golden rule

What is the Cost of Satisfaction?

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images (2)A recent article by Bourree Lam was posted to the Atlantic Journal.  Lam’s article focused on the economics of buffets and asked the question:  “If it costs more, does it taste better?”

To find the answer to the question, three researchers studied 139 diners at an all you can eat (AYCE) buffet:

  • Location of the experiment: Italian AYCE buffet in New York
  • Time Period: Two weeks
  • Criteria: Some of the139 participants were given a flier for an $8 buffet or a $4 buffet with both buffets serving the same food.
  • Results: People who ate from the $8 buffet rated the pizza 11% tastier than those who ate from the $4 buffet.

One of the authors of the study, David Just, said:  “People set their expectation of taste partially based on the price—and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If I didn’t pay much it can’t be that good. Moreover, each slice is worse than the last. People really ended up regretting choosing the buffet when it was cheap.”

After reading this article, I wondered about the value of “cheap” faith compared to costly faith:

  • Are Christians more satisfied, fulfilled, and happy, when their faith costs them something?
  • Is this one reason Solomon wrote, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.”
  • Is this the secret to the saints of Hebrews 11 who lived vigorous faith-filled lives?

As you prepare to say good-bye to 2014, and enter 2015, let me suggest a New Year’s Resolution:  “I resolve to invest more in my life as a Christian, and I will do this by spending more time in prayer, reading my bible, and sharing my faith.”

Communication: Do You WiFi or Wee-Fee?

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3-golden-rules-for-team-communicationDo you pay a Wee-Fee for your WiFi, or do you hee-hee when some people say Wee-Fee?  Most people reading this blog know that WiFi  is the wireless networking technology that uses radio waves to provide wireless high-speed connection to the internet.

What you may not know is that about 7% of the people living in Arkansas pronounce WiFi as Wee-Fee; however, they are not alone.  In fact, there are several countries that have a significant number of people who opt for the Wee-Fee pronunciation of the word:

  • Spain 49.3%
  • France 46.1%
  • Hungary 41%
  • Belgium 34.4%
  • Netherlands 33.7%

The meaning of WiFi does not change if it is pronounced Wee-Fee, but in some situations a mispronounced word can lead to heated circumstances.

I clearly remember an unclearly spoken word that created a state of confusion.  I was 18, and was asleep on the top floor of an old Air Force barracks when a backwoods sergeant ran down the hall shouting, “Far! Far!”  I thought:  “Far?  How far am I supposed to go and in which direction?”

“Far” took on new meaning and significance when the smell of burning wood began to find its way into my room.  I realized the sergeant with the hick-accent had not been shouting “far,” but was yelling “FIRE!”

One of the basic rules of communication is found in the acronym KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid).  The Apostle Paul could be profoundly simple in the way he stated truth, and he kept it simple and clear in Romans 6:23:  “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The wages of your sin cost God more than just a wee-fee, it cost Him the death of His son on the cross of Calvary.

Your WiFi might be what directs you to the internet, but it’s Jesus who connects you to Heaven.  Jesus said:  “I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the Father except through me.”

 

 

Are You A Stooper Downer?

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helpinghandWhat do you do when you see someone struggling because the circumstances of their life are almost unbearable? Do you help bear their burdens?

One of the clear precepts of Paul on this subject is found in Galatians 6:1-3: “Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.” ~The Message

I hope this Scripture challenges you to make today the day that you will be the Good Samaritan to the hapless and helpless, and to those who need a helping hand. Stoop down and reach out to them and share their burdens. Bolster their courage, lighten their load, strengthen them in their struggle, and share the love of Christ with them.

Seeing and not doing is not sharing. Observing and ministering is embracing the vision of Christ: “When Jesus saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were weary and worn out, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few; therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

Read the verses above one more time and listen intently and carefully to what you hear. Is it a whisper or a shout? To me, it sounds like Jesus is saying, “I need more people to labor in the harvest—more people who are willing to stoop down, reach out, and lighten the heavy load of their friends, neighbors, and complete strangers.”

Don’t deny it. Don’t turn a deaf ear to it. I know you can hear it. Jesus is saying: “I need you!”

Check List for Life

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checkIt’s hard to believe, but we are just days away from the month of June and the halfway point of 2014. It has been a fast 5 months that have been full of changes.

