, "Did you ever know anybody to be saved by that kind of thing, did you ever convert anybody by them?" "I never aimed at that kind of conversion; I meant to get men to heaven by culture--by refinement." "Well," said I, "If I didn't preach those texts, and only preached culture, the whole thing would be a sham." "And it is a sham to me," was his reply. I tell you the moment a man breaks away from this doctrine of blood, religion becomes a sham, because the whole teaching of this book is of one story, and this is, that Christ came into the world and died for our sins.

1. It is inspired: “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16).

2. It is truth: “The sum of Thy word is truth” (Psalms 119:160). It makes free: “...If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

3. It produces faith: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17, NASB).

4. It judges: “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12).

When I am tired, the Bible is my bed;

Or in the dark, the Bible is my light;

When I am hungry, it is vital bread;

Or fearful, it is armor for the fight.

When I am sick, 'tis healing medicine;

Or lonely, thronging friends I find therein.

If I would work, the Bible is my tool;

Or play, it is a harp of happy sound.

If I am arrogant, it is my school.

If I am sinking, it is solid ground.

If I am cold, the Bible is my fire;

And it is wings, if boldly I aspire.

Should I be lost, the Bible is my guide;

Or naked, it is raiment rich and warm.

Am I imprisoned, it is ranges wide;

Or tempest-tossed, a shelter from the storm.

Would I adventure, 'tis a gallant sea;

Or would I rest, it is a flowery lea.

Does gloom oppress? The Bible is a sun,

Or ugliness? It is a garden fair.

Am I athirst? How cool its currents run!

Or stifled? What a vivifying air!

Since thus thou givest of thyself to me,

How should I give myself great Book to thee!

One night a house caught fire and a young boy was forced to flee to the roof. The father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to his son, “Jump! I’ll catch you.” He knew the boy had to jump to save his life. All the boy could see, however, was flame, smoke, and blackness. As can be imagined, he was afraid to leave the roof. His father kept yelling: “Jump! I will catch you.” But the boy protested, “Daddy, I can’t see you.” The father replied, “But I can see you and that’s all that matters.”

Jesus had been in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights without food. He must have been extremely hungry when Satan approached Him! Always expect Satan to tempt you in your weakest moments. He said to Jesus, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread" (Mat_4:3). Jesus failed to respond to this temptation, so Satan attempted pride (Mat_4:6). With another failure Satan "upped the ante" and offered Jesus greater THINGS than food; He offered the world. He said, "all these things will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me" (Mat_4:9). With this statement, Satan finally arrived at the real issue: "Fall down and worship ME." All sin stripped of its glamour and laid bare is the dethroning of God to make some THING (living or non-living), a god.

Satan can offer you only THINGS; nothing more. Jesus offers you abundant life; life to its fullest (Joh_10:10). The life Jesus offers you has promises for both the present life and the life to come (1Ti_4:8).

People are foolish. They look for life and peace in THINGS, but Jesus says that you can have life and peace and joy with or without things (Matt. 5-7). Paul accepted what Jesus had to offer and said of himself, "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength" (Phi_4:12-13).

THINGS cannot bring life and happiness because they are temporary. Only a foolish person spends his life acquiring THINGS to the neglecting of the life Jesus offers. Jesus once told of such a man (Luk_12:16-21). The man acquired so many "things" that he had to tear down his barns and build bigger ones. With a sigh of relief, he said, "Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years; take it easy, eat, drink, and be merry" (Luk_12:19). "But God said of you: then whose shall those THINGS be which you have provided?" (Luk_12:20). THINGS have an end but ETERNAL LIFE is forever.

The THINGS Satan offers you are in no way certain because he is a liar. Jesus says, "There is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies" (Joh_8:44). Satan cannot offer you anything without telling a lie. On the other hand, Jesus is TRUTH (Joh_14:6). Jesus cannot promise you anything that He will not or cannot fulfill.

Just as Satan offered Jesus ALL THESE THINGS, he offers them to you today. Are you accepting his offer? If your day-by-day life is consumed in acquiring THINGS, you have accepted. Satan is saying to you, "ALL THESE THINGS WILL I GIVE YOU" but I believe Jesus' estimation of Satan. You are being lied to!

The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life is either expressly set down in Scripture or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture, unto which nothing at anytime is to be added whether by new revelations of the Spirit or traditions of man.

The doctrine that all things occur according to programme. This doctrine should not be confused with that of foreordination, which means that all things are programmed, but does not affirm their occurrence, that being only an implication from other doctrines by which this in entailed. The difference is great enough to have deluged Christendom with ink, to say nothing of the gore. With the distinction of the two doctrines kept well in mind, and a reverent belief in both, one may hope to escape perdition if spared.

- Ambrose Bierce

Is your significance tied too closely to achievements—building buildings, reaching business goals, acquiring material possessions, climbing career ladders? There’s nothing inherently wrong with these. But if you lost them, would your confidence completely crumble? If your sense of worth depends on them, what happens when you reach the top of the ladder, only to discover that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall?

The problem is that our world has a system of values that is upside down from the way God determines value. It lacks any sense of what Scripture describes as “calling,” or what Christians later termed “vocation”—a perspective that God has called and equipped people to serve Him through their work in the world. Instead, our culture encourages us to climb a work/identity ladder that is ultimately self-serving, and often self-destructive.

Climbing that ladder can be very misleading. The higher one goes, the more one’s identity, value, and security tend to depend on the nature of one’s work. But what happens if we lose our position, titles, or high-level compensation? Perhaps this explains why severe emotional problems—drug and alcohol abuse, abuse of spouse and children, divorce, even suicide—often accompany job loss. If our significance relies on our job, then it dies with our job.

God calls us to a far more stable basis for significance. He wants us to establish our identity in the fact that we are His children, created by Him to carry out good works as responsible people in His kingdom (Eph. 2:10). This is our calling or vocation from God. According to Scripture, our calling:

is irrevocable (Rom. 11:29).

is from God; He wants to let us share in Christ’s glory (2 Thess. 2:14).

is a function of how God has designed us (Eph. 2:10).

is an assurance that God will give us everything we need to serve Him, including the strength to remain faithful to Him (1 Cor. 1:7-9).

is what we should be proclaiming as our true identity (1 Pet. 2:5, 9).

carries us through suffering (1 Pet. 2:19-21).

is rooted in peace, no matter what the circumstances in which we find ourselves (1 Cor. 7:15-24).

is focused on eternal achievements, not merely temporal ones (Phil. 3:13—4:1).

