Several Mistakes to Avoid

          We all know by now that it’s a good thing to avoid mistakes.  While we can learn from them it’s evident that life would be more efficient and less stressful if we’d learn by observing the mistakes of others, with the result of making better choices than they did.

Can most people be wrong?

Jesus said that most people make the wrong decision (Matthew 7:13). Busy-ness and stress seem to occupy most people’s time and energy; they coast along with three assumptions that lead to a major mistake. 

What are the three assumptions?

Overwhelmingly, people of all times and all places in life have accepted three common assumptions that the Bible tells us are not true.  

1. God is tolerant.
2. People are good at heart.
3. We can earn God’s approval in some way. 

These three ideas are universally popular, but lead to devastating consequences — a dreadful mistake.  

Why are these assumptions incorrect?

• If God is tolerant, then He is not holy.
• If people are good, then where does sin and selfishness and evil originate?  It’s not a mere lack of education or absence of spiritual awareness that keeps mankind from goodness.
• If there were some way for us to earn or deserve God’s approval, some way to remove all of our imperfections, then God would not have sent His Son Jesus, the Messiah, to suffer and die to redeem mankind.  God’s Word then would have listed all the merits and demerits, and we would be on our own to work hard to assure our place in Life after death.

Solving That Problem!

          Got a problem? 

Talk it out

Figure it out

Work it out

This only lacks one thing to say:

Remember to pray!

Got frustration? 

Something’s wrong

Something’s incomplete

Something needs improvement

It’s very important today:

Don’t forget to pray!

Got a plan? 

You need words

You need examples

You need thinking

This might take a little time,

But don’t forget to pray!

Got a response?

Your Creator knows you, 

You know that’s true

You can get headed to Heaven 

You don’t really want to stray! 

So talk to Him: pray! 

Got a challenge?

Life is for learning

Life is for growing up

Life is for you choosing what to do

You’d better not delay:

Now is the time to pray.  

                         + + +

by Elaine Hardt ©2015 

Can We Just "Get By"?

      Many people believe in hard work and good luck, but not in God’s wisdom and supernatural intervention.  Maybe you know someone like this?

     Many people don’t get serious about who God is; they generally ignore what He says. Their philosophy of life is “get by.”

     Jesus got to the crux of the matter when He told His disciples, “. . .You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37).

                        What does God really expect of me?

     Nothing less than complete obedience will do.  If we don’t obey His requirements for salvation we will be lost.  If we don’t obey His requirements for living we are wasting our life, and we are being a stumbling block to others who need to know Him as Lord.  Getting by is never good enough.

                                 What’s holding us back?

1. Tradition, culture
2. Apathy
3. Misunderstandings in the past
4. Beliefs that take the place of worshipping only the God of the Bible
5. Rebellion against God — what we think He caused to happen, what we don’t like about the Bible, what we don’t like about His plan of salvation and His way of life for us.
6. We think we’re doing OK and don’t want to appear to be fanatic.
7. Peer pressure from people around us
8. We may have convinced ourselves that we are Christians because we used to go to Sunday School when we were kids.
9. (Can you add to this list?) . . . 

     Does God allow people to make up their own rules? 

Learning How to Disagree

There is something good about disagreements

When you share your point of view;

It can help broaden our communication,

And I can learn something from you. 

It gives us both something to think more about

As I learn the better to explain;

I’m looking for sources of information:

Which is confusing? What is plain?

There is time to control my emotions then

Because the facts must come to light,

So I’m experiencing an inner struggle

To discover what’s really right.

Here’s where I must logically choose my words

Because I want to know what’s true;

And God gives me this time to grow and stretch my faith

with peace of mind; that’s practical, too.

Learning is always somehow helpful to me

When I remember to pray,

“Father, give me the proper attitude and words,

May what I do please You today.”

By Elaine Hardt ©2013

The 14 Benefits of Disagreement

What can you achieve by disagreement?
    Have you had a good disagreement lately?
        What else can you add to this list of benefits?

Disagreement can lead to learning.
Disagreement puts your attitude into the spotlight.
Disagreement needs boundaries, do you agree on that?
Disagreement calls for discussion with mature behavior.
Disagreement gives you opportunity to practice patience.
Disagreement means you should polish up on your logic.
Disagreement could be how you grow in examining evidence.