A wife of noble character is her husband's crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones. -- Proverbs 12:4
It's been a pretty rough year financially at our house...and it seems to have been at most everyone else's house as well. We made the decision that one of us would go get a second job for a few months. My wife decided she should do it for a few good reasons that I couldn't really argue with, so that's what we're doing.
As the husband and father I feel like it's my responsibility to take care of my family. My initial reaction was that I need to be the one to work extra if it's needed. But my wife is a wife of noble character and her arguments made sense, so I conceded.
Men, hopefully you did a good job of picking a wife of noble character. If you did, you need to really appreciate her and let her know about it. The proverb above says such as wife is her husband's crown. The best. Treasure her and appreciate her. She makes you a better man, I promise!
Wives, take care when you guide us guys where we need to be. He's the spiritual leader of your family and needs your help. There is a fine distinction between constructive guidance and relentless nagging, and the Bible specifically warns against the nagging. Most men don't want to admit it but our egos are very fragile, especially where you are concerned. Treat it with care and watch as your man becomes something greater than you ever could have imagined.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Famous Last Words
On Tuesday night, Arizona executed a man who was convicted of murdering a Phoenix man during a 1989 robbery. He was 50 years old and by all accounts lived a very troubled life, including multiple encounters with law enforcement. His last words were:
"Well, I'd like to say thank you to my family for being here and all my friends, and Boomer Sooner."
The story of his execution has been maybe the most popular thing on the internet over the past 24+ hours, largely due to his choice of words. I can't really fathom myself being in a position to be executed like that, but if I were I think there would be a lot more going on in my mind than a school fight song. He did at least accomplish one thing...his last words are famous.
Contrast that with another convict's last words. I think these are a little more appropriate:
We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." -- Luke 23:41-43 NIV
This man who spoke with Jesus right before dying may not have lived a life very dissimilar from Boomer Sooner Boy. Whatever the circumstances that led him to crucifixion, his mind was clearly on what was about to happen to him. For whatever reason, he knew who it was that was hanging on the cross next to him and his one simple request was to be forgiven and saved by Jesus.
This is a cool story for several reasons, but especially because it shows me that it's truly never too late for any of us to earnestly seek Jesus and find grace and because it also reminds me that there is no sin too small to be insignificant and no sin too large for forgiveness to be ours.
Praise Jesus that He would take the beating we all should have to take and make it possible for us to live forgiven and gain eternity!
"Well, I'd like to say thank you to my family for being here and all my friends, and Boomer Sooner."
The story of his execution has been maybe the most popular thing on the internet over the past 24+ hours, largely due to his choice of words. I can't really fathom myself being in a position to be executed like that, but if I were I think there would be a lot more going on in my mind than a school fight song. He did at least accomplish one thing...his last words are famous.
Contrast that with another convict's last words. I think these are a little more appropriate:
We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." -- Luke 23:41-43 NIV
This man who spoke with Jesus right before dying may not have lived a life very dissimilar from Boomer Sooner Boy. Whatever the circumstances that led him to crucifixion, his mind was clearly on what was about to happen to him. For whatever reason, he knew who it was that was hanging on the cross next to him and his one simple request was to be forgiven and saved by Jesus.
This is a cool story for several reasons, but especially because it shows me that it's truly never too late for any of us to earnestly seek Jesus and find grace and because it also reminds me that there is no sin too small to be insignificant and no sin too large for forgiveness to be ours.
Praise Jesus that He would take the beating we all should have to take and make it possible for us to live forgiven and gain eternity!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Friends
There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother. -- Proverbs 18:24 NLT
Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. -- Philippians 2:3-4 NLT
I want to preface this writing by letting you all know that I am a big proponent of technology. I believe that it's power is in how small the world becomes with it's use. I have been able to talk to long, lost friends I never thought I'd talk to again because of it. There are those who are half a world away from each other and yet they can look each other in the eye and have a conversation. Medical advances are staggering in their significance and effectiveness. It is truly amazing!
But I think it's also served to make some of us less sociable. It's served to lock us into our homes where we don't get out quite as much and greet people in person. Perhaps we don't always form the close, personal relationships we once did. For example, I polled my daughter today regarding her social life. She has over 400 "friends" on her list in Facebook. When I asked her how many of those 400, counting family members, that she would consider to be true friends her answer was maybe 20. Her boyfriend is someone she's never met in person. She met him via friends on Xbox Live. They talk every day and they've seen pictures of each other, but never met face to face (and as a Dad, I think I'm OK with that!).
We have at the same time become both more social on a global scale and less social on a personal scale. I would imagine a big percentage of you have a large number of people you might call friends but are really just acquaintances. But do you have people around you that you trust to be honest with you...even brutally honest when it's called for? Do you have people in your life for whom you would do anything that you know would also do the same for you?
I count myself blessed to be surrounded by men and women of God that I know I can count on and who know they can count on me. It hasn't always been that way. I don't make friends easily and I don't fully trust people easily either. Maybe that's a good thing...I don't know.
But I know that having true friends who will "stick closer than a brother" is wonderful. If you don't feel that you have that I urge you to seek it out and, when you find it, protect it with the Holy Spirit. Nurture it through prayer. Build on it continually and keep it for life.
Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. -- Philippians 2:3-4 NLT
I want to preface this writing by letting you all know that I am a big proponent of technology. I believe that it's power is in how small the world becomes with it's use. I have been able to talk to long, lost friends I never thought I'd talk to again because of it. There are those who are half a world away from each other and yet they can look each other in the eye and have a conversation. Medical advances are staggering in their significance and effectiveness. It is truly amazing!
But I think it's also served to make some of us less sociable. It's served to lock us into our homes where we don't get out quite as much and greet people in person. Perhaps we don't always form the close, personal relationships we once did. For example, I polled my daughter today regarding her social life. She has over 400 "friends" on her list in Facebook. When I asked her how many of those 400, counting family members, that she would consider to be true friends her answer was maybe 20. Her boyfriend is someone she's never met in person. She met him via friends on Xbox Live. They talk every day and they've seen pictures of each other, but never met face to face (and as a Dad, I think I'm OK with that!).
We have at the same time become both more social on a global scale and less social on a personal scale. I would imagine a big percentage of you have a large number of people you might call friends but are really just acquaintances. But do you have people around you that you trust to be honest with you...even brutally honest when it's called for? Do you have people in your life for whom you would do anything that you know would also do the same for you?
I count myself blessed to be surrounded by men and women of God that I know I can count on and who know they can count on me. It hasn't always been that way. I don't make friends easily and I don't fully trust people easily either. Maybe that's a good thing...I don't know.
But I know that having true friends who will "stick closer than a brother" is wonderful. If you don't feel that you have that I urge you to seek it out and, when you find it, protect it with the Holy Spirit. Nurture it through prayer. Build on it continually and keep it for life.
Monday, October 25, 2010
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Sing it Aretha!!! "R E S P E C T, find out what it means to me!"
Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. -- Exodus 20:12 NIV
You may recognize this as one of the ten commandments. It happens to come right after the first group of the ten which all deal with God's commands for how we are to treat Him. God commands our respect by telling us to not put anyone or anything ahead of Him. The next thing we're told is to honor our parents.
We live in a world where it seems like a lot of people want to demand respect from others. Only God is capable of that. The best we can do is to hope people will respect us and to do everything we can do to make ourselves worthy of it, and that is not too easily done unless we're in a place where we respect God first. Everything else flows from that.
I see news articles and quotes from people often that it seems like they feel disrespected and they get really upset about it. There are parents who get really frustrated and think they can demand respect from their kids. There are kids who desperately want their parents to respect them. Clearly, respect is a big deal.
So how do get someone to respect you? Is there an eight-step program that results in you having their respect? I don't think so. Psalm 62:7 says:
My salvation and my honor depend on God ; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Honor and respect being very closely related, this tells me that it all depends on us respecting and honoring God first. Not only is our salvation His doing, but the way we are viewed by the world does too!
If your kids hear you tell them to live one way and see you living another, they won't respect you. If you are a kid who behaves horribly, who acts like even having to look at their parents is a burden, your parents won't respect you. If your peers catch you talking about them behind their back or if you are the office suck-up to the boss, they are going to see you for what you are.
Respect and honor depend on our behavior and only on our behavior. We can't force it out of them. All we can do is love God and behave the way we were created to behave. We can put that on display and be genuine about it. After that, it's out of our hands.
Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. -- Exodus 20:12 NIV
You may recognize this as one of the ten commandments. It happens to come right after the first group of the ten which all deal with God's commands for how we are to treat Him. God commands our respect by telling us to not put anyone or anything ahead of Him. The next thing we're told is to honor our parents.
We live in a world where it seems like a lot of people want to demand respect from others. Only God is capable of that. The best we can do is to hope people will respect us and to do everything we can do to make ourselves worthy of it, and that is not too easily done unless we're in a place where we respect God first. Everything else flows from that.
I see news articles and quotes from people often that it seems like they feel disrespected and they get really upset about it. There are parents who get really frustrated and think they can demand respect from their kids. There are kids who desperately want their parents to respect them. Clearly, respect is a big deal.
So how do get someone to respect you? Is there an eight-step program that results in you having their respect? I don't think so. Psalm 62:7 says:
My salvation and my honor depend on God ; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Honor and respect being very closely related, this tells me that it all depends on us respecting and honoring God first. Not only is our salvation His doing, but the way we are viewed by the world does too!
If your kids hear you tell them to live one way and see you living another, they won't respect you. If you are a kid who behaves horribly, who acts like even having to look at their parents is a burden, your parents won't respect you. If your peers catch you talking about them behind their back or if you are the office suck-up to the boss, they are going to see you for what you are.
Respect and honor depend on our behavior and only on our behavior. We can't force it out of them. All we can do is love God and behave the way we were created to behave. We can put that on display and be genuine about it. After that, it's out of our hands.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
A Prayer For You!
Do you want to know one of the best things about prayer? A person doesn't even have to believe in Christ to be the beneficiary of a prayer. All over the world on any given day I promise you there are multitudes of prayers being delivered on behalf of those who don't yet know Christ. As parents, we pray for our young ones long before they are born again. As peers we pray for those in our lives who are going through difficult or trying times, or maybe those whom we know are struggling with any of a variety of ailments, addictions, or diseases.
Isn't it comforting to know that, in the darkest times of your life, there were very likely people praying to God on your behalf? People have prayed for you in good times and in bad times, when you were young and even today. People even prayed for you before you were born. In fact, Jesus himself said a prayer to God right before he was arrested, and part of that prayer was for you! Check it out:
"My prayer is not for them (the disciples) alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." -- John 17:20-26 NIV
I know you just read it, but come back and read it again and again. Jesus cared enough to pray for us, all of us, to come together "that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me". Let's pray together about all things in Jesus' name, just like He asked.
Isn't it comforting to know that, in the darkest times of your life, there were very likely people praying to God on your behalf? People have prayed for you in good times and in bad times, when you were young and even today. People even prayed for you before you were born. In fact, Jesus himself said a prayer to God right before he was arrested, and part of that prayer was for you! Check it out:
"My prayer is not for them (the disciples) alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." -- John 17:20-26 NIV
I know you just read it, but come back and read it again and again. Jesus cared enough to pray for us, all of us, to come together "that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me". Let's pray together about all things in Jesus' name, just like He asked.
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