Above all else, believers are called to character development, service to others, and loyalty to God. These can be accomplished wherever we live or work, whatever our occupational status or position in society. If we pursue these, we can enjoy great satisfaction and significance. No matter what happens on the job, we can join Paul in saying, “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28).

Our times are in His hand

Who saith, "A whole I planned.

Youth shows but half; Trust God,

See all, nor be afraid!"

For age is opportunity, no less

Than youth itself, though in another dress,

And as the evening twilight fades away

The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.

At lunch one day in a hotel with her son Reggie and his new wife, Gloria, Alice Vanderbilt asked whether Gloria had received her pearls. Reggie replied that he had not yet bought any because the only pearls worthy of his bride were beyond his price. His mother then calmly ordered that a pair of scissors be brought to her. When the scissors arrived, Mrs. Vanderbilt promptly cut off about one-third of her own $70,000 pearl necklace and handed them to her new daughter-in-law. “There you are, Gloria,” she said. “All Vanderbilt women have pearls.”

When Queen Victoria of England reigned as Empress of India, the Maharajah of Punjab was a little boy. To show his allegiance, he sent her a magnificent diamond. It became one of the crown jewels and was safely kept in the Tower of London. When he became a man, he went to London to pay his respects to the Queen. The young man asked the Queen if he could see the diamond. The precious jewel was brought in and presented before the Indian prince. Then, taking the diamond and kneeling before the Queen, he said with deep emotion, "Madam, I gave you this jewel when I was too young to know what I was doing. I want to give it again, in the fullness of my strength, with all my heart, and affection, and gratitude, now and forever, fully realizing all that I do."

Long-time actress and comedienne Gracie Allen once received a small, live alligator as a gag. Not knowing what to do with it, Gracie placed it in the bathtub and then left for an appointment. When she returned home, she found this note from her maid: “Dear Miss Allen: Sorry, but I have quit. I don’t work in houses where there is an alligator. I’d a told you this when I took on, but I never thought it would come up.

Many years ago in Germany, so the story goes, there lived a shoemaker who had a habit of speaking harshly of all his neighbors who didn't think quite as he did about religion. The pastor of the parish in which he lived heard of this and felt he must give him a lesson. So he went to the shoemaker one morning and said, "Will you please take my measurements for a pair of boots?"

"With pleasure, sir," answered the shoemaker. "Please take off your boot." The clergyman did so, and the shoemaker measured his foot from toe to heel and over the instep, and wrote it all down in his notebook.

As he was writing up his measurements, the pastor said, "My son also needs a pair of boots."

"I'll be glad to make them, too. When can I take his measurements?"

"Oh, that's not necessary," said the pastor. "The lad is only twelve, but you can make my boots and his from the same last."

The shoemaker looked at him with a puzzled smile and said, "That would never do. They would never fit such a young boy."

"I tell you," insisted the pastor, "to make my son's on the same last."

"No, sir, I can't do it," protested the shoemaker. He began to wonder if the pastor was losing his wits.

"Well, then, shoemaker," said the clergyman, "you accept the fact that every pair of boots must be made on their own last, if they are to fit. Yet you think that God wants to form all Christians exactly according to your own last, of the same measure and growth in spiritual matters as yourself. That won't do either, you know."

The shoemaker got the point and said, "Thank you for your sermon. I'll try to remember it and judge my neighbors less harshly in the future."

He was an old organist of the celebrated Freiburg Cathedral, but now that his fingers had lost their skill, he was made custodian of the great organ.

One day a visitor came to the cathedral and asked to play the organ, but the custodian refused. "No one but myself and the present organist has ever touched the keys," the custodian objected.

But the visitor pleaded until he was given permission to play a few notes. He slipped into the seat and touched first one note and then another. Then, running his fingers over the keys, he filled the whole cathedral with such beautiful music that the organist was entranced. When the visitor finished, the old custodian came to him and asked his name. And the visitor replied, "My name is Felix Mendelssohn."

And until the end of his life, the old organist would exclaim over and over, "To think I almost missed hearing Mendelssohn play on my organ!"

How many souls have been the losers for not letting the Master touch their hearts with heavenly music!

The N.T. is full of allusions to sacrifices, sacrifices that we perform in the cathedral of our bodies instead of at a temple. The totality of our being is to be presented as “living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God” (Romans 12:1). We also sacrifice with words of praise from our lips and the sharing of our resources with others. “Through Jesus, therefore let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Hebrews 13:15-16). Giving our money to the Lord’s work is pictured as a “fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God” (Philippians 2:17). We now, as the temples of God, are required to present sacrifices to Him, not the sacrifice for sin because Christ already accomplished that on the cross, but sacrifices of worship and thanksgiving.

Charles McCarry can claim a varied career. In addition to being the author of The Tears of Autumn and The Last Supper, he served as assistant to the Secretary of Labor in the Eisenhower cabinet and has done two stints in the CIA. But he almost wasn’t born.

Says McCarry, “My mother became pregnant with me at the age of 39. She had nearly died while giving birth to my only sibling. Her doctor, who believed the second pregnancy was a serious threat to her life, advised an abortion. The advice made sense, but my mother refused to accept it. Just before she died at age 97, I asked her why. She replied, “I wanted to see who you were going to turn out to be.”

With one in four young people now indicating that they have never had a meaningful conversation with their father, is it any wonder that 76 percent of the 1,200 teens surveyed in USA Today actually want their parents to spend more time with them?

Andree Alieon Brooks, a New York Times journalist, in her eye-opening book Children of Fast-Track Parents, describes her interviews with scores of children and parents who seemed to “have it all”: “If there was one theme that constantly emerged from my conversations with the children it was a surprising undercurrent of aloneness—feelings of isolation from peers as well as parents despite their busy lives.”

Stephen Hawking is an astrophysicist at Cambridge University and perhaps the most intelligent man on earth. He has advanced the general theory of relativity farther than any person since Albert Einstein. Unfortunately, Hawking is afflicted with ALS Syndrome (Lou Gehrig’s disease). It will eventually take his life. He has been confined to a wheelchair for years, where he can do little more than sit and think. Hawking has lost the ability even to speak, and now he communicates by means of a computer that is operated from the tiniest movement of his fingertips.

Quoting from an Omni magazine article:

“He is too weak to write, feed himself, comb his hair, fix his classes—all this must be done for him. Yet this most dependent of all men has escaped invalid status. His personality shines through the messy details of his existence.”

