Answering the Tough Questions Part I with Michael Ramsden
Saturday, October 11, 2014
God’s powerful answer to prayer among the Taliban’s people group in Afghanistan
By Mark Ellis, Godreports, October 8, 2014
Last year the U.S. Center for World Mission began equipping thousands of churches in Latin America to pray for the Pashtun, one of the biggest least-reached people groups in the world.
The Pashtun number over 30 million and the Taliban are included within this ethnic group in Afghanistan. “If you are wondering whether prayer really makes a difference, in this particular case, we have the proof,” says David Taylor, with the U.S. Center.
A Christian radio ministry had been broadcasting for years to the Pashtun and were receiving about 60 responses to their program each month.
“As soon as thousands of churches in Latin America began praying for the Pashtun, this radio program began receiving hundreds and then thousands of responses each month,” Taylor exclaims. “Like the Bible story of the disciples whose nets could not handle all the fish, this ministry is now asking for help from others to handle this unexpected interest in the gospel!”
In a related miraculous incident, some of the churches praying for the Pashtun are located in El Salvador. In one of these Salvadoran churches, a man was dying of HIV AIDS.
“He decided to come to the Wednesday prayer meeting which was focused on the Pashtun,” Taylor recounts. “As he was praying for them he felt the Holy Spirit come upon him and move throughout his body. He felt as though he had been healed. The next day he went to the doctor to have his blood checked. When the nurse came back with the results she was beaming. His blood was completely clean of HIV!”
Last year the U.S. Center for World Mission began equipping thousands of churches in Latin America to pray for the Pashtun, one of the biggest least-reached people groups in the world.
The Pashtun number over 30 million and the Taliban are included within this ethnic group in Afghanistan. “If you are wondering whether prayer really makes a difference, in this particular case, we have the proof,” says David Taylor, with the U.S. Center.
A Christian radio ministry had been broadcasting for years to the Pashtun and were receiving about 60 responses to their program each month.
“As soon as thousands of churches in Latin America began praying for the Pashtun, this radio program began receiving hundreds and then thousands of responses each month,” Taylor exclaims. “Like the Bible story of the disciples whose nets could not handle all the fish, this ministry is now asking for help from others to handle this unexpected interest in the gospel!”
In a related miraculous incident, some of the churches praying for the Pashtun are located in El Salvador. In one of these Salvadoran churches, a man was dying of HIV AIDS.
“He decided to come to the Wednesday prayer meeting which was focused on the Pashtun,” Taylor recounts. “As he was praying for them he felt the Holy Spirit come upon him and move throughout his body. He felt as though he had been healed. The next day he went to the doctor to have his blood checked. When the nurse came back with the results she was beaming. His blood was completely clean of HIV!”
How Exercise Can Boost Young Brains
By Gretchen Reynolds, NY Times, October 8, 2014
Encourage young boys and girls to run, jump, squeal, hop and chase after each other or after erratically kicked balls, and you substantially improve their ability to think, according to the most ambitious study ever conducted of physical activity and cognitive performance in children. The results underscore, yet again, the importance of physical activity for children’s brain health and development, especially in terms of the particular thinking skills that most affect academic performance.
The news that children think better if they move is hardly new. Recent studies have shown that children’s scores on math and reading tests rise if they go for a walk beforehand, even if the children are overweight and unfit. Other studies have found correlations between children’s aerobic fitness and their brain structure, with areas of the brain devoted to thinking and learning being generally larger among youngsters who are more fit.
But these studies were short-term or associational, meaning that they could not tease out whether fitness had actually changed the children’s brains or if children with well-developed brains just liked exercise.
So for the new study, which was published in September in Pediatrics, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign approached school administrators at public elementary schools in the surrounding communities and asked if they could recruit the school’s 8- and 9-year-old students for an after-school exercise program.
This group was of particular interest to the researchers because previous studies had determined that at that age, children typically experience a leap in their brain’s so-called executive functioning, which is the ability to impose order on your thinking. Executive functions help to control mental multitasking, maintain concentration, and inhibit inappropriate responses to mental stimuli.
Children whose executive functions are stunted tend to have academic problems in school, while children with well-developed executive functions usually do well.
The researchers wondered whether regular exercise would improve children’s executive-function skills, providing a boost to their normal mental development.
They received commitments from 220 local youngsters and brought all of them to the university for a series of tests to measure their aerobic fitness and current executive functioning.
The researchers then divided the group in half, with 110 of the children joining a wait list for the after-school program, meaning that they would continue with their normal lives and serve as a control group.
The other 110 boys and girls began being bused every afternoon to the university campus, where they participated in organized, structured bouts of what amounted to wild, childish fun.
“We wanted them to play,” said Charles Hillman, a professor of kinesiology and community health at the University of Illinois who led the study.
Wearing heart rate monitors and pedometers for monitoring purposes, the children were guided through exercise that doubled as romping. The activities, which changed frequently, consisted of games like tag, as well as instruction in technique skills, such as how to dribble a soccer ball. The exercise curriculum was designed to improve both aerobic endurance and basic motor skills, Dr. Hillman said.
Each two-hour session also included downtime, since children naturally career about and then collapse, before repeating the process. In total, the boys and girls generally moved at a moderate or vigorous intensity for about 70 minutes and covered more than two miles per session, according to their pedometers.
The program lasted for a full school year, with sessions available every day after school for nine months, although not every child attended every session.
At the end of the program, both groups returned to the university to repeat the physical and cognitive tests.
As would have been expected, the children in the exercise group were now more physically fit than they had been before, while children in the control group were not. The active children also had lost body fat, although changes in weight and body composition were not the focus of this study.
More important, the children in the exercise group also displayed substantial improvements in their scores on each of the computer-based tests of executive function. They were better at “attentional inhibition,” which is the ability to block out irrelevant information and concentrate on the task at hand, than they had been at the start of the program, and had heightened abilities to toggle between cognitive tasks.
Tellingly, the children who had attended the most exercise sessions showed the greatest improvements in their cognitive scores.
Meanwhile, the children in the control group also raised their test scores, but to a much smaller extent. In effect, both groups’ brains were developing, but the process was more rapid and expansive in the children who ran and played.
“The message is, get kids to be physically active” for the sake of their brains, as well as their health, Dr. Hillman said. After-school programs like the one he and his colleagues developed require little additional equipment or expense for most schools, he said, although a qualified physical education instructor should be involved, he added.
Extended physical education classes during school hours could also ensure that children engage in sufficient physical activity for brain health, of course. But school districts nationwide are shortening or eliminating P.E. programs for budgetary and other reasons, a practice that is likely “shortsighted,” Dr. Hillman said. If you want young students to do well in reading and math, make sure that they also move.
Encourage young boys and girls to run, jump, squeal, hop and chase after each other or after erratically kicked balls, and you substantially improve their ability to think, according to the most ambitious study ever conducted of physical activity and cognitive performance in children. The results underscore, yet again, the importance of physical activity for children’s brain health and development, especially in terms of the particular thinking skills that most affect academic performance.
The news that children think better if they move is hardly new. Recent studies have shown that children’s scores on math and reading tests rise if they go for a walk beforehand, even if the children are overweight and unfit. Other studies have found correlations between children’s aerobic fitness and their brain structure, with areas of the brain devoted to thinking and learning being generally larger among youngsters who are more fit.
But these studies were short-term or associational, meaning that they could not tease out whether fitness had actually changed the children’s brains or if children with well-developed brains just liked exercise.
So for the new study, which was published in September in Pediatrics, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign approached school administrators at public elementary schools in the surrounding communities and asked if they could recruit the school’s 8- and 9-year-old students for an after-school exercise program.
This group was of particular interest to the researchers because previous studies had determined that at that age, children typically experience a leap in their brain’s so-called executive functioning, which is the ability to impose order on your thinking. Executive functions help to control mental multitasking, maintain concentration, and inhibit inappropriate responses to mental stimuli.
Children whose executive functions are stunted tend to have academic problems in school, while children with well-developed executive functions usually do well.
The researchers wondered whether regular exercise would improve children’s executive-function skills, providing a boost to their normal mental development.
They received commitments from 220 local youngsters and brought all of them to the university for a series of tests to measure their aerobic fitness and current executive functioning.
The researchers then divided the group in half, with 110 of the children joining a wait list for the after-school program, meaning that they would continue with their normal lives and serve as a control group.
The other 110 boys and girls began being bused every afternoon to the university campus, where they participated in organized, structured bouts of what amounted to wild, childish fun.
“We wanted them to play,” said Charles Hillman, a professor of kinesiology and community health at the University of Illinois who led the study.
Wearing heart rate monitors and pedometers for monitoring purposes, the children were guided through exercise that doubled as romping. The activities, which changed frequently, consisted of games like tag, as well as instruction in technique skills, such as how to dribble a soccer ball. The exercise curriculum was designed to improve both aerobic endurance and basic motor skills, Dr. Hillman said.
