“What sort of New Year’s Resolution should a Christian make?”


The practice of making New Year’s resolutions goes back over 3,000 years to the ancient Babylonians. There is just something about the start of a new year that gives us the feeling of a fresh start and a new beginning. In reality, there is no difference between December 31 and January 1. Nothing mystical occurs at midnight on December 31. The Bible does not speak for or against the concept of New Year’s resolutions. However, if a Christian determines to make a New Year’s resolution, what kind of resolution should he or she make?

Common New Year’s resolutions are commitments to quit smoking, to stop drinking, to manage money more wisely, and to spend more time with family. By far, the most common New Year’s resolution is to lose weight, in conjunction with exercising more and eating more healthily. These are all good goals to set. However, 1 Timothy 4:8 instructs us to keep exercise in perspective: “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” The vast majority of New Year’s resolutions, even among Christians, are in relation to physical things. This should not be.

Many Christians make New Year’s resolutions to pray more, to read the Bible every day, and to attend church more regularly. These are fantastic goals. However, these New Year’s resolutions fail just as often as the non-spiritual resolutions, because there is no power in a New Year’s resolution. Resolving to start or stop doing a certain activity has no value unless you have the proper motivation for stopping or starting that activity. For example, why do you want to read the Bible every day? Is it to honor God and grow spiritually, or is it because you have just heard that it is a good thing to do? Why do you want to lose weight? Is it to honor God with your body, or is it for vanity, to honor yourself?

Philippians4:13tells us, “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” John 15:5 declares, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” If God is the center of your New Year’s resolution, it has chance for success, depending on your commitment to it. If it is God’s will for something to be fulfilled, He will enable you to fulfill it. If a resolution is not God honoring and/or is not in agreement in God’s Word, we will not receive God’s help in fulfilling the resolution.

So, what sort of New Year’s resolution should a Christian make? Here are some suggestions: (1) pray to the Lord for wisdom (James 1:5) in regards to what resolutions, if any, He would have you make; (2) pray for wisdom as to how to fulfill the goals God gives you; (3) rely on God’s strength to help you; (4) find an accountability partner who will help you and encourage you; (5) don’t become discouraged with occasional failures; instead, allow them to motivate you further; (6) don’t become proud or vain, but give God the glory. Psalm 37:5-6 says, “Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.”

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GRIN AND SHARE IT: “Suspicious Women”


Suspicious Women

Sometimes women are overly suspicious of their husbands….

When Adam stayed out very late for a few nights, Eve became upset.

“You’re running around with other women,” she told her mate.

“Eve, honey, you’re being unreasonable,” Adam responded. “You know
you’re the only woman on earth.”

The quarrel continued until Adam fell asleep, only to be
awakened by a strange pain in the chest. It was his darling Eve
poking him rather vigorously about the torso.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Adam demanded.

“Counting your ribs,” said Eve.

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“What is the Golden Rule?”


The “Golden Rule” is the name given by Bible translators to a principle Jesus taught in His Sermon on the Mount. That is to say, the actual words “golden rule” are not found in Scripture, just as the words “sermon on the mount” are also not found. These titles were later added by Bible translation teams when describing different passages of Scripture in order to make Bible study a little easier. The phrase “Golden Rule” began to be ascribed to this passage of Scripture during the 16-17th centuries, as it was already a popular saying at that time. This is important to note because when talking about the Golden Rule, Christians sometimes unknowingly and incorrectly ascribe it to Jesus’ actual words.

What we call the Golden Rule refers to Matthew 7:12: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” Jesus knew the human heart and its selfishness. In fact, in the preceding verse, He describes human beings as “you who are evil.” This is important to grasp because, as He continues to say in v. 16, human beings still know how to give good gifts to their children even though they are evil and selfish by nature. This verse leads into the Golden Rule which says to actively pursue and treat others as we would like to be treated in all things.

The English Standard Version translates it well: “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” By ending the “rule” with the “Law and the Prophets,” Jesus has condensed the entire Old Testament into this principle. This was something the Jews of Jesus’ day would have known by their knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures, as Moses wrote: “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:18). Again, we see even here the implication that people are naturally self-lovers due to sin (Jeremiah 17:19), so it gave the audience a place to start in how they should treat others: how they want to be treated.