Hawking said that before he became ill, he had very little interest in life. He called it a

“…pointless existence” resulting from sheer boredom. He drank too much and did very little work. Then he learned he had ALS Syndrome and was not expected to live more than two years. The ultimate effect of that diagnosis, beyond its initial shock, was extremely positive. He claimed to have been happier after he was afflicted than before. How can that be understood? Hawking provided the answer.

“When one’s expectations are reduced to zero,” he said, “one really appreciates everything that one does have.” Stated another way: contentment in life is determined in part by what a person anticipates from it. To a man like Hawking who thought he would soon die quickly, everything takes on meaning—a sunrise or a walk in a park or the laughter of children. Suddenly, each small pleasure becomes precious. By contrast, those who believe life owes them a free ride are often discontent with its finest gifts.

The captain of the ship looked into the dark night and saw faint lights in the distance. Immediately he told his signalman to send a message” “Alter your course 10 degrees south.” Promptly a return message was received: “Alter your course 10 degrees north.” The captain was angered; his command had been ignored. So he sent a second message: “Alter your course 10 degrees south—I am the captain!” Soon another message was received: “Alter your course 10 degrees north—I am seaman third class Jones.” Immediately the captain sent a third message, knowing the fear it would evoke: “Alter your course 10 degrees south—I am a battleship.” Then the reply came “Alter your course 10 degrees north—I am a lighthouse.”

In the midst of our dark and foggy times, all sorts of voices are shouting orders into the night, telling us what to do, how to adjust our lives. Out of the darkness, one voice signals something quite opposite to the rest—something almost absurd. But the voice happens to be the Light of the World, and we ignore it at our peril.

A newly commissioned Navy captain took great pride in his first assignment to be in command of a battleship. One stormy night the captain saw a light moving steadily in their direction. He ordered the signalman to send the following message: "Change your course ten degrees to the south." The reply came back: "Change your course ten degrees to the north."

The captain was determined not to give way to another vessel, and so he sent a counter message. "Alter your direction ten degrees. I am the captain." The answer flashed back promptly: "Alter your direction. I am the lighthouse."

There are times when all of us have to identify with the captain; times when we allow self-will to set us off on a collision course.

"I have my rights," we say, determined to have our own way. But God, whose Word is like a lighthouse with a penetrating and unchangeable beacon, reveals a rocky shore ahead and finally we do as the captain surely did. We obey.

Our prayer for ourselves, and for the church should be as Jesus prayed, "Not my will, but Thine be done."

Humans arose, rather, as a fortuitous and contingent outcome of thousands of linked events, any one of which could have occurred differently and sent history on an alternate pathway that would not have led to consciousness.

Some Christians have the same idea about the commandments of God as a little boy who was playing with his sister. A most unpleasant woman who lived near by had been finding fault with them, and the boy said, "I just hate her!" His little sister, greatly shocked, said, "Oh no! The Bible says we must love everyone." "Oh, well," he remarked, "old Mrs. Blank wasn't born when that was written." In the same way the disobedient Christian always finds an excuse.

Scottish minister Alexander Whyte was known for his uplifting prayers in the pulpit. He always found something for which to be grateful. One Sunday morning the weather was so gloomy that one church member thought to himself, “Certainly the preacher won’t think of anything for which to thank the Lord on a wretched day like this.” Much to his surprise, however, Whyte began by praying, “We thank Thee, O God, that it is not always like this.”

There was a man converted here some years ago, and he was just full of praise. He was living in the light all the time. We might be in the darkness, but he was always in the light. He used to preface everything he said in the meeting with "praise God." One night he came to the meeting with his finger all bound up. He had cut it, and cut it pretty bad, too. Well, I wondered how he would praise God for this; but he got up and said, "I have cut my finger, but, praise God, I didn't cut it off." And so, if things go against you, just think they might be a good deal worse.

To those Christians who are always in a hurry, here’s some good advice from the 19th-century preacher A. B. Simpson: “Beloved, have you ever thought that someday you will not have anything to try you, or anyone to vex you again? There will be no opportunity in heaven to learn or to show the spirit of patience, forbearance, and longsuffering. If you are to practice these things, it must be now.” Yes, each day affords countless opportunities to learn patience. Let’s not waste them. Commenting on our need for this virtue, M. H. Lount has said, “God’s best gifts come slowly. We could not use them if they did not. Many a man, called of God to…a work in which he is pouring out his life, is convinced that the Lord means to bring his efforts to a successful conclusion. Nevertheless, even such a confident worker grows discouraged at times and worries because results do not come as rapidly as he would desire. But growth and strength in waiting are results often greater than the end so impatiently longed for. Paul had time to realize this as he lay in prison. Moses must have asked, ‘Why?’ many times during the delays in Midian and in the wilderness. Jesus Himself experienced the discipline of delay in His silent years before His great public ministry began.”

God wants us to see results as we work for Him, but His first concern is our growth. That’s why He often withholds success until we have learned patience. The Lord teaches us this needed lesson through the blessed discipline of delay.

At the busy dental office where I work, one patient was always late. Once when I called to confirm an appointment, he said, “I’ll be about 15 minutes late. That won’t be a problem, will it?”

“No,” I told him. “We just won’t have time to give you an anesthetic.”

He arrived early.

Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

A sickly widow had two sons on whom she relied for financial support. One son sold umbrellas. The first thing the mother did every morning was to look out to see if the sun was shining or if it looked like it was going to rain. If it was cloudy, her spirits were good because there was a chance that it might rain and her son would sell some umbrellas. But if the sun was shining, she was miserable all day because no umbrellas would be sold.

The widow’s other son sold fans. Every morning that it looked like rain, she would get depressed because without the sun’s heat, no one was likely to buy fans.

No matter what the weather was, the widow had something to fret about.

While commiserating with a friend one day, the friend remarked, “Perk up. You’ve got it made. If the sun is shining, people will buy fans; if it rains, they’ll buy umbrellas. All you have to do is change your attitude. You can’t lose.”

When that simple thought sank in, the widow lived happily ever after.

Allan Bloom writes:

“Openness—and the relativism that makes it the only plausible stance in the face of various claims to truth and various ways of life and kinds of human beings—is the great insight of our times. The true believer is the real danger. The study of history and of culture teaches that all the world was mad in the past; men always thought they were right, and that led to wars, persecutions, slavery, xenophobia, racism and chauvinism. The point is not to correct the mistakes and really be right; rather it is not to think you are right at all.”

