ETERNITY IN OUR HEARTS

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end."  (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NKJV)

Have you looked at God’s stars and marveled as they lit the velvet-dark sky? Watched a sunset in which the sky is tinted in reds and oranges on the horizon to a deep tone of blue above and delighted in God’s paintbrush? Then you’ve seen Him make things beautiful in their time.

Though we appreciate our changing world, we only understand so much of it. Even the best scientists cannot describe every detail of our world, from its first day to the present. And if they could, they still couldn’t so combine it with beauty that we could appreciate both simultaneously. God is so much greater than we can be. None of us can fully aspire to His greatness.

Though we’re not up to the task of full understanding all He does, this glorious God still wants us near Him. We can’t meet Him on His own terms, yet He wants us so much that He offered us – through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross -- the great blessing of eternity in our hearts. Even the beauty of a magnificent world can’t fill our hearts and souls. God has given us the desire to spend all eternity with Him.  Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1-3 NKJV)

So while you’re gazing at the beautiful sky, don’t forget to praise the One who created it and you – and be thankful that you were one He decided to share eternity with. 

– Adapted from “Daily Wisdom to Satisfy the Soul,” published by Barbour Publishing, Inc. Used by permission.

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OUR ESTEEM IS GRACE-ESTEEM

“Now God has us where He wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all His idea, and all His work. All we do is trust Him enough to let Him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving.”  (Ephesians 2:7-9 MSG)

The greatest need of any person is to be known and loved. The cry is strong; the human desire is deep. "I want to be somebody. I want my life to count." Closely related to the feeling of worth is the perception of who we are. When we esteem something or someone, we highly value it or the person. To esteem ourselves is to have high regard for ourselves. Many of the problems in human relations stem from a person's lack of self-esteem.

[However,]... our worth and value is given. We are called not to muster it up within ourselves, but to receive the gift given to us, a gift of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. God has declared our value. Our value is not rooted in self-esteem, based only on ourselves. Our value is discovered in grace, which is rooted in the greatness and graciousness of God...

God's love makes it possible to know we are valued. We cannot put ourselves down or debase ourselves. We can know our true worth because we are children of God. Our esteem is rooted in the amazing grace of God. Our esteem is grace-esteem.

-- H. Eddie Fox in “Grace-Esteem” 

#6456

A REMINDER ON THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11

Editor’s Note: While I have shared this quote in the past, it bears repeating as each new generation needs to be reminded of the truths that Billy Graham shared right after the horrific events of 9/11. -- DW

A REMINDER ON THE 25^TH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11 

No matter how hard we try, words simply cannot express the horror, the shock and the revulsion we all feel over what took place in this nation on Tuesday morning [September 11, 2001]… Today, we say to those who masterminded this cruel plot, and to those who carried it out, that the spirit of this nation will not be defeated… The Bible's words are our hope: "God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea" (Psalm 46:1,2)…

The lesson of this event is not only about the mystery of iniquity and evil, but secondly, it is a lesson about our need for each other… A tragedy like this could have torn this country apart, but instead it has united us and we have become a family…

Yes, there is hope.  There is hope for the present because I believe the stage has already been set for a new spirit in our nation.

One of the things we desperately need is a spiritual renewal in this country.   We need a spiritual revival in America.  And God has told us in His Word, time after time, that we are to repent of our sins and we're to turn to Him and He will bless us in a new way… And from the Cross, God declares, "I love you. I know the heartaches and the sorrows and the pains that you feel.  But I love you."…

But now we have a choice: whether to implode and disintegrate emotionally and spiritually as a people and a nation -- or, whether to choose to become stronger through all of this struggle -- to rebuild on a solid foundation.  And I believe we're in the process of starting to rebuild on that foundation.  That foundation is our trust in God…

My prayer today is that we will feel the loving arms of God wrapped around us, and will know in our hearts that He will never forsake us as we trust in Him. 

-- Reverend Billy Graham (1918-2018)

#6455

THE PRACTICE AND ART OF GRACIOUSNESS

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”  (Ephesians 4:32 NIV)

Graciousness is not accidental. It is a practice -- a deliberate way of moving through the world -- and it is an art -- something shaped, refined, and expressed with beauty.

Paul’s words in Ephesians remind us that graciousness is never self-generated. It begins with God. We forgive because we have been forgiven. We show compassion because compassion has been shown to us. We extend kindness because kindness has already been poured over our lives in Christ. Grace received becomes grace expressed.

But this is where the art comes in. Because extending grace to others is rarely simple. It requires patience when someone is short with us. It requires humility when we feel justified in our frustration. It requires restraint when our emotions want to run ahead of our faith.

Graciousness is the quiet choice to treat others not according to how they’ve acted, but according to how God has acted toward us. As God had been gracious toward us in Christ, we should be gracious toward others.

And when we practice it -- again and again -- it becomes something lovely. A faithful witness. A sweet fragrance. A beautiful reflection of the God who has been endlessly gracious with us. 

-- SOUND BITES Ministry™ 

#6454

THE PRACTICE AND ART OF HOPEFULNESS

“For surely I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NRSV)

Peter Steinke’s book “A Door Set Open: Grounding Change in Mission and Hope” contrasts hopefulness and hopelessness. Hopefulness, according to Steinke, stirs imagination, expands horizons, influences events, energizes, and creates a sense of buoyancy. Hopelessness shrinks the radius of possibility, becomes apathetic, entraps, minimizes options, resigns to existing conditions, and loses heart. Steinke also writes that hopefulness remembers the future so that we will not remain trapped in the present arrangement of things.

Since reading Steinke’s book, the phrase Remember the Future has lingered in my mind. At first, the words are disorienting. Remember points backward, future looks forward. Yet in every discussion, deliberation, discernment, and decision, a leader must give deep and conscientious consideration to the future -- to the future of the mission, to future contexts, to future generations, to a future with hope. Hope carries us across the threshold of “can’t.” We must always remember the future. 

-- Robert Schnase 

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