Each two-hour session also included downtime, since children naturally career about and then collapse, before repeating the process. In total, the boys and girls generally moved at a moderate or vigorous intensity for about 70 minutes and covered more than two miles per session, according to their pedometers.
The program lasted for a full school year, with sessions available every day after school for nine months, although not every child attended every session.
At the end of the program, both groups returned to the university to repeat the physical and cognitive tests.
As would have been expected, the children in the exercise group were now more physically fit than they had been before, while children in the control group were not. The active children also had lost body fat, although changes in weight and body composition were not the focus of this study.
More important, the children in the exercise group also displayed substantial improvements in their scores on each of the computer-based tests of executive function. They were better at “attentional inhibition,” which is the ability to block out irrelevant information and concentrate on the task at hand, than they had been at the start of the program, and had heightened abilities to toggle between cognitive tasks.
Tellingly, the children who had attended the most exercise sessions showed the greatest improvements in their cognitive scores.
Meanwhile, the children in the control group also raised their test scores, but to a much smaller extent. In effect, both groups’ brains were developing, but the process was more rapid and expansive in the children who ran and played.
“The message is, get kids to be physically active” for the sake of their brains, as well as their health, Dr. Hillman said. After-school programs like the one he and his colleagues developed require little additional equipment or expense for most schools, he said, although a qualified physical education instructor should be involved, he added.
Extended physical education classes during school hours could also ensure that children engage in sufficient physical activity for brain health, of course. But school districts nationwide are shortening or eliminating P.E. programs for budgetary and other reasons, a practice that is likely “shortsighted,” Dr. Hillman said. If you want young students to do well in reading and math, make sure that they also move.
9 Habits That Turn Efficient People Into Highly Effective People
By Jeff Haden, Inc., October 06, 2014
There’s a huge biggest difference between being efficient and being effective.
Efficient people are well organized and competent. They check things off their to-do list. They complete projects. They get stuff done.
Effective people do all that, but they check the right things off their to-do list. They complete the right projects. They get the right stuff done.
They execute and produce what makes the biggest difference for their business, and for themselves.
Here are some of the traits of remarkably effective people, and why they’re so successful:
1. They Always Start With Goals. Effort without a genuine purpose is just effort. Effective people don’t just know what to do—they know why. They have a long-term goal. They have short-term goals that support their long-term goals.
In short, they have purpose—and that purpose informs everything they do. That’s why remarkable people appear so dedicated and organized and consistently on-task. They’re not slaves to a routine; they’re simply driven to reach their goals and quick to eliminate roadblocks and put aside distractions that stand in their way.
Remarkably effective people set their goals first. So decide what success means to you.
You’ll find it’s easy to stay focused and be effective when you truly care about what you hope to achieve.
Even so, once they establish a goal, remarkably effective people don’t focus solely on that goal; instead…
2. Then They Create Systems. If you’re an entrepreneur, your goal is to build a successful business. Your system consists of your processes for sales, marketing, fulfillment, operations, etc.
A goal is great for planning and mapping out what success looks like; a system is great for actually making progress toward that goal.
Remarkably effective people know a goal can provide direction and even push them forward in the short term, but eventually a well-designed system will always win.
Everyone has goals; committing to a system makes all the difference in achieving that goal.
3. They Believe in Themselves. Diligence isn’t easy. Hard work is hard. Pushing forward when successes are few and far between takes optimism and self-belief.
That’s why busy people quickly give up and effective people keep going.
Remarkably effective people embrace the fact (and it is a fact) that the only way to get to where they want to go is to try… and keep on trying. They know that eventually they will succeed, because…
4. They Believe They Are in Control of Their Lives. Many people feel luck—or outside forces—has a lot to do with success or failure. If they succeed, luck favored them; if they fail, luck was against them.
Luck certainly does play a part, but effective people don’t hope for good luck or worry about bad luck. They assume success is within their control. If they succeed, they caused it; if they fail, they caused that, too.
Remarkably effective people waste zero mental energy worrying about what might happen to them—they put all their effort into making things happen.
They know they can never control luck, but they can always control themselves.
5. And Yet They Also Embrace “Random.” When your nose is to the grindstone, all you can see is the grindstone. And that means you miss opportunities to spot something new, try something different, or go off on a fruitful tangent.
Effective people stay almost totally on-task. Remarkably effective people build in time and opportunity to experience new things, try new methods, and benefit from happy accidents.
They’re not always trying to reinvent the wheel. But they’re more than happy to adopt someone else’s perfectly functioning wheel.
6. They Find Happiness in the Success of Others. Great teams win because their most talented members are willing to sacrifice to help others succeed.
That’s why great companies are made up of employees who help each other, know their roles, set aside their personal goals, and value team success over everything else.
Where does that attitude come from? You.
Focus only on yourself and ultimately you’ll be by yourself. To be remarkably effective, find fulfillment in helping other people succeed. In the process you will succeed, too—in more ways than one.
7. They Use Their Goals to Make Decisions Automatic. In a podcast, Tim Ferriss described how Herb Kelleher, the CEO of Southwest Airlines, makes so many decisions every day. Kelleher applies a simple framework to every issue: Will this help Southwest be the low-cost provider? If so, the answer is yes. If not, no.
Remarkably effective people apply the same framework to the decisions they make. “Will this help me reach my goal? If not, I won’t do it.”
If you feel like you’re constantly struggling to make decisions, take a step back. Think about your goals; your goals will help you make decisions.
That’s why remarkably effective people are so decisive. Indecision is born of a lack of purpose: When you know what you truly want, most of your decisions can—and should—be almost automatic.
8. They Don’t Multitask. Plenty of research says multitasking doesn’t work. (Some research says multitasking actually makes you stupid.)
Maybe you don’t agree.
Maybe you’re wrong. Try to do two things at once and you’ll do both halfway.
Remarkably effective people focus on one thing at a time. They do that one thing incredibly well, and then they move on to whatever is next. And they do that incredibly well.
9. They Freely Ask for Help. Busy people ask for help getting something done. Remarkably effective people ask for help not just because they need help but also because by asking they show respect for the other person and trust his or her experience, skill, or insight.
Mutual respect is the foundation of every solid relationship—and the best way to create mutual respect is to first show respect.
Want to be remarkably effective? Surround yourself with people who trust and motivate and inspire you—and in turn are inspired by you.
Even if you don’t achieve all your goals, your life will be infinitely richer.
There’s a huge biggest difference between being efficient and being effective.
Efficient people are well organized and competent. They check things off their to-do list. They complete projects. They get stuff done.
Effective people do all that, but they check the right things off their to-do list. They complete the right projects. They get the right stuff done.
They execute and produce what makes the biggest difference for their business, and for themselves.
Here are some of the traits of remarkably effective people, and why they’re so successful:
1. They Always Start With Goals. Effort without a genuine purpose is just effort. Effective people don’t just know what to do—they know why. They have a long-term goal. They have short-term goals that support their long-term goals.
In short, they have purpose—and that purpose informs everything they do. That’s why remarkable people appear so dedicated and organized and consistently on-task. They’re not slaves to a routine; they’re simply driven to reach their goals and quick to eliminate roadblocks and put aside distractions that stand in their way.
Remarkably effective people set their goals first. So decide what success means to you.
You’ll find it’s easy to stay focused and be effective when you truly care about what you hope to achieve.
Even so, once they establish a goal, remarkably effective people don’t focus solely on that goal; instead…
2. Then They Create Systems. If you’re an entrepreneur, your goal is to build a successful business. Your system consists of your processes for sales, marketing, fulfillment, operations, etc.
A goal is great for planning and mapping out what success looks like; a system is great for actually making progress toward that goal.
Remarkably effective people know a goal can provide direction and even push them forward in the short term, but eventually a well-designed system will always win.
Everyone has goals; committing to a system makes all the difference in achieving that goal.
3. They Believe in Themselves. Diligence isn’t easy. Hard work is hard. Pushing forward when successes are few and far between takes optimism and self-belief.
That’s why busy people quickly give up and effective people keep going.
Remarkably effective people embrace the fact (and it is a fact) that the only way to get to where they want to go is to try… and keep on trying. They know that eventually they will succeed, because…
4. They Believe They Are in Control of Their Lives. Many people feel luck—or outside forces—has a lot to do with success or failure. If they succeed, luck favored them; if they fail, luck was against them.
Luck certainly does play a part, but effective people don’t hope for good luck or worry about bad luck. They assume success is within their control. If they succeed, they caused it; if they fail, they caused that, too.
Remarkably effective people waste zero mental energy worrying about what might happen to them—they put all their effort into making things happen.
They know they can never control luck, but they can always control themselves.