Amaziah was a good king. He worshiped the true God and showed mercy to the children of some who had conspired against him. Apparently he set a good moral example. But he foolishly led his troops into a shameful defeat and was finally executed by a group of rebels. In 2 Kings 14:3, we are told why Amaziah did not experience the full blessing of the Lord. The text says, “And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like David.” He followed the example of his father Joash and failed to put a stop to the semipagan worship conducted on hills throughout the land. He should have patterned himself after his forefather David. He simply didn’t aim high enough.

By instinct I feel I must do something in order to be accepted. Grace sounds a startling note of contradiction, of liberation, and every day I must pray anew for the ability to hear its message. Eugene Peterson draw a contrast between Augustine and Pelagius, two fourth-century theological opponents. Pelagius was urbane, courteous, convincing, and liked by everyone. Augustine squandered away his youth in immorality, had a strange relationship with his mother, and made many enemies. Yet Augustine started from God’s grace and got it right, whereas Pelagius started from human effort and got it wrong. Augustine passionately pursued God; Pelagius methodically worked to please God.

Peterson goes on to say that Christians tend to be Augustinian in theory but Pelagian in practice. They work obsessively to please other people and even God.

God, Creator of all, invites us, mere creatures, to pray, and He assures us He will hear. He is holy, separate from sinners and undefiled, and we are rebellious and sinful, but as a Father, He invites us to ask favors and promises help. "Ask and it shall be given to you...for everyone that asketh receiveth ...If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him" (Mat_7:7-11). Amazing!

Prayer changes things. The Bible says, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (Jam_5:16). Prayer for the sick is not a substitute for medicine, prayer for daily bread is not a substitute for work, and prayer for the lost is no substitute for the gospel, but those things are no substitute for prayer either. Because Christians pray, some are well who would still be sick, some alive who would be dead (Jam_4:15), souls are saved that would be lost (Rom_10:1), doors of opportunity are open that would still be closed (Col_4:3), some are wiser than they were (Jam_1:5). "More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of." And many more things yet would be wrought by it, if we prayed more: "You have not, because you ask not" (Jam_4:2). How amazing!

God commands us to pray. "Pray without ceasing" (1Th_5:17). "Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving (Col_4:2). "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God" (Phi_4:6). The greatest of all privileges is not only allowed, but is even enjoined upon us. To let us pray would be marvelous, but He commands us. Amazing indeed!

God urges us to be persistent in prayer. If at first we do not get what we ask for, we are to keep asking. If God, who hears all things, appears deaf to our cries, we are to cry longer. Jesus told a parable about an unjust and uncaring judge, who finally ruled in favor of a poor widow simply because she wore him out with her persistent pleas. He told that parable, He said, to teach us that we "ought always to pray and not give up" (Luk_18:1). God is not unjust and uncaring, like that judge; but we are to be persistent, like that widow. God never wearies of our asking, even when it appears He is not hearing. Astoundingly amazing!

We are invited to pray and God has promised to hear. Great things happen because of prayer. We are commanded to pray by the One who loves us, and reminded that we show Him our love by keeping His commandments. We can "come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb_4:16). Yet, believing all of that, many of us pray so little! That is most amazing of all!

One summer morning in the 1920s, a Scotsman named Arthur Ferguson stood idly in London’s Trafalgar Square. As he watched, an obviously well-to-do American began admiring the statue of Admiral Lord Nelson and the column it rested on. Struck with a sudden inspiration, Ferguson put his remarkable selling ability to work and “sold” Nelson’s column to the American for about $30,000—lions included!

Not one to rest on his laurels, Ferguson went on from there to sell the famous clock Big Ben to another American for $5,000 and took $10,000 from yet another as down payment on Buckingham Palace. By the time justice caught up with him, Ferguson had added the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty to the list of his amazing “sales”! He spent several years in prison for his remarkable deceptions.

Charlie Hainline is a layman at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He is a man who radiates the love of Christ, and is serious about sharing his faith with others. One year, his goal was to lead 1650 people to faith in Christ (5 a day)!! Once, he was out witnessing with a couple of other folks, and though he didn’t share the gospel, he sat there and smiled broadly as a teammate did. When the teammate was finished and asked if the person would like to trust Christ and receive the gift of eternal life, the person replied, “If being a Christian would make me like him (point to Charlie), I want it!”

Charlie’s life wasn’t a bed of roses by any means. His daughter was kidnapped, killed, and her head was found floating in a canal. When the murderer of his daughter was caught and convicted, Charlie went to jail in order to witness to the man.

1. Business is made up of ambiguous victories and nebulous defeats. Claim them all as victories.

2. Keep track of what you do; someone is sure to ask.

3. Be comfortable around senior managers, or learn to fake it.

4. Never bring your boss a problem without some solution. You are getting paid to think, not to whine.

5. Long hours don’t mean anything; results count, not effort.

6. Write down ideas; they get lost, like good pens.

7. Always arrive at work 30 minutes before your boss.

8. Be sure to sit at the conference table—never by the wall.

9. Help other people network for jobs. What goes around comes around.

10. Don’t take sick days—unless you are.

11. Assume no one can/will keep a secret.

12. Know when you do your best—morning, night, under pressure, relaxed; schedule and prioritize your work accordingly.

13. Treat everyone in the organization with respect and dignity, whether it be the janitor or the president. Don’t ever be patronizing.

14. When you get the entrepreneurial urge, visit someone who has his own business. It may cure you.

15. Never appear stressed in front of a client, a customer or your boss. Take a deep breath and ask yourself: in the course of human events, how important is this?

16. Recognizing someone else’s contribution will repay you doubly.

17. Career planning is an oxymoron. The most exciting opportunities tend to be unplanned.

18. Always choose to do what you’ll remember ten years from now.

19. The size of your office is not as important as the size of your paycheck.

20. Understand what finished work looks like and deliver your work only when it is finished.

21. The person who spends all of his or her time at work is not hard-working; he or she is boring.

22. Know how to write business letters—including thank-you notes as well as proposals.

23. Never confuse a memo with reality. Most memos from the top are political fantasy.

24. Eliminate guilt. Don’t cheat on expense reports, taxes, benefits or your colleagues.

25. Reorganizations mean that someone will lose his or her job. Get on the task force that will make the recommendations.

26. Job security does not exist.

27. Children are a source of truth and ideas. The best icebreaker to use in intense meetings is one I heard from a six-year-old: “Raise your hand who’s mad.”

