Tag: Bible

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love motivation

Love and Forgiveness

Yesterday, I wrote about the Fourth Sunday of Advent. This week, it’s about love. Love and forgiveness go hand in hand. Though most of us like the idea of unconditional love, not too many of us are keen on the concept of forgiveness. But the two ideas make the world a much better place.

“Forgiveness is the final form of love.”
Reinhold Niebuhr

Reinhold Niebuhr Quotes. BrainyQuote.com, BrainyMedia Inc, 2021. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/reinhold_niebuhr_121403, accessed December 20, 2021.

We prefer revenge to grace. Most movies follow that plot. Who would watch a movie about forgiveness anyway? They are out there but rarely do they become box office hits. But in the real world, letting someone off the hook is much more practical than revenge.

Business and Politics

You wouldn’t know it by the way business and politics are played these days. We are encouraged to own our enemies instead of doing good toward them. What do you mean show mercy? We are supposed to finish them off! Obliterate them! Off with their heads! Who cares about peace on earth, good will towards men? We have need to give them a taste of their own medicine!

But is that really wise? When will it all end? Is it when the strongest party destroys the other? How has that worked so far? When carried to the extreme, it brings genocide, famine and misery.

There is a better way.

“Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.”

Leviticus 19:18 (NIV)

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The problem with the killer instinct is it has the potential to kill. None of us like a threatening environment. But if we aren’t the ones seeking peace, mercy and good will, who will? Let there be peace on earth, and may we be the ones to bring it. It takes a lot of love and forgiveness.

Categories
Bible motivation

Ecclesiastes 3:1

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: Ecclesiastes 3:1

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 (KJV)

On my run the other day, I listened to the song, Glory Days, by Bruce Springsteen. As the years go by, it becomes more ironic. It was on the album, Born in the USA. The song came out in 1985 when I was twenty years old. At the time, it felt like a fool’s errand to reminisce about the past at the expense of the present. Thirty-six years later, I can understand a little better where the song was coming from!

Yet, the wisdom of this verse still stands true. There is a season and a time for every purpose. I had a great college experience. But it would be unfortunate to stay there. It’s great to visit for homecoming. But who wants an old guy staying around campus because he just can’t get the courage to leave?

I loved being a dad to two little kids. But today I have two great adult children. I would be foolish to wish they were younger and treat them as little kids. The early days were great. The present is even better, though it looks different.

It’s foolish to live in the past. It is equally foolish to live only in the future. Yes, the last eighteen months have been brutal for everyone. We have all heard people pining for the future when everything will be back to normal. But what if the present has the opportunities that make your future possible? What if normal never was ideal? We are never guaranteed a future. We just have today.

There were good things about the past. And I believe the future also has promise. But we just have today. Whatever season you are in, live in the moment. It may be a challenging time. You may have problems I can’t imagine. Or you may find a few years from now, today is the day you will remember as the best of times. Say, that reminds me of another rock song!

Categories
motivation

Being Wise as Serpents While Harmless as Doves

Cartoon of two boys. One has a box. He says, "It's a magic box. It starts up when you insert twenty dollars."

In any crisis, you’ll have scammers that try to take advantage of a situation. There will be people that will attempt to act like your friend when you are lonely. There will be those who will threaten and cajole because they can manipulate a person’s fear.

Yet there will be others that will be kind, generous and an inspiration to the world. A crisis doesn’t necessarily make good people bad. It merely magnifies what is in a person’s heart; the good and the bad.

I used to be very puzzled by the following Bible verse. But in light of today’s environment, it makes perfect sense to me.

Be ye, therefore, wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

Matthew 10:16 (KJV)

Jesus gave his disciples a great paradox. The wicked (and anyone who tries to scam another is doing a wicked act) will be among us. We need not be naive but be as wise as a serpent that is alert for danger and taking evasive action.

At the same time, we are not called to let the wicked affect us and turn us into evildoers. We are to be as harmless as doves. We can do good and be kind without falling into the traps of scammers, spammers, and the generally unethical tricksters.

So beware of the kid with the magical, empty box that only starts up when you insert twenty dollars. and don’t follow his lead!

Cartoon of two boys. One has a box. He says, "It's a magic box. It starts up when you insert twenty dollars."
Categories
K! Magazine Kidzmatter Magazine Magazine motivation

Books and Batteries

Cartoon of a teacher and a boy with an electronic tablet. The boy panics and says, "Help! My Bible's batteries ran down!"
Published in "K!: Kidzmatter Magazine"

The first time a student brought their tablet into the Sunday school classroom was quite a sight. The child claimed it was her Bible. But for some reason, all the kids gathered around her and they weren’t asking to see her Bible. They were interested in what games were on her tablet. It took some time to get the class back into some semblance of organization.

Since the schools are all closed right now, I imagine the tablets and smartphones are getting quite a workout. I’m sure there are some times when a crisis may emerge because a device’s batteries are running on empty. Keep calm and find a charger! It will be all right eventually.

Find some time to recharge your devices as well as yourself this week. Step away from the laptops, tablets, smartphones, and televisions for a few minutes, if not hours. You’ll be glad to get some time to step away from the news and let yourself have a break from it all.

Cartoon of a teacher and a boy with an electronic tablet. The boy panics and says, "Help! My Bible's batteries ran down!"
Published in “K!: Kidzmatter Magazine”
Categories
motivation

Were the Good Old Days That Good?

Each older generation thinks life was better in the “good old days.” Apparently, judging by this verse, they were thinking the same thing thousands of years ago.

Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions.

Ecclesiastes 7:10 NIV

We tend to romanticize the past. We think of the good memories and tend to forget the bad. The seventies and eighties were no cakewalk!

We have much to be thankful for today. Remember the past fondly, live in the present and look forward to the future. Besides, in a couple of decades, we’ll look at today as the good old days.