Self-Examination

The Need To Be Right


Am I the only one who struggles with the need to be right?

Actually, that’s not quite correct. My real issue involves needing others to acknowledge that I’m right.

I get passionate about something, an idea, a cause, a program—nothing wrong with that. But the next thing you know I’m immersed in a knockdown argument with someone who disagrees. I perceive it, but I can’t let it go. Just one last comment, one more tweet, and my desire for the last word becomes an endless series of “one more” responses.

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Past Events are in the Past

Past events are in the past.
What in tar-nation Can You do About Them??

Many of us tend to live in the past. Thinking about what caused their present condition, whatever that may be. These same people continually, and compulsively, trying to find the cause of something or why someone or some thing is interfering with their life.

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Faith in Question

Establishing a Diagnosis

Many people will spend more time examining the vegetables in the supermarket than they will spend evaluating their faith.

Generally speaking, faith is relying on what God has done rather than on one’s own efforts.

In the Old Testament, faith is rarely mentioned. In its place the word “trust” is frequently used, and verbs like “believe” and “rely on” are used to express the right attitude one should display to God.

The classic example is Abraham, whose faith was reckoned as righteousness (Gen. 15:6), and at the heart of the Christian message is the story of the cross: Christ’s dying to bring salvation for all.

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When She Went to Bed (Too Busy for Jesus)

I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Psalm 16:8-9, 11 KJV

I talked to a friend of mine on the telephone last night and she told me that when she retired she took a trip to another country and was away from her husband for four months. I said, “You must have really missed him.” She replied “I was so busy and was so involved in doing things and going places that I didn’t have time to miss him until I went to bed.”

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Keep Things in Perspective

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Mark 8:36

There is nothing like a trip to a cemetery to put our temporal lives in perspective. We live in an “it’s all about me” world, and even as believers, it’s easier than not to get caught up in that faulty mindset and quickly become overwhelmed with the urgency to fulfill my wants, my needs, my feelings, my desires.

Materialism depends upon just such an urgency; advertising appeals to it. If we could just win the lottery, write that bestseller, buy that bigger house, that fancier car, those name-brand clothes, we’d be happier, more fulfilled, more satisfied. And, of course, we’d serve God more wholeheartedly!

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Time for a Heart Check

And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. Hebrews 9:27-28

Years ago I had my then preschool-age granddaughter with me when I made a stop at the cemetery to deliver some flowers. My granddaughter was naturally curious about what sort of place a “sembletery” was, so I did my best to explain. As we read a few markers and headstones, I told her what the dates meant, and we figured the ages of a few of the deceased.

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The Awakening for Women

A time comes in your life when you finally get it. When in the midst of all your fears and insanity you stop dead your tracks and somewhere the voice inside your head cries out ENOUGH! Enough fighting and crying or struggling to hold on. And, like a child quieting down after a blind tantrum, your sobs begin to subside, you shutter once or twice, you blink back your tears and through a mantle of wet lashes you begin to look at the world through new eyes.

This is your awakening.

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How is Your Relationship with God?

Why are some people afraid to get close to God or have a meaningful relationship with him? I think it is because when we sin, or when we commit habitual sin in our lives, we feel guilty over it. God has equipped every one of us with a conscience for this very reason. A guilty conscience is a warning signal that goes off in the mind, letting us know that we have done wrong. The problem is people try to eradicate those guilty feelings without eradicating the cause of it. But this is like taking painkillers instead of treating the disease.

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