It’s not just the hearing that makes faith grow

Posted on September 29, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

When Mother Teresa visited Australia, some years ago, a Franciscan monk was assigned to be her guide and gofer. He was thrilled at the prospect and dreamed of how much he would learn from her. But he never got the opportunity to actually sit quietly and talk to her because there were always other people who wanted to meet her. So, when the tour was over and she was about to fly to New Guinea, he asked if he could pay his own fare and sit next to her on the plane so that he could just sit, listen and learn from her.
Mother Teresa looked at him and said: ‘You have enough money to pay the airfare to New Guinea?’ ‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘Then give that money to the poor,’ she said. ‘You’ll learn more from that than anything I can tell you.’
It’s not just the hearing that makes faith grow, it’s the doing of it.

Posted in Actions, Faith, Faithfulness, Spiritual growth | Tagged | Leave a comment

The God of peace

Posted on September 29, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

Robert Frost said: ‘More people die of worry than die of work, because more people worry than work.’ Someone else said that you should only worry if your birthday cake collapses from the weight of the candles; or if your car horn goes off accidentally and remains stuck as you follow a group of Hell’s Angels; or if your tax refund cheque bounces. Other than that you don’t have anything to worry about.
The Bible, though, acknowledges that we all do worry and no matter how hard we may wish it to, it won’t go away. The only way to deal with it is by a conscious discipline of replacing negative, worrying thoughts with positive, faith-filled thoughts – renewing our minds by the practice of prayer with thanksgiving. ‘Put it into practice,’ the Bible says, ‘And the God of peace will be with you.’

Posted in Anxiety, God, Peace, Peaceful Sleep, Prayer, Renewed Minds, thankfulness, Worry | Leave a comment

‘At his age you’d think he would have learned to hate a little more.’

Posted on September 29, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

In the midst of South Africa’s struggle against apartheid, one of the most respected voices for racial harmony and human dignity was Archbishop Desmond Tutu. But even his closest colleagues were sometimes upset by his moderation and wished he’d be more aggressive with his opponents. One of them once said: ‘At his age you’d think he would have learned to hate a little more.’ But Desmond Tutu believed in the gospel and he was true to it. He knew that love is more powerful than hate and is the only thing that will finally overcome it.
‘There is no fear in love,’ the Bible says, ‘For perfect love casts out fear.’ When we reach the end of our life’s journey, the only things that will count are, as the Bible says, ‘faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love.’

Posted in Hatred, hope and love, love, Loving other people | Leave a comment

Knowing how much is enough

Posted on September 29, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle used to teach that virtue was the mid-point between two extremes. So, for example, there is recklessness on one extreme and cowardice on the other; but courage is the mid-point. It’s neither being fearless, like a reckless person who hasn’t the sense to be afraid; nor is it to be paralysed by fear. Courageous people face their fear and do what has to be done. For Aristotle it was all about keeping things in balance.
Keeping things in balance is also part of the ancient wisdom of the Bible. Take contentment for example. The Book of Proverbs says: ‘Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me just as much as I need.’ Anything less is a worry and anything more is fine if you receive it, but not necessary for happiness. But knowing how much is enough, that is contentment.

Posted in Balance, Balance life, Contentment, Poverty, Riches | Leave a comment

Faith is having the courage to face our doubts

Posted on September 29, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

I’ve had the privilege of meeting three recipients of the Victoria Cross, our highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy. I asked one of them what heroes feel when they do their heroic acts, and he told me they feel very frightened. That comment highlights the truth about courage. Courage is not fearlessness – if a person feels no fear then there is no great effort required to face danger. Courage is facing danger despite our fears.
In the same way, faith is not mindless belief – that’s more likely to be gullibility. Faith is having the courage to face our doubts and digging deep beyond our conflicting emotions to that bedrock conviction that God is there, even though we can’t see him and at that moment may not feel him. The Bible describes that faith as the firm foundation that makes life worth living.

Posted in Confidence, Courage, Doubt, facing our fears, Faith, God | Leave a comment

Faith has to be practical

Posted on September 29, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

I heard about a young woman who took her fiancé home to meet her parents. After dinner the father took him aside asked him what he did for a living. He replied that he was a student of the Bible. So the father asked how he was going to support his daughter, and the young man said: ‘I will study and God will provide.’ ‘What about the engagement ring?’ the father asked. ‘God will provide,’ the young man said. ‘And children?’ asks the father. ‘How will you support them?’ ‘Don’t worry,’ he says. ‘God will provide.’ Discussing it with his wife later that night, the girl’s father said: ‘Well, he has no job and no plans, but the good news is he thinks I’m God.’
However, faith has to be practical as well as idealistic, because real faith is a confidence in God’s faithfulness that becomes a reality in and through what we do.

Posted in Actions, Faith, Faithfulness, Trust in God | Leave a comment

All things are possible,’ even if not in the way you expect

Posted on September 29, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

Tony Campolo once received a telephone call from a woman who, in despair, had asked him a week earlier to pray in church for her husband who had cancer. The call was to tell him her husband had died. Tony didn’t know what to say, but she quickly put him at ease when she said: ‘Don’t feel bad. When he came to church that Sunday he knew he was going to die soon, and he hated God. He would lie in bed and curse God. The more his anger grew, the more miserable he made everybody around him. It was awful to be around him. But after you prayed for him, a peace came over him and a joy came into him, and the last three days have been the best days of our lives. He wasn’t cured, but he was healed.’
Well, as Jesus said: ‘If you can believe, all things are possible,’ even if not in the way you expect.

Posted in Faith, Healing | Leave a comment

Pound for pound

Posted on September 29, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

I read about a court case in a small American town where a farmer got sued by the local baker for selling him one pound bricks of butter that actually weighed less than the full pound. At the trial, the judge asked the farmer if he’d checked the scales he used to weigh the slabs of butter.
‘I don’t use scales, your honor,’ he replied. ‘I use balances, and for a weight I use the one pound loaf of bread that I buy from the baker.’
The judge then declared him innocent and told the police to investigate the baker’s business practices instead.
It reminds me that Jesus taught us to be very careful about the way we judge others and weigh them up, because God will use the same weights and measures for us. That’s why he taught us to pray: ‘forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.’

Posted in Forgiveness, Judgement, Justice | 4 Comments

The prizes eventually go to those who persevere

Posted on September 29, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

When Dino De Laurentis was looking for a lead actress for his movie, King Kong, his son asked him to interview a young actress named Meryl Streep. He took one look at her and said to his son, in Italian, ‘Why do you bring me this ugly thing?’ What he didn’t know was that she spoke Italian and understood what he was saying. But she didn’t allow his contempt to ruin her dream. She went on to become the most esteemed actress of her generation, and holds the industry record for the most Academy Award acting nominations. Years later she said of that encounter: ‘the most liberating thing I did early on was to free myself from any concern with my looks.’
In the great drama of life, the prizes eventually go to those who persevere, believing in themselves no matter how many times they get put down.

Posted in Perseverance, Prizes, Reward, Self Image, Self respect | Leave a comment

Describing the fragrance of a rose

Posted on September 29, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

The Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu used to say: ‘Those who know, do not say; and those who say, do not know.’ It makes me think of the intellectual arrogance of those who so quickly ridicule the faith that has sustained countless millions, inspired the ideals that created our humanitarian society and energised the minds of many of its greatest thinkers. Do they really think that their infinitesimally microscopic understanding of the Universe is sufficient for them to pontificate on the meaning behind it all? Lao-Tzu also once asked a group of people which of them knew the fragrance of a rose; they all said they did. Then he asked them to put it into words, and all of them were silent.
In the same way, just because God is beyond description doesn’t mean God is beyond knowing.’

Posted in Arrogance, Beauty, Bigotry, God, humility | Tagged | Leave a comment