Category: Living Deep

Abraham Maslow said, “One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.”

One-time choices may define life’s direction, but it’s the daily decisions that determine destination.

Accepting Christ is a single event — certainly essential and life-changing. No doubt most of us remember the day we took this step.

Following Christ is a daily decision. It’s a commitment we renew every morning, a series of choices we make each day, moment by moment, hour upon hour.

Jesus said it this way: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

Our one-time choices are like images captured in time; they often make for a good story.  But it’s our daily decisions — often hum-drum and hardly photogenic — that make for a great life.

May each decision today move us forward in our walk with Christ.

© 2008/2024. This post originally appeared at PreachingLibrary.com

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say: I used everything you gave me. — Erma Bombeck

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might… (Ecclesiastes 9:10)

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men. (Colossians 3:23)

When Erma Bombeck was facing her own battle with cancer, she met a little girl named Christina, who had cancer of the nervous system.

When Christina was asked what she wanted for her birthday, she thought for a while and then shrugged, “I don’t know. I already have two sticker books and a Cabbage Patch doll. I already have everything!”

Erma said, “When I forget to feel grateful, I hear Christina saying, ‘I already have everything!'”

— Redbook, October 1992

Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for
everything you need, always giving thanks.
Philippians 4:6

Here’s a good story that has made the rounds. Literally, I heard it from a preacher who heard it from a preacher who said he read it in a book somewhere. Such is the life of a sermon illustration. Here’s my spin.

group of amateur climbers hired a guide to lead them to the top of the Matterhorn.

One climber in particular had visions of grandeur about this venture, in which he would be photographed at the mountain’s peak, poised triumphantly, raising a glass of champagne, and feasting on caviar.

The guide warned the group that it would be a tough climb, and encouraged them each to bring only the essentials.

For this climber, the essentials included his camera, a tripod, a few special lenses, extra rolls of film, plus bottles of champagne, flutes for the team, and, of course, a big jar of caviar.

As the group climbed their way to the top, this particular climber became bogged down and overcome with exhaustion. The guide told him that if he wants to make it to the top, he must empty his backpack and leave the contents behind.

He couldn’t bring himself to do it. Instead, he made a strategic choice — not to continue the climb, but to stay right where he was and enjoy his caviar and champagne all alone.

There he stayed while the group journeyed on. He was still there when the group returned.

They told him about all he had missed, and how glorious it was. And they told him that the champagne and caviar would have added nothing to the experience.

There comes a time when we each have to make a choice. If we want to reach the top of the mountain, we must be willing to leave our trinkets behind.

Are the trinkets that could hold you back?

But he was deeply dismayed by these words, and he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. (Mark 10:22)

George Muller said this about the conflict between fear and faith:

“The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of faith is the end of anxiety.”

We often find ourselves facing the choice between fear and faith, between worry and belief. That’s why Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” (Mark 5:36)

You can’t flip a coin and get both heads and tails; one side always wins. In the same way, faith and fear can’t co-exist. One always crowds out the other.

Often our struggle is not so much with full-blown fear; it’s more like nagging worry and lingering anxiety. Of course, these are just forms of fear diluted. Left to themselves, they’ll give their full-blown version a place to call home.

What are you worried about today? Which anxious thoughts are chipping away at your confidence in God’s ability to provide?

Each day we have a choice between fear and faith. It’s the difference between saying, “God is with me; he will see me through,” or saying, “I’ve got to handle this on my own.”

The choice we make eventually eliminates the other, so let’s choose our words — and the resulting path — with care.

In A Model-Free Approach to the Study of Subjective Well Being, psychologists Carolyn Murray and Jean Peacock talk about the friendship-happiness connection.

“Contrary to the belief that happiness is hard to explain, or that it depends on having great wealth, researchers have identified the core factors in a happy life.

“The primary components are:

• number of friends
• closeness of friends
• closeness of family
• relationships with co-workers and neighbors.”

The authors said: “Together these features explain about 70% of personal happiness.”

We may consider ourselves to be rugged individualists, needing nothing and no one … and this may work for us most of the time. But let’s not forget that there is someone near you, someone you work with, someone at church, or someone you’re related to, whose life will be richer and fuller if you’ll take just one step in their direction.

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

© 2008/2024. This post originally appeared at PreachingLibrary.com

Sometime back in the 1920s, Ernest Hemingway bet a friend ten dollars that he could write a complete story in just six words. His story:

“For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

He won the bet.

Several years ago the Smith Magazine asked readers to sum up their own lives in just six words. The submissions became a best-selling book: Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure.

Here are a few of the entries.

Head in books, feet in flowers.
— Heather Thomson

Trust me, I did my best.
— Ray Kemp

Wasted my whole life getting comfortable.
— Richard Merrington

Worry about tomorrow, rarely enjoy today!
— Richard Rabone

Pass the bottle before clarity returns.
— Gail Edmans

Four Weddings, Three kids, then cancer.
— Gillian Johnson

Really should have been a Lawyer.
— Gules Fallan

Bored, so bored, so very bored.
— John Doyle

Married childhood sweetheart. Two kids. Content.
— Steve McMullen

Ditched the map, found better route.
— Gillian Smellie

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

How might Jesus have summarized his life?
“To seek and save the lost.” [Luke 19:10] or …
“To give abundant life to all.” [John 10:10]

Or the Apostle Paul:
“Tough fight, long race, won both.” [2 Timothy 4:7]

Peter might have summarized his life this way:
“Took chances, failed often, experienced power.” [Matthew 14:29; Mark 14:71; Acts 5:15]

King David could have said:
“The Lord is all I need.” [Psalm 23:1]

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

But how about you?

How would you summarize your life so far? Dreams vs. reality? Goals vs. outcomes? Your confidence in the final result? Can you tell your story in six words?

© 2008/2024. This post originally appeared at PreachingLibrary.com

Here’s a great story that has made the rounds. It’s about who has the final say.

A sales manager and two of his sales reps are walking to lunch one day when they come across an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie appears, saying, “I’ll give each of you just one wish.”

One rep is quick to speak up first. He says, “I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.”  Poof! He’s gone.

The next rep speaks up. “I want to be fishing in a stream in the Colorado Rockies.” Poof! He’s gone.

The genie turns to the sales manager and says, “Your turn.”

The manager says, “I want those two back in the office after lunch.”

It makes a difference who has the final say, doesn’t it? The question is: who, or what, will have the final say in your life today? Will your choices today be driven by ambition, revenge, or mere whim?

Or will the Word of God have the final say?

© 2006/2024. This post originally appeared at PreachingLibrary.com

Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life. — Seneca

There’s a sense in which success lasts only a day … and tomorrow you start anew.

Each day counts. Make yours count in the best possible way.

The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. (Romans 13:11-12)

“Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve … as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” ― Anne Frank

You need not wait a single moment to begin to better your life.

Or any relationship.

Or virtually each and every situation.

This would even include your attitude.

You might not be able to solve all the world’s problems. But you can, on some level, at least improve whichever area you choose, whenever you’re ready to begin.

Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:2)

Warren Wiersbe said, “A realist is an idealist who has gone through the fire and been purified. A skeptic is an idealist who has gone through the fire and been burned.”

What makes the difference?

It’s not the fire, the heat, or the duration. It’s the attitude you choose to bring out of it.

When you look back on life’s unpleasant events, you can choose to see what you learned from the ordeal, or you can just see it as a bad experience and get nothing else from it.

In every trial, every problem, every difficult situation, God is seeking to teach us something new, seeking to take us to a higher place.

Maybe it’s a chance to exercise a bolder faith. Maybe it’s a chance to identify bad behavior that we must abandon. Or maybe it’s an opportunity to practice perseverance.

The lesson is always there in difficult circumstances; we can choose to be purified and made holy, or we can just allow ourselves to become burned and bitter.

Many will be purified, cleansed and refined by these trials. But the wicked will continue in their wickedness, and none of them will understand. Only those who are wise will know what it means. (Daniel 12:10)

This post originally appeared at PreachingLibrary.com

I received a brochure some time ago from a company specializing in resilient furniture: simple, sturdy, water resistant tables and chairs. Not fancy in any way, but built to last.

They’re not cheap either; a plain white folding chair is about $90.

They’re not nearly as pretty as the leatherette office chairs I buy at the discount store for much less money — but those chairs, as I am reminded every time I have to replace one, don’t have a long life-span.

There’s something to be said for basic, unadorned resiliency: the ability to get through, get over, and get past life’s many trials and tribulations. In this sense, sturdy beats stylish every time.

A popular magazine did a cover story several years ago on the subject of resiliency, asking the question, “Why do some people bounce and others break?” The article noted how some who experience trauma withdraw into a shell, while others facing the same crisis not only bounce back, but bounce back stronger than ever before. It talked about how resiliency is being studied in universities and taught in corporate seminars.

Resiliency, the article said, could become the most important skill of the 21st century.

Why do some people break down while others bounce back? Unlike furniture, I don’t think it has to do with our design. A chair can only be as strong as it was made to be. It can’t decide to grow stronger; neither can it decide to give up.

We, on the other hand, have access to support beyond ourselves. The flaws in our design (so to speak) can be overcome. For example, a person who is, by nature, prone to be discouraged and give up too soon doesn’t have to stay that way.

There’s a verse in Philippians that is so often quoted its meaning is sometimes overlooked. Paul is talking about being able to face hard times as well as good times, and he states confidently, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13)

Resilience — the ability to bounce back — often comes down to a single decision: from whose strength will I draw: my own, or God’s? The promise of Scripture is that if you will look to God for strength, he will give it to you.

I lift up my eyes to the hills — where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. (Psalm 121:1-2)

Today’s message was updated from a previous post./a>