5. And Yet They Also Embrace “Random.” When your nose is to the grindstone, all you can see is the grindstone. And that means you miss opportunities to spot something new, try something different, or go off on a fruitful tangent.
Effective people stay almost totally on-task. Remarkably effective people build in time and opportunity to experience new things, try new methods, and benefit from happy accidents.
They’re not always trying to reinvent the wheel. But they’re more than happy to adopt someone else’s perfectly functioning wheel.
6. They Find Happiness in the Success of Others. Great teams win because their most talented members are willing to sacrifice to help others succeed.
That’s why great companies are made up of employees who help each other, know their roles, set aside their personal goals, and value team success over everything else.
Where does that attitude come from? You.
Focus only on yourself and ultimately you’ll be by yourself. To be remarkably effective, find fulfillment in helping other people succeed. In the process you will succeed, too—in more ways than one.
7. They Use Their Goals to Make Decisions Automatic. In a podcast, Tim Ferriss described how Herb Kelleher, the CEO of Southwest Airlines, makes so many decisions every day. Kelleher applies a simple framework to every issue: Will this help Southwest be the low-cost provider? If so, the answer is yes. If not, no.
Remarkably effective people apply the same framework to the decisions they make. “Will this help me reach my goal? If not, I won’t do it.”
If you feel like you’re constantly struggling to make decisions, take a step back. Think about your goals; your goals will help you make decisions.
That’s why remarkably effective people are so decisive. Indecision is born of a lack of purpose: When you know what you truly want, most of your decisions can—and should—be almost automatic.
8. They Don’t Multitask. Plenty of research says multitasking doesn’t work. (Some research says multitasking actually makes you stupid.)
Maybe you don’t agree.
Maybe you’re wrong. Try to do two things at once and you’ll do both halfway.
Remarkably effective people focus on one thing at a time. They do that one thing incredibly well, and then they move on to whatever is next. And they do that incredibly well.
9. They Freely Ask for Help. Busy people ask for help getting something done. Remarkably effective people ask for help not just because they need help but also because by asking they show respect for the other person and trust his or her experience, skill, or insight.
Mutual respect is the foundation of every solid relationship—and the best way to create mutual respect is to first show respect.
Want to be remarkably effective? Surround yourself with people who trust and motivate and inspire you—and in turn are inspired by you.
Even if you don’t achieve all your goals, your life will be infinitely richer.
What Have You Done with Your Life?
http://anchor.tfionline.com/post/what-have-you-done-your-life/
By D. Brandt Berg
Download Audio (8.5MB)
Just before going to sleep last night we had been discussing the events of the day and its accomplishments, as well as perhaps some lacks, and I had said to Maria, “I hope I’m doing my best. I hope I’m doing what the Lord wants me to do and what’s best for His work, and I hope our publications are being a blessing. I want to be sure that they’re of the Lord and according to His will and what He wants.”
It’s good to take stock of things at the end of the day and to reflect momentarily on the day and its accomplishments, perhaps sometimes even on its failures, and to assess whether you have really made any progress that day in God’s work and His will and what He wants you to do.
Has it been a day that the Lord hath made? Has it been a day in which you have done His will and He’s had His way? Has it been a day that you’re thankful for because you’re sure the Lord is pleased with it, and therefore you’re pleased with what has occurred and what you have done that day?
As we go to sleep at night, it’s a good thing to reflect on these things and assess these values as to whether you are obeying the Lord and pleasing Him, that He might say of you for that day, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord”—in peaceful, contented sleep, thankful and satisfied that you have done your best that day and you can rest in peace.
This is very much the same attitude which we older folks often have as we approach the end of life’s day and the night of our sleep in death and our temporary rest from our labors, before the dawning of that great new day when Jesus comes! We think back over our lives and we remember our deeds and our words, and we wonder if we have done our best for Jesus.
I used to sing that old song, “I wonder have I done my best for Jesus, when He has done so much for me,”<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/rul6BFbLFfk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> a beautiful old song of assessing life’s values and accomplishments when we sometimes wonder if we have really done our best for Him and have accomplished what He wanted us to do.
Has it truly been a life lived for Him, by His power and His strength and His guidance in His will, having the fruits of His Spirit and the fruits of His Word: souls born into the kingdom of God forever; little ones instructed in His Word; older ones growing in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord and taught to serve Him and live for Him?
“What have you done with your life?” is the question, and it’s often the question that I have asked myself at the end of the day as I lie down to rest for the night. It’s the question we ask ourselves toward the end of our lifetime as we prepare to rest from this life’s labors: “What have I done with my life?”
Many who have had life-after-death experiences have testified that as they faced the angel of death and judgment at the bright light at the end of the long tunnel of the darkness of death, the question which nearly all of them say is asked as they face God’s angel of judgment is, “What have you done with your life?”<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/uKTGHZtRXbQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
It’s a good question to ask ourselves at the end of each day: “What have I done with my life this day? What did I do for Jesus?” As another old song goes:
What will you do with Jesus?
Neutral you cannot be;
Someday your heart will be asking,
“What will He do with me?”
What have I done with Jesus and what will He do with me? What have I done with my life, and what will He do about the way I have lived? What will be my reward for faithful service to Him? Have I pleased Him? Have I satisfied Him? Have I done my best for Jesus? Or what will be my shame for failures, shortcomings, disobediences, and getting out of His will and not following Him closely enough, not accomplishing what He wanted me to accomplish?
Jesus says, “Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.”1 The Lord intended for every Christian to bear fruit like himself, another Christian, more Christians. Just as you plant any kind of fruit, if you plant an apple, you get a whole tree full of apples. Or a pear, you get a tree full of pears. Or a mango, you get a tree full of mangoes. Or a coconut tree, you get a tree full of coconuts! Every Christian was intended to bury his life in the soil of God’s service and take up his cross and follow Jesus and to bear fruit, more Christians like himself, or even better!
For Jesus Himself said, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. Yet if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”2 And if we will go out and die daily for the Lord in His service, we shall bring forth much fruit, more Christians to preach the Gospel to more of the lost and lead them to the Lord!
That’s the least that He can expect of our lives and our salvation. He died to save us; why should we not give our lives to save others? In fact, the apostle says, “Herein is the love of God manifest in us, that as Jesus died for us, so we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”3
He asks every one of us now, “What have you done with your life?” And He will ask each of us someday when we have to stand face to face with that question at the judgment, “What have you done with your life?”
That’s the question that will be asked each of us and that we should ask ourselves every day, and that God’s going to ask when we come to the end of life’s day and face Him:
“Only one life; ’twill soon be past.
Only what’s done for Christ will last.”
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
“Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”4 “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.”5 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”
God bless and keep you and make you a blessing to many. You’ll never be sorry! For God is love, and He loves you and will take good care of you to the end. Then you’ll hear His “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”6 Forever—with all the souls you helped love into His kingdom eternally!
I wonder have I done my best for Jesus,
Who died upon the cruel tree?
To think of His great sacrifice at Calvary!
I know my Lord expects the best from me.
The hours that I have wasted are so many
The hours I’ve spent for Christ so few;
Because of all my lack of love for Jesus,
I wonder if His heart is breaking too.
I wonder have I cared enough for others,
Or have I let them die alone?
I might have helped a wand’rer to the Saviour,
The seed of precious Life I might have sown.
No longer will I stay within the valley,
I’ll climb to mountain heights above;
The world is dying now for want of someone.
To tell them of the Saviour’s matchless love.
How many are the lost that I have lifted?
How many are the chained I’ve helped to free?
I wonder, have I done my best for Jesus,
When He has done so much for me?7
Originally published October 1982. Adapted and republished July 2013.
Read by Bryan Clark. Copyright@thefamily.org
Footnotes:
1 John 15:8.
2 John 12:24.
3 1 John 3:16.
4 Matthew 16:24.
5 Matthew 19:29.
6 Matthew 25:23.
7 By Ensign Edwin Young and Harry E. Storrs (1923).
By D. Brandt Berg
Download Audio (8.5MB)
Just before going to sleep last night we had been discussing the events of the day and its accomplishments, as well as perhaps some lacks, and I had said to Maria, “I hope I’m doing my best. I hope I’m doing what the Lord wants me to do and what’s best for His work, and I hope our publications are being a blessing. I want to be sure that they’re of the Lord and according to His will and what He wants.”
It’s good to take stock of things at the end of the day and to reflect momentarily on the day and its accomplishments, perhaps sometimes even on its failures, and to assess whether you have really made any progress that day in God’s work and His will and what He wants you to do.
Has it been a day that the Lord hath made? Has it been a day in which you have done His will and He’s had His way? Has it been a day that you’re thankful for because you’re sure the Lord is pleased with it, and therefore you’re pleased with what has occurred and what you have done that day?
As we go to sleep at night, it’s a good thing to reflect on these things and assess these values as to whether you are obeying the Lord and pleasing Him, that He might say of you for that day, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord”—in peaceful, contented sleep, thankful and satisfied that you have done your best that day and you can rest in peace.