As good as the Golden Rule is in its command to treat others, it also reminds us how selfish we really are! Jesus’ audience could relate to this command (as the Jews of Moses’ day could) because people universally demand respect, love, and appreciation whether they deserve it or not. Jesus knew this and used it to show how His people should treat others: how they themselves wanted to be loved, respected, and appreciated. This rule to treat others with such high regard is also the second in the greatest of commandments, followed only by the command to love God Himself (Matthew 22:39).

What is interesting to note about this tenet of the Christian Scriptures is that no other mainline religious or philosophical system is its equal. The biblical Golden Rule is not the “ethic of reciprocity” that is so commonly espoused by non-Christian moralists. Frequently, liberal critics, and/or secular humanists attempt to explain the golden rule as a common ethic shared by all religions. This is not the case. When Jesus gave this command in Matthew 7:12, it was radically different from all other forms of it—except for the Jewish Torah—used up to that time or since. The difference is subtle, but very important. The biblical Golden Rule is a positive command to show active love, as opposed its negative, passive counterparts. A quick survey of Eastern religions and philosophies will expose this common inversion, some of which have been described as the “silver rule” due to its inverted command:

• Confucianism: “Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you” Analects 15:23.
• Hindusim: “This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you” Mahabharata 5:1517.
• Buddhism: “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” Udana-Varga 5:18

The Golden Rule as stated by Jesus is radically different in that it is an active, positive command to do good to others, as opposed to the negative, restraining commands to not hurt others. The command to love is what separates the Christian ethic from every other system’s ethic. In fact, the Bible is so radical in its command to actively love that Christians are told to love even their enemies, something unheard of in other religions (Matthew5:43-44; cf. Exodus 23:4-5).

Obeying the Christian ethic and imperative to love others is a mark of a true Christian (John 12:35). In fact, Christians cannot even claim to love God if they don’t actively love other people as well because, “If someone says, ‘I love God’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20). The Golden Rule encapsulates this idea and is unique to the Judeo-Christian Scriptures

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GRIN AND SHARE IT: “Did You Know That. . .”



Did You Know That…

In Shakespeare’s time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes
when you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed
firmer to sleep on. that’s where the phrase, “goodnight, sleep tight”
came from.
*
The sentence “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” uses
every letter in the alphabet. (developed by Western Union to test
telex/twx communications)
*
The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a
letter is uncopyrightable.
*
When opossums are playing ‘possum, they are not “playing.” They
actually pass out from sheer terror.
*
The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year
*
because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the
weight of all the books that would occupy the building.
*
The term “the whole 9 yards” came from W.W.II fighter pilots in the
Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the . 50 caliber
machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded
into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got “the
whole 9 yards.”
*
The phrase “rule of thumb” is derived from an old English law which
stated that you couldn’t beat your wife with anything wider than your
thumb.
*
An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.
*
The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the
“General Purpose” vehicle, GP
*
The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each
gallon of diesel that it burns.
*
Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.
*
No NFL team which plays its home games in a domed stadium has ever
won a Super Bowl.
*
The first toilet ever seen on television was on “Leave It To Beaver.”
*
Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.
*
In Cleveland, Ohio, it’s illegal to catch mice without a hunting license.
*
It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a
year’s supply of footballs.
*
Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating
are already married.
*
There are an average of 178 sesame seeds on a McDonald’s Big Mac bun.
*
The world’s termites outweigh the world’s humans 10 to 1.
*
The 3 most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca-Cola, and
Budweiser, in that order.
*
When Heinz ketchup leaves the bottle, it travels at a rate of 25
miles per year.
*
Ten percent of the Russian government’s income comes from the sale
of vodka.
*
On average, 100 people choke to death on ball-point pens every year.
*
In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all the world’s
nuclear weapons combined.
*
It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a
month after the wedding, the bride’s father would supply his son-in-law
with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer, and because
their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the “honey month”
or what we know today as the “honeymoon.”
*
In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old
England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to
mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. It’s where we Get the
phrase “mind your P’s and Q’s.”
*
Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into
the rim or handle of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they
used the whistle to get some service. “Wet your whistle,” is the phrase
inspired by this practice.

