A rabbi asked his students, When is it at dawn that one can tell the light from the darkness?
One student replied, When I can tell a goat from a donkey.
No, answered the rabbi.
Another said, When I can tell a palm tree from a fig.
No, answered the rabbi again.
Well, then what is the answer? His students pressed him.
Only when you look into the face of every man and every woman and see your brother and your sister, said the rabbi.
Only then have you seen the light. All else is still darkness.
Without the knowledge of our wretchedness, the knowledge of God creates pride.
With it, the knowledge of God creates despair.
The knowledge of Christ offers a third way, because in him we find both God and our wretchedness.
An old man once said, “For a long period, I puzzled myself about the difficulties of Scripture, until at last I came to the resolution, that reading the Bible was like eating fish. When I find a difficulty, I lay it aside, and call it a bone. Why should I choke over the bone when there is so much nutritious meat for me? Some day, perhaps, I may find that even the bone may afford me nourishment.”
There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you are interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstances permit. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.
Author: Art Turock
Source: Getting Physical (Doubleday)
“There is a beauty, a quiet splendor, in the journey of maturity when we travel with You… year by year, season by season, growing closer, becoming more and more Your servant and Your friend. Help me, Lord, to live so closely to Your truth, so completely in Your will, that wisdom lines my spirit as time lines my face. Keep my heart forever young, my hope in You unfailing. Let me age in autumn colors, dressed in banners of Your love.”
John R. W. Stott once admitted the truth that many of us have felt but failed to confess: “The thing I know will give me the deepest joy — namely, to be alone and unhurried in the presence of God, aware of His presence, my heart open to worship Him — is often the thing I least want to do.”
A Middle Eastern mystic said, “I was a revolutionary when I was young and all my prayer to God was: ‘Lord, give me the energy to change the world.’
As I approached middle age and realized that my life was half gone without my changing a single soul, I changed my prayer to: ‘Lord, give me the grace to change all those who come into contact with me, just my family and friends, and I shall be satisfied.’
Now that I am an old man and my days are numbered, I have begun to see how foolish I have been. My one prayer now is: ‘Lord, give me the grace to change myself.’ If I had prayed for this right from the start, I would not have wasted my life.’
Source: John Maxwell’s “Developing the Leader Within You”
Creative Youth ideas: 1700+ Resources for youth leaders, pastors, ministers to help plan camps, retreats, and meetings using games, illustrations, Children's Worship, Bible Studies, object lessons, sermons, creative ideas,creative activities
“There is a beauty, a quiet splendor, in the journey of maturity when we travel with You… year by year, season by season, growing closer, becoming more and more Your servant and Your friend. Help me, Lord, to live so closely to Your truth, so completely in Your will, that wisdom lines my spirit as time lines my face. Keep my heart forever young, my hope in You unfailing. Let me age in autumn colors, dressed in banners of Your love.”