DON’T SETTLE FOR LESS

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”  (Ephesians 1:3)

What are you settling for in your life? What are you willing to compromise for comfort? For happiness? For prestige or wealth?

It’s far too easy to settle for less. Less than the fullness of God’s blessing. Less than God’s purpose for your life. And soon what matters to others seems more important than what matters to God.

Surfing the Internet becomes more important than reading your Bible. Going to the gym seems more important than early-morning prayer. A good tee-time is suddenly the priority over worship time.

Jesus opened His heart to His Father and prayed, “And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began” (John 15:5). Jesus was asking His Father to give Him more! More glory! More blessing!

Don’t settle for less than everything your Heavenly Father wants to give you.

– Adapted from “Fixing My Eyes on Jesus” by Anne Graham Lotz

#6370

SUMMING UP CHARACTER

Character comes from the Greek word describing a marking and engraving instrument. The picture is of an artist who wears a groove on a metal plate by repeatedly etching in the same place with a sharp tool. My character is forged as a set of distinctive marks that, when taken together, draw a portrait of who I really am.

Behavior and character are linked together, but they are not the same thing. Behavior is what I do, one action at a time. “I behaved badly in that situation.” Character is the sum of all my behavior, both public and private, arranged as patterns across the entire spectrum of my life. Any behavior, duplicated and reduplicated, forms a part of my character.

Repeated patterns of behavior wear a series of grooves, which, when put together, form a portrait of me as a person or show a picture of my character…

I have control over my character. I can improve it, change it, modify it, and compromise it. In a world where we seem to have little control, we call the shots when it comes to whether or not our character is diminished. Job said to his friends concerning his character: “I will not deny my integrity. I will maintain my righteousness and never let go of it; my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.” (Job 27:5-6)

If my character goes down, I am the only one who can be blamed. No other person apart from me can allow my character to be compromised.  

-- Dr. Stephen Graves and Dr. Thomas Addington in “A Case for Character”

#5959

A SERIOUS CONCERN

In his first letter to the church at Corinth, the Apostle Paul says (in Eugene Peterson's translation The Message): "I have a serious concern to bring up with you, my friends, using the authority of Jesus, our Master. I'll put it as urgently as I can: You must get along with each other. You must learn to be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common." (I Corinthians 1:10)…

We live in a time when there are too many conflicts, too little cooperation, and too few people who are willing to get along. Simple courtesy, the ability to compromise, and the willingness to think of the larger good -- those things seem to be in short supply. We are reaching the point where the very social fabric is coming unraveled…

I suggest the following steps for each of us and all of us to take:

1. Start by saying "I could be wrong" when expressing your opinions. That simple caveat allows room for the other person to have a different opinion. And it is also the truth – we may well be wrong, even when we have a strong opinion.

2. Practice stating opposing opinions without labeling or cynicism. The ability to explain positions with which we disagree means that we have truly listened and learned. It also makes it more likely that we will convince others to consider our opinions.

3. Agree to disagree without becoming disagreeable. There is nothing which says we must always agree, but our disagreeing can be civil and polite.

4. Don't go thermo-nuclear on every issue. Most issues are not ultimate, so don't ramp up the rhetoric on every little thing.

5. Allow God to speak for Himself and don't presume God agrees with you on every one of your opinions.

Will these five steps eliminate all of the divisions and violence in our society and all the divisions in our churches? Of course not. But we must start somewhere. As the Apostle Paul says, "We must get along with each other." We must. 

-- U.M. Bishop Mike Coyner (1949-2020)

WALKING IN INTEGRITY

"Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out."  (Proverbs 28:6)

Any time you commit to living a more godly life, you are entering enemy territory. Expect spiritual conflict. Whether it is fashionable or not, integrity involves a price, but the cost pales in comparison with the cost of compromise. People can ruin your reputation, but no one can take away your integrity. 

-- Paul Kroger, from an article entitled “Integrity at Work” in “New Man” magazine, Nov/Dec, 1994

#5647

GOOD ADVICE

Jesus said, “A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so also you must love one another.”   (John 13:34)

“Tuesdays with Morrie” is a memoir by American author Mitch Albom about a series of visits Albom made to his former sociology professor Morrie Schwartz. In it Albom quotes Schwartz as saying, “There are a few rules I know to be true about love and marriage: If you don't respect the other person, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don't know how to compromise, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can't talk openly about what goes on between you, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don't have a common set of values in life, you're gonna have a lot of trouble.”

Good advice. But I think the same could be said about relations in general. We seem to have “a lot of trouble” these days because we don’t respect others, because we don’t know how to compromise, because we don’t talk openly about our differences, and because we don’t have a common set of values. That’s true in marriages, in families, in churches, in communities, in government, in the country, and in the world.

-- David T. Wilkinson


#4672