When the status quo is undesirable or unacceptable, we are capable of envisioning other scenarios. We can see other steps that might be taken. And, as William Drayton says, that’s when change starts: “when someone sees the next step.”
We may agree with many people on some points, but we are fortunate if we find even one or two people in a lifetime who are in accord with us on most points. What a joy, then, when we find those few special people with whom we may truly harmonize.
Education is more than learning the facts needed to ply a particular trade; it’s the awakening of our imagination to new and better worlds. To be truly educated is to be deeply changed. Educations says what Dr. Seuss said: “Oh, the places you’ll go!”
Too often, we think our skills don’t matter. But when we pour ourselves into our skills for the good of others, great things are almost always the result. We’ve heard it all our lives, but it’s still true: it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Life is full of choices, and some of them are so far-reaching that our lives will never be the same after we make them. The character trait of “discernment” is the “power to tell the good from the bad, the genuine from the counterfeit.”
Rectitude is the only way to have any good influence on those around us. What we are speaks much more loudly than what we say or do, and so let’s resolve to be people of integrity. People of justice. People who simply do what is right.
The ultimate aim of civility and good manners is to please: to please one’s guest or to please one’s host. To this end one uses the rules laid down by tradition: of welcome, generosity, affability, cheerfulness, and consideration of others.
Shortcuts in laying the foundation may not be noticeable in the early years, but eventually the faulty foundation begins to crack and the entire structure is in jeopardy. So if your life has become shaky, you need to get back to the fundamentals.
In reacting against blind, uncritical belief, let’s not overreact and refuse to believe anything at all. Belief is not a vice but a virtue, a character trait that trustfully opens the door to many of the best things this world has to offer.
If physical tools help us, there are some other, intangible tools that help us even more. Knowledge is a tool. Wisdom is a tool. Talent is a tool, and so are experience, enthusiasm, and a host of other human qualities of character and competence.
Sin is no ordinary problem, and its cure will not be ordinary either. Only Jesus Christ, the very embodiment of God Himself, has the power to get rid of the ...
If our present position is that we have said no to Christ, we’re on the side of the enemy. But Christ invites us to change our minds and obey the ...
Fervent and faithful, at least to the best of his understanding, Apollos needed to be shown “the way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:26). And to his credit, when Priscilla ...
As Paul reminded Timothy, the Scriptures are able to make us “wise for salvation” (2 Timothy 3:15). Whatever may seem right to us, we would do well to listen humbly ...
“There are two freedoms: the false, where man is free to do what he likes; the true, where a man is free to do what he ought.” Freedom is not ...
Paul described the Christian’s new life in Colossians 3:1-17. We have new goals, thoughts, and habits. With Christ as our Lord, we live under a new authority. And having been ...
The stability of the promised kingdom would be such that it “shall stand forever.” The ups and downs of history would not faze it, and no enemy could conquer it. ...
God said to David, “Your throne shall be established forever.” The kingdom of which God spoke would not be geographical but spiritual (John 18:36) — and this is the very ...
The path to heaven passes through the territory of repentance, and that is a painful place to be. But the horror of our sins has to become real to us. ...
It is in the gospel that God has revealed His plan. The righteousness He is willing to provide is based on faith in His Son. We might have preferred some ...
Real faith involves more than accepting the facts of the gospel intellectually. As it grows to maturity, faith turns into confidence and trust — a trust that will risk everything ...
Whether in the operation of his intellect, emotions, or will, Abraham’s point of departure was always this: what has God said? And he continues to be the spiritual forefather of ...