Post Category → Current events

Question & Thought for October 20th, 2016!!!

Question & Thought for October 20th, 2016!!!
Good Thursday Morning! (Thanks Coach!)
1. Question – Is pain useful?
2. Thought – Beware of the False Lover
TGIF Today God Is First 
October 15, 2016

Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning (Ps 30:5).

 
When a measured assault enters our life we often respond in two different ways. The pain caused by the assault drives us to a place of either embracing the pain or we embrace anything that will make us feel better. That becomes the entry door to a false lover. Men and women each seek to avoid pain in different ways. Larry Crabb has summarized these two unique strategies often used to avoid deep pain:

All of us are trapped by addiction to a desire for something less than God. For many women, that something less is relational control. “I will not be hurt again and I will not let people I love be hurt. I’ll see to it that what I fear never happens again.” They therefore live in terror of vulnerably presenting themselves to anyone and instead become determined managers of people. Their true femininity remains safely tucked away behind the walls of relational control.


More common in men is an addiction to non-relational control. “I will experience deep and consuming satisfaction without ever having to relate meaningfully with anyone.” They keep things shallow and safe with family and friends and feel driven to experience a joy they never feel, a joy that only deep relating can provide. Their commitment is twofold: to never risk revealing inadequacy by drawing close to people and, without breaking that commitment, to feel powerful and alive. Power in business and illicit sex are favorite strategies for reaching that goal.1
Many times we seek to deal with our pain through various forms of addictions designed to resolve the inner pain we feel. All addictions represent a counterfeit desire for genuine love and intimacy. We conclude these lesser desires are legitimate needs instead of band-aids of our fleshly soul. These addiction lovers become isolation chambers created for ourselves designed to mask our pain.
 
Every human being has a desire to be loved. When we do not feel loved because of some event in our lives we seek to reconcile this emotional pain. So, if you are fighting any kind of addiction–over control of people, sex, drugs, alcohol, workaholism, shopping, overeating–you are seeking to fill a void only God can fill.
 
Pain has a useful purpose in our lives. Facing it, rather than medicating it, allows us to move to a place of discovering a capacity for a different kind of joy. That is the purpose of pain. We must let inner pain do its work by experiencing it fully. It feels like a contradiction to actually embrace the pain, but it is the only remedy for moving past it so it can yield its purpose in our lives. 
 
Otherwise we will remain unaware of our deeper desire for God and be driven toward a false lover.
rem – “I’ve never let my schooling interfere with my education.” (Mark Twain)
Question & Thought & ANDs.

Question & Thought for October 19th, 2016!

Question & Thought for October 19th, 2016!
Good Thursday Morning!
1. Question – Which is it? Is skepticism or faith on the ascendency in the world today?
2. Thought – The answer is Yes. The enemies are both right. Skepticism, fear, and anger toward traditional religion are growing in power and influence. But at the same time, robust, orthodox belief in the traditional faiths is growing as well. (The Reason for God by Timothy Keller)
“I find your lack of faith – disturbing.” (Darth Vader)
rem – “I’ve never let my schooling interfere with my education.” (Mark Twain)
Question & Thought & ANDs.

Question & Thought for October 7th, 2016!!!

Question & Thought for October 7th, 2016!!!
Good Friday Morning!
1. Question – Can all religions be true?
2. Thought – Conservative Christians believe that those who haven’t accepted Christ as their Savior have chosen hell as their ultimate destination. It’s often overlooked, but many Muslims believe the same about non-Muslims – they’re headed for hell as well. And Hindus generally believe that everyone, regardless of beliefs, is caught in an indefinite cycle of reincarnation based on works. These contradictory beliefs can’t all be true.
In other words, some religious beliefs must be wrong. But you’re not supposed to say that in America today. You’re supposed to be “tolerant” of all religious beliefs. And in our culture today, tolerance no longer means putting up with something you believe to be false (after all, you don’t tolerate things you agree with). Tolerance now means that you’re supposed to accept every belief as true! In a religious context, this is known as religious pluralism – the belief that all religions are true. (I Don’t Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist by Frank Turek and Norman Geisler)
“We cannot live on the mountain-top, but the mountain-top feeling is still available in the valley.” (Everything Counts – Daily Devotional)
It is Friday – October whizzing by. Don’t text and drive. Thanks for all the books. Keep reading. Have you ever considered: “Do I have to like the person I vote for?” Do your part in America. Enjoy!
rem – “I’ve never let my schooling interfere with my education.” (Mark Twain)
Question & Thought & ANDs.

Question & Thought for September 22nd, 2016!!!

Question & Thought for September 22nd, 2016!!!
Good Thursday Morning! Send a letter of thanks to your local police department today.
1. Question – What’s the most convenient excuse ever?
2. Thought – There was a man who lay beside the pool of Bethesda for thirty-eight years. It was alleged if the waters stirred, the first person who jumped into the pool was healed. Jesus came alongside and said to the man, “Do you want to get well?” That is an interesting question. Surely the answer was yes! But no. The man’s reply: “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me” (John 5:2-7). This man had the most convenient excuse ever! It was a convenience that lasted thirty-eight years. Self-pity is more interested in defending itself than looking for a solution. We don’t want our problems solved; we want them understood.
Self-pity is a choice we make. Jacob “refused to be comforted” (Gen. 37:35). He made a choice. The thing about self-pity sadly is that we tend to welcome it rather than resist it. It is not a condition over which we have no control. It is a choice. It is often a choice made in anger. Faith says that there is a reason God let this happen. (The Power of Humility by R.T. Kendall)
“Self-pity is more interested in defending itself than looking for a solution.” (R.T. Kendall)
rem – “I’ve never let my schooling interfere with my education.” (Mark Twain)
Question & Thought & ANDs.