communication

Is Left Ever Right?

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IMG_0530 (1)Have you noticed that some cities seem to be in a perpetual state of ruin?  You know the cities I’m thinking of, the ones that seem to take pride in roads lined with bright orange traffic cones:  As far as the eye can see, they dot the highway and try to guide you safely down the road.

A day or two ago, I was driving through an intersection laced with orange cones and concrete barriers, and I got a little nervous. It looked like I was being directed into the oncoming lane of traffic.  For a moment I thought the engineer had been imported from England and he had brought his, drive-on-the-left-side-of-the-road, mentality with him.

This experience reminds me of the message on a sign:  “One Way or Another.”  The sober truth is that  when you die, you will go one way or another.

The good news is that there is a road map to lead you through the detours and confusing  intersections of life.  Jesus said that He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).  If you will make the right turn and follow Jesus, you will never get left by Him.

When Lions Devour Lambs

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misconductThe number is 225, and it involves a group of people in the small Caribbean nation of Haiti.  While a large portion of Haiti is known more for its poverty than anything else, one segment has seen even more oppression and suffering.

A United Nations peacekeeping mission has been accused of sexual misconduct in a scheme that involved the sexual exploitation of 225 Haitian women.  Their sex for shoes shenanigans has robbed these women of the peace they had hoped for, and it throttled their trust in the economic promises of the United Nations.

No one should engage in any form of sexual exploitation or sex trafficking, and this is especially true for a high profile agency like the United Nations.  When abused by those you trust the most, the sanctity of your soul is violated, and you are left empty and hollow.

  • Over 600,000 women and children are bought and sold, across international borders, every year and exploited for forced labor and sex.
  • In the USA alone, multiple thousands of kids under 18 years of age are lured into the sex industry every year.
  • Human trafficking is a $32 billion a year industry.

Any time anyone looks at pornography on a computer or buys a sexually explicit magazine, he is supporting this industry and he is exhibiting despicable and demeaning behavior.  Lust is no companion of pure love, and the two are at the opposite ends of the emotional continuum.

What can you do to help stem the rising tide of moral degradation?  You can get involved with groups like Love 146 and Samaritan’s Purse.  You can also answer the call of Jesus to share His peace with the oppressed:  “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God  (Matthew 5:9).”

Is That Rocky or Sylvester?

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Sylvester_StalloneHow many people do you know who are named Sylvester?  I can think of two.  To be truthful, one of them is a cat.   I can only think of one other person named Sylvester, and he disliked his name so much that he never used it.

Thanks to the work of Randal S. Olson, I learned something new about my name last night.    I discovered that in the year I was born, there were 6,286 other people who were also named Stanley.  The good thing is that 4,963 of us are still alive.

There is really no significance to my name; however, there is a name that is incredibly important:

  • Philippians 2:9-11: God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . . and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
  • Acts 4:12: There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people, and we must be saved by it.

Do you want to learn a little more about your name?  Click here, and you can get started.

Is A Name Just A Name?

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Hello_my_name_is_sticker.svgLike many people, Psalm 23 is a favorite of mine.  As I was reading it earlier today, the last four words of  verse 3 caught my attention:  The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. 3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

When left to themselves, those last four words, “for His names sake” are just a vanilla phrase.  To really see the beauty of God, it helps to take a quick look at His name.  As written in the Hebrew language of the Old Testament, the names of God are colorful and explicit in their terminology, and they emphasize the way He interacts with His creation:

  • Jehovah-rophe (the Lord who heals you)
  • Jehovah-raah (the caring Shepherd)
  • Jehovah-jireh (the will provide)
  • Jehovah-shalom (the Lord is peace)

Take these four names of God and make a personal application to your life:

  • When you are struggling with emotional or physical issues, you can call out to Jevovah-rophe.
  • When you feel like you’re alone and no one cares, Jehovah-raah is present.
  • When you don’t know where to turn or what to do, Jehovah-jireh will provide.
  • When the world seems to be shattered and crumbling beneath your feet, Jehovah-shalom is the peace in the eye of the storm.

I hope a focus on “his name’s sake”  will be at the center of your thoughts today.

A Better Way

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images (3)I recently made the comment that, “Sometimes we sacrifice the best because we are content with just the good.”  I think it was Saint Jerome who said:  “Good, better, best. Never let it rest. ‘Til your good is better and your better is best.”

If my memory serves me well, it was Ernest Hemingway who said: “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”

The business of being better is discussed in several places in the Wisdom Books of the Bible.  My Top 10 list of verses follows below:

  1. Psalm 37:16: A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked.
  2. Psalm 118:8: It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.
  3. Proverbs 15:16: Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure with trouble.
  4. Proverbs 15:17: Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a fatted calf with hatred.
  5. Proverbs 16:8: Better is a little with righteousness, than vast revenues without justice.
  6. Proverbs 16:16: How much better to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.
  7. Proverbs 16:19: Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.
  8. Proverbs 16:32: He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.
  9. Proverbs 17:1: Better is a dry morsel with quietness, than a house full of feasting with strife.
  10. Proverbs 19:1: Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than one who is perverse in his lips, and is a fool.

I hope these verses serve as a motivator to get you started in the pursuit of betterness.  Once you get started, you can develop the habits that will keep you going.

Indexing The Heart

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images (2)Many years ago, I was told that good speakers have at least three characteristics in common:  They stand up, speak out, and sit down.

The book of Proverbs is full of good principles for you and the way you speak.  Proverbs 4:24 is a good example:  “Remove dishonesty from your mouth. Put deceptive speech far away from your lips.”

When you consider the underlying principles of this verse, you see that:

  • Dishonesty needs to be removed: Whenever it moves in you need to move it out.
  • Dishonesty is a nasty dish of lies that should never be allowed to nest in your mouth.
  • You should never be receptive to deceptive speech: Put it far away from your lips.

In Proverbs 10, Solomon highlights the benefit of wholesome speech:

  • The mouth of a righteous person is a fountain of life (verse 11).
  • The tongue of a righteous person is pure silver (verse 20).
  • The lips of a righteous person feed many (verse 21).

If you’ll take the time to compare the words of Solomon to the teachings of James, you’ll see a well-defined contrast:

  • Solomon likened the tongue of the righteous to pure silver.
  • James said the unrighteous use of the tongue will “defile the whole body.”

Listen to the manner in which you speak and the tenor of your conversation.  When you become more aware of what you say and how you say it, you get a better idea of the real you.  This is because your speech or your tongue is the index of your heart.

A Clear and Present Danger

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advisoryAn article in the Saturday edition of the Washington Post caught my attention: “The U.S. military has boosted security at all of its stateside bases and stations, broad recognition that the United States has heightened its awareness of a possible attack inspired by the Islamic State militant group, U.S. officials said Friday.”

With this report following on the heels of the recent incident in Garland, Texas, it was a frequent topic of discussion on Saturday morning.  When the security level is raised it gets a person’s attention.

Pentagon spokesman, Army Col. Steve Warren said: “The military believes there is an increased and predictable security threat at home, with extra precautions, ID checks and searches launched across the country. It does not mean that an attack is considered imminent, however.”

How would your behavior change if you were told the danger is most certainly “imminent”?  You may not be aware of it, but here is a statement that warns you are in grave danger!

Keep your mind clear, and be alert. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion as he looks for someone to devour. Be firm in the faith and resist him, knowing that other believers throughout the world are going through the same kind of suffering.  ~I Peter 5:8-9

Watch your back, there’s a lion on the prowl.

Accepting The Exception

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exceptWhen I pulled into a parking spot yesterday, I saw the sign to the left on the door in front of me.  I laughed, and then I got out and took a picture of it.

The owner of the store was facing quite a dilemma.  His credit card machine was broken, so his customers could not pay for their purchases with Visa or Master Card.  Evidently he was not “accepting” cash payments because the sign said he was “only excepting cash.”

I have enough sense to know that the sign reflects some confusion in terminology.  Accepting and excepting sound quite a bit alike; however, they are opposites.  One means to receive and the other means to exclude.

Let me share an Oscar Wilde quote to show another difference between the two words.  Wilde said he had accepted the fact that he could “resist everything except temptation.”

In the first chapter of Ephesians, Paul wrote that in Jesus we are “accepted in the Beloved, and in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace . . .”

When a person is “accepted” in Jesus, he will never be excepted from heaven.  This is because Jesus paid the price of your sin.  Payment wasn’t made by a credit card or cash, it was paid for by Jesus:  “Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body (I Corinthians 6:19-20).”

Celebrating God’s Goodness

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people-celebrating-1202x500When David wrote Psalm 62, he was in a desperate situation.  Men, who were full of evil, were scheming against  David, and even threatening to kill him.

David did what he usually did when he found himself in dire straits, he looked to God for help. Psalm 62:7-8, gives you a glimpse into the mind of this troubled king, and reveals his concept of God:

In God is my salvation and my glory;

The rock of my strength,

And my refuge, is in God.

Trust in Him at all times, you people;

Pour out your heart before Him;

God is a refuge for us.

Notice the first word in each of the last three lines:

  • Trust: You are to trust God in the good times as well as the bad.
  • Pour: Instead of trying to fight your battles by yourself, confide in God and pour your heart out to Him in prayer.
  • God: To really comprehend this verse, you need to make four sentences out of it, and contemplate each one of them:
    1. God (Creator of Heaven and Earth)
    2. God is (Not was; He is a present tense God)
    3. God is a refuge (Fortress and place of safety)
    4. God is a refuge for us. The Creator of all is always present as a fortress to meet your personal needs)

Celebrate the goodness of God today and praise Him because He is your salvation and your glory; the rock of your strength, and He is your refuge.

Are You Fluent or Tongue-Tied?

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640x360When Jesus was crucified, there was a message written in three languages that stated:  This is Jesus the King of the Jews. You may know these three languages were Hebrew, Greek, and Latin; but, do you know how many languages exist in the world today?

There are some 6,500 spoken languages in the world today, and the language most frequently spoken is Mandarin Chinese. Due to China’s large population it is estimated that 1,213,000,000 people speak this language.

There is a country much smaller than China and it lies just south of the equator, and 99 miles north of Australia. It is Papua New Guinea, and it is smaller than China in both land mass and population.  What’s interesting, however, is that with a population of just over 7 million, this country is incredibly diverse when it comes to languages.  The Linguistic Society reports that Papua New Guinea has 832 indigenous languages.

Even though there are thousands of languages spoken in the world today, there will be a day when everyone speaks the same thing.  There is coming a day when people will hear the name of Jesus and bow their knees to Him, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11).

There’s no need to wait for some future day to confess the goodness of God.  In whatever language you choose, you can follow the example of the Psalms, and do it now:

  • Psalm 7:17: I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.
  • Psalm 9:2: I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.
  • Psalm 30:4 Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.