This is very much the same attitude which we older folks often have as we approach the end of life’s day and the night of our sleep in death and our temporary rest from our labors, before the dawning of that great new day when Jesus comes! We think back over our lives and we remember our deeds and our words, and we wonder if we have done our best for Jesus.
I used to sing that old song, “I wonder have I done my best for Jesus, when He has done so much for me,”<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/rul6BFbLFfk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> a beautiful old song of assessing life’s values and accomplishments when we sometimes wonder if we have really done our best for Him and have accomplished what He wanted us to do.
Has it truly been a life lived for Him, by His power and His strength and His guidance in His will, having the fruits of His Spirit and the fruits of His Word: souls born into the kingdom of God forever; little ones instructed in His Word; older ones growing in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord and taught to serve Him and live for Him?
“What have you done with your life?” is the question, and it’s often the question that I have asked myself at the end of the day as I lie down to rest for the night. It’s the question we ask ourselves toward the end of our lifetime as we prepare to rest from this life’s labors: “What have I done with my life?”
Many who have had life-after-death experiences have testified that as they faced the angel of death and judgment at the bright light at the end of the long tunnel of the darkness of death, the question which nearly all of them say is asked as they face God’s angel of judgment is, “What have you done with your life?”<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/uKTGHZtRXbQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
It’s a good question to ask ourselves at the end of each day: “What have I done with my life this day? What did I do for Jesus?” As another old song goes:
What will you do with Jesus?
Neutral you cannot be;
Someday your heart will be asking,
“What will He do with me?”
What have I done with Jesus and what will He do with me? What have I done with my life, and what will He do about the way I have lived? What will be my reward for faithful service to Him? Have I pleased Him? Have I satisfied Him? Have I done my best for Jesus? Or what will be my shame for failures, shortcomings, disobediences, and getting out of His will and not following Him closely enough, not accomplishing what He wanted me to accomplish?
Jesus says, “Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.”1 The Lord intended for every Christian to bear fruit like himself, another Christian, more Christians. Just as you plant any kind of fruit, if you plant an apple, you get a whole tree full of apples. Or a pear, you get a tree full of pears. Or a mango, you get a tree full of mangoes. Or a coconut tree, you get a tree full of coconuts! Every Christian was intended to bury his life in the soil of God’s service and take up his cross and follow Jesus and to bear fruit, more Christians like himself, or even better!
For Jesus Himself said, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. Yet if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”2 And if we will go out and die daily for the Lord in His service, we shall bring forth much fruit, more Christians to preach the Gospel to more of the lost and lead them to the Lord!
That’s the least that He can expect of our lives and our salvation. He died to save us; why should we not give our lives to save others? In fact, the apostle says, “Herein is the love of God manifest in us, that as Jesus died for us, so we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”3
He asks every one of us now, “What have you done with your life?” And He will ask each of us someday when we have to stand face to face with that question at the judgment, “What have you done with your life?”
That’s the question that will be asked each of us and that we should ask ourselves every day, and that God’s going to ask when we come to the end of life’s day and face Him:
“Only one life; ’twill soon be past.
Only what’s done for Christ will last.”
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
“Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”4 “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.”5 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”
God bless and keep you and make you a blessing to many. You’ll never be sorry! For God is love, and He loves you and will take good care of you to the end. Then you’ll hear His “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”6 Forever—with all the souls you helped love into His kingdom eternally!
I wonder have I done my best for Jesus,
Who died upon the cruel tree?
To think of His great sacrifice at Calvary!
I know my Lord expects the best from me.
The hours that I have wasted are so many
The hours I’ve spent for Christ so few;
Because of all my lack of love for Jesus,
I wonder if His heart is breaking too.
I wonder have I cared enough for others,
Or have I let them die alone?
I might have helped a wand’rer to the Saviour,
The seed of precious Life I might have sown.
No longer will I stay within the valley,
I’ll climb to mountain heights above;
The world is dying now for want of someone.
To tell them of the Saviour’s matchless love.
How many are the lost that I have lifted?
How many are the chained I’ve helped to free?
I wonder, have I done my best for Jesus,
When He has done so much for me?7
Originally published October 1982. Adapted and republished July 2013.
Read by Bryan Clark. Copyright@thefamily.org
Footnotes:
1 John 15:8.
2 John 12:24.
3 1 John 3:16.
4 Matthew 16:24.
5 Matthew 19:29.
6 Matthew 25:23.
7 By Ensign Edwin Young and Harry E. Storrs (1923).
O que você tem feito com a sua vida?
D.Brandt
O que você fará com Jesus?
Neutro não poderá ser!
Ele pergunta a cada um de nós: "O que é que você tem feito com a sua vida?" E um dia irá perguntar a cada um quando estivermos diante dessa pergunta no julgamento: "O que é que você fez com a sua vida?"
Apenas uma vida que logo passará.
Será que tenho feito o melhor por Jesus,
Não ficarei mais no vale,
Quantos perdidos eu ajudei?
Quantos presos ajudei a libertar?
Será que fiz o melhor que podia por Cristo,
Sendo que Ele deu a Sua vida por mim?[7]
Publicado originalmente em outubro de 1982. Adaptado e republicado em julho de 2013. Tradução Hebe Rondon Flandoli. copyright@afamilia.org
http://anchor.tfionline.com/pt/post/o-que-voce-tem-feito-com-sua-vida/
Footnotes:
[1] João 15:8.
[2] João 12:24.
[3] 1 João 3:16.
[4] Mateus 16:24.
[5] Mateus 19:29.
[6] Mateus 25:23.
[7] De Ensign Edwin Young e Harry E. Storrs (1923).
Ontem à noite, pouco antes de dormir, estávamos falando sobre os acontecimentos do dia e nossas realizações, bem como algumas coisas que deixaram a desejar, e eu disse a meu esposa: "Espero estar esteja fazendo o melhor que posso. Espero que esteja fazendo o que o Senhor quer que eu faça e o que é melhor para o Seu trabalho. E espero que nossas publicações estejam sendo uma bênção. Quero ter certeza de que são do Senhor e estão de acordo com a Sua vontade, que são o que Ele quer."
É bom fazer um balanço no final do dia e refletir um pouco sobre tudo o que fizemos. Às vezes até nas falhas, e avaliarmos se realmente fizemos algum progresso na obra de Deus, em cumprir a Sua vontade e o que Ele espera de nós.
Será que foi um dia que o senhor criou? Será que foi um dia em que fizemos a vontade dEle e Lhe entregamos o volante? Será que foi um dia pelo qual estamos agradecidos porque temos certeza que o Senhor está satisfeito, portanto nós também ficamos satisfeitos com tudo o que aconteceu e fizemos nesse dia?
É bom refletir e avaliar estas coisas antes de dormir, para vermos se estamos obedecendo ao Senhor e Lhe agradando, para que Ele possa nos dizer nesse dia: "Bem está, bom e fiel servo! Entra no gozo do seu Senhor" — em sono tranquilo e cheio de satisfação, agradecidos e contentes porque fizemos o melhor que podÃamos, então podemos descansar em paz.
Isso é muito semelhante à atitude que nós, mais velhos, temos quando chegamos ao fim da vida, quando ficamos mais perto do final do dia da nossa vida, por assim dizer, e vida e da noite do nosso sono na morte e do descanso temporário dos nossos trabalhos, antes do amanhecer daquele grande novo dia em que Jesus voltará! Fazemos uma retrospectiva e nos lembramos dos nossos atos e palavras, e nos perguntamos se temos feito o melhor que podemos para Jesus. Eu costumava cantar aquela velha canção:
"Será que eu fiz o melhor que posso por Jesus quando ele tem feito tanto por mim." É uma linda canção antiga que fala de avaliar os valores e realizações da vida e nos perguntarmos se temos realmente feito o melhor que podemos por Ele e cumprido o que Ele deseja de nós.
Será que tem sido uma vida vivida verdadeiramente para ele, pelo Seu poder, com a Sua força e orientação, na Sua vontade, e tendo os frutos do Seu EspÃrito e Sua Palavra que são almas nascidas para o Reino de Deus para sempre?! — Pequeninos sendo instruÃdos na Sua Palavra; pessoas mais velhas crescendo na doutrina e admoestação do Senhor e sendo ensinadas a servir e a viver para Ele?
"O que você tem feito com a sua vida?" Essa é a questão, e tem sido muitas vezes a pergunta que faço a mim próprio no final do dia, antes de ir dormir. É a pergunta que nos fazemos quando nos aproximamos do final da nossa existência, ao prepararmo-nos para descansar das tarefas desta vida: "O que eu fiz com a minha vida?”
