VERSE TO PONDER
"Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him."
~Hebrews 9:28
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Monday, June 29, 2015
THOUGHT FOR TODAY - 06/29/2015
CONSIDER
"Half the world is starving; the other half is on a diet. We are not privileged because we deserve to be. Privilege accepted should mean responsibility accepted."
~Madeleine L'Engle
"Half the world is starving; the other half is on a diet. We are not privileged because we deserve to be. Privilege accepted should mean responsibility accepted."
~Madeleine L'Engle
Sunday, June 28, 2015
THOUGHT FOR TODAY - 06/28/2016
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS
"The book of Job is known even by those who have no respect for God and his Word as that which best symbolizes the struggle of pain. Yet few have taken to heart what Job really says. I remember debating an atheist in which he quoted from Job and said that the answers given to Job were insufficient. I surprised him by telling him that Job would agree with him.
"Then I asked him if he knew what Job's answer was to that insufficiency he was offered? The man was silent. Job finds his answer in stages. He refuses to let one diagnosis or a great one-liner provide the satisfactory explanation for his situation. He starts his journey toward finding his answer for suffering and pain from the assumption of God as the Creator and Designer to seeing God as the Revealer of Truth, to recognizing him as Redeemer and Savior, and finally to experiencing him as the Restorer and Comforter.
"How fascinating, for here the three aspects of the Trinity emerge -- God the Father as Creator, God the Son as Redeemer, and God the Holy Spirit as Comforter. This triune God is a Being within whom there is a relationship. For Job, the overwhelming answer to his questions was not found in an argument. It was not found in a theological, philosophical, or scientific proposition. It was not even found in his relationships with his friends or his family, or in the truth or falsehood of their analyses of Job's problems. Job ultimately found the answer to his questions and his fear - to his pain and his grief -- in the voice of God and his divine encounter with him. The answer to his questions was a Person."
~Ravi Zacharias, from his book Has Christianity Failed You?
"The book of Job is known even by those who have no respect for God and his Word as that which best symbolizes the struggle of pain. Yet few have taken to heart what Job really says. I remember debating an atheist in which he quoted from Job and said that the answers given to Job were insufficient. I surprised him by telling him that Job would agree with him.
"Then I asked him if he knew what Job's answer was to that insufficiency he was offered? The man was silent. Job finds his answer in stages. He refuses to let one diagnosis or a great one-liner provide the satisfactory explanation for his situation. He starts his journey toward finding his answer for suffering and pain from the assumption of God as the Creator and Designer to seeing God as the Revealer of Truth, to recognizing him as Redeemer and Savior, and finally to experiencing him as the Restorer and Comforter.
"How fascinating, for here the three aspects of the Trinity emerge -- God the Father as Creator, God the Son as Redeemer, and God the Holy Spirit as Comforter. This triune God is a Being within whom there is a relationship. For Job, the overwhelming answer to his questions was not found in an argument. It was not found in a theological, philosophical, or scientific proposition. It was not even found in his relationships with his friends or his family, or in the truth or falsehood of their analyses of Job's problems. Job ultimately found the answer to his questions and his fear - to his pain and his grief -- in the voice of God and his divine encounter with him. The answer to his questions was a Person."
~Ravi Zacharias, from his book Has Christianity Failed You?
Saturday, June 27, 2015
THOUGHT FOR TODAY - 06/27/2015
THE BIBLE AND YOU
"There is, in a word, nothing comfortable about the Bible -- until we manage to get so used to it that we make it comfortable for ourselves. But then we are perhaps too used to it and too at home in it. Let us not be too sure we know the Bible ... just because we have learned not to have problems with it. Have we perhaps learned ... not to really pay attention to it? Have we ceased to question the book and be questioned by it?"
~Thomas Merton, from his book Opening the Bible
"There is, in a word, nothing comfortable about the Bible -- until we manage to get so used to it that we make it comfortable for ourselves. But then we are perhaps too used to it and too at home in it. Let us not be too sure we know the Bible ... just because we have learned not to have problems with it. Have we perhaps learned ... not to really pay attention to it? Have we ceased to question the book and be questioned by it?"
~Thomas Merton, from his book Opening the Bible
Friday, June 26, 2015
THOUGHT FOR TODAY - 06/26/2015
CROSSES
"On the same Christmas day that Caleb and Eli each gave me a flashlight, Celeste gave me a cross made of two nails welded together and polished. I saw it at an arts-and-crafts fair and dropped a subtle hint, something like, 'Hey, why don't you buy me that for Christmas?' Celeste has always been attuned to my nuances.