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“What should be the Christian view of Harry Potter?”


As the popularity of the Harry Potter series continues to grow, Christian parents are left with some difficult questions. Some believe that the magical world of Harry Potter is little more than harmless fun and fantasy. Others fear that these books and movies are an invitation to the occult. Regardless of a parent’s viewpoint, Harry Potter has become unavoidable, as he now boldly lines the shelves of children’s bookstores, public libraries, and schools. Without question, Christians should have some concerns and need to use careful discernment in deciding whether or not to allow their children to indulge themselves in the world of Harry Potter.

Harry Potter books and films are full of stereotypical magic. Witchcraft and wizardry are central themes, and the lead roles are played by wizards, witches, and other magical creatures. Although the characters practice casting spells, reading crystal balls, etc., they do not communicate with spiritual (supernatural) forces. While this may be considered a positive, one definite negative is that there is no higher power to answer to at all.

Unlike other fantasy children’s stories that contain witches and the like, such as C.S. Lewis’ “The Chronicles of Narnia,” Harry Potter does not have a positive biblical worldview. The distinction between good and bad can become blurred as both the “good” and “evil” characters participate in different types witchcraft and magic. The Bible clearly condemns all kinds of witchcraft, sorcery and spiritism (Deuteronomy 18:10-11). Philippians 4:8 tells us to “fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable.” So does this mean that all Christians should avoid Harry Potter altogether?

For some families, the answer to this is yes. The Harry Potter series may not be for young or spiritually immature children, as they may not have the ability to distinguish between reality and fantasy, right and wrong, or good and evil. At best, they may be left confused about God’s views about the occult, and at worst, they may become enchanted by the magical existence of Harry and his friends, becoming desensitized to occultic lifestyles. In addition, there are issues such as violence, lying, and mildly foul language that each Christian family will be sensitive to at different levels.

On the other hand, there are positive aspects to Harry Potter. Love is shown through selflessness and self-sacrifice; Harry’s own mother died to save him. There is a sense of justice, as good always triumphs over evil. Harry faces his fears and finds courage, even risking his own life for greater good. Friendships are defined by loyalty and unending devotion, even to the point of death.

To any family that is facing the debate with their children about whether or not they should be allowed to watch or read Harry Potter, good advice is found in the Scriptures: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). The Bible tells us that God cares about what happens to us, and so we should give all of our worries to Him (1 Peter 5:7).

Christian parents have the responsibility to not only teach their children about the virtues that please God, but also about the spiritual forces that we are up against (Ephesians 6:12). When a child gets to a point where he or she has a personal relationship with God, and is able to fully discern between what is good and bad according to God’s standards, reading Harry Potter books or watching the movies can serve as not only entertainment, but can empower parents to raise up wise Christian thinkers

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GRIN AND SHARE IT: “The Obituary”



The Obituary

The newspaper obituary operator received a phone call. The woman on
the other end asked, “How much do funeral notices cost?”

“Five dollars per word, ma’am,” came the response.

“Good, do you have a paper and pencil handy?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Okay, write this: ‘Cohen died.’ ”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, I forgot to tell you there’s a five-word minimum.”

“Hmmph,” came the reply. “You certainly did forget to tell me that.”
After a moment of silence, the woman continued, “Got your pencil and
paper?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Okay, print this: ‘Cohen died, Cadillac for sale.’ “

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“Contemporary Christian music – is it honoring to God?”



The question of contemporary Christian music (CCM) and whether it is God-honoring and appropriate for worship services is one that has been debated for decades. Oddly enough, what should be a source of loveliness and peace—the sweet strains of music—very often produces among Christians hostile disagreements over selections in worship music. In fact, it has become a leading cause of congregational infighting and even church splits! To our shame, there are believers who sulk and fume from their pews if their particular brand of musical taste is not satisfied. Studies and surveys in churches are showing that music ministers are among the most stressed people in Christian ministry.

Musical tastes are as varied as church members themselves. There are those who love the old hymns while others much prefer a more contemporary flavor. Some music ministers have attempted to appease everyone by blending the old with the new. Other churches offer two separate worship services each Sunday—one being traditional and the other a contemporary service. Still, there are churches that tenaciously cling to old-fashion tradition. I know of a local pastor who is fond of bragging, “You won’t hear any contemporary music in our church! We remain true to the old hymns!” What he fails to realize is that even the old hymns were “contemporary” when they were first written. In contrast, there are churches in which the music is played at an ear-splitting volume resembling that of an armored vehicle crossing a minefield.

There are those who argue the old hymns are a tangible link to our past. This is certainly true, for these hymns have surely withstood the test of time. Many of the old hymns, too, are rich in Christian doctrine. The lyrics of Charles Wesley or Martin Luther, as examples, give magnificent instruction in sound Christian theology. But there are also some wonderful Christian artists glorifying the name of Christ Jesus with their talents. Far too often we allow our own personal taste in music to become the standard for what music is glorifying to God. Instead, we should allow, even promote, Christian freedom and grace in musical preferences. Our primary concern should be for well-being and harmony in the body of Christ, and sometimes that means suborning personal preferences to the greater good.

People are always asking if drums or keyboards or, yes, if electric guitars belong in the church. All musical instruments are, in themselves, neither good nor bad. So the question is this: Does a style of music edify believers while bringing honor and glory to Christ Jesus? If so, then what difference does it make if the accompaniment is provided by a piano or a guitar? Perhaps Ephesians 5:19 is the answer to this issue in that it promotes worshipping the Lord and encouraging other believers in three different “styles” of music, “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.”

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GRIN AND SHARE IT: “The Memorial”


The Memorial

One Sunday morning, the pastor noticed little Alex was staring up
at the large plaque that hung in the foyer of the church. The
plaque was covered with names, and small American flags were mounted on
either side of it.

The seven-year old had been staring at the plaque for some time,
so the pastor walked up, stood beside the boy, and said quietly,
“Good morning Alex.” “Good morning pastor,” replied the young man,
still focused on the plaque.

“Pastor McGhee, what is this?” Alex asked. “Well, son, it’s a
memorial to all the young men and women who died in the service.”
Soberly, they stood together, staring at the large plaque. Little Alex’s
voice was barely audible when he asked, “Which service, the 9:00
o’clock or the 11:00 o’clock?”

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“Will there be marriage in heaven?”



The Bible tells us, “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven” (Matthew 22:30). This was Jesus’ answer in response to a question concerning a woman who had been married multiple times in her life —whom would she be married to in heaven (Matthew 22:22-28)? Evidently, there will be no such thing as marriage in heaven. This does not mean that a husband and wife will no longer know each other in heaven. This also does not mean that a husband and wife could not still have a close relationship in heaven. What it does seem to indicate, though, is that a husband and wife will no longer be married in heaven.

Most likely, there will be no marriage in heaven simply because there will be no need for it. When God established marriage, He did so to fill certain needs. First, He saw that Adam was in need of a companion. “The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him’” (Genesis 2:18). Eve was the solution to the problem of Adam’s loneliness, as well as his need for a “helper,” someone to come alongside him as his companion and go through life by his side. In heaven, however, there will be no loneliness, nor will there be any need for helpers. We will be surrounded by multitudes of believers and angels (Revelation 7:9), and all our needs will be met, including the need for companionship.

Second, God created marriage as a means of procreation and the filling of the earth with human beings. Heaven, however, will not be populated by procreation. Those who go to heaven will get there by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; they will not be created there by means of reproduction. Therefore, there is no purpose for marriage in heaven since there is no procreation or loneliness.

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GRIN AND SHARE IT: “Little Johnny”



Little Johnny

After church, Johnny tells his parents he has to go and talk
to the minister right away. They agree and the pastor greets
the family.

“Pastor,” Johnny says, “I heard you say today that our bodies
came from the dust.”

“That’s right, Johnny, I did.”

“And I heard you say that when we die, our bodies go back to
dust.”

“Yes, I’m glad you were listening. Why do you ask?”

“Well you better come over to our house right away and look
under my bed ’cause there’s someone either comin’ or goin’!”

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