28. Always have an answer to the question “What would I do if I lost my job tomorrow?”

29. Go to the company holiday party.

30. Don’t get drunk at the company holiday party.

31. Avoid working on the weekends. Work longer during the week if you have to.

32. The most successful people in business are interesting.

33. Sometimes you’ll be on a roll and everything will click; take maximum advantage. When the opposite is true, hold steady and wait it out.

34. Never in your life say, “It’s not my job.”

35. Be loyal to your career, your interests and yourself.

36. Understand the skills and abilities that set you apart. Whenever you have an opportunity, use them.

37. People remember the end of the project. As they say in boxing, “Always finish stronger than you start.

Our idea of fishing is to put all the exertion up to the fish. If they are ambitious we will catch them. If they are not, let them go about their business.

A layman who was widely known for his use of the term "amen," was asked on one occasion why he used it.

"Just what does 'amen'mean?" asked a friend.

The sincere brother replied, "In most cases it means just this to me: 'Yes, Lord, I am with it, and I will stand my share of the expenses.'"

"What do you mean when you say 'amen'at the end of your prayers?" he was asked.

"When I say 'amen'at the end of a prayer I mean just this: 'God, I am working with you that this may be true, but I am willing to receive any one of your three replies: yes, no, or wait.'"

Today, the exalted status of economics in our public debate is being challenged in some rather intriguing places. For example, Wall Street Journal editor Robert Bartley recently observed, “If America is to decline, it will not be because of military overstretch. Nor the trade balance, Japanese management secrets or even the federal deficit. If a decline is underway, it’s a moral one.”

Former Education Secretary William Bennett sees evidence of such decline in research identifying the most serious problems in public school classrooms. In 1940, running in the halls, chewing gum, and talking in class headed the list of teacher’s disciplinary concerns; today, robbery, rape, alcohol, drugs, teen pregnancy, and suicide are most often mentioned. Bennett argues, “If we turn the economy around, have full employment, live in cities of alabaster and gold, and this is what our children are doing to each other, then we still will have failed them.”

Bennett believes one way to improve our national debate is to counterbalance, the Commerce Department’s index of leading economic indicators with a collection of some 19 “leading cultural indicators” including the divorce rate, the illegitimacy rate, the violent crime rate, the teen suicide rate, and even hours devoted to television viewing. While these cultural variables are only crude indicators of our nation’s social health, they do provide a more complete, and more accurate, empirical assessment of the condition of American society than is available from economic variables alone. Using economic variables—even under-utilized variables like business productivity and hourly compensation rates—it is difficult to explain public opinion polls showing that a majority of Americans believe the quality of life in America has declined over the last three decades. To understand such perceptions, one has to consider that since 1960, violent crime has risen 560 percent, illegitimate births have increased 400 percent, teen suicides have risen 200 percent, divorce rates have quadrupled, average SAT scores have dropped 80 points, and the proportion of children living in fatherless families has increased three-fold.

In essence, then, Bennett’s leading cultural indicators are to our national debate what statistics like saves, fielding percentage, and earned run average are to baseball: reminders that economic production (or run production) isn’t everything. Indeed, a society which manages to make great gains economically, but fails to progress in the cultural areas outlined by Bennett is likely to be no more successful in the long run than the 1931 New York Yankees. That ball club, which featured sluggers like Babe Ruth and Lou , scored more runs (1,067) than any other team in major league history. But New York still finished 13 and one-half games behind the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1931 American League pennant race, in large part because the Yankees’ lousy pitching more than offset run-scoring prowess.

Scientific measurements indicate that we are moving even when we are standing still. Continental land masses sit on enormous slabs of rock that slide very slowly at the rate of l to 8 inches per year. America is gradually moving westward, away from Europe, at the rate of 3 inches per year. If that doesn’t blow your hair back, consider this. Our Milky Way galaxy is hurtling through space at 375 miles per second or l.3 million miles per hour. But that’s not all. Within our own galaxy the sun and its solar system are zooming along at 12.4 miles per second (43,000 mph) in the direction of the star Vega in the constellation Lyra.

Things churches can do to build greater interest in religion, according to a Gallup survey: improve communication with members (21% of respondents); concentrate more on personal spiritual matters (19%); become more involved in community matters (18%); focus more efforts on young people (14%). Other suggestions include more social activities for church members, more personal contacts between clergy and families, including pastoral visits, less emphasis on money, advertise more, strive for unity, and stay out of politics.

The survey was made for the book, “The People’s Religion: American Faith in the ‘90s,” a Gallup compilation of more than 50 years of public opinion polls.

Figures in the book show a consistency over the years: about 94 percent believe in God, 90 percent pray, 88 percent believe God loves them, and more than 75 percent say their religious involvement has been a positive experience.

Co-author Jim Castelli says he was surprised at the steadiness of the figures. “The percentage who went to church in the last week is the same today (42%) as it was in the ‘30s,” he said.After surveying 10,000 people, the Institute for American Church Growth concluded that 79 percent began attending church after receiving such an invitation. Only 6% were attracted by the pastor, 5% by the Sunday school and 0.5% by an evangelistic crusade.

Last year I compiled the Index of Leading Cultural Indicators, a statistical portrait of American behavioral trends of the past three decades. Among the findings: Since 1960, while the gross domestic product has nearly tripled, violent crime has increased at least 560%. Divorces have more than doubled. The percentage of children in single-parent homes had tripled. And by the end of the decade 40% of all American births and 80% of minority births will occur out of wedlock. These are not good things to get used to.

In 1940 teachers identified the top problems in America's schools as: talking out of turn, chewing gum, making noise and running in the hall. In 1990, teachers listed drugs, alcohol, pregnancy, suicide, rape and assault. These are not good things to get used to, either.

There is a coarseness, a callousness and a cynicism to our era. The worst of it has to do with our children. Our culture seems almost dedicated to the corruption of the young.

We have become inured to the cultural rot that is setting in. People are losing their capacity for shock, disgust and outrage...

The ancients called our problem acedia, an aversion to spiritual things and an undue concern for the external and the worldly. Acedia also is the seventh capital sin—sloth—but it does not mean mere laziness. The slothful heart is steeped in the worldly and carnal, hates the spiritual and wants to be free of its demands.

When the novelist Walker Percy was asked what concerned him most about America's future, he answered, "Probably the fear of seeing America, with all its great strength and beauty and freedom...gradually subside into decay through default and be defeated, not by the communist movement, but from within, from weariness, boredom, cynicism, greed and in the end helplessness before its great problems."

