Author: admin

Everyone likes a good deal! Business people thrive on making lucrative sales. But what is the limit you are willing to go to get what you want?

Our words have a way of coming back to bite us. Words we used to entice and convince someone to enter an agreement can return to us when they are exposed as false or exaggerated. Promises made carelessly can haunt us in the future. Scripture is clear: We will reap what we sow. Our words are seeds that will take root, sprout up, and eventually bear fruit that we must feed on. For some people, their words make a bitter meal.

How blessed is the one whose words are seeds of grace and truth. Their conversations scatter seeds that produce a pleasant harvest in due season. Such people never have to worry about being caught by words they spoke previously. For, as Mark Twain once mused, people who tell the truth don’t have to remember what they said previously!

The temptation to resort to deceit can seem compelling at the time. But its end is always the same. A time will inevitably come when those very words condemn us. As difficult and costly as it may sometimes appear to speak the truth, it is a lifestyle that leads to peace and contentment.

There is a difference between listening and hearing. There is also a disparity between looking at something and truly seeing it. Too often we are satisfied with listening or looking without fully experiencing and benefiting from what is right in front of us.

Why do some people perceive opportunities and dangers better than others do? Why is it that certain individuals recognize trends as they begin while others are constantly trying to catch up after the fact? Why do some people identify warning signs in peoples’ behavior while others are oblivious until disaster strikes? Why are some people always prepared while others are constantly being caught by surprise? It is a matter of being able to perceive what is before us.

More importantly, why do some people regularly hear God’s voice while others continually experience heaven’s silence? Why do some people recognize God’s activity all around them while others never see a thing? It has to do with our spiritual senses.

Jesus once chastised His disciples because they had spiritual eyes but they were not seeing, and spiritual ears but they were not hearing anything (Mark 8:18). Is it time for a spiritual eye and ear checkup? Are you fully perceiving and experiencing all that God is doing around you?

People often have more wisdom than they know. Years of experience can teach much. Failures as well as successes provide abundant lessons for life. Just because some people do not mount a platform and deliver a lecture does not mean that they do not have much to teach us. The reality is that there is a bonanza of wisdom deposits hidden in the lives of people all around you. Our task is to discover them and to energetically mine them.

Just as treasure hunters develop a discerning eye for locations where there are valuable deposits of minerals or items of great value, hidden from view, so an astute person is always on the lookout for deposits of wisdom in people around them.

You are unlikely to learn from others if you are doing all the talking. Asking good questions rather than making pronouncements is the key to unlocking the wisdom deposits in others. Some people have no idea how much they know! Their modesty leads them to assume that everyone already knows what they know. Yet they are wrong. Not everyone understands how to succeed in business without compromising their integrity or harming their family. Not everyone perceives how to raise their kids in a secular world so they grow up to love God with all their heart as adults. Not everyone is cognizant of how to meet all the demands of the workplace and yet develop a growing and intimate relationship with both God and their spouse.

So, when you come across people who have apparently achieved such fetes, don’t wait for them to wax eloquent about their methodology. Start asking questions! (and taking notes!). Learn from such people, whether they see themselves as teachers or not!

There is no reason for pride when we refuse to back down or withdraw from a quarrel. It is often our pride or anger that causes us to steadfastly argue our cause and to refuse to concede to our opponent. We may view this as a matter of principle. We may loathe the thought of the other person appearing to win the fight. We may feel righteously indignant and compelled to continue arguing our position.

But the fact is that arguments rarely bring about the righteousness of God. They certainly do not bring glory to God’s name. Rarely do they make people think more highly of Jesus. And, contrary to how we may feel, staying in an argument does not take as much courage and inner strength as walking away and refusing to continue the fight.

It often takes far more courage, and infinitely more humility to stop a quarrel than to begin or prolong one. Doing so also reflects the fact that you value people more than winning an argument. That peace between others is a priority over personal vindication. How sad that we often choose to live in the midst of animosity and anger when at any time we could decide to live in peace.

Our youth can be filled with dreams and hopes. That is as it should be. Some of those dreams will become a reality. Others will not. Some passions in our heart were placed there by God and will ultimately bear much fruit. Others are merely our own wishful thinking and depend solely upon us for their fulfillment. Some people spend their entire lives chasing their dreams. They wax eloquent to anyone who will listen about what they intend to do some day, if only they had the right break, or funding, or support, or endorsement. They spend their lives chasing after shadows.

While it is not a bad thing to have dreams, we must realize that God is not obligated to make our dreams come true! He is committed to fulfilling His purposes. When we align ourselves with God’s will, we can expect to see results! God is fully prepared to back up with heaven’s resources, anything He initiates. When the day is done and the dust has settled, it will be God’s purposes that were accomplished, just as He intended.

So what is it that is driving your life? Are you constantly asking God to bless your plans? Are you hounding others to support your goals and to buy in to your vision? Or is your life driven by a vision from heaven?