"I like this cross because it has some heft to it. I used to wear a small cross made of light stone, but there were plenty of times I forgot it was there. I can feel this one thump against my chest when I walk, and poke my skin when I twist the wrong way. Crosses are only what we make of them, I suppose, if that. Some people like small crosses tucked beneath a shirt, others like a bold crucifix dangling outside their vestments. As for me, I like this simple cross of nails against my skin. At times it is the slightest bit painful, and its weight keeps it never far from my mind. I've done my blackest deeds when I put the cross far from mind. I need this weight, just like I need my bookmarks and flashlights and love offerings of sticky chewing gum."
~Tony Woodlief, from his book Somewhere More Holy
"On the same Christmas day that Caleb and Eli each gave me a flashlight, Celeste gave me a cross made of two nails welded together and polished. I saw it at an arts-and-crafts fair and dropped a subtle hint, something like, 'Hey, why don't you buy me that for Christmas?' Celeste has always been attuned to my nuances.
"I like this cross because it has some heft to it. I used to wear a small cross made of light stone, but there were plenty of times I forgot it was there. I can feel this one thump against my chest when I walk, and poke my skin when I twist the wrong way. Crosses are only what we make of them, I suppose, if that. Some people like small crosses tucked beneath a shirt, others like a bold crucifix dangling outside their vestments. As for me, I like this simple cross of nails against my skin. At times it is the slightest bit painful, and its weight keeps it never far from my mind. I've done my blackest deeds when I put the cross far from mind. I need this weight, just like I need my bookmarks and flashlights and love offerings of sticky chewing gum."
~Tony Woodlief, from his book Somewhere More Holy
Thursday, June 25, 2015
LEST WE BE DECEIVED
Join us online or call in - 06/26/15 @ 10:00pm CENTRAL
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THOUGHT FOR TODAY - 06/25/2015
CONSIDER
"Be persuaded, timid soul, that He has loved you too much to cease loving you."
~Francois Fenelon (1651-1715), Selections from Fenelon, ed. Mary Wilder Tileston, Boston: Roberts Bros., 1879, p. 188
"Be persuaded, timid soul, that He has loved you too much to cease loving you."
~Francois Fenelon (1651-1715), Selections from Fenelon, ed. Mary Wilder Tileston, Boston: Roberts Bros., 1879, p. 188
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
THOUGHT FOR TODAY - 06/24/2015
VERSE TO PONDER
"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger."
~Proverbs 15:1
"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger."
~Proverbs 15:1
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
THOUGHT FOR TODAY - 06/23/2015
GROWTH THROUGH ADVERSITY
"I have no reason to complain of any crosses, because they are the bitter fruit of my sin. Nothing shall hurt us but sin; and that shall not hurt us, if we can repent of it. And nothing can do us good but the love and favour of God in Christ; and that we shall have if we seek it in good earnest. Afflictions are God's potions, which we may sweeten by faith and prayer; but we often make them bitter, by putting into God's cup the ill ingredients of impatience and unbelief. There is no affliction so small but we shall sink under it, if God uphold us not: and there is no sin so great but we shall commit it, if God restrain us not. A man who hath the spirit of prayer hath more than if he hath all the world. And no man is in a bad condition, but he who hath a hard heart and cannot pray."
~John Dod (c.1549-1645), as quoted in The Lives of the Puritans, v. III, Benjamin Brook, London: J. Black, 1813, p. 3
"I have no reason to complain of any crosses, because they are the bitter fruit of my sin. Nothing shall hurt us but sin; and that shall not hurt us, if we can repent of it. And nothing can do us good but the love and favour of God in Christ; and that we shall have if we seek it in good earnest. Afflictions are God's potions, which we may sweeten by faith and prayer; but we often make them bitter, by putting into God's cup the ill ingredients of impatience and unbelief. There is no affliction so small but we shall sink under it, if God uphold us not: and there is no sin so great but we shall commit it, if God restrain us not. A man who hath the spirit of prayer hath more than if he hath all the world. And no man is in a bad condition, but he who hath a hard heart and cannot pray."
~John Dod (c.1549-1645), as quoted in The Lives of the Puritans, v. III, Benjamin Brook, London: J. Black, 1813, p. 3
Monday, June 22, 2015
THOUGHT FOR TODAY - 06/22/2015
CONSIDER
"The moment we choose to love we begin to move against domination, against oppression. The moment we choose to love we begin to move towards freedom, to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others. That action is the testimony of love as the practice of freedom."
~Bell Hooks from Outlaw Culture
"The moment we choose to love we begin to move against domination, against oppression. The moment we choose to love we begin to move towards freedom, to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others. That action is the testimony of love as the practice of freedom."