I realize this is a tough indictment. If my diagnosis is wrong, then why, amid our economic prosperity and military security, do almost 70% of the public say we are off track? I submit that only when we turn to the right things—enduring, noble, spiritual things—will life get better.

Most important, we must return religion to its proper place. Religion provides us with moral bearings, and the solution to our chief problem of spiritual impoverishment depends on spiritual renewal. The surrendering of strong beliefs, in our private and public lives, has demoralized society.

Today, much of society ridicules and mocks those who are serious about their faith. America's only respectable form of bigotry is bigotry against religious people. And the only reason for hatred of religion is that it forces us to confront matters many would prefer to ignore.

Today we must carry on a new struggle for the country we love. We must push hard against an age that is pushing hard against us. If we have full employment and greater economic growth—if we have cities of gold and alabaster—but our children have not learned how to walk in goodness, justice and mercy, then the American experiment, no matter how gilded, will have failed.

Do not surrender. Get mad. Get in the fight.

GLENDALE, CA (EP) - American men are among the world’s “most pagan,” according to pollster George Barna. A study reported in The Barna Report, his newsletter, found that the church has little or no influence on many American men.

About one in three American men claims to be a born-again Christian, but only 28 percent attend church on any given weekend. Other forms of religious activity—including Bible reading, Sunday school attendance, and giving time or money to a church—have all declined among American since 1991.

Barna also found that even men who claim to be Christians often hold unorthodox beliefs that are at odds with biblical Christianity. For instance, 28 percent deny that Jesus was physically raised from the dead, while 27 percent say He committed sins. Surprisingly, 55 percent of self-identified Christian men agreed that all people “experience the same outcome after death, regardless of their way into heaven.”

Barna found that less than half of Christian men believe that there are absolute moral truths (47 percent) or that the Bible and religion should be primary influences on moral thinking (40 percent).

To reverse this trend, Barna says churches must provide a male-friendly environment, including opportunities to interact with other men, practical Bible teaching, and real-world solutions to personal problems.

GLENDALE, CA (EP) - American men are among the world’s “most pagan,” according to pollster George Barna. A study reported in The Barna Report, his newsletter, found that the church has little or no influence on many American men.

About one in three American men claims to be a born-again Christian, but only 28 percent attend church on any given weekend. Other forms of religious activity—including Bible reading, Sunday school attendance, and giving time or money to a church—have all declined among American since 1991.

Barna also found that even men who claim to be Christians often hold unorthodox beliefs that are at odds with biblical Christianity. For instance, 28 percent deny that Jesus was physically raised from the dead, while 27 percent say He committed sins. Surprisingly, 55 percent of self-identified Christian men agreed that all people “experience the same outcome after death, regardless of their way into heaven.”

Barna found that less than half of Christian men believe that there are absolute moral truths (47 percent) or that the Bible and religion should be primary influences on moral thinking (40 percent).

To reverse this trend, Barna says churches must provide a male-friendly environment, including opportunities to interact with other men, practical Bible teaching, and real-world solutions to personal problems.

GLENDALE, CA (EP) - American men are among the world’s “most pagan,” according to pollster George Barna. A study reported in The Barna Report, his newsletter, found that the church has little or no influence on many American men.

About one in three American men claims to be a born-again Christian, but only 28 percent attend church on any given weekend. Other forms of religious activity—including Bible reading, Sunday school attendance, and giving time or money to a church—have all declined among American since 1991.

Barna also found that even men who claim to be Christians often hold unorthodox beliefs that are at odds with biblical Christianity. For instance, 28 percent deny that Jesus was physically raised from the dead, while 27 percent say He committed sins. Surprisingly, 55 percent of self-identified Christian men agreed that all people “experience the same outcome after death, regardless of their way into heaven.”

Barna found that less than half of Christian men believe that there are absolute moral truths (47 percent) or that the Bible and religion should be primary influences on moral thinking (40 percent).

To reverse this trend, Barna says churches must provide a male-friendly environment, including opportunities to interact with other men, practical Bible teaching, and real-world solutions to personal problems.

Half of Americans in a recent poll said they or their family members have suffered from depression, 46% considered it a health problem, and 43% saw it as a “sign of personal or emotional weakness,” according to the National Mental Health Association. Other topics measured included alcoholism (seen as a personal weakness by 58% and a health problem by 34%) and obesity (38% deemed it a weakness, 48% a health problem).

Where to go for help? Three choices were allowed. 45% suggested a medical doctor, 60% a mental health professional, but only 20% suggested a church, minister, rabbi, or priest, and just 14% suggested a spouse, relative, or friend.

A newly-released poll says 94% of Americans prefer marriage as a way of life over living with someone out of wedlock. The poll, conducted by the Roper Organization in 1970 for the 1980 Virginia Slims American Women’s Opinion Poll, found that only two percent said living with someone outside of marriage was a satisfying way of life.

Americans Rate the Most Important Qualities in a Job

47%

Feeling of Accomplishment

22%

High Income

17%

Chance for Advancement

8%

Job Security

4%

Other

2%

Short Working Hours

The Official Guide to American Attitudes by Susan Mitchell, 1996, by New Strategist Publications, Inc.

65% of Americans would keep working even if they had enough money to live comfortably for the rest of their lives.

63% of Americans agree that their standard of living is at least somewhat better than their parents’ was at the same age.

45% of Americans believe their children’s future standard of living will be at least somewhat better than theirs is today. Twenty percent believe it will be the same, and 21% fear it will be worse.

69% of Americans believe that hard work rather than luck is the key to getting ahead.

An author for READERS DIGEST writes how he studied the Amish people in preparation for an article on them. In his observation at the school yard, he noted that the children never screamed or yelled. This amazed him. He spoke to the schoolmaster. He remarked how he had not once heard an Amish child yell, and asked why the schoolmaster thought that was so. The schoolmaster replied, “Well, have you ever heard an Amish adult yell?”

An author for READERS DIGEST writes how he studied the Amish people in preparation for an article on them. In his observation at the school yard, he noted that the children never screamed or yelled. This amazed him. He spoke to the schoolmaster. He remarked how he had not once heard an Amish child yell, and asked why the schoolmaster thought that was so. The schoolmaster replied, “Well, have you ever heard an Amish adult yell?”

