Post Category → Character

Question & Thought for June 18th, 2016!!!

Question & Thought for June 18th, 2016!!!
Good Saturday Morning!!! (Father’s Day tomorrow!)
1. Question – If this describes you, why not begin on a new journey of opening up your life to others in a way that others can see who you really are?
2. Thought – Humility in Relationships
TGIF Today God Is First
June 12, 2016

“All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.'”– 1 Peter 5:5b

 
I’ll never forget the first time I discovered what a feeling was. It was in my early forties. “Surely not!” you may be thinking. Yes, it is true. Since then, I have discovered many men still live in this condition. It took an older mentor to help me understand the difference between information and a feeling. Wives are frustrated because their husbands share information, but not their feelings. They want to know what is going on inside their man. The fact is, most men have not been taught to identify feelings, much less how to share them. It is something that men must learn to do because it is not a natural trait. If they do share their feelings, society often portrays them as weak. No man willingly wants to be portrayed as weak.
 
In order to become an effective friend and leader, one must learn to be vulnerable with others and develop an ability to share feelings. It is a vital step to becoming a real person with whom others can connect emotionally. This is not easy to do if your parents did not teach you to share your emotional life with others. Emotional vulnerability is especially hard for men. Author Dr. Larry Crabb states,

Men who as boys felt neglected by their dads often remain distant from their own children. The sins of fathers are passed on to children, often through the dynamic of self-protection. It hurts to be neglected, and it creates questions about our value to others. So to avoid feeling the sting of further rejection, we refuse to give that part of ourselves we fear might once again be received with indifference. When our approach to life revolves around discipline, commitment, and knowledge [which the Greek influence teaches us] but runs from feeling the hurt of unmet longings that come from a lack of deeper relationships, then our efforts to love will be marked more by required action than by liberating passion. We will be known as reliable, but not involved. Honest friends will report that they enjoy being with us, but have trouble feeling close. Even our best friends (including spouses) will feel guarded around us, a little tense and vaguely distant. It’s not uncommon for Christian leaders to have no real friends. [Larry Crabb, Inside Out]

If this describes you, why not begin on a new journey of opening up your life to others in a way that others can see who you really are? It might be scary at first, but as you grow in this area, you will find new freedom in your life. Then, others will more readily connect with you.

rem – I had no knowledge that I had no knowledge.
Question & Thought & ANDs.

Question & Thought for June 12th, 2016!

Question & Thought for June 12th, 2016!
Good Sunday Morning!
1. Question – If A = B and B = C, does A = C? If people = virtue and virtue = liberty, does people = liberty without virtue?
2. Thought – As the American national consensus shifts from a traditional, God-centered worldview to a secular, man-centered philosophy, perspectives and priorities change. History, however, does not. It may be ignored, reinterpreted, revised, or even concealed, but the historical evidence remains unchanged: America was forged in faith. Those extraordinary people who forged it – the people of Colonial America – hoped that cornerstone foundation and its history would always be preserved. Some, however, feared that someday America’s historic faith might be diminished – along with the freedom it inspired. “While the People are virtuous they cannot be subdued,” Samuel Adams wrote, “but when they lose their Virtue, they will be ready to surrender their Liberties….” (Forged in Faith by Rod Gragg)
“The general principle on which the fathers achieved independence, were the only principles in which that beautiful assembly of young gentlemen could unite,” wrote founding father John Adams. “And what were these general principles? I answer, the general principles of Christianity…”
rem – I had no knowledge that I had no knowledge.
Question & Thought & ANDs.

Question & Thought for June 11th, 2016!!!

Question & Thought for June 11th, 2016!!!
Good Saturday Morning All!!!
1. Question – Have you ever risked everything by challenging authority?
2. Thought – Confronting Evil
TGIF Today God Is First
June 04, 2016“The LORD sent Nathan to David” (2 Sam 12:1).

 
There are times when evil must be confronted. When God judges a situation He often uses His servants as vessels for communicating to the guilty party. Such was the case with David who tried to conceal his sin of sleeping with Bathsheba and then orchestrating a cover-up plot that led to her husband being intentionally setup to be killed on the battlefield. It was a wicked deed that became the most significant black mark upon David’s life.
 
There are times in the workplace where God may want to use you to be the instrument of God to bring righteousness to a situation. Sherron Watkins was a finance president at Enron, the famous Houston-based energy company that went bankrupt because of financial fraud by top level executives. By the summer of 2001, Sherron had become suspicious of her company’s accounting practices.
 
Watkins struggled with what she was to do when she discovered what was going on. She thought she might lose her job if she confronted other top level managers. Yet, if she did not do something, it could impact the entire company and its employees. Sherron was a Christian and knew God was calling her to do something.
 
At first, she decided to use constructive ways to bring the problem to her superiors. Eventually, she met with CEO, Kenneth Lay and outlined the elaborate accounting hoax that she believed was going on in the company. She was ignored. Months later the company collapsed when the problems came to light and Lay was convicted on 10 counts of conspiracy.
 
Sherron Watkins served as a modern-day Esther in the corporate world to expose a scandal that would destroy a company. She was recognized as Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” in 2002 for her role in exposing the scandal.
 
Are you willing to be the instrument of God, if necessary, to expose unrighteousness?
rem – I had no knowledge that I had no knowledge.
Question & Thought & ANDs.

Question & Thought for June 9th, 2016!!!

Question & Thought for June 9th, 2016!!!
Good Thursday Morning!
1. Question – Are there far too many arguments in your life?
2. Thought – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)
The Spirit fights against sin not merely in defense but also in attack by producing in Christians the positive attributes of godly character, all of which are evident in Jesus in the Gospels.
Love appears first because it is the greatest quality in that it most clearly reflects the character of God.
Joy comes in a close second, for in rejoicing in God’s salvation Christians show that their affections are rightly placed in God’s will and his purpose. Peace is a product of God having reconciled sinners to himself, so that they are no longer his enemies, which should result in confidence and freedom in approaching God.
Patience shows that Christians are following God’s plan and timetable rather than their own and that they have abandoned their own ideas about how the world should work.
Kindness means showing goodness, generosity, and sympathy toward others, which likewise is an attribute of God.
Faithfulness is another divine characteristic, it means consistently doing what one say one will do.
Gentleness is a quality Jesus attributes to himself. It enables people to find rest in him and to encourage and strengthen others.
Self-control is the discipline given by the Holy Spirit that allows Christians to resist the power of the flesh. (ESV Study Bible by Crossway)
rem – I had no knowledge that I had no knowledge.
Question & Thought & ANDs.