Declaring my genius

Posted on January 4, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

A customs officer once asked Oscar Wilde if he had anything to declare. He replied: “Only my genius.” Fifteen years later, alone and broken in prison, he reflected on his life and said. “I have been a spendthrift of my genius… The gods gave me almost everything. But I let myself be lured into senseless and sensual ease…Tired of being on the heights, I deliberately went to the depths in search for new sensation… I forgot that every little action of the common day makes or unmakes character, and that therefore what one has done in the secret chamber, one has some day to cry aloud from the house-top. I allowed pleasure to dominate me and I ended in horrible disgrace.”
The sad story of Oscar Wilde recalls the words of scripture: ‘Pride precedes destruction; an arrogant spirit appears before a fall.’

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Give, and it shall be given to you.

Posted on January 2, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

Two young students once engaged the great pianist Paderewski to give a recital.Unfortunately the concert raised much less than the agreed fee, but they handed it over with a promise to pay the rest as soon as they could. Paderewski gave them their money back and told them to deduct their expenses plus ten percent for themselves and then give him the rest. Years later when he was premier of Poland, desperately trying to feed his people after the devastation of war, President Herbert Hoover arranged for thousands of tons of food to be shipped to his starving people. Later, Paderewski went to Paris to thank him. Hoover brushed aside his thanks and said, “You may not remember it, but I was once a struggling college student whom you helped.”
It’s another example of that great life principle Jesus taught: “Give and it shall be given to you.”

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Lions and lambs

Posted on January 2, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

A few years ago a Roman Catholic parish in Holland decided hold a special service for the blessing of family pets in order to mark World Animal Day as well as the Feast of Saint Francis, who, of course, was well known as a lover of animals. The service included lots of unscripted participation from the congregation – especially the dogs. But not everyone was happy. Some cat owners complained about the number of dogs present and those with canaries and budgies were a bit worried about the cats. But apart from that it all went off pretty well, and I’m sure Saint Francis would have been delighted. The parish priest described it as a little foretaste of the day to come when, as the Bible says, “the lion will lie down with the lamb and God will make all things new.”
May that day come soon.

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An unknown region with a well-know inhabitant

Posted on January 2, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

We know very little about the after-life but someone once described it as “an unknown region with a well-know inhabitant.” I remember an old man I once ministered to just before his death, who told me how, in London, at the end of World War One, he found a destitute war veteran dead in a park. The only thing in the man’s pocket was a scrap of paper with these words scrawled on it: “The sky o’er-head is dark and drear, the way I cannot see. But my Master stands above the clouds. For him to know is enough for me.”
Richard Baxter wrote:
“My knowledge of that life is small,
the eye of faith is dim.
But it’s enough that Christ knows all,
and I shall be with him.”
As we confront the uncertainties of this world , only faith can produce the great hope that overcomes the silent desperation of life.

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What’s beyond the door

Posted on January 2, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

A.M. Hunter used to tell the story of a man suffering from a terminal illness, who asked his doctor to tell him about what lay ahead for him after he died. As the doctor fumbled for a reply, he heard a scratching at the door, and then he had his answer. “Do you hear that?” he said. “That’s my dog. I left him downstairs, but he’s grown impatient, and has come upstairs and he can hear my voice. He has no notion of what’s beyond the door, but he knows that his master is there. Isn’t it the same with you? You don’t know what lies beyond the door you’re facing, but you know that your Master is there. So there is nothing to fear.”
Jesus said: “Don’t let your hearts be troubled, you believe in God, believe in me. In my father’s house are many rooms. I am going there to prepare a place for you, that you also may be where I am.”

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Sink or swim

Posted on December 31, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

Some years ago researchers placed two sets of laboratory rats in separate tubs of water and left them there to see what they would do. However, every so often they would lift one group of rats out of the water, then put them back in. The results were quite startling. Those rats that got lifted out occasionally continued to swim for over twenty four hours, whereas the others all drowned in less than an hour.
Why the difference? It wasn’t the temporary rests that did it, it was the hope engendered by them. If hope holds such power for unthinking rodents, how much greater should its effect be on our lives. For people of faith hope ultimately is the assurance that no matter what life may bring, nothing can separate them from the love of God. As the Bible says,“If God is for us, who can be against us.”

Posted in Despair, Faith, Hope, Life, Life's journey, Living Life | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Cape of Storms

Posted on December 31, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

The southernmost point of Africa was for centuries known as the “Cape of Storms”. But then, in the sixteenth century, Vasco De Gama, successfully sailed around it and found beyond the raging storms a great calm sea, and beyond that the fabled shores of India. And so they changed its name from the Cape of Storms to the Cape of Good Hope.
For most of human history death has been the cape of storms on which all hopes of life are wrecked. But for people of faith it is our cape of good hope. The Bible says: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for those who love him.”
Jesus told his disciples: “Trust in me, I go to prepare a place for you.” He turned their cape of storms into a cape of good hope, and he still does for everyone who has faith.

Posted in Death, Despair, Faith, Grace, Hope, Spiritual blessing, Spiritual discernment | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

You can get bitter, or you can get better

Posted on December 31, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

The best selling book entitled You Can Grow Bitter or You Can Grow Better got it’s inspiration from a young woman who had just received word that her husband had been killed in a farming accident, leaving her alone with three small children. “I don’t know how I am going to be able to get along without him,” she sobbed. “But I do know one thing. I can either get bitter or I can get better.”
That is probably the hardest and the most important lesson of life. None of us can avoid pain. The only thing we have control over is how we react to it. We can either get bitter or we can get better. And our greatest resource in this is faith, because faith reminds us that we are never alone. “When you walk through the fire,” God says, “I will be with you, and through the waters, they shall not overcome you.”

Posted in Faith, Growth, Healing, Hope, Life, Life's journey, Overcoming, Pain, Spiritual growth, Trials and testings, tribulation and trouble, Tried, Troubles | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Assuming too little too often

Posted on December 31, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

Nobel prize-winner Richard Feynman, while visiting his old high school, was surprised to find that his grades there were not as good as he remembered and that his IQ level was reported as being only a bit above average. That puzzled him because, like most people, he’d thought that only people with very high IQs won the Nobel prize, so for him to have done it was really something. I wonder, if he’d known that earlier, whether he would have even tried to do the research that eventually won him world wide recognition.
Many of us fall short of our potential because of things we assume about ourselves without taking into account what we could be – especially with God’s help. That’s why we should always remember that great promise of the Bible that says “God’s power at work in us can do far more than we dare ask or imagine.”

Posted in Aspiration, Assumptions, Discerning God's Will, Faith, Life's journey, Making the most of what you've got, Opportunities, Positive Thoughts, Renewed Minds, Seeing the possibilities | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

I wish I’d kept that

Posted on December 20, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

A friend of mine who works in real estate told me about a man who became increasingly envious of his friends because they had larger homes. So he listed his house with an estate agent, planning to sell it and then purchase a bigger one. Some time later, as he was reading the classified section of the newspaper, he saw that his realtor had placed an advertisement for a house that seemed just what he wanted. So he phoned them and asked to be shown over it. The agent checked his files to identify what house he was referring to and then came back to him and said: ‘You don’t need an appointment, you’re already there. That’s the ad for your house.’
Now just in case you think that would never happen to you, think about all those things you now reminisce about that you once couldn’t wait to change.

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