Muitos que tiveram experiências depois da morte dão testemunho de que se viram diante do anjo da morte e do juÃzo ao terem contato com a luz brilhante no final do longo túnel da escuridão da morte. E nesse momento, a pergunta que quase todos ouviram foi: "O que você fez com a sua vida?"
É uma boa pergunta para fazermos no final de cada dia: "o que será que eu fiz hoje com a minha vida? o que é que eu fiz por Jesus?" Como diz outra velha canção:
O que você fará com Jesus?
Neutro não poderá ser!
Um dia seu coração lhe perguntará:
"O que será que Ele fará comigo?"
O que é que eu fiz com Jesus e o que Ele fará comigo? O que será que eu fiz com a minha vida e o que Ele fará em relação à maneira como tenho vivido? Qual será a minha recompensa, se é que receberei alguma, por servir fielmente a Ele? Será que agradei a Jesus? Será que Ele ficou satisfeito comigo? Será que fiz o melhor que podia para Jesus? — Ou talvez eu fique sem graça por causa dos erros, falhas e desobediências, e por não cumprir a Sua vontade, e por não segui-lO tão perto quanto deveria, e por não realizar o que Ele esperava de mim?
Jesus diz: "nisto é glorificado meu pai, em que deis muito fruto"[1] O senhor desejava que cada cristão desse fruto como Ele, outro cristão; mais cristãos. É como quando se planta uma semente. Se for semente de maçã, teremos uma macieira cheia de frutas. Se for um pé de pera, teremos uma árvore cheia de peras. Da mesma forma, se for uma mangueira, teremos uma árvore cheia de mangas. E se plantarmos coco, teremos um coqueiro cheio de frutos! A meta é que todo cristão enterre a sua vida no solo do serviço a Deus, leve a sua cruz, siga Jesus e dê fruto — muitos mais cristãos como ele, ou até melhor!
O próprio Jesus disse: "se o grão de trigo, caindo na terra, não morrer, fica ele só; mas se morrer dá muito fruto!"[2] E se nós formos e morrermos diariamente pelo Senhor ao Seu serviço, daremos muito fruto, mais cristãos para pregar o Evangelho para mais perdidos e guiá-los ao Senhor!
Isso é o mÃnimo que ele pode esperar de nós pela salvação que recebemos. Ele morreu para nos salvar, por que não haverÃamos nós de morrer para salvar outros? Na verdade, o apóstolo diz: "Nisto é manifestado o amor de Deus em nós: que Jesus deu a Sua vida por nós e nós devemos dar a vida pelos irmãos."[3]
Essa é a pergunta que será feita a cada um de nós e que deverÃamos nos fazer todos os dias, pois é a que Deus fará quando chegarmos ao fim do dia da nossa vida e estivermos na frente dEle:
Só o que for feito por Cristo permanecerá.
“Não é tolo aquele que dá o que não pode guardar, para ganhar o que não pode perder.”
"Então disse Jesus aos Seus discÃpulos: Se alguém quiser vir após Mim renuncie-se a si mesmo, tome sobre si a sua cruz e siga-Me."[4] "E todo aquele que tiver deixado casas ou irmãos ou irmãs, ou pai ou mãe ou mulher ou filhos ou terras, por amor do Meu nome, receberá cem vezes tanto e herdará a vida eterna."[5] "Na verdade, na verdade vos digo, que se o grão de trigo caindo na terra não morrer, fica ele só; mas se morrer dá muito fruto."
Você nunca se arrependerá! Porque Deus é amor. Ele o ama e cuidará bem de você até o fim. E então você O ouvirá dizer: "Bem está, bom e fiel Servo, entra no gozo do seu Senhor"[6]. Para sempre! — Com todas as almas que você ajudou a levar com amor para o reino de Deus para todo o sempre.
Será que tenho feito o melhor por Jesus,
Sendo que Ele sofreu tanto na morte?
Quando penso no Seu sacrifÃcio no Calvário,
Sei que Ele espera o melhor de mim.
São muitas as horas perdidas, em vão
Mas tão poucas as horas a Ele dedicadas,
Será que Ele compartilha da minha tristeza
Ao ver a minha falta de amor por Ele?
Será que fiz o que podia pelas pessoas,
Ou as deixei à própria sorte?
Eu podia ter ajudado alguém perdido
E plantado a preciosa semente no seu coração.
Não ficarei mais no vale,
Subirei a montanha irei alto;
O mundo precisa desesperadamente
De alguém para levar o amor do Salvador.
Quantos presos ajudei a libertar?
Será que fiz o melhor que podia por Cristo,
Sendo que Ele deu a Sua vida por mim?[7]
Publicado originalmente em outubro de 1982. Adaptado e republicado em julho de 2013. Tradução Hebe Rondon Flandoli. copyright@afamilia.org
http://anchor.tfionline.com/pt/post/o-que-voce-tem-feito-com-sua-vida/
Footnotes:
[1] João 15:8.
[2] João 12:24.
[3] 1 João 3:16.
[4] Mateus 16:24.
[5] Mateus 19:29.
[6] Mateus 25:23.
[7] De Ensign Edwin Young e Harry E. Storrs (1923).
Friday, October 10, 2014
Carne ou EspÃrito?
http://anchor.tfionline.com/pt/post/carne-ou-espirito/
D. Brandt Berg
A mais ardorosa controvérsia religiosa que já se viu no mundo tem sido sempre entre as religiões do tipo “você consegue” (por esforço próprio) e a aquela segundo a qual só Deus pode salvar o ser humano. A humanidade tem tentado alcançar a salvação com uma mÃnima ajuda de Deus para não precisar agradecer muito e assumir todo o mérito, fazer o que bem entende e seguir o seu próprio caminho.
O primeiro homicida que já existiu era um adepto da religião do faça–você-mesmo. Ao matar Abel, um homem que confiava em Deus, Caim deu inÃcio à perseguição da verdadeira reliigão pela falsa religião. Caim era religioso, muito pio. Esforçava-se sobremaneira para salvar-se por seu próprio esforço, inclusive oferecendo sacrifÃcios a Deus e dizendo adorá-lO. Queria muito que Deus o ajudasse a alcançar a salvação. Mas por melhor que fizesse, não bastava.
Ele não agia à maneira de Deus, mas à maneira das religiões falsas, todas dependentes da justiça própria e do seu próprio caminho. A maioria delas diz adorar a Deus e buscar uma ajudinha dEle para alcançarem o Céu, mas se esforçam tanto que, na sua opinião, merecem a salvação, com ou sem a ajuda de Deus. E ficam ofendidas caso Ele aparentemente não valorize devidamente a sua bondade. “Olha, Deus, veja tudo o que fiz por Você. Eu acho até que mereço uma medalha. Eu realmente mereço ser salvo. Se Você for salvar alguém, esse alguém deveria ser eu. Se alguém vai chegar ao Céu, com certeza deveria ser eu!”
Abel, por outro lado, atendia ao que Deus lhe pedia, “e ofereceu a Deus sacrifÃcio mais excelente do que Caim”, o sacrifÃcio de fé pura na Palavra de Deus. Ele acreditava no sacrifÃcio de sangue de um cordeiro, simbolizando a salvação apenas por meio do sangue de Cristo, em uma demonstração de confiança em Deus, só na Sua justiça, mais nada. Sabia que era estritamente uma dádiva.
Caim, um homem que cresceu à s suas próprias custas, um religioso dedicado seguindo a sua própria forma de adoração completamente sem sentido, fez papel de tolo com todo o seu esforço. E ficou furioso ao ver a sua hipocrisia desmascarada dessa forma. Foi um golpe muito duro depois de todo o seu trabalho e esforço na carne, do seu raciocÃnio legalista, das suas exigências pela salvação com base em suas obras, e de sua insistência em fazer à sua maneira. Por isso quis pôr fim à terrÃvel verdade de que a sua religião não poderia salvá-lo, e então matou o homem cuja fé simples na graça de Deus o desmascarou.[1]
Assim começou a grande batalha entre o orgulho e a humildade, os religiosos legalistas e os pecadores salvos, a guerra permanente que tem sido travada desde então entre a Babilônia carnal e a Jerusalém espiritual, a carne e o EspÃrito, as obras e a fé, a lei e a graça, o ego e Deus.
O resultado é um dos maiores mal-entendidos e uma das interpretações mais errôneas das Escrituras até hoje. Desde então as pessoas têm tentado se salvar dando o mÃnimo mérito a Deus e distorcendo as Escrituras para provarem que é possÃvel.
Pelo fato de Deus não poder ajudá-lo a ficar salvo e você não conseguir salvar-se sozinho – por mais que tente obter ajuda de Deus, e como não é possÃvel servir a dois senhores -- você próprio e Deus -- e não é possÃvel servir a Deus e a Mammon[2], os religiosos acabaram servindo a Mammon apenas, sem Deus. Resultado? Pereceram no Dilúvio dos juÃzos de Deus. Apenas Noé e sua famÃlia se salvaram, pela graça de Deus, dentro da Arca, um simbolismo do Cristo. As águas que destruÃram aqueles que tanto se esforçavam pela salvação por meio de obras, salvou os que acreditavam em Deus e nEle confiavam.
Mesmo assim a humanidade não aprendeu. Como disse o grande historiador Toynbee: “A única coisa que aprendemos com a história é que jamais aprendemos com ela”.[3] Não demorou muito e voltaram à ativa, desta vez construindo uma torre para chegarem ao céu por seus próprios meios, se tornarem famosos e ganharem reconhecimento por sua grandeza. Mas também não funcionou, construÃram a Torre de Babel, que significa confusão total. -- E nós temos sofrido dessa confusão de vozes e lÃnguas desde então.[4]
Até Abraão tentou aprontar algumas para salvar a si e à sua posteridade. Mas Deus teve que lhe mostrar que era tudo por fé e pelo poder milagroso de Deus, não pela força da sua carne.[5]
Moisés tentou e caiu de cara no chão diante de Deus no deserto quando percebeu que não conseguiria por força própria. Os filhos de Israel tentaram e foram derrotados muitas vezes quando acharam que o seu próprio braço os salvaria.
Até mesmo Sansão percebeu que sem o poder de Deus ele era um fracote. E também Saul, Davi, e Salomão, todos eles descobriram que ao agirem por conta própria sempre fizeram asneiras, quando não admitiam que apenas Deus poderia salvá-los, que era tudo obra dEle e nada mais.[6].
Esse foi o pomo de discórdia entre os primeiros cristãos. Alguns acreditavam que bastava crer para ser salvo, já outros achavam ser preciso também guardar a lei. No caso dos cristãos de ascendência judia, eles não conseguiam evitar se considerar um pouco melhores do que os gentios, até mesmo entre os irmãos cristãos. “Mas é claro que acreditamos que Jesus é o Messias”, diziam, “mas ainda precisamos seguir a antiga Lei para ajudá-lO a nos salvar.” Paulo ficou tão enojado com essa detestável combinação de obras e graça que censurou Pedro publicamente por causa disso,[7] e passou a maior parte dos seus anos combatendo essa questão em epÃstola atrás de epÃstola.
Eu também passei alguns anos iludido quando ainda jovem na fé. Foram anos de inseguração e incerteza, sentindo-me desencorajado e derrotado até entender que bastava acreditar para ser salvo, mais nada. “Quem crê no Filho tem a vida eterna.”[8] Agora mesmo. Sem condições, sem obrigações de “se comportar e ir à igreja todos os domingos”, sem essa história de perfeição e santidade dos supostos santos farisaicos que se consideram melhores do que os outros.
Eu simplesmente não ia conseguir a salvação, e sabia. Parecia que quanto mais me esforçava para ser bom, pior eu ficava. “Quem me livrará do corpo desta morte? Dou graças a Deus por Jesus Cristo nosso Senhor.”[9] E é só isso, mais nada, nenhum outro meio. A sua própria justiça nada vale; suas boas obras de nada servem. Nada disso pode mantê-lo salvo, que dirá salvá-lo. Apenas Jesus pode fazê-lo. E Ele não só o salva, mas também faz a obra através de você. É tudo Jesus, nada do seu farisaÃsmo. Só Jesus. Foi um grande alÃvio, porque eu sabia que, se não fosse assim, jamais conseguiria ser salvo. Tinha que ser obra de Deus, eu simplesmente não conseguiria.
O problema com muitos cristãos hoje é que ainda vivem segundo o Antigo Testamento, com uma religião de obras. Quando nossos primeiros missionários foram para o Japão, o povo lhes perguntava, “Vocês são crsitãos do Antigo ou do Novo Testamento?” No inÃcio eles não entendiam o que queriam dizer, mas logo descobriram que cristão do Antigo Testamento significava aquele que enfatizava mais templos, catedrais, cerimônias, rituais e tradição, uma religião principalmente de obras. Já o cristão do Novo Testamento era o que enfatizava não prédios, pompa e as coisas que se vê, mas as coisas simples do cotidiano cristão, como Jesus e Seus discÃpulos faziam, e as coisas invisÃveis do EspÃrito. Uma comparação e tanto, e uma grande verdade!
Muitas religiões e seus seguidores ainda vivem no passado, até mesmo dentro de um contexto pagão, herdado de muitos resÃduos de idolatria e seu amor por edifÃcios, adoração a templos, sacerdócio e santidade, vestuário elaborado, cerimônias complicadas, tradições e superstições, e um poder ditatorial sobre as almas das pessoas, fazendo comércio delas por insistirem na salvação pelas obras – o seu tipo de obras, segundo a sua religião, aquele monopólio que dizem ter no reino de Deus.
Até mesmo Deus teve dificuldades de livrar os filhos de Israel da idolatria do Egito. Foi preciso guiá-los com Moisés, usando a Lei como professor, por meio de ilustrações e rituais infantis, exemplos fÃsicos, como, por exemplo, o Tabernáculo, a Arca, o sacrifÃcio animal, e o sangue de animais. Tudo isso exemplificando, ilustrando as realidades espirituais e verdades eternas. Ele estava usando comparações quase que ridÃculas, como flanelógrafos e canções com coreografia para demonstrar verdades espirituais para criancinhas. Precisou usar o que entendiam, coisas que lhes eram familiares com base nas religiões do Egito e de outras nações pagãs vizinhas, como um pai, tentando lhes mostrar as verdades espirituais autênticas da adoração madura que deveriam ter por Deus. Como diz o apóstolo, todas essas coisas foram “figuras verdadeiro”[10], exemplos, ilustrações das coisas invisÃveis do EspÃrito.
Mas as figuras e sombras, as ilustrações do Antigo Testamento oferecem um estudo especÃfico. Como diz Paulo, “Agora vemos em espelho, de maneira obscura... então conhecerei como também sou conhecido”. “Quando eu era menino, falava como menino, pensava como menino, raciocinava como menino. Mas logo que cheguei a ser homem, acabei com as coisas de menino” “...Mas quando vier o que é perfeito, então o que é em parte será aniquilado.”[11]
Paulo estava dizendo que até mesmo os dons do EspÃrito desta era iluminada são praticamente como brinquedos infantis de um Pai amoroso para Seus filhinhos simplórios para ajudá-los a conhecer a Ele e à Sua vontade. Quanto mais então são as lições fÃsicas da adoração no Templo no Antigo Testamento brinquedos ainda mais infantis para crianças menores espiritualmente para ajudá-las a entender o amor do Pai.
Mas, “havendo Deus outrora falado muitas vezes, e de muitas maneiras aos pais pelos profetas, a nós falou-nos nestes últimos dias pelo Filho”[12]. E quando Jesus veio, disse à mulher junto ao poço em Samaria, “A hora vem em que nem neste monte nem em Jerusalém adorareis o Pai… mas vem a hora, e já chegou, em que os verdadiros adoradores adorarão o Pai em espÃrito e em verdade, pois o Pai procura a tais que assim o adorem. Deus é EspÃrito, e importa que os que O adoram O adorem em espÃrito e em verdade.”[13] É esse o estágio espiritual que hoje vivemos no Senhor.
Paulo vai além na sua epÃstola aos corÃntios. Ele diz que virá o tempo quando veremos Jesus face a face e deixaremos os dons infantis da comunicação no EspÃrito. Pois, “havendo profecias cessarão; havendo lÃnguas desaparecerão; havendo conhecimento, passará. Pois em parte conhecemos e em parte profetizamos. Mas quando vier o que é prefeito, então o que é em parte será aniquilado.”[14] Até mesmo o que conhecemos hoje é apenas uma amostra da gloriosa realidade por vir.
No Antigo Testamento havia as ilustrações; no Novo Testamento temos as verdades espirituais -- apenas por fé.[15] Mas quando Jesus voltar, nós O veremos como Ele é, e seremos literalmente como Ele, face a face, vivenciando plenamente as realidades de Deus e do mundo por vir. Aleluia. Agora temos a salvação por fé e no espÃrito, mas no futuro será uma realidade visÃvel, tangÃvel, com um novo corpo e um novo mundo, a plenitude.
Publicado originalmente em fevereiro de 1971. Adaptado e republicado em janeiro de 2013. Tradução Hebe Rondon Flandoli. Revisão Denise Oliveira. Copyright@thefamily.org
Footnotes:
[1] Gênesis 4:1–8.
[2] Mateus 6:24.
[3] Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher, 1770–1831.
[4] Gênesis 11:1–9.
[5] Gênesis 12:10–20, 20:1–18.
[6] Ver Êxodos, 1 e 2 Samuel e JuÃzes.
[7] Gálatas 2:11–21.
[8] João 3:36.
[9] Romanos 7:24–25.
[10] Hebreus 9:24.
[11] 1 CorÃntios 13:10–12.
[12] Hebreus 1:1–2.
[13] João 4:21–24.
[14] 1 CorÃntios 13:8–10.
[15] João 1:17.
D. Brandt Berg
A mais ardorosa controvérsia religiosa que já se viu no mundo tem sido sempre entre as religiões do tipo “você consegue” (por esforço próprio) e a aquela segundo a qual só Deus pode salvar o ser humano. A humanidade tem tentado alcançar a salvação com uma mÃnima ajuda de Deus para não precisar agradecer muito e assumir todo o mérito, fazer o que bem entende e seguir o seu próprio caminho.
O primeiro homicida que já existiu era um adepto da religião do faça–você-mesmo. Ao matar Abel, um homem que confiava em Deus, Caim deu inÃcio à perseguição da verdadeira reliigão pela falsa religião. Caim era religioso, muito pio. Esforçava-se sobremaneira para salvar-se por seu próprio esforço, inclusive oferecendo sacrifÃcios a Deus e dizendo adorá-lO. Queria muito que Deus o ajudasse a alcançar a salvação. Mas por melhor que fizesse, não bastava.
Ele não agia à maneira de Deus, mas à maneira das religiões falsas, todas dependentes da justiça própria e do seu próprio caminho. A maioria delas diz adorar a Deus e buscar uma ajudinha dEle para alcançarem o Céu, mas se esforçam tanto que, na sua opinião, merecem a salvação, com ou sem a ajuda de Deus. E ficam ofendidas caso Ele aparentemente não valorize devidamente a sua bondade. “Olha, Deus, veja tudo o que fiz por Você. Eu acho até que mereço uma medalha. Eu realmente mereço ser salvo. Se Você for salvar alguém, esse alguém deveria ser eu. Se alguém vai chegar ao Céu, com certeza deveria ser eu!”
Abel, por outro lado, atendia ao que Deus lhe pedia, “e ofereceu a Deus sacrifÃcio mais excelente do que Caim”, o sacrifÃcio de fé pura na Palavra de Deus. Ele acreditava no sacrifÃcio de sangue de um cordeiro, simbolizando a salvação apenas por meio do sangue de Cristo, em uma demonstração de confiança em Deus, só na Sua justiça, mais nada. Sabia que era estritamente uma dádiva.
Caim, um homem que cresceu à s suas próprias custas, um religioso dedicado seguindo a sua própria forma de adoração completamente sem sentido, fez papel de tolo com todo o seu esforço. E ficou furioso ao ver a sua hipocrisia desmascarada dessa forma. Foi um golpe muito duro depois de todo o seu trabalho e esforço na carne, do seu raciocÃnio legalista, das suas exigências pela salvação com base em suas obras, e de sua insistência em fazer à sua maneira. Por isso quis pôr fim à terrÃvel verdade de que a sua religião não poderia salvá-lo, e então matou o homem cuja fé simples na graça de Deus o desmascarou.[1]
Assim começou a grande batalha entre o orgulho e a humildade, os religiosos legalistas e os pecadores salvos, a guerra permanente que tem sido travada desde então entre a Babilônia carnal e a Jerusalém espiritual, a carne e o EspÃrito, as obras e a fé, a lei e a graça, o ego e Deus.
O resultado é um dos maiores mal-entendidos e uma das interpretações mais errôneas das Escrituras até hoje. Desde então as pessoas têm tentado se salvar dando o mÃnimo mérito a Deus e distorcendo as Escrituras para provarem que é possÃvel.
Pelo fato de Deus não poder ajudá-lo a ficar salvo e você não conseguir salvar-se sozinho – por mais que tente obter ajuda de Deus, e como não é possÃvel servir a dois senhores -- você próprio e Deus -- e não é possÃvel servir a Deus e a Mammon[2], os religiosos acabaram servindo a Mammon apenas, sem Deus. Resultado? Pereceram no Dilúvio dos juÃzos de Deus. Apenas Noé e sua famÃlia se salvaram, pela graça de Deus, dentro da Arca, um simbolismo do Cristo. As águas que destruÃram aqueles que tanto se esforçavam pela salvação por meio de obras, salvou os que acreditavam em Deus e nEle confiavam.
Mesmo assim a humanidade não aprendeu. Como disse o grande historiador Toynbee: “A única coisa que aprendemos com a história é que jamais aprendemos com ela”.[3] Não demorou muito e voltaram à ativa, desta vez construindo uma torre para chegarem ao céu por seus próprios meios, se tornarem famosos e ganharem reconhecimento por sua grandeza. Mas também não funcionou, construÃram a Torre de Babel, que significa confusão total. -- E nós temos sofrido dessa confusão de vozes e lÃnguas desde então.[4]
Até Abraão tentou aprontar algumas para salvar a si e à sua posteridade. Mas Deus teve que lhe mostrar que era tudo por fé e pelo poder milagroso de Deus, não pela força da sua carne.[5]
Moisés tentou e caiu de cara no chão diante de Deus no deserto quando percebeu que não conseguiria por força própria. Os filhos de Israel tentaram e foram derrotados muitas vezes quando acharam que o seu próprio braço os salvaria.
Até mesmo Sansão percebeu que sem o poder de Deus ele era um fracote. E também Saul, Davi, e Salomão, todos eles descobriram que ao agirem por conta própria sempre fizeram asneiras, quando não admitiam que apenas Deus poderia salvá-los, que era tudo obra dEle e nada mais.[6].
Esse foi o pomo de discórdia entre os primeiros cristãos. Alguns acreditavam que bastava crer para ser salvo, já outros achavam ser preciso também guardar a lei. No caso dos cristãos de ascendência judia, eles não conseguiam evitar se considerar um pouco melhores do que os gentios, até mesmo entre os irmãos cristãos. “Mas é claro que acreditamos que Jesus é o Messias”, diziam, “mas ainda precisamos seguir a antiga Lei para ajudá-lO a nos salvar.” Paulo ficou tão enojado com essa detestável combinação de obras e graça que censurou Pedro publicamente por causa disso,[7] e passou a maior parte dos seus anos combatendo essa questão em epÃstola atrás de epÃstola.
Eu também passei alguns anos iludido quando ainda jovem na fé. Foram anos de inseguração e incerteza, sentindo-me desencorajado e derrotado até entender que bastava acreditar para ser salvo, mais nada. “Quem crê no Filho tem a vida eterna.”[8] Agora mesmo. Sem condições, sem obrigações de “se comportar e ir à igreja todos os domingos”, sem essa história de perfeição e santidade dos supostos santos farisaicos que se consideram melhores do que os outros.
Eu simplesmente não ia conseguir a salvação, e sabia. Parecia que quanto mais me esforçava para ser bom, pior eu ficava. “Quem me livrará do corpo desta morte? Dou graças a Deus por Jesus Cristo nosso Senhor.”[9] E é só isso, mais nada, nenhum outro meio. A sua própria justiça nada vale; suas boas obras de nada servem. Nada disso pode mantê-lo salvo, que dirá salvá-lo. Apenas Jesus pode fazê-lo. E Ele não só o salva, mas também faz a obra através de você. É tudo Jesus, nada do seu farisaÃsmo. Só Jesus. Foi um grande alÃvio, porque eu sabia que, se não fosse assim, jamais conseguiria ser salvo. Tinha que ser obra de Deus, eu simplesmente não conseguiria.
O problema com muitos cristãos hoje é que ainda vivem segundo o Antigo Testamento, com uma religião de obras. Quando nossos primeiros missionários foram para o Japão, o povo lhes perguntava, “Vocês são crsitãos do Antigo ou do Novo Testamento?” No inÃcio eles não entendiam o que queriam dizer, mas logo descobriram que cristão do Antigo Testamento significava aquele que enfatizava mais templos, catedrais, cerimônias, rituais e tradição, uma religião principalmente de obras. Já o cristão do Novo Testamento era o que enfatizava não prédios, pompa e as coisas que se vê, mas as coisas simples do cotidiano cristão, como Jesus e Seus discÃpulos faziam, e as coisas invisÃveis do EspÃrito. Uma comparação e tanto, e uma grande verdade!
Muitas religiões e seus seguidores ainda vivem no passado, até mesmo dentro de um contexto pagão, herdado de muitos resÃduos de idolatria e seu amor por edifÃcios, adoração a templos, sacerdócio e santidade, vestuário elaborado, cerimônias complicadas, tradições e superstições, e um poder ditatorial sobre as almas das pessoas, fazendo comércio delas por insistirem na salvação pelas obras – o seu tipo de obras, segundo a sua religião, aquele monopólio que dizem ter no reino de Deus.
Até mesmo Deus teve dificuldades de livrar os filhos de Israel da idolatria do Egito. Foi preciso guiá-los com Moisés, usando a Lei como professor, por meio de ilustrações e rituais infantis, exemplos fÃsicos, como, por exemplo, o Tabernáculo, a Arca, o sacrifÃcio animal, e o sangue de animais. Tudo isso exemplificando, ilustrando as realidades espirituais e verdades eternas. Ele estava usando comparações quase que ridÃculas, como flanelógrafos e canções com coreografia para demonstrar verdades espirituais para criancinhas. Precisou usar o que entendiam, coisas que lhes eram familiares com base nas religiões do Egito e de outras nações pagãs vizinhas, como um pai, tentando lhes mostrar as verdades espirituais autênticas da adoração madura que deveriam ter por Deus. Como diz o apóstolo, todas essas coisas foram “figuras verdadeiro”[10], exemplos, ilustrações das coisas invisÃveis do EspÃrito.
Mas as figuras e sombras, as ilustrações do Antigo Testamento oferecem um estudo especÃfico. Como diz Paulo, “Agora vemos em espelho, de maneira obscura... então conhecerei como também sou conhecido”. “Quando eu era menino, falava como menino, pensava como menino, raciocinava como menino. Mas logo que cheguei a ser homem, acabei com as coisas de menino” “...Mas quando vier o que é perfeito, então o que é em parte será aniquilado.”[11]
Paulo estava dizendo que até mesmo os dons do EspÃrito desta era iluminada são praticamente como brinquedos infantis de um Pai amoroso para Seus filhinhos simplórios para ajudá-los a conhecer a Ele e à Sua vontade. Quanto mais então são as lições fÃsicas da adoração no Templo no Antigo Testamento brinquedos ainda mais infantis para crianças menores espiritualmente para ajudá-las a entender o amor do Pai.
Mas, “havendo Deus outrora falado muitas vezes, e de muitas maneiras aos pais pelos profetas, a nós falou-nos nestes últimos dias pelo Filho”[12]. E quando Jesus veio, disse à mulher junto ao poço em Samaria, “A hora vem em que nem neste monte nem em Jerusalém adorareis o Pai… mas vem a hora, e já chegou, em que os verdadiros adoradores adorarão o Pai em espÃrito e em verdade, pois o Pai procura a tais que assim o adorem. Deus é EspÃrito, e importa que os que O adoram O adorem em espÃrito e em verdade.”[13] É esse o estágio espiritual que hoje vivemos no Senhor.
Paulo vai além na sua epÃstola aos corÃntios. Ele diz que virá o tempo quando veremos Jesus face a face e deixaremos os dons infantis da comunicação no EspÃrito. Pois, “havendo profecias cessarão; havendo lÃnguas desaparecerão; havendo conhecimento, passará. Pois em parte conhecemos e em parte profetizamos. Mas quando vier o que é prefeito, então o que é em parte será aniquilado.”[14] Até mesmo o que conhecemos hoje é apenas uma amostra da gloriosa realidade por vir.
No Antigo Testamento havia as ilustrações; no Novo Testamento temos as verdades espirituais -- apenas por fé.[15] Mas quando Jesus voltar, nós O veremos como Ele é, e seremos literalmente como Ele, face a face, vivenciando plenamente as realidades de Deus e do mundo por vir. Aleluia. Agora temos a salvação por fé e no espÃrito, mas no futuro será uma realidade visÃvel, tangÃvel, com um novo corpo e um novo mundo, a plenitude.
Publicado originalmente em fevereiro de 1971. Adaptado e republicado em janeiro de 2013. Tradução Hebe Rondon Flandoli. Revisão Denise Oliveira. Copyright@thefamily.org
Footnotes:
[1] Gênesis 4:1–8.
[2] Mateus 6:24.
[3] Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher, 1770–1831.
[4] Gênesis 11:1–9.
[5] Gênesis 12:10–20, 20:1–18.
[6] Ver Êxodos, 1 e 2 Samuel e JuÃzes.
[7] Gálatas 2:11–21.
[8] João 3:36.
[9] Romanos 7:24–25.
[10] Hebreus 9:24.
[11] 1 CorÃntios 13:10–12.
[12] Hebreus 1:1–2.
[13] João 4:21–24.
[14] 1 CorÃntios 13:8–10.
[15] João 1:17.
Without Love, It’s Nothing
http://anchor.tfionline.com/post/without-love-its-nothing/
By D. Brandt Berg
Audio length: 7:27
Download Audio (6.8MB)
If I speak in the languages of humans and angels but have no love, I have become a reverberating gong or a clashing cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can understand all secrets and every form of knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains but have no love, I am nothing. Even if I give away everything that I have and sacrifice myself, but have no love, I gain nothing.—1 Corinthians 13:1–31
*
If you do not have love, all your talents will ultimately profit you nothing.2 You have to be loving in the first place; you have to be sympathetic and understanding of people’s problems.
Christianity was not built on tough rules. It’s first of all built on love and consideration and sympathy and compassion. Jesus was tired out and tried to retire inside the house one day, but He looked out and there were thousands of people gathered there wanting healing. And He went out, it says, and He healed them all because He had compassion upon the multitude.3
If you do not have compassion, if you do not have love, if you are not motivated because “the love of Christ constraineth me” and you are sorry for people and you want to help them and you are trying to do the best you can, then you are not going to get anywhere.4 You have to have sympathy and understanding. You can be sweet, quiet, wonderful, faithful, loyal, diligent and hard-working, but it’s not enough if you do not seem to know people very well or the problems they face.
We need to have love for others and feel so sympathetic toward them that we could almost cry just thinking about them and try to do everything we can to help them and make it easy for them.
“We have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all things tempted like as we are.”5 He suffered the same things and went through the same things we do in our human condition.
I do not even think you can be a good salesman unless you have love. What makes a good salesman? Somebody who’s sincere, who’s sold on his product. He’s convinced that it will really be a help to the people he’s trying to sell it to and can convey that sincerity and the conviction that, “You have got to buy this, and I’m selling it to you at the least I possibly can to make it easier for you to do your job” or whatever it is.
I have seen some TV commercials that fall flat as a flounder. They try to really make it sound like they are concerned about you and your health, your beauty, your comfort. But real salesmanship, especially in our business of preaching the Gospel, has got to have love or it will never go over, it won’t sell.
We first of all have to have love. If we have not got love, it will profit us nothing and we can do nothing of lasting value.
People in leadership anywhere in the Lord’s work should be trying to save souls and trying to help the soul-savers. Really, sincerely, honestly concerned about them, not just doing some kind of formal, mechanical job, going through the motions without the power thereof.6 What’s the power? Love! Without that power, we have not got anything.
Love is the lifeblood of God’s work—the Spirit of God. As my mother used to say, if the baptism of the Holy Spirit is anything at all, it is a baptism of love.
*
God only uses broken people, broken lives, broken hearts, because only a broken heart gives you love and compassion for others. Only a broken life can help you sympathize with others. Only brokenness can give you humility.
If you show a real love for people, you will not have a hard time winning friends, winning the lost who need love. When we show love to the most despised, rejected, and discriminated classes of people in the world today, they respond with love. Love begets love! “And the greatest of these is love.”7 Of all the gifts outlined in 1 Corinthians 13, love was greater than any other—because God is love.
If the baptism of the Holy Spirit is anything, it is a baptism of love. It does not matter “whether you speak with the tongues of men and of angels,” without love, you would become “as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.” “Though you understand all mysteries and all prophecies and have faith to remove mountains...,” even if you have great faith, if you don’t have love, you’re nothing.8
“And above all, have fervent love one toward another.”9 “Love one another.”10 In Jesus’ message to His disciples at the Last Supper, before He was arrested, taken to jail, beaten and killed, what did He tell them? He talked about love, that love was the most important thing.11
“Above all thy getting, get love.”12 Wisdom is love, did you know that? Because God is wisdom, but He’s also love. “Love one another.” “Have fervent love one toward another.” What is the greatest commandment? To love God. What’s the next greatest? To love your neighbor as yourself! He said that’s like unto the first one.13 To love your neighbor is to love God. Without love, it’s nothing.
*
Love is always patient;
love is always kind;
love is never envious
or arrogant with pride.
Nor is she conceited,
and she is never rude;
she never thinks just of herself
or ever gets annoyed.
She never is resentful;
is never glad with sin;
she’s always glad to side with truth,
and pleased that truth will win.
She bears up under everything;
believes the best in all;
there is no limit to her hope,
and never will she fall.
Love never fails.
—1 Corinthians 13:4–814
Originally published in 1984 and 1969. Adapted and republished March 2014.
Read by Jerry Paladino. Copyright@thefamily.org
Footnotes:
1 ISV.
2 1 Corinthians 13.
3 Matthew 14:14.
4 2 Corinthians 5:14.
5 Hebrews 4:15.
6 2 Timothy 3:5.
7 1 Corