We've all done....No Harm Done

Insensitivity makes a wound that heals slowly!

Words like, “Whoa–she’s put on some weight!” Or a question carelessly asked, “Trish, is it true you and Brian are separated?”

If you were to tell the one who threw these thoughtless darts about the pain they caused, the response would be, “Oh, but I had no intention. . . it was just a slip of the tongue.”  No one’s at fault.  No harm done.

But as the innocent attackers go on their way excusing themselves, a wounded soul is left in the dust.  God says, “He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin” (Proverbs 13:3).

The message is clear.  Excuses are shallow when they come from those who claim to be followers and imitators of God. Insensitive slurs may be accidental—but they’re not excusable!

Keep Pitching!

Reliable

Reliable! Liable means responsible. Re means over and over again.

I’m wondering if someone’s listening who’s a saint of re-liability? If you are, I can’t resist the chance to say two things. The first?  Thank you!

Thank you teachers for the countless Sunday school lessons prepared and delivered with tenderness.Thank you senior saints for a generation of prayer. Thank you missionaries for your bravery in sharing the timeless truth. Thank you preachers. You thought we weren’t listening, but we were.

Thanks to all of you who practice on Monday what you hear on Sunday.  It’s on the back of your fidelity that the Gospel rides. You are reliable! You get the job done.

I said I had two things to say.  What’s the second? Keep pitching! Your Hall of Fame award is just around the corner.

Blind Ambition

Success at all cost.  Becoming a legend in one’s own time. Climbing the ladder.  King of the mountain.  Top of the heap. We call it blind ambition!

We make heroes out of people who are ambitious.  We hold them up as models for our kids. And rightly so, for this world would be in bad shape without people who dream of touching the heavens. Ambition is a gift in the soul which creates disenchantment with the ordinary.

But left unchecked it becomes an insatiable addiction to power and prestige. The husband who feeds his career with twelve-hour days, the social-conscious mother who never misses a chance to serve on a committee.  “It’s all for a good cause,” she fools herself.

Blind ambition.  Distorted values. God won’t tolerate it. Blind ambition is a giant step away from God and a step closer to catastrophe!

God sent a SAVIOR

Every Christmas I read this reminder that came in the mail several years ago. If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist.

But since our greatest need was forgiveness, God sent us a Savior!  Christmas cards. These punctuated promises. Phrases filled with the reason we do it all anyway. He became like us, so we could become like him. Angels still sing and the star still beckons.

Isaiah 9:6 proclaims, “God has given a son to us. His name will be Wonderful Counselor, Powerful God. Prince of Peace.”

Ah, the wonder of it all is that He loves each one of us like there was only one of us to love!