Links & Quotes

If leaders want to get the best ideas and implement the best strategies, they must invite everyone on their team to share from their unique perspective. This is the only way to get the whole picture. Check out this full conversation from The Craig and Greg Show.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

T.M. Moore writes, “We can know that we love our neighbors when, like Jesus, we go seeking them, in order to touch them with His love.”

This last week marked the 187th anniversary of the first time “O.K.” was first published as an abbreviation. The word’s origin is an interesting story, with some calling it “one of the most ubiquitous terms in the world, and certainly one of America’s greatest lingual exports.”

“Meekness and gentleness are two of the ornaments of our faith. I would that some professed Christians would understand that unholy contentiousness is not after the mind of Christ, it is not according to that gracious command, ‘Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls.’ No, the Christian must be willing to suffer wrongfully, and to bear it in patience; he is never to be one who renders evil for evil, or railing for railing.” —Charles Spurgeon, commenting on Titus 3:2

“Then, since according to the Lord’s warnings the blood of so many will be sought for at the hands of their shepherds, careful watch must be kept, that is, the Word of the Lord must be often preached, and preached by the shepherds, by the Church’s bishops and teachers, that none may perish through ignorance; for he perishes through lack of heed, his blood will be on his own head.” —Columbanus, Letter to Pope Boniface 

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance.” —James Madison 

“A good friend is like a four-leaf clover, hard to find and lucky to have.” —Irish proverb 

“When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less. A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right. This is common sense, really. You understand sleep when you are awake, not while you are sleeping. You can see mistakes in arithmetic when your mind is working properly: while you are making them you cannot see them. You can understand the nature of drunkenness when you are sober, not when you are drunk. Good people know about both good and evil: bad people do not know about either.” —C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity 

“If you want to win the day, you’ve got to flip the script. How? The Bible is a good starting point. Scripture is more than our script; it’s our script-cure. And that’s more than a play on words. Scripture confronts the false identities and false narratives perpetrated by the Father of Lies. It reveals the heavenly Father’s metanarrative and the unique role that each one of us plays in it.” —Mark Batterson, Win The Day 

Two Bits Of Evidence

“We have two bits of evidence about the Somebody. One is the universe He has made. If we used that as our only clue, then I think we should have to conclude that He was a great artist (for the universe is a very beautiful place), but also that He is quite merciless and no friend to man (for the universe is a very dangerous and terrifying place). The other bit of evidence is that Moral Law which He has put into our minds.

“And this is a better bit of evidence than the other because it is inside information. You find out more about God from the Moral Law than from the universe in general just as you find out more about a man by listening to his conversation than by looking at a house he has built. Now, from this second bit of evidence, we conclude that the Being behind the universe is intensely interested in right conduct—in fair play, unselfishness, courage, good faith, honesty, and truthfulness.” —C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity

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“One of the greatest mercies God bestows upon us is His not permitting our inclinations and opportunities to meet. Have you not sometimes noticed that when you had the inclination to a sin there has been no opportunity, and when the opportunity has presented itself you have had no inclination towards it? satan’s principal aim with believers is to bring their appetites and his temptations together….” —Charles Spurgeon

“In a very real sense, we are what we love. … What we treasure in our heart will be what we seek in life and what we become in fact. … What we most love, therefore, tells us something about the condition of our hearts. If the best part of our spiritual and physical energies are invested in making a good living—if being materially well-off is the treasure we seek—then this will be evidence of a heart which believes it can only be satisfied by the enjoyment of things and the realization of every whim.” —T.M. Moore

“Let us make war, not with other people, but with our own unbelief. It is the root of anxiety, which, in turn, is the root of so many other sins. So let us turn our eyes fixed on the precious and very great promises of God. Take up the Bible, ask the Holy Spirit for help, lay the promises up in your heart, and fight the good fight—to live by faith in future grace.” —John Piper

“This third Person is called, in technical language, the Holy Ghost or the ‘spirit’ of God. Do not be worried or surprised if you find it (or Him) rather vaguer or more shadowy in your mind than the other two [Father and Son]. I think there is a reason why that must be so. In the Christian life you are not usually looking at Him: He is always acting through you. If you think of the Father as something ‘out there,’ in front of you, and of the Son as someone standing at your side, helping you to pray, trying to turn you into another son, then you have to think of the third Person as something inside you, or behind you. Perhaps some people might find it easier to begin with the third Person and work backwards. God is love, and that love works through men—especially through the whole community of Christians. But this spirit of love is, from all eternity, a love going on between the Father and Son.” —C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Max Lucado reminds us of the original terrorist.

