Comparing Ourselves To Others
Presumption
Judging
Self-righteousness
Source:
Chattanooga Times Free Press, Punchlines, p.23, 01/10/2019
Link to Source:
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Contributed By:
Terry Power | Date Posted: 2019-09-15
Scripture:
2 Corinthians 10:12
Author:
Chattanooga Times Free Press, Punchlines, p.23, 01
A couple purchased a home in upper Maine from two elderly sisters. With winter approaching, the wife was concerned about the house’s lack of insulation.
“If they could live here all those years, so can we!” her husband confidently declared.
One night, the temperature plunged to below zero, and they awoke to find interior walls covered with frost. The husband called the sisters to ask how they had kept the house warm. After a rather brief conversation, he hung up.
“For the past 30 years,” he muttered, “they’ve gone to Florida for the winter.”
When we compare ourselves to others, it's easy to develop a false sense of self-assurance.
"For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise" (2 Corinthians 10:12).
Living Each Day As Our First and Our Last
God's Judgment
Presumption
Foolishness
Source:
"Patient given wrong diagnosis of year to live now faces bankruptcy" By JAMES TOZER, Published UK MAIL, May 7, 2007
Link to Source:
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Contributed By:
Illustration Exchange | Date Posted: 2013-07-03
Scripture:
Psalms 139:16
Author:
Illustration Exchange
"The clinical diagnosis is pancreatic cancer. His life expectancy is six months."
With those words, then 62 year old John Brandrick of Cornwall, England, decided to go out in style. He quit his job and stopped paying his mortgage. He emptied his savings account and sold all that he had (except the black suit in which he planned to be buried). He then spent every dollar (or, pound!) he had, enjoying expensive dining, entertainment and travel.
But as time went by, Brandrick's health didn't deteriorate as expected. A subsequent scan revealed that he didn't have cancer at all. "It was such a relief," Mr Brandrick said after hearing the news. "But that wrong diagnosis has left me in financial ruin."
Bankrupt and facing homelessness, Brandrick explored his legal options to sue for compensation for his financial demise resultant from the errant diagnosis.
Rather than living like we might die today, most of us live like we'll never die at all. It's this "wrong diagnosis" that leaves us ill prepared for what awaits us when we stand accountable to God for how we have chosen to live our lives.
"And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you: then whose shall those things be, which you have provided?" (Luke 12:18-20).
Don't suffer spiritual demise because you lived by an errant diagnosis.
San Jose Gets First Street Signs
Witness
Guidance
Presumption
Source:
"San Jose, Costa Rica to install its first street signs" By Isabella Cota, Reuters, 9/27/12
Link to Source:
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Contributed By:
Barnett Gushin | Date Posted: 2012-10-02
Scripture:
1 Corinthians 1:18
; 1 Corinthians 1:23
The bustling city of San Jose, Costa Rica (population 1.4 million) is installing its very first street signs in the coming days and weeks--22,000 in all. "My current home address is 200 meters north of the Pizza Hut, then 400 meters west, but in a few months, I will be able to give a proper street name and a number," said San Jose Mayor Johnny Arayasaid.
"Other popular landmarks residents use to describe how to get somewhere," reports the Reuters' news agency, "include the McDonald's restaurant chain, former President and Nobel Prize-winner Oscar Arias' house, a famous fig tree that has long since died and the site of an old cattle shed turned gas station."
The system is "tolerated" by locals, but poses quite a problem for visitors and tourists.
When sharing the truths of the Gospel with spiritual tourists (those unfamiliar with our faith, but interested in checking it out), don't presume they know how to get around in Christianville. Be sure to communicate clearly without using Christian cliches or outdated imagery. Speaking of "getting saved" or "walking the aisle" will likely be meaningless to those who aren't from Christianville. Stick to clear directions that will surely lead them to the Savior, like who he is (God), why they need him (all are sinners), and what he's done for them (died to pay the penalty for their sins).
If they get lost with those kind of directions, it won't be for lack of clarity, but simply lack of faith.
"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. … But we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles …" (1 Corinthians 1:18, 23).
Grace Sufficient for a Serial Killer
Grace
Forgiveness
Judging
Contributed By:
Mark McClelland | Date Posted: 2023-03-20
Scripture:
Luke 23:43
Author:
Based on the writings of Max Lucado, from his book
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