This is really good: 4 bad reasons for choosing a church.
10 Historical Myths About World Christianity
This is scary: Canadian bill would legalize euthanasia for people with disabilities.
[VIDEO] A teacher asks students to write letter to themselves 20 years in the future, and then he delivers the letters to them 20 years later—
“The Lord has many lovers of His crown but few lovers of His Cross.” —Thomas á Kempis
Charles Spurgeon on the power of unity: No Bigotry In Unity.
David Witt asks: Is It Time To Rethink Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs?
“The degree of blessing enjoyed by any man will correspond exactly with the completeness of God’s victory over him.” —A.W. Tozer
Dr. Benjamin Mast has a lot of initials after his name (which means he’s really smart!). Check out this interview with him: Alzheimer’s, The Brain and The Soul.
Here is an amazing admission from scientists regarding stem cell formation: “No one, not even the dozen or so groups of scientists who intensively study reprogramming, knows how it happens. They understand that differentiated cells go in, and pluripotent cells come out the other end, but what happens in between is one of biology’s impenetrable black boxes.” Read more in this article about stem cells, but I am glad I can trust the Creator to reveal to us what may be in “the black box”!
I love ReverendFun cartoons! Here is one of my favorites—
Zig Ziglar was a highly successful salesman, which opened the door for him to have a successful second career as a motivational speaker. His insight into money and success is well worth paying attention to—
“I define success as having acquired some of the things that money will buy and all of the things that money won’t buy—while maintaining balance in your life.”
“Money bought me the house, but it won’t buy me a home. It’ll buy me a companion, but it won’t buy me a friend. It’ll buy me a good time, but it won’t buy me peace of mind. It’ll buy me a bed, but it won’t buy me a good night’s sleep.”
“Don’t count the things you do. Do the things which count.”
“In America, we have become greedy. We are bombarded with so many ads that say, ‘You gotta have this car! You gotta wear these clothes! You gotta take this vacation trip! You gotta have that second home at the beach,’ and all of these absurd things. Over the years, I have noticed this—that if standard of living is your number-one objective, your quality of life almost never improves. But if quality of life is your number-one objective, standard of living invariably goes up. That kinda contradicts what a lot of people believe.”
“Until you are happy with who you are, you will never be happy because of what you have.”
These quotes are from the book Inspire To Be Great. You can read my review of that book by clicking here. I shared some of my other favorite quotes from this book earlier, and you can read them by clicking here.
Some great quotes from Thomas á Kempis on prayer—
“He who aims at inward and spiritual things must, with Jesus, turn aside from the crowd.”
“Grant me, oh most merciful Jesus, Your grace, that it may be with me, and labor with me, and abide with me even to the end. … Let there be between You and me but one will, so that I may love what You love, and abhor what You hate; and let me not be able to will any thing which You do not will, nor to dislike any thing which You do will.”
“Let no pride or self-seeking, no impure motive or unworthy purpose, no little ends or low imagination stain my spirit, or profane any of my words and actions.”
The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah never held back when God told him to speak up. As you might imagine, this didn’t make Jeremiah too popular among the people who weren’t doing things God’s way. In fact, many of them started a plot on how they could eliminate Jeremiah.
God gave Jeremiah the heads-up on the bad guys who were trying to take him out (Jeremiah 11:18), to which Jeremiah said, “Go get ‘em, God!” (11:20). God promised Jeremiah that He would indeed take care of them (11:21-22). So Jeremiah pulled up a chair to watch how God was going to punish them. I’m not sure exactly what Jeremiah thought would happen, but one thing I do know: he certainly thought it would happen right away.
“God? Hello! Are You going to take care of these bad guys? Didn’t You say You’d get ‘em? I’m waiting. Anytime now You can zap ‘em with lightning … or make them fat and ugly … or at least give them bad breath and make them lose their jobs. Anything? Hello? Hey, what is going on here?! Not only are you not punishing them, it looks like things are actually going better for them! What in the world are You doing?!?” (12:1-2)
Ever been there where it looks like the bad guys are not only getting away with their badness, but even being blessed in the process?
God told Jeremiah that He was using these bad guys to actually help Jeremiah. God had big plans for Jeremiah’s life, but He needed Jeremiah to be stronger and have greater endurance. God said it this way—
If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in a safe country, how will you manage in the thickets? (12:5)
God reassured Jeremiah that the evildoers would indeed be punished but—and this is the important thing—God would do it in His own time (12:13).
In the meantime, God was going to use these bad guys to bless Jeremiah with increased strength and endurance, if Jeremiah would allow God to mold him and teach him.
Do you have some bad guys in your life? Hang in there! God doesn’t waste a thing. He is using even these evil people to bless you and accomplish His plans (Romans 8:28).
Some good stuff…
“One thing is certain, a Christian’s standing before God does not depend upon his standing before men. A high reputation does not make a man dearer to God, nor does the tongue of the slanderer influence God’s attitude toward His people in any way.” —A.W. Tozer
Wow: “I used to look for people who were ready for ministry. Now I look for people who are ready to die—to die to their own plans and ideas.” Read more in this Live Dead post: The Struggle Of Sacrifice.
Seth Godin talks about creativity in his post The Thing About A Clean Sheet Of Paper.
[VIDEO] John Piper talks about 3 ways to make Christmas special—
[VIDEO] The Lowell (Michigan) Police Department has a great way to spread Christmas cheer—
The news show 60 Minutes described Zig Ziglar as “a legend in the industry—the Bill Gates, Henry Ford, and Thomas Edison of enthusiasm.” Truer words were never spoken! Zig is a fabulous motivator (you can read my review of Inspire To Be Great by clicking here). Here are some of my favorite quotes from this book.
“People often tell me that motivation doesn’t last, and I tell them that bathing doesn’t either. That’s why I recommend it daily.”
“To avoid procrastination, write your schedule out the night before, including precisely when you are going to start.”
“People with integrity are more successful, because with integrity you do the right thing, and there is no guilt attached to you. With integrity, you have nothing to fear because you have nothing to hide.”
“The greatest good we can do for anyone is not to share our wealth with them, but rather to reveal their own wealth to them.”
“It’s not what you’ve got; it’s what you use that makes a difference.”
“Never say anything negative about yourself. If we don’t see ourselves as ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ [Psalm 139:14], who will?”
“When your goals are clearly defined and intelligently set, you have, in essence, taken a major step toward programming your left brain. That frees your right brain to be its creative best.”
“Among the things you can give and still keep are: your word, a smile, and a grateful heart.”
“Failure is an event, not a person. So regardless of what happens to you along the way, you must keep on going and doing the right thing in the right way. Then the event becomes a reality of a changed life.”
“Make failure your teacher, not your undertaker.”
Some good stuff from today…
Dr. Tim Elmore absolutely nails it in this post that every parent, teacher, and coach should read: Pressure In The Wrong Places.
Chris Pratt is not just funny, but he’s passionate about life, too. Check out this beautiful speech he gave.
Max Lucado shares a great lesson on obedience we can learn from Joseph’s life at this Advent season.
“Ten thousand enemies cannot stop a Christian, cannot even slow him down, if he meets them in an attitude of complete trust in God. They will become to him like the atmosphere that resists the airplane, but which because the plane’s designer knew how to take advantage of that resistance, actually lifts the plane aloft and holds it there for a journey of 2,000 miles. What would have been an enemy to the plane becomes a helpful servant to aid it on its way.” —A.W. Tozer
[VIDEO] John Maxwell shares how to think about adversity—
In my dictionary if you look up the word “inspiring,” you’ll find a picture of Zig Ziglar. Zig had such a unique and memorable way of blending quotes, personal examples, motivation, and helpful next-steps, that few have ever inspired to action like him. In Inspire To Be Great you will find a collection of Zig’s inspiring, insightful quotes.
This book is a part of the “Life Wisdom” series, which is a very appropriate title for the folks featured in these books because they are people who have lived their lives successfully. They don’t just talk-the-walk, they walk-the-talk.
Zig, like others in this series, never hid the fact that his personal relationship with Jesus Christ made him a better man, a better husband, a better father, a better salesman. Tapping into the principles found in Scripture, Zig had a God-given gift to make those principles applicable to every walk of life.
Truly this book is an inspiring read for anyone!
Some good reading from today…
“As long as you set yourself up as a little god to which you must be loyal there will be those who will delight to offer affront to your idol. How then can you hope to have inward peace? … Such a burden as this is not necessary to bear. Jesus calls us to His rest, and meekness is His method. The meek man cares not at all who is greater than he, for he has long ago decided that the esteem of the world is not worth the effort.” —A.W. Tozer
[PHOTOS] Some great photographs from the scientific world.
Dave Barringer has a great post about marriage and adultery: Affairs And Fruit.
[PHOTOS] Today marks the 73rd anniversary of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “day of infamy” speech. Here are some memorable photos remembering that horrific day.
“It will not bother me in the hour of death to reflect that I have been ‘had for a sucker’ by any number of impostors: but it would be a torment to know that one had refused even one person in need. After all, the parable of the sheep and goats [Matthew 25:31-46] makes our duty perfectly plain, doesn’t it? Another thing that annoys me is when people say ‘Why did you give that man money? He’ll probably go and drink it.’ My reply is ‘But if I’d kept [it] I should probably have drunk it.’” —C.S. Lewis
Craig T. Owens 