Never give up

Posted on January 26, 2017 by vincentsmithauthor

There’s a famous story about Winston Churchill being invited to speak at his old school – the famous Harrow Public School – and the essence of the story is that Churchill stood to his feet before the assembled school and in true Churchillian voice simply said: ‘Never, never, never give up.
Coming from most of us, those words would sound like a platitude. Coming from Churchill, whose whole life had been a series of meteoric rises followed by crushing defeats, and who, despite his many shortcomings, virtually alone rallied the British people to keep on fighting during three years of humiliating defeats, those words carried a weight of authority that still speak to us as we face our life battles.
The Bible puts it this way: ‘Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap a harvest if we don’t give up.’

Posted in Courage, Perseverance, Persistence | 2 Comments

We are all like icebergs

Posted on January 26, 2017 by vincentsmithauthor

People say there’s nothing more awe inspiring than standing on the deck of a ship watching an iceberg passing by. Icebergs, of course, are dangerous to shipping because what we see is only a small part of what’s actually there. At least seventy percent of the berg is under the surface, hidden from view; hence the danger to ships that get too close.
Well, in some ways we are like icebergs. What people see is only a small part of who we really are. And even more than that, what we understand about ourselves is only a small part of what makes us tick.
But if there’s one thing the Bible makes clear it is that God sees and understands everything about us. And not only does God see and understand, God forgives, and desires to heal us inwardly so that we may become more and more creatures of the light, rather than those that hide in darkness.

Posted in Awareness, Perceiving, Personal Growth, Self assessment, understanding | Leave a comment

Being free to choose

Posted on January 26, 2017 by vincentsmithauthor

I remember a Monday morning when I woke up and remembered that I’d finally become eligible for long service leave, and that if I didn’t want to, I wouldn’t have to go to work that day. But the strange thing was, my next thought was that I’d actually prefer to go to work that day. It taught me one of the great lessons of life: that even the most onerous of things become acceptable when you have a choice and decide to do them, rather than being made to.
C.S. Lewis said the same about our relationship with God. People often think of it as a kind of bargain in which God says, ‘If you keep a lot of rules I’ll reward you, and if you don’t I’ll do the other thing.’ But the truth is that every time we make a choice we are turning our innermost self into something a little different from what it was before – something in tune with God, or the opposite.

Posted in Choices, Freedom | 1 Comment

Filling our minds with the best

Posted on January 26, 2017 by vincentsmithauthor

Anxiety truly is the great modern plague. For most of us it’s a vague sense of unease that we live with, its intensity varying depending on the size of the problem we face. The most obvious outcome is that we live joyless lives. Now the Bible says that joy is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit – one of the basic characteristics of a person who has real faith in God. Alongside it is that other ‘fruit of the Holy Spirit,’ peace – a deep inner peace that is always accessible to us, even when we are pushed to our limits.
But the practice of living with those ‘fruits of the Spirit’ requires the daily practice of faith. That’s why the Bible says: ‘You’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true and noble…the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Do that, and the God of peace will be with you.’

Posted in Positive Thoughts, Spiritual nourishment | Leave a comment

‘Look to him and be radiant.’

Posted on January 26, 2017 by vincentsmithauthor

Most of us believe that joy comes because of improving our environment, but life constantly teaches us that it doesn’t. It may bring momentary happiness, but our common experience is that it’s only temporary. The pleasure of a new car, a new job, a new house tends to fade as we become used to it. But joy is an inner state of being.
One of my favourite Bible verses says: ‘Look to him and be radiant.’ Joy comes as we consciously choose to live our lives with trust in God, making God’s will our primary focus in life. It’s a bit like getting a suntan. You don’t have to take special courses or buy expensive equipment; you just expose yourself to the warm rays of the Sun. Similarly, if you want to know joy in life, you don’t have to wait until you win the Lotto, you choose to live your life for God, day by day, and joy follows.

Posted in Faith, Joy | 1 Comment

The peace that comes from talking things over with your best friend

Posted on January 26, 2017 by vincentsmithauthor

The greatest enemy of joy is anxiety. To a certain extent anxiety is natural; it helps us avoid danger. Sometimes, though, it becomes a type of mental illness because it bears little relation to reality. But for most of us anxiety is what Norman Vincent Peale called ‘an unhealthy and destructive mental habit.’ It’s become a way of thinking that makes us miserable. When that happens the only way to overcome it is by changing the way of thinking. That’s why the Bible says, ‘Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.’
It’s all about the peace that comes from talking things over with your best friend.

Posted in Anxiety, Peace, Prayer, Worry | 2 Comments

There a few things lovelier than candlelight

Posted on January 16, 2017 by vincentsmithauthor

There a few things lovelier than candlelight. When we want to create a romantic mood nothing does it better. When we want to remember a loved one, nothing expresses our feelings more deeply than lighting a candle. One candle is all it takes to dispel the darkness of a room and one candle is all it takes to dispel our fear of the dark. That’s why candlelight has always been seen as a symbol of Christ’s presence. The Bible describes his coming into the world as light shining in the darkness, giving light to all people. The prophet Isaiah wrote of him, ‘The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. They lived in a land of shadows, but now light is shining on them.’ So, whenever you find your gaze irresistibly drawn to the light of a candle, remember that Jesus is the light who shines also for you.

Posted in Jesus, Light, Light of Life | Leave a comment

Incarnation

Posted on January 16, 2017 by vincentsmithauthor

When he came to the throne in 1999, King Abdullah of Jordan caused great consternation amongst his staff by disguising himself as a taxi driver and driving a cab around Amman. He did it so that he could mingle with his people and learn what life was like for them and what they were saying and feeling, as opposed to what his advisers were saying and feeling. Abdullah today is widely admired as a reformer and influence for peace in the turbulent Middle East. He is not only a wise and compassionate monarch, but also an illustration of God who, though creator and sustainer of all that is, came to this world in Jesus Christ, who lived amongst us and now represents us in that dimension of life that is eternal – one who truly understands what life is like for us and is always present for us.

Posted in God with us, Incarnation, understanding | Leave a comment

Only one of me

Posted on January 16, 2017 by vincentsmithauthor

A man who purchased a Hummel Christmas plate for his wife for twenty one dollars and ninety five cents was assured that it would increase in value because it was the first Christmas plate to be produced by that famous German company. Well it certainly did. He went to an auction recently and saw an identical plate sold for more than one thousand dollars. The remarkable growth in value is because demand for that type of plate has increased dramatically. And the reason for it is that the original mould had been broken, and so there were now only a limited number of Christmas plates available, making then sought-after collectors’ items.
So it is with people: there is only one mould per person and no opportunity for replacement. That’s why to God each of us is of infinite value.

Posted in Self Image, Self respect, Spiritual Insight, Uniqueness | Leave a comment

If you’ve got this, you’ve got everything.

Posted on January 16, 2017 by vincentsmithauthor

Some years ago a man named Danny Simpson was arrested in Canada for robbing a bank of six thousand dollars. He was sent to prison, but the gun he used was sent to a museum. He’d used a pistol which turned out to be a rare example of a .45 calibre semi-automatic made by the Ross Rifle Company of Quebec City, in 1918. He hadn’t realised that that pistol was worth around one hundred thousand dollars – much more than what he’d stolen. If he had just known what he carried in his hand, he wouldn’t have robbed the bank.
Maybe that’s what the Bible means when it says: ‘Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, ‘I will never leave you; I will never abandon you.’ If you’ve got that, you’ve got everything.

Posted in Contentment, Faith, God's faithfulness, God's love, satisfaction | Leave a comment