Faith is not mindless belief

Posted on September 22, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

We often talk about blind faith. I don’t really like that term because I don’t think real faith is mindless belief – that’s more likely to be gullibility. Faith is facing 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. And it is this kind of faith, I believe, that speaks most powerfully to people today.
I don’t think it has ever been more powerfully expressed than in three lines found scratched onto a wall in the Auschwitz concentration camp: ‘I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining. I believe in love even when I don’t feel it. I believe in God even when He is silent.’
Faith is our own spiritual perception of what our innermost being knows is true.

Posted in Faith, God, God in us, Half heartedness, Spiritual Insight | Leave a comment

I wonder why we don’t wonder?

Posted on September 22, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

One of humankind’s greatest technological achievements happened in nineteen sixty nine when Neil Armstrong took his first steps onto the Moon’s surface. Millions of people around the world stayed home to watch it happen live on TV.
The second time humans landed on the Moon, however, there were relatively few people who stayed home to watch it; and the third time astronauts landed, NASA had to arrange for them to play a simulated game of golf in order to get the TV networks to cover it live. Here we had the greatest technological achievement in all human history, and by the third time we had become bored with it.
It makes you wonder if we have lost our capacity to wonder at things that are wonderful. I wonder if that’s why so many seen unable to wonder at the wonder of God; we’re too easily distracted

Posted in Distraction, Foolishness, God, Wonder | Leave a comment

Success is what you are

Posted on September 22, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

There’s never been a time in history when so called ‘successful’ people have been so idolised and admired. For most of us success is judged by the accumulation of wealth, prestige and power. But when judged by their level of happiness in life, you would have to say that many of the ‘successful’ haven’t been very successful at all.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, though, had a far more realistic concept of success:’To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better; to know even one other life has breathed easier because you lived – This is to have succeeded.’
Success is not just what you do, but what you are.

Posted in Character, fame, Success | 1 Comment

Only worry on Wednesday

Posted on September 22, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

J. Arthur Rank, the English movie mogul, made a decision to do his worrying only on Wednesdays. He would write down his worries, put them in his worry box and forget about them until the following Wednesday. What he found was that when he opened his worry box most of his worries were already settled and consequently there was nothing left to worry about.
It’s estimated that forty percent of what we worry about concerns things that will never happen, thirty percent on things from the past that can’t be changed, twelve percent on criticism by others – mostly untrue, ten percent about health – which gets worse when you worry, and only eight percent about real problems that have to be faced.
The best advice comes from Jesus. ‘Worry about doing what God wants you to do, and let him worry about the rest.’

Posted in Anxiety, Faith, Overcoming, Positive Thoughts, Worry | Tagged | Leave a comment

Wealth is in the mind

Posted on September 22, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

According to the LA Times you need a net worth of ten million dollars to be able to call yourself rich; that’s how much you’d need today to match the lifestyle of the average nineteen twenty five millionaire. Paradoxically, a report by investment brokers Neuberger & Bergman revealed that fifty five percent of people whose assets actually were in that range didn’t consider themselves wealthy.
But wealth really is in the mind. Queen Victoria, one of the richest people of her age, didn’t sleep in as good a bed as I do, didn’t have access to the sort of health care that I have, certainly did enjoy pain free dental treatment, and couldn’t listen to any of the great orchestras of the world any time she chose, like I can. If she was rich, then what am I?
The willingness to see and count our blessings is what makes us rich.

Posted in Blessings, Contentment, Riches, Taking stock, thankfulness, wealth | Leave a comment

Toxic assets

Posted on September 22, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

The world economic crisis intoduced us to a new type of asset. It’s called a toxic asset. Toxic assets are loans where the value of the security is now less than the amount of the loan. It’s not really an asset at all, it’s a liability.
But toxic assets are not just a banking phenomenon; they can also be spiritual. In this sense a toxic asset is anything we once thought of as a benefit, but which we now realise is hurting us spiritually. Some people are aware of pleasures that once seemed to make life more exciting but are now destroying their lives. For others the undisciplined pursuit of some ambition may be doing the same.
Jesus said; ‘What profit is there if you gain the whole world but lose your soul.’ Don’t allow your assets to turn toxic. Remember, the only assets that last forever are faith, hope and love

Posted in Spiritual blindness, Toxic assets | Leave a comment

‘Just stay in the race’

Posted on September 22, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

When Cecil B. DeMille was making the movie Ben Hur, he decided that Charlton Heston should drive the chariot himself in that great chariot race scene, rather than just using a stunt man double. However, learning to drive a four horse chariot wasn’t easy, but after days of practice, Heston said: ‘I think I can drive the chariot all right, Cecil, but I’m not sure I can actually win the race.’ To which DeMille replied: ‘Heston, you just stay in the race, and I’ll make sure you win.’
I think that’s what God wants to say to all of us who face times of challenge: ‘You just stay in the race, and I’ll make sure you get there.’ Jesus said: ‘Make doing what God wants you to do your first priority, and he’ll provide the rest.’ When you’re in the centre of God’s will you don’t have to worry about not finishing well.

Posted in Living Life, Perseverance, Persistence, Positive Thoughts, Victory, Winning | Leave a comment

‘But the work shall not be wholly lost’

Posted on September 7, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

I like reading the inscriptions on tombstones. Often they speak of sadness, sometimes of futility, and sometimes of hope for something better. Some people even compose their own. Benjamin Franklin was one. The epitaph he wrote for himself says: ‘The body of B. Franklin, printer, like the cover of an old book its contents torn out, and stripped of its lettering and guilding, lies here, food for worms. But the work shall not be wholly lost: for it will, as he believ’d, appear once more in a new & more perfect edition, corrected and amended by the author.’
No matter how much medical science can do to prolong life, and no matter how much we are able to put it out of our minds, we all know that what the Apostle Paul called ‘the last enemy’ will eventually catch up with us. That’s when you need the faith and hope of an epitaph like Ben Franklin’s.

Posted in Death, Epitaphs, Hope, Hope of Glory, Life, Life's journey | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Tread softly

Posted on September 7, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

There’s a wonderful line in one of Yeats’ poems that says: ‘Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.’ I used to remind myself of these words when my daughters were in their teens and were full of wonderful ideas that didn’t fit with the sensible plans I had for them. Most people in the second half of life think that dreams belong to youth and as we grow older we lose our capacity to dream. But we never lose it completely. Deep within us there remains a sense that there is still something more – inner longings that we can’t quite identify and never seem able to satisfy.
But the Bible knows what those longings are. It says: ‘God has set eternity in our hearts,’ and that ‘here, in this world of time and space we do not have an enduring home; we are seeking the one that is yet to come.’

Posted in Dreams, Hope, inner yearning, Kingdom of God, Living Life, Spirituality | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The two adventures

Posted on September 7, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

Dr Paul Tournier says that within each of us is an instinct for adventure. It takes different forms in different people, but it’s the thing that makes life worth living. However, he also says that ultimately there are only two types of adventure. He calls them: ‘the Quality Adventure’ and the ‘Quantity Adventure’. The Quality Adventure is that illusive something that our deepest instincts tell us we were made for. But there’s a price tag that goes with it is; one that most of us are not willing to pay. So we opt instead for the Quantity Adventure; we try to make up in quantity what we lack in quality; usually in the accumulation of things which in themselves are quite legitimate, but ultimately are unsatisfying.
Discovering our adventure of living is all about discovering that spiritual reality of the Kingdom of Heaven within us.

Posted in Accomplishments, Achievement, Adventure, Life, Life's journey, Living Life | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment