When I was in middle school, my favorite watch was a calculator watch. It had a display screen and the buttons of a small calculator. For its day, it was a high-tech portable device. Unless it's a fairly simple equation, I still use a calculator (on my phone) to figure out most math problems. As much as I love calculators, I'm also glad that there are still people who know how to do long division -- otherwise we might not have calculators anymore! I feel the same way about studying the Bible. While it is good that we live at a time when resources are plentiful, there is still no substitute for reading the Bible. In other words, books written about the Bible are not the same as the Bible itself. Rather than rely on other people to provide you with spoonfuls of the Bible, learn to read it and…
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As a pastor, I have sat across from countless individuals - in my living or at Starbucks - and listened as they shared their longing to live for something more than what they were currently experiencing. The doldrums of life had sucked all the enthusiasm out of them. By coming to me, they were hoping I could wave a magic wand and suddenly fill them with inspiration and purpose. If I had asked them to sum up their current existence in one word, they might have said: Boring Routine Dull Drifting Meaningless No one sets out in life to live like this. None of us ever had a morning where we woke up and our first thought was, "I hope today is a mediocre day." Yet, somehow, somewhere, that is the direction our life swung in. Ironically (or unfortunately), many of the individuals I've met with considered themselves Christians. They…
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Here’s an important truth: The higher your sense of entitlement, the lower your sense of gratitude. The more I feel entitled to something, the less thankful I am for it. Why? Because, obviously, I deserve it and why should I be grateful for something that I am entitled to? We can only be grateful when we know that we do not deserve our blessings and we did not create them. I don't believe it's coincidental that the Greek word for thanks is built on the word for grace. Grace and gratitude are closely related. Grace, in its simplest terms, is unmerited favor. I receive what I did not deserve - and that should lead to gratitude. Gratitude requires humility because entitlement and pride are often found holding hands. A prideful person finds it hard to be thankful. On the other hand, a humble person is grateful for whatever blessing comes…
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Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” - Luke 17:17-19 I’ve looked into my own heart and I know that when it comes to spiritual things, I’m a leper. Without Jesus’ touch, I would have died in my sin and spent eternity separated from him. Perhaps this story in Luke 17 points to a deeper leprosy that lives below the surface, in our spirit – the leprosy of ingratitude. To be unthankful, to be unappreciative, is in fact to be diseased. The only question that remains is what kind of leper will I be? Ungrateful? Too busy to say thank you? When practiced, thanksgiving has the power to transform us into different people. Here is a basic principle that…
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Do you have astigmatism? Astigmatism occurs due to the irregular shape of the cornea or lens inside your eye. It’s your cornea and lens that properly focus the light that enters your eyes, allowing you to see things clearly. With astigmatism, vision becomes blurred at any distance. How is astigmatism treated? One of the most common ways is to wear corrective lenses like glasses or contacts. Or, like me, you might opt for some form of LASIK surgery and reshape the cornea altogether. When it comes to life, do you see the world through eyes of gratitude or do you suffer from the astigmatism of ingratitude? For some of us, to develop the habit of thankfulness might only require corrective lenses – learning to see the world differently. For others, it might require reshaping our entire heart and entire mind.
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