Disappointed but not defeated

Posted on September 11, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

You’ve probably heard how Abraham Lincoln was defeated seven times before winning the Presidency of the United States, and how Vincent van Gogh only ever sold one painting during his lifetime, even though today they bring tens of millions of dollars. There was also a Jewish teacher who lived two thousand years ago, whose sublime teachings were rejected by most of his own people and the religious leaders of his time. Yet he kept on going, even though it led to a cross.
The point is, if Abraham Lincoln, Vincent van Gogh, or Jesus of Nazareth had let rejection rule their lives and keep them from doing what they knew they were called to do, our world would be deeply impoverished; just as it will be if we allow disappointment to keep us from what we know our lives are meant to be

Posted in Courage, Defeated, Disappointed, Discouraged, Jesus, Persistence | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Going nowhere faster

Posted on September 11, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

One of the great ironies of modern life is that it is so filled with devices to save time and increase efficiency, yet people have never been so hurried and restless. If all these technological wonders are supposed to save us time, why do we have so little time for the things that matter? It seems that all we’ve succeeded in doing is adding to the complexity of life. We get there faster, but we don’t know where we are going. The psychiatrist Rollo May once said ‘it is an old and ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way.’ Our stressed and anxious lives are the price we pay for it.
We need to remember again the timeless words of Jesus who said ‘Come unto me and I will give you rest…Put God first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well.’

Posted in Going Nowhere, Life, Life's journey, Living Life, Purpose in life, Putting first things first, re-evaluating life, Spiritual blindness, Spiritual discernment | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

If you want the light to come on…

Posted on September 11, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

Someone once told me about going into a telephone booth in America after dark and not being able to read the telephone directory because the light wasn’t on. Fortunately someone saw his predicament and said to him: ‘If you want the light to come on, you have to shut the door.’ So he closed the door behind him and suddenly the booth was bathed with light and he was able to find the telephone number he wanted.
It reminds me of something Jesus once said about prayer. He said, ‘When you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to God in secret…and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.’ We often find ourselves groping in the darkness for some direction for our lives but are unable to see it. Well, Jesus said the light won’t come on until we close the door behind us – the door to that private place of prayer where there’s only us and God.

Posted in Guidance, Prayer, Spiritual discernment, Spiritual Insight | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Radical re-evaluations

Posted on September 11, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

Robert Oppenheimer, one of the top ten theoretical physicists in the world, has gone down in history as the man who created the Atom Bomb. But when he saw the results of what he had made, Oppenheimer underwent a radical re-evaluation of his values. He resigned his position and spent much of the remainder of his life trying to undo the damage, trying to get the genie of atomic weapons back in the bottle.
Sometimes, we too have moments of awareness when we start to see that what we once thought so important is really of no lasting value at all. We should welcome those moments, because they are God’s messengers to us telling us that there is still time to change, time to live the rest of our lives for those things whose value lasts for ever: things to do with faith, hope and love.

Posted in Atom Bomb, New Life, re-evaluating life, Regret, Robert Oppenheimer | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The joy of the Lord is my strength

Posted on September 8, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

Dr Trisha MacNair, in her book The Long Life Equation – one hundred factors that can add or subtract years from your life, says that the choices we make now often have enormous consequences in later life. Drawing on hundreds of reputable studies, she says we can predict how long we are likely to live based on one hundred factors that can add or subtract years from our lives. On the debit side are factors like binge drinking, eating fast food and not getting enough sleep. On the positive side are such things as having a good work-life balance, exercise and good sex. But topping the list of positives are two factors which, she says, on average add seven years to people’s lives. They are having faith and laughing a lot, which is probably why the Bible says, ‘The joy of the Lord is my strength.’

Posted in Faith, God, Joy, Life, Life's journey, Strength | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What will they say about me?

Posted on September 8, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

Some years ago the Indiana Department of Social Services sent a letter to a former client which said: “Your food stamps will be stopped in March because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances.” Well, there haven’t been too many who have seen a change in those circumstances! It does remind me, however, of three friends talking about what they would like people to say about them at their funeral?” One hoped they’d say: “He was a great humanitarian.” The second hoped it would be: “He was a great husband and father.” Wheras the third said, I hope they’ll say: “Look, he’s moving!”
As for me, however, my biggest concern is about what God will say about me. I’m hoping it will be: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Posted in Affirmation, Aspiration, Eternity, Faithfulness, God's pleasure, Heaven, Hope of Glory, Judgement, Knowing God, pilgrimage, Regret | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Truth is not the same as majority opinion

Posted on September 8, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

A team of psychologists carried out an experiment to test how people handle group pressure. They put volunteers in groups of ten and told them to raise their hands when the researcher pointed to the longest line on three separate charts. However, one person in each group didn’t know that the other nine had already been told to vote for the second-longest line. On each occasion nine people voted for the wrong line while the stooge glanced around, frowned in confusion, and almost all of the time voted with the group. Time after time, the self-conscious stooges would sit there saying a short line is longer than a long line, simply because they lacked the courage to be different.
It reminds us that truth is not necessarily the same thing as majority opinion, and neither is moral courage.

Posted in Courage, Following the Crowd, Majority opinion, Truth | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Successfully hitting the wrong target

Posted on September 8, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

In what was described as ‘an extremely rare mistake in elite competition’, Champion Marksman Matt Emmons, who was one shot away from winning a gold medal at the Athens Olympics, ended up in eighth place. He didn’t even need a bull’s-eye to win. His final shot merely needed to be on target. Normally, the shot he made would have received a score of 8.1, more than enough for a gold medal. But Emmons fired at the wrong target. Standing in lane two, he fired at the target in lane three. His shot was dead on target, but it scored him a zero because it was the wrong target.
It reminds us that it doesn’t matter how accurate you are if you are aiming at the wrong thing. Jesus said, “What do you win if you gain the whole world but lose your soul.” The answer, of course, is nothing. You’ve hit the wrong target

Posted in Disappointed, Futility, Target, Winning | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Secular bigotry

Posted on September 8, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

One of the more arrogant claims of that group of people who call themselves the new atheists is that people who profess religious faith are less intelligent than people like themselves, who believe that the unimaginable complexity of the Universe is merely the result of an infinite series of fortunate accidents. However, a recent review of Nobel Prize winners over the past century reveals that 78.3% of the prizes for peace, 72.5% of the prizes for chemistry, 65.3% of the prizes for physics, 62% of the prizes for medicine and 54% for economics were awarded to people who professed Christian faith.
We’re all familiar with religious bigotry, but it makes one think that perhaps the most virulant form of bigotry thes days is secular bigotry.

Posted in Bigotry, Faith, Personal Growth, Spiritual blindness, Superficial judgements, supreme being, The God Delusion | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Spite House

Posted on September 3, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

Some years ago a wealthy man tried to sell a block of land in an exclusive part of New York City. It was a hundred feet long but only five feet wide, and his neighbours, realizing no-one else would want it, would only offer him a rock bottom price. So the owner decided to get even. He had a house specially built for that block. It was five feet wide and a hundred feet long. Each room was barely wide enough for a single piece of furniture. But he moved in and, despite the discomfort and his neighbour’s protests, lived there the rest of his life.
However, the only person who really suffered was himself, and so the house became known as “Spite House.” It, and at least eight others like it, still stand as monuments to the truth that people who set out to annoy their neighbours, usually only succeed in annoying themselves.

Posted in Hurting ourselves, Misery, Neighbours, Revenge, Spite | Tagged , | Leave a comment