Lenny Esposito shares 3 problems for atheism.

Good reminders: 5 things married couples should do every day.

[VIDEO] George Will explains campaign finance “reform” in a way I haven’t heard anyone else say it—

 

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“There is only one basic reason why we disobey the commands of Jesus: it’s because we don’t have confidence that obeying will bring more blessing than disobeying. We do not hope fully in God’s promise.” —John Piper

“The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbour; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less. There is, indeed, one exception. If you do him a good turn, not to please God and obey the law of charity, but to show him what a fine forgiving chap you are, and to put him in your debt, and then sit down to wait for his ‘gratitude’, you will probably be disappointed.” —C.S. Lewis

Cedar Springs has annual worship service for all of the churches in the area to come together. We call it UNITED. Check out this post on loving as Christians.

“Hitler was successful not because of the righteousness of his cause, but because of the way it was packaged and sold to the public. Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry are successful for very similar reasons.” Read more about Planned Parenthood’s Big Lie.

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“Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. There are many things below it, but there are also things above it. You cannot make it the basis of a whole life. It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling. Now no feeling can be relied on to last in its full intensity, or even to last at all. Knowledge can last, principles can last, habits can last; but feelings come and go. And in fact, whatever people say, the state called ‘being in love’ usually does not last.” —C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity

“There must be nothing about our religion of our own inventing; it is for us to lay thought, and judgment, and opinion at the feet of Christ, and do what He bids us, simply because He gives the command.” —Charles Spurgeon

“The storms of life are no longer our point of reference when Jesus is our focal point.” —Dutch Sheets

Progressive Christians in 1800sMurray Vassar reminds Christians to speak up for morality!

“Policy, however, Sir, is not my principle, and I am not ashamed to say it. There is a principle above everything is political . . . And, Sir, when we think of eternity, and of the future consequences of all human conduct, what is there in this life that should make any man contradict the dictates of his conscience, the principles of justice, the laws of religion, and of God.” —William Wilberforce

Two imprisoned Christian pastors have been released from their prison sentence in Sudan. Kudos to the ACLJ!

J.Warner Wallace asks a great question: Can naturalism/evolution account for human dignity?

John Piper has a weighty post that is worth your time to read: satan and sodomy.

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“The very first words [of the Lord’s Prayer] are Our Father. Do you now see what those words mean? They mean quite frankly, that you are putting yourself in the place of a son of God. To put it bluntly, you are dressing up as Christ. If you like, you are pretending. Because, of course, the moment you realize what the words mean, you realize that you are not a son of God. You are not being like The Son of God, whose will and interests are at one with those of the Father: you are a bundle of self-centered fears, hopes, greeds, jealousies, and self-conceit, all doomed to death. So that, in a way, this dressing up as Christ is a piece of outrageous cheek. But the odd thing is that He has ordered us to do it.” —C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity

“Prayer is the form of faith that connects us today with the grace that will make us adequate for tomorrow’s ministry.” —John Piper

“When you fulfill your spiritual gift to serve someone tomorrow, you will be serving ‘by the strength that God supplies’ tomorrow. The word is supplies, not supplied. God goes on, day-by-day, moment-by-moment, supplying the ‘strength’ in which we minister.” —John Piper, commenting on 1 Peter 4:10-11

“Never say you will pray about a thing; pray about it. … It is not part of the life of a natural man to pray. We hear it said that a man will suffer in his life if he does not pray; I question it. What will suffer is the life of the Son of God in him, which is nourished not by food but by prayer.” —Oswald Chambers

For all my fellow Detroit Tigers fans, this is an interesting post about the greatest Tiger of all-time: Cobb or Kaline. In my book, they both were phenomenal, but I would give the slight edge to Ty Cobb.

 

C.S. Lewis On Marriage

C.S. Lewis at his deskTwo powerful passages on marriage from C.S. Lewis’ book Mere Christianity—

“The Christian idea of marriage is based on Christ’s words that a man and wife are to be regarded as a single organism—for that is what the words ‘one flesh’ would be in modern English. And the Christians believe that when He said this He was not expressing a sentiment but stating a fact—just as one is stating a fact when one says that a lock and its key are one mechanism, or that a violin and a bow are one musical instrument. The inventor of the human machine was telling us that its two halves, the male and the female, were made to be combined together in pairs, not simply on the sexual level, but totally combined. The monstrosity of sexual intercourse outside marriage is that those who indulge in it are trying to isolate one kind of union (the sexual) from all the other kinds of union which were intended to go along with it and make up the total union. The Christian attitude does not mean that there is anything wrong about sexual pleasure, any more than about the pleasure of eating. It means that you must not isolate that pleasure and try to get it by itself, any more than you ought to try to get the pleasures of taste without swallowing and digesting, by chewing things and spitting them out again.”

“My own view is that the Churches should frankly recognize that the majority of the British [or American] people are not Christian and, therefore, cannot be expected to live Christian lives. There ought to be two distinct kinds of marriage: one governed by the State with rules enforced on all citizens, the other governed by the church with rules enforced by her on her own members. The distinction ought to be quite sharp, so that a man knows which couples are married in a Christian sense and which are not.”

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Bios has, to be sure, a certain shadowy or symbolic resemblance to Zoe: but only the sort of resemblance there is between a photo and a place, or a statue and a man. A man who changed from having Bios to having Zoe would have gone through as big a change as a statue which changed from being a carved stone to being a real man.” ―C.S. Lewis

“True faith embraces Christ in whatever ways the Scriptures hold Him out to poor sinners.” —Jonathan Edwards

Going through difficult times might be beneficial for Christians, says Trevin Wax in his post How Social Ostracism Could Increase Our Love.

“Yet while a race remembers and relives its sufferings and wrongs, it is often unwittingly transformed, often into the very image of its oppressor. Moreover, bitterness anchors the mind in the past and takes the heart with it. There is no future and no sense of the possible. There is only the incessant churning. Soon it becomes an excuse, a room into which the heart can run to find justification for failure and wrongs of its own. The end comes after the isolation and the rage have run their course. Bitterness is the second sting of the wound, and its fruit is death.” ―Booker T. Washington

“Progress is impossible if you only attempt to do the things you have always done.” —Mike Krzyzewski

[VIDEO] Is there evidence for a literal Adam and Eve? Does it matter?

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“Everything the world has to offer, God is better and more abiding. There is no comparison. God wins—every time. The question is: will we have Him? Will we wake up from the trance of this stupefying world and see and believe and rejoice and love?” —John Piper

A nice mini-biography on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Max Lucado says, “You cannot be anything you want to be. But you can be everything God wants you to be!” Read more in his post All Things New.

“No prayer is at all likely to bring down an immediate answer if it be not a fervent prayer. ‘The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much’ [James 5:16]; but if it be not fervent we cannot expect to find it effectual or prevalent. We must get rid of the icicles that hang about our lips.” —Charles Spurgeon

“The Christian is in a different position from other people who are trying to be good. They hope, by being good, to please God if there is one; or—if they think there is not—at least they hope to deserve approval from good men. But the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life inside him. He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.” —C.S. Lewis

A great overview on what really happened in the Crusades.

[VIDEO] John Maxwell says what is on the inside is always more attractive than what is on the outside―

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Some good reading from today…

“Spread love everywhere you go; first of all in your house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor. Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier.” —Mother Teresa

“Many people don’t achieve their dream because it’s out of reach, but because they quit.” —John Maxwell

Good things as well as bad, you know, are caught by a kind of infection. If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. They are not a sort of prize which God could, if He chose, just hand out to anyone. They are a great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very centre of reality. If you are close to it, the spray will wet you: if you are not, you will remain dry.” —C.S. Lewis

Want some free music from U2? They released a new album free on iTunes.

More reasons to be skeptical of so-called “global warming” alarmists.