~Bell Hooks from Outlaw Culture
Sunday, June 21, 2015
THOUGHT FOR TODAY - 06/21/2015
"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."
~Colossians 3:1-4
~Colossians 3:1-4
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Friday, June 19, 2015
THOUGHT FOR TODAY - 06/19/2015
ON PRAYER
"If Christ Himself needed to retire from time to time to the mountain-top to pray, lesser men need not be ashamed to acknowledge that necessity."
~B. H. Streeter
"If Christ Himself needed to retire from time to time to the mountain-top to pray, lesser men need not be ashamed to acknowledge that necessity."
~B. H. Streeter
Thursday, June 18, 2015
THOUGHT FOR TODAY - 06/18/2015
VERSE TO PONDER
"Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all."
~1 Chronicles 29:11
"Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all."
~1 Chronicles 29:11
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
THOUGHT FOR TODAY - 06/17/2015
CONSIDER
"I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself."
~Corrie ten Boom
"I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself."
~Corrie ten Boom
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
THOUGHT FOR TODAY - 06/16/2015
THE DEFINING LIFE OF JESUS
"He was too great for his disciples. And in view of what he plainly said, is it any wonder that all who were rich and prosperous felt a horror of strange things, a swimming of their world at his teaching? Perhaps the priests and the rich men understood him better than his followers. He was dragging out all the little private reservations they had made from social service into the light of a universal religious life. He was like some terrible moral huntsman digging mankind out of the snug burrows in which they had lived hitherto. In the white blaze of this kingdom of his there was to be no property, no privilege, no pride and precedence; no motive indeed and no reward but love. Is it any wonder that men were dazzled and blinded and cried out against him? Even his disciples cried out when he would not spare them the light. Is it any wonder that the priests realized that between this man and themselves there was no choice but that he or priestcraft should perish? Is it any wonder that the Roman soldiers, confronted and amazed by something soaring over their comprehension and threatening all their discipline, should take refuge in wild laughter, and crown him with thorns and robe him in purple and make a mock Caesar of him? For to take him seriously was to enter upon a strange and alarming life, to abandon habits, to control instincts and impulses, to essay an incredible happiness... Is it any wonder that to this day this Galilean is too much for our small hearts?"
~H. G. Wells (1866-1946), The Outline of History, v. II [1920], The Review of Reviews Co., 1922, p. 598-599
"He was too great for his disciples. And in view of what he plainly said, is it any wonder that all who were rich and prosperous felt a horror of strange things, a swimming of their world at his teaching? Perhaps the priests and the rich men understood him better than his followers. He was dragging out all the little private reservations they had made from social service into the light of a universal religious life. He was like some terrible moral huntsman digging mankind out of the snug burrows in which they had lived hitherto. In the white blaze of this kingdom of his there was to be no property, no privilege, no pride and precedence; no motive indeed and no reward but love. Is it any wonder that men were dazzled and blinded and cried out against him? Even his disciples cried out when he would not spare them the light. Is it any wonder that the priests realized that between this man and themselves there was no choice but that he or priestcraft should perish? Is it any wonder that the Roman soldiers, confronted and amazed by something soaring over their comprehension and threatening all their discipline, should take refuge in wild laughter, and crown him with thorns and robe him in purple and make a mock Caesar of him? For to take him seriously was to enter upon a strange and alarming life, to abandon habits, to control instincts and impulses, to essay an incredible happiness... Is it any wonder that to this day this Galilean is too much for our small hearts?"
~H. G. Wells (1866-1946), The Outline of History, v. II [1920], The Review of Reviews Co., 1922, p. 598-599
Monday, June 15, 2015
THOUGHT FOR TODAY - 06/15/2015
CONSIDER
"There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do."
~Treya Stark
"There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do."
~Treya Stark
Sunday, June 07, 2015
THOUGHT FOR TODAY - 06/07/2015
THE GOOD OF OTHERS
"Paul insists that our social lives be governed not by 'purity rules' but by three simple but profound goals. First, we should live with a desire to bring glory to the one true Lord: 'So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God' (1 Corinthians 10:31).
["Second,] 'Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God -- even as I try to please everyone in every way' (1 Corinthians 10:32-33). Throughout Paul's letters 'stumbling' usually means missing out on salvation. This verse, then, is not simply about upsetting people it is about acting in a way that puts their salvation at risk.
"[Third,] not only are we to avoid jeopardizing the salvation of others; we are to actively pursue that salvation: 'even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ' (1 Corinthians 10:33 - 11:1).
"I want to ask you to reflect on Paul's teaching and on Jesus' example. Is your social life oriented toward the good of others -- being with them, befriending them, doing good to them and speaking to them about Christ when opportunity invites? In short, does your life illustrate the fellowship with sinners God so keenly desires?"
~John Dickson, from his book The Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission
"Paul insists that our social lives be governed not by 'purity rules' but by three simple but profound goals. First, we should live with a desire to bring glory to the one true Lord: 'So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God' (1 Corinthians 10:31).
["Second,] 'Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God -- even as I try to please everyone in every way' (1 Corinthians 10:32-33). Throughout Paul's letters 'stumbling' usually means missing out on salvation. This verse, then, is not simply about upsetting people it is about acting in a way that puts their salvation at risk.
"[Third,] not only are we to avoid jeopardizing the salvation of others; we are to actively pursue that salvation: 'even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ' (1 Corinthians 10:33 - 11:1).
"I want to ask you to reflect on Paul's teaching and on Jesus' example. Is your social life oriented toward the good of others -- being with them, befriending them, doing good to them and speaking to them about Christ when opportunity invites? In short, does your life illustrate the fellowship with sinners God so keenly desires?"
~John Dickson, from his book The Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission
Saturday, June 06, 2015
THOUGHT FOR TODAY - 06/06/2015
CONSIDER
"Those who won our independence believed liberty to be the secret of happiness & courage to be the secret of liberty."
~Louis D Brandeis
"Those who won our independence believed liberty to be the secret of happiness & courage to be the secret of liberty."
~Louis D Brandeis
Friday, June 05, 2015
THOUGHT FOR TODAY - 06/05/2015
VERSE TO PONDER
"But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, [the Lord's] mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in [the Lord].'"
~Lamentations 3:21-24
"But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, [the Lord's] mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in [the Lord].'"
~Lamentations 3:21-24
Thursday, June 04, 2015
THOUGHT FOR TODAY - 06/04/2015
LIVE DAILY
"Instead of making vows about how my spiritual life will be perfectly well organized until I die, I seek to surrender my will for just this day. I look for small graces. I try to engage in little acts of service. I pray briefly to accommodate my limited attention span. I look for ways of being with God that I already enjoy. I try to go for half an hour without complaining. I try to say something encouraging to three people in a row. I put twenty dollars in my pocket that I will give away during the day. I take a five-minute break to read a page of great thoughts."
~John Ortberg, in his book Me (p. 71)
"Instead of making vows about how my spiritual life will be perfectly well organized until I die, I seek to surrender my will for just this day. I look for small graces. I try to engage in little acts of service. I pray briefly to accommodate my limited attention span. I look for ways of being with God that I already enjoy. I try to go for half an hour without complaining. I try to say something encouraging to three people in a row. I put twenty dollars in my pocket that I will give away during the day. I take a five-minute break to read a page of great thoughts."
~John Ortberg, in his book Me (p. 71)
Tuesday, June 02, 2015
THOUGHT FOR TODAY - 06/02/2015
THE PERSON OF GOD
"Once we understand Jesus in his own words and measure his claims and promises against our deepest needs, we will be surprised at just how personal and magnificent he really is -- the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6) -- rather than being merely the focus of deviously rendered fictitious story lines.
"C. S. Lewis's conversion story, Surprised by Joy, describes this precisely. Lewis says that his greatest realization after he had finally recognized who Jesus is and what he offers to every human heart was that he had not come to a place or accepted a belief; he had come to a person -- and that person is the very person of God.
"When we are close enough to the Jesus of history that we can look at history from his perspective, we actually see how mighty and strong he is."
~Ravi Zacharias, from his book Has Christianity Failed You?
"Once we understand Jesus in his own words and measure his claims and promises against our deepest needs, we will be surprised at just how personal and magnificent he really is -- the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6) -- rather than being merely the focus of deviously rendered fictitious story lines.
"C. S. Lewis's conversion story, Surprised by Joy, describes this precisely. Lewis says that his greatest realization after he had finally recognized who Jesus is and what he offers to every human heart was that he had not come to a place or accepted a belief; he had come to a person -- and that person is the very person of God.
"When we are close enough to the Jesus of history that we can look at history from his perspective, we actually see how mighty and strong he is."
~Ravi Zacharias, from his book Has Christianity Failed You?
Monday, June 01, 2015
THOUGHT FOR TODAY - 06/01/2015
CONSIDER
"He who sacrifices his conscience to ambition burns a picture to obtain the ashes."
~Chinese Proverb
"He who sacrifices his conscience to ambition burns a picture to obtain the ashes."
~Chinese Proverb
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