Lack of information is rarely our problem. We generally know what we should do. It is consistently doing it that is our ongoing challenge! Knowing God’s commands is one thing (and a good thing at that!). But how do you “keep” them? That comes from first clearly understanding what He meant when He issued the command. For example, “Thou shalt not murder” is fundamental. But Jesus said those who harbor anger in their hearts have committed murder. Those who have looked lustfully on someone other than their spouse is guilty of adultery. Have you taken time to carefully consider the full ramifications of what God has instructed and how those commands specifically apply to your life?

Second, we must be diligent to keep or apply those commands to our specific circumstances. We can’t be careless in this regard. Too often we assume that because we know a command or even believe in keeping the statute, that we are actually doing so. That can be a faulty assumption! Keeping God’s laws in our life results from living our lives intentionally. Do we daily choose to conform our lives to God’s word? Do we quickly adjust our habits when they stray from God’s guidelines? Do we regularly fill our heart and mind with God’s word so it permeates our thinking and values? Does it grieve us to know we have trespassed against a clear word from our Lord?

Are you living casually or on purpose? How carefully are you administering your soul?

There are those who will do anything to get ahead. They will manipulate, politicize, gossip, lie, deceive, and trample over others on their way to the top. To these, people are merely a means to an end. They are not the end. Such thoughtless souls leave a trail of embittered and disillusioned people in their wake. They might achieve a higher position in the company or accumulate additional wealth, but their colleagues and associates despise them.

How much better to be the kind of person who knows they have done the right things, regardless of whether it advanced their career or gave them a competitive advantage. Such people know that moving up the corporate ladder is not the most important thing in their life. Having a clear conscience is of far greater value than having deceived someone in order to make another sale.

Integrity can seem like a cumbersome character trait when functioning in a competitive, challenging world. It can often seem that adjusting the truth, or embellishing the facts, is justified in the short term in order to make long-term gains. But it is a deception. Those who make such a bargain are forfeiting what really matters in their life for that which is as fleeting as the wind. Only a fool would make such a deal.

Scripture offers solid advice for those who want to have friends: be friendly! Most people desire to have others in their life that care about them and bring them joy. Friends certainly add color and laughter to our life’s journey. A true friend is a marvelous blessing and ought to be highly valued.

How do we find such people? Too often we are so concerned with how others are treating us, we do not take time to evaluate what kind of friend we have been to others. Do I bring joy to people by my presence? Are people happy to see me come, or relieved to see me go? Do people feel encouraged or discouraged by my words to them? Do people have more or less confidence after they have been with me? Do I leave a trail of laughter behind me or frustration and conflict?

If you are a miserable person, be grateful you have any friends at all. Friendship is a two-way relationship. We give as well as take. Take time to evaluate what your friends receive by being associated with you. Do they become better people? Are they drawn closer to God? Do they laugh more?

Take time to also reflect on the caliber of your friends. Great friends often attract great friends. King David attracted his “mighty men” while he was a fugitive in the wilderness. Jonathan loved David even if it meant losing his throne to him. There was something about David that drew people to him. What kind of people if any, are being drawn to you? Are they positive or negative people? Are they thoughtful or selfish? Critical or forgiving? If “like attracts like,” what do your friends indicate about the way you are conducting yourself?

Taking pleasure in the sins of others is an utterly distasteful habit. Why do we find gossip so enticing? Why do we delight in hearing about the shortcomings of others?

We know that spreading gossip about others is a sin. It demeans people. It also reflects a wicked heart that delights in hearing about the victories of sin in peoples’ lives. Too often Christians have disguised their gossip under the guise of feigned concern or sanctimonious “prayer requests.” Few things can be as active as a church “grapevine!” Why do so many Christians know that gossip is wrong, and yet do it anyway?

Further, why do we listen? Why do we not stop talebearers in their tracks and let them know we will not tolerate such evil talk? More than that, should it not grieve us every time sin gains another victory in someone’s life? Rather than hurriedly spreading the news of peoples’ shortcomings, ought we not to immediately retreat to our prayer closet and intercede for them? Rather than delighting in hearing the details of someone’s fall, should it not break our hearts that the Kingdom of God has suffered another casualty and Christ’s name has been dishonored once again?

Every time we hear of the downfall of one of our Christian brothers or sisters we have an invitation: the invitation is not to criticize or to spread the news, but to intercede.

It is extremely easy to prove your case-if you are the only person in the room! If there is no one to challenge your facts or to offer a different perspective, then your arguments will always appear to be compelling! When we rehearse our position in our own minds, we can feel as if we have an open and shut case. Our reasoning seems airtight.

But as soon as we tell someone what we are thinking, we risk hearing a dissenting voice. Others see things we failed to notice. Our companions may not be as impressed with our reasoning as we are. People may even ridicule our beliefs and decisions.

That is why it is tempting to keep our thoughts to ourselves. If we conduct our life privately, then we don’t run the risk of enduring peoples’ criticism or disagreement. It can seem like a less troublesome way to make decisions.

The problem of course, is that it is more important to do the right thing than it is to protect your decisions from being disagreed with or challenged. While loners don’t often suffer the distasteful experience of being refuted, they also fail to achieve the benefits that result from consulting wise counselors. Don’t let your thin skin or pride cause you to withdraw from others. Such a life leaves you far too vulnerable.