Posts Tagged: circumstances
“CIRCUMSTANCES AND DOING STUPID STUFF”
I use my circumstances as excuses (even I know they aren’t reasons!) for doing stupid, evil stuff. I didn’t sleep well (or enough), It’s cold and grey. It’s rainy. My wife is gone for several days, and I miss her. My kids won’t speak to me. I have to wait tables. I can’t find a better teaching position. I’m an addict. On and on and on . . . . Ad infinitum ad nauseam.
But here is the truth: I do stupid, evil stuff because I choose to do so.
And here is an even deeper truth: I can choose not to do stupid evil stuff. Instead, I can choose to do something loving for someone else. I can choose to praise God. I can choose to do the next right thing.
Circumstances are not excuses for anything. Circumstances are . . ., well let’s face the truth: Circumstances are circumstances!
Profound, isn’t it?
Well, maybe it is profound in a rather obvious way. Simple truths are the ones I most often trip over. They could be stepping stones, if I would remember to walk in the light of God. Instead I go stumbling around in the darkness of my own self-pity.
And that is the problem for me—self-pity, not circumstances. I feel sorry for myself. No amount of grey, rainy days can make me make bad decisions. Not sleeping well can make me sleepy, but not automatically grumpy.
Years ago I read the following: “No matter of ocean can sink a ship unless it gets inside.” I need to get out of the import business, when it comes to circumstances.
What would happen if I acted as if I believe what I’ve written here?
I think I’ll make some good choices and find out!
“Fear vs. Faith”
Perhaps I’m just being lazy today, or perhaps I’m being wise. Maybe I’m being both. In any case, I just read this, and thought it was so good that I would pass it along.
I don’t think that Jon Gordon is a Christ-follower, but he is most certainly a helpful writer. I found his words so true and calming that I decided to simply send you a link to his free (yes, it really is free!) weekly newsletter. You can, of course, subscribe to it yourself, and receive it in your e mail weekly.
Here is the link: www.jongordon.com/newsletter.html, accessed 11-14-2016.
DTEB
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
- “Christian Speech” October 26, 2024“Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Foulkes, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Ephesians, writes the following, which I quote at some length: “29. Now the […]
- “God is in the Details” October 11, 2024“The devil is in the details.” (A general saying, often quoted by lawyers, reporters, and negotiators.) “God is in the details.” (Me, almost certainly not original.) “Luke 12:7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Jesus) God does not micromanage, but God […]
- “Grandma’s Pump” October 8, 2024When I was a little critter, I would stay at my grandma’s house for a night or two sometimes. I liked this for a lot for many reasons. One thing I liked about staying with her was that Grandma’s house was much more technologically advanced than ours was. For one thing, she had indoor water—sort […]
- “Wearing the #14 Wrong-Side-Out” October 5, 2024Pete Rose, #14, is dead. Many of the old guys with whom I play softball watched him play and appreciated him greatly. I do as well. He was one of the greatest players who ever played the game. Yes, he admitted (eventually) to betting on baseball. But many of us still regard him as one […]
- “Passing Along the Love (and a Link)” October 4, 2024Several years ago, a friend of mine put me onto a daily meditation by Richard Rohr and friends. I don’t read them all the time, but I probably should. They are good! I thought that today’s writing was especially good, and I also figured that this would be a good way to post something. I […]
- “Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses” September 19, 2024“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after […]
- “A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands” September 11, 2024A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years. So, while I was running hot water over my […]
- “Waiting and Seeking” September 10, 2024“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD […]
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