Amputees often experience some sensation of a phantom limb. Somewhere, locked in their brains, a memory lingers of the nonexistent hand or leg. Invisible toes curl, imaginary hands grasp things, a “leg” feels so sturdy a patient may try to stand on it. For a few, the experience includes pain. Doctors watch helplessly, for the part of the body screaming for attention does not exist.

One such patient was my medical school administrator, Mr. Barwick, who had a serious and painful circulation problem in his leg but refused to allow the recommended amputation. As the pain grew worse, Barwick grew bitter. “I hate it!” he would mutter about the leg. At last he relented and told the doctor, “I can’t stand it anymore. I’m through with that leg. Take it off.” Surgery was scheduled immediately. Before the operation, however, Barwick, asked the doctor. “What do you do with legs after they’re removed?” “We may take a biopsy or explore them a bit, but afterwards we incinerate them,” the doctor replied. Barwick proceeded with a bizarre request: “I would like you to preserve my leg in a pickling jar. I will install it on my mantle shelf. Then, as I sit in my armchair, I will taunt that leg, ‘Hah! You can’t hurt me anymore!”

Ultimately, he got his wish. But the despised leg had the last laugh. Barwick suffered phantom limb pain of the worst degree. The wound healed, but he could feel the torturous pressure of the swelling as the muscles cramped, and he had no prospect of relief. He had hated the leg with such intensity that the pain had unaccountably lodged permanently in his brain.

To me, phantom limb pain provides wonderful insight into the phenomenon of false guilt. Christians can be obsessed by the memory of some sin committed years ago. It never leaves them, crippling their ministry, their devotional life, their relationships with others. They live in fear that someone will discover their past. They work overtime trying to prove to God they’re repentant. They erect barriers against the enveloping, loving grace of God. Unless they experience the truth in I John 3:19-20 that “God is greater than our conscience,” they become as pitiful as poor Mr. Barwick, shaking his fist in fury at the pickled leg on the mantle.

- Dr. Paul Brand

Sometimes when we read the words of those who have been more than conquerors, we feel almost despondent. I feel that I shall never be like that.

But they won through step by step by little bits of wills little denials of self little inward victories by faithfulness in very little things.

They became what they are. No one sees these little hidden steps. They only see the accomplishment, but even so, those small steps were taken.

There is no sudden triumph no spiritual maturity. that is the work of the moment.

Sometimes when we read the words of those who have been more than conquerors, we feel almost despondent.

I feel that I shall never be like that.

But they won through step by step by little bits of wills little denials of self little inward victories by faithfulness in very little things.

They became what they are. No one sees these little hidden steps. They only see the accomplishment, but even so, those small steps were taken.

There is no sudden triumph no spiritual maturity. That is the work of the moment.

Let us imitate the barber who one week noticed that there was a good increase in his business. When he tried to find out why, he discovered that his competitor, another barber in the village, was ill. When the week ended, he took all that he had made above his average earnings and carried it to his competitor with his Christian love and sympathy.

C. H. Spurgeon claimed that 98 percent of the people he met—including the criminals he visited in England’s prisons—told him tat they believed the Bible to be true. But the vast majority had never made a personal, life-changing commitment to Jesus Christ. For them, “believe” was not an active verb.

One of the most grueling of all bicycle races is the Tour De France. A contestant in that event, Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle, describes it in a National Geographic article titled, “An Annual Madness.” The race covers about 2000 miles, including some of France’s most difficult, mountainous terrain. Eating and drinking is done on the run. And there are extremes of heat and cold. To train for the event, Lassalle rides his bicycle 22,000 miles a year. What kind of prize makes people endure so much hardship and pain! $10,000? $100,000? No. It’s just a special winner’s jersey. What then motivates the contestants? Lassalle sums it up: “Why, to sweep through the Arc de Triomphe on the last day. To be able to say you finished the Tour de France.”

An attribute of God alone. It is the quality of having all power (Ps. 115:3). He can do all things that do not conflict with His holy nature. God has the power to do anything He wants to.

Does omnipotence mean that God can do literally anything? No, that is not the meaning. There are many things God cannot do. He cannot do what is self-contradictory or nonsensical, like squaring the circle. Nor (and this is vital) can he act out of character. God has a perfect moral character, and it is not in him to deny it. He cannot be capricious, unloving, random, unjust, or inconsistent. Just as he cannot pardon sin without atonement because that would not be right, so he cannot fail to be faithful and just in forgiving sins that are confessed in faith and in keeping all the other promises he has made. Moral instability, vacillation, and unreliability are marks of weakness, not of strength: but God’s omnipotence is supreme strength, making is impossible that he should lapse into imperfection of this sort.

The positive way to say this is: though there are things which a holy, rational God is incapable of intending, all that he intends to do he actually does. “Whatever the Lord pleases he does” (Ps. 135:6). As when he planned the make the world, “he spoke, and it came to be” (Ps. 33:9), so it is with everything that he wills. With people “there’s many a slip twixt cup and lip,” but not with him.

An attribute of God alone. It is the quality of being present in all places at all times (Jer. 23:23,24). He is not bound by time and space. This does not mean that nature is a part of God and is, therefore, to be worshiped. Creation is separate from God, but not independent of Him.

40%—things that will never happen

30%—things about the past that can’t be changed

12%—things about criticism by others, mostly untrue

10%—about health, which gets worse with stress

8%—about real problems that will be faced

A girl of another faith than Christianity worked in a store during the holiday season. She met with an accident and was taken to a hospital. There she made the acquaintance of a Christian nurse whose loving ministry and gentle goodness soon won her friendship. One day the girl asked the nurse, "Is it true that you are a Christian?" Upon being answered in the affirmative she replied, "You are so kind and polite and gentle, I didn't think you could be a Christian; but then the only Christians I've met are the Christmas shoppers."

Once the Emperor of Russia had a plan by which he was to liberate the serfs of that country. There were forty millions of them. Of some of them, their whole time was sold, of others, only a part. The Emperor called around him his council, and wanted to have them devise some way to set the slaves at liberty. After they had conferred about it for six months, one night the council sent in their decision, sealed, that they thought it was not expedient. The Emperor went down to the Greek Church that night and partook of the Lord's Supper, and he set his house in order, and the next morning you could hear the tramp of soldiers in the streets of St. Petersburgh. The Emperor summoned his guard, and before noon sixty-five thousand men were surrounding that palace. Just at midnight there came out a proclamation that every slave in Russia was forever set free. The proclamation had gone forth, and all the slaves of the realm believed it. They have been free ever since. Suppose they had not believed it? They never then would have got the benefit of it. If one man can liberate forty millions, has not God got the power to liberate every captive?

Burns provides fascinating evidence that, on strictly pragmatic grounds, perfectionism is an enemy of excellence. He cites a study of insurance salesmen, which revealed that perfectionists who linked self-worth to achievement earned an average of $15,000 a year less than the nonperfectionist control group.

A report on Olympic qualifiers among male gymnasts was similar. “The researchers found that the elite group tended to underemphasize the importance of past performance failures, while the athletes who failed to qualify were more likely through mental images of self-doubt and impending tragedy.”

He also reports that perfectionism is allied with impaired productivity, emotional disturbances, impaired health, loneliness, and disturbed personal relationships. The root of the problem is imbedded in dichotomous, all-or-nothing thought patterns. The perfectionist is trapped in a “saint-or-sinner” syndrome, which sees partial success as total failure. Self-esteem is contingent on outstanding achievement and total competence.

Canada’s 100-meter sprinter Ben Johnson, arguably the fastest man in history, flew down the track in a world-record 9.79 seconds, only .13 of a second in front of 1984 quadruple gold medalist Carl Lewis of the U.S.

But photographs freezing that astounding moment of the 1988 Seoul Olympics reveal a dark side of Johnson. At the finish line, in angry celebration and to taunt Lewis, Johnson thrust an index finger to the sky. Johnson later told reporters, “I don’t care about the perfect race. I don’t care what the world record is. I just wanted to beat Carl.”

Johnson’s pursuit of shaming a rival brought shame upon himself. The Olympics’ crackdown on illegal drugs, requiring post-race urine tests of all winners, revealed Johnson had taken stanozolol, a forbidden anabolic steroid. Within three days he was stripped of his medal and record and banned from competitive athletics for two years. He left Seoul like a criminal, hiding his face behind a briefcase as he was mobbed by photographers. This is the man who once said, “Running is my life,” The man who sold out to the luxuries and fame it brought.

Born in Jamaica, Johnson came to Canada when his parents wanted a better education for their six children. His mother found work as a kitchen server in a Toronto hotel and sent for the children in 1976. The father also came to Toronto for a while but returned to Jamaica to a better job than Canada could offer.

A puny 14-year-old, Johnson entered the eighth grade and proved an average student. After high school he dropped out of an auto mechanics course. Nudged into athletics when his brother joined a track club, by 1980 Ben was 50 pounds heavier, six inches taller, and beginning to win medals in international competitions.

His mother took a second job at another hotel to help pay for Johnson’s training, which included weight lifting six days a week. How did Johnson show his appreciation for that kind of sacrifice? According to a reporter for Chatelaine magazine, Johnson spent his free time “listening to reggae [music], chasing girls, or tinkering with his car.” He never worked except for one job that lasted four days.

But wealth came with professional athletics. The year before the Seoul Olympics his income was estimated at about a million dollars. His appearance fee rose to a reported $30,000, and he signed multimillion-dollar contracts with sporting goods manufacturers.

His high living, however, was marred by allegations that his superbly muscled body got that way through the use of illegal steroids. Just days before the Olympic track events, an American trainer noticed Johnson’s eyes “so yellow with his liver working overtime processing steroids that I said he’s either crazy or he’s protected with an insurance policy.” After Johnson’s disgrace at the ‘88 Olympics, his coach admitted Johnson had used steroids for nearly seven years.…

In October 1988, just months after the Olympics, Johnson was charged with pointing a starter’s pistol from his car at another motorist on a busy highway. In 1989, in a scuffle with five men outside a Toronto night club, he suffered a broken tooth and swollen lip.

In 1990 his agent sued him for $425,000 for breach of contract. In 1991 he pleaded guilty to assault charges involving a former teammate. She told police that at a Toronto track and field center Johnson had pushed her and grabbed her throat. Reports said he was angry about comments she made to reporters about his Olympics drug test.

A seemingly small decision to enhance athletic performance with an illegal drug set Johnson up for a life out of control.

A poor woman who had had a hard struggle to make ends meet, and knew what it meant to have very little food, was taken on an outing to the seaside. She was delighted with the scene. As she looked out over the vast expanse of waters, tears filled her eyes and she exclaimed, "Thank God for a sight of something there is enough of!" That is how it is with the soul when it gets its first vision of the infinite fullness of God's grace in Christ. His grace is quite enough for the soul's every need.

Prayer is more than asking things from God. It is an exercise in the worship of God, to extol His name and to offer thanks for all His benefits. The child of God is assured that in prayer he is approaching a throne of grace, not a throne of judgment (Heb. 4:16). The Christian enters the divine presence in the name of Christ (John 14:14, 16:23). If he prays under the control of the Holy Spirit, he will offer petitions within the will of his Heavenly Father (Romans 8:26, 27). Prayer should be made in faith and with thanksgiving (Phil. 4:6; Col. 4:2). The prayer that Christ taught His disciples, known as the Lord’s Prayer, is a model to guide His followers concerning proper principles and goals of prayer (Matt. 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4).

Women who never have children enjoy the equivalent of an extra three months a year in leisure time, says Susan Lang, author of Women Without Children. If that figure seems high, remember that the average mother spends 3.5 more hours a week doing housework than would a woman without children, plus 11 hours a week on child-related activities. This adds up to an additional 754 hours of work every year—the equivalent of three months of 12-hour, 5-day work weeks.

A millionaire in New York came to the end of his journey and died. On his deathbed he gave continual expression to remorse for what his conscience told him had been an ill-spent life. "Oh," he exclaimed, "if I could only be spared for a few years I would give all the wealth I have amassed in my lifetime! It is a life devoted to money-getting that I regret. It is this which weighs me down and makes me despair of the life hereafter!"

Not long ago I went into a man's house, and when I commenced to talk about religion he turned to his daughter and said: "You had better go out of the room; I want to say a few words to Mr. Moody." When she had gone he opened a perfect torrent of infidelity upon me. "Why," said I, "did you send your daughter out of the room before you said this?" "Well," he replied, "did not think it would do her any good to hear what I said." My friends, his "rock is not as our rock" Why did he send his daughter out of the room if he believed what he said? When these infidels are in trouble why do not they get some of their infidel friends to administer consolation? When they make a will why do they call in some follower of the Lord Jesus Christ to carry it out? Why, it is because they cannot trust their infidel friends.