”Once more the Philistines raided the valley; so David inquired of God again, and God answered him.” (1 Chronicles 14:13-14) The biggest enemy of prayer is assumptions. Now I am talking here about false assumptions. Assumptions lead to presumption and presumption preempts prayer. And the biggest false assumption of them all is that you do […]
The biggest enemies of prayer are assumptions Read More »
“A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.” Proverbs 22:3& 27:12 NIV
It has been said “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” That is good advice. But even better advice is this “Be sure to learn from your own mistakes. Life is too precious to be repeating them.”
Life’s most valuable lessons can come from our mistakes and disappointments. Learning from them positions us for success.
The story is told of the reporter interviewing a very successful bank president. “What is the secret to your success?” he asked. “Two words” replied the president. “And, sir, what are they?” “Right decisions.” “And how do you make right decisions?” “One word.” “And sir, what is that?” “Experience.” “And how do you get experience?” “Two words.” “And sir, what are they?” “Wrong decisions!”
Learning from our mistakes Read More »
Yesterday, July 15, was the official end of the first half of the summer, at least in my way of thinking. It always gives me pause because I realize that summer is flying by. Typically I get the accompanying feeling that it is not going the way I had hoped – the way I dreamed it would be last January when I was standing in the middle of my driveway with snow up to my knees and shovel in hand. It is times like that when we long for the days of summer, when the weather is warm and the grass is green, and when we are free to be out in God’s glorious world drinking in all the beauty and opportunity it has to offer.
Of course we don’t think about mowing, yard upkeep and home projects. And we don’t take into account storms and rain, rain, rain and more rain. But none of that should really deter us from making our winter daydreams become midsummer realities.
My dreams usually include walking, hiking, running and/or biking somewhere in the great outdoors. Or I see myself out on the water in a sailboat, with the waves rushing by as the summer breezes fill the sails. My dreams always include those I love enjoying the glories of nature with me.
A Midsummer Day’s Dream Read More »
Men and women in marriage are not as different as we thought! Last Sunday I did some audience response system polling in connection with my message on the marriage relationship out of1 Peter 3:1-7. While a few of results were somewhat predictable, we had several major men/women stereotypes blown out of the water.
One thing that was not surprising is that this passage of scripture is a very challenging one. Because six of the seven verses deal with women and the “S” word (submission) we were not surprised to find 48% of the women admitting to having “difficulty with this passage of Scripture.” But there were also 39% of the men who agreed with them. You’ll have to listen to the message “Keeping I do from becoming I don’t” online at www.Bridgewoodcc.org and judge for yourself how well I addressed these difficulties.
Here then are the three valuable lessons learned from our polling:
3 surprising similarities between men and women in marriage Read More »
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:13 NIV
In my daily reading this morning these simple words of Jesus “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” arrested my attention. They are a direct quote from the Old Testament given in answer to a question posed by the Pharisees who were asking Jesus’ disciples why He was hanging out with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus had been invited to a dinner party thrown by Matthew, himself a tax collector, who had recently left his profession to follow Jesus. It must have been quite a gathering, made up primarily of all Matthew’s non-religious friends given with the intent of introducing them to Jesus.
The quote gave me pause because I realized how deceptively easy it is to substitute religion for relationship, ritual for righteousness and profession for practice. In many ways the Pharisees, who were zealous for God and the teachings of the law, are no different than most Christians, myself included, who have a similar zeal to please God and be people of the Book. They got so caught up in their religious practices that they neglected the greater importance of extending God’s mercy to those who needed it. So what will keep us from falling into the same self-centered and self-righteous pit the Pharisees fell into?
Like the Pharisees whom Jesus urged to “go and learn what this means” we need to be diligent to do the same. What does it mean that God desires mercy much more than sacrifice? What does it mean that He has not “come to call the righteous, but sinners”?
When religious zeal leads us astray Read More »