Many of my changes have been associated with my mother. Her declining health has meant a move to assisted living, and selling her house. As we went through the tiring process of sorting her papers, heirlooms, and “stuff,” an article was found. Either Mom or Pop thought there was some significance and truth to the following Ten Commandments For Right Living:

1. Thou shalt not worry, for by so doing thou shalt relive the same disaster many times.
2. Thou shalt not try to dominate or possess others, for it is the right of every man to govern his own actions.
3. Thou halt not seek after fame, for unless God is glorified, greatness is a burden.
4. Thou shalt not work for money only, for money was meant to serve. Money is a poor master.
5. Thou shalt harm no other person, by word, thought, or deed, regardless of the cause: for to do so is to perpetuate the sorrows of the race.
6. Thou shalt not be angry at any person for any reason, for anger injures most the one who is angry.
7. Thou shalt never blame another for thy misfortune, for each man’s destiny is in his own keeping.
8. Thou shalt relax, for tension is an abomination unto the flesh.
9. Thou shalt have a sense of humor or thy years will seem much more tedious and painful.
10. Thou shalt love the beautiful and serve the good for this is according to the will of heaven.

While I might take issue with the way some of these are worded, they do offer some good principles for how to live your life. Most of the 10 can be summarized in one statement that Jesus made—The Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

There’s a lot of difference between “doing in” others and “doing for” others. Which “doing” have you been doing?

Forbes On Character

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It was Malcolm Forbes who said:  You can judge the character of others by how they treat those who can do nothing to them or for them.

This is a difficult quote for me because it reminds of how little character I have had at some critical  junctures of my life.  In some of these instances, my treatment of people has been anything but a reflection of the Golden Rule.

I have often said that Christianity is a journey.  It is elusive in nature because we never really reach our destination of becoming more like Jesus.

As we move along this path of life, we would do well to heed the words of St. Francis of Assisi:

Lord make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

And where there is sadness, joy.

O divine master grant that I may

Not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

To be understood as to understand;

To be loved as to love

For it is in giving that we receive-

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.

And it’s in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.

The words of this old Saint will keep me thinking for several days.  I hope they will occupy your mind as well.

Fool’s Gold

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As we well-know, all that glitters is not gold.  The history of mankind is a long list of newly discovered theories that have had the promise of gold.  Every time a new ism or ology comes along, we are promised a new age of peace and prosperity—but, it is just fool’s gold.

The problem with this line of reasoning is a little 3 letter word, and it is man.  Before you ladies start shouting with joy, let me say I am using man to mean humanity as a whole.

Mankind has swallowed the advice of Jiminy Cricket, hook, line, and sinker:  Let your conscience be your guide.  While the conscience can be helpful at times, there are other times that it is little more than a blind guide.

The danger of being led by conscience is seen in the life of Samson. His conscience had been conditioned more by society and less by the principles of God.  This redneck judge from the pages of the Old Testament could whip anything that came his way, except his own desires.

Samson is a life-lesson on what happens when a person becomes his own standard of truth.  This lesson can be summarized in a phrase of 3 C’s:  Culture Conditions Conscience.

In Samson’s case, it was the Philistine culture that had influenced his conscience.  He was enticed by the lure of their seemingly advanced lifestyle and by their ladies in general and Delilah in particular.  He thought he could toy with this teasing culture without becoming its captive.

He was wrong!  Before he knew it, Samson was in over his head; and,  he was drowning in a tidal wave of untruth.

There is a truth from physics that says that water will not rise above its own level.  This same truth can be applied to the case of Samson and culture as a whole:  It is incapable of rising above its own level.  Culture has become a ship with no compass:  It is drifting aimlessly into the abyss.

If it is going to improve, culture needs something from the outside to change it.  It was Archimedes who said:  Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.  The lever and fulcrum that culture needs is a return to the principles of absolute truth.

This is a return that can lead to a reawakening of the moral law contained in Scripture.  It can bring back the almost forgotten truth known as the Golden Rule:  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

The key to the Golden Rule is what I call the Godly Rule, and Jesus stated it in the same section of Scripture: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and spirit.

What has been ruling your life?  The fool’s gold of culture or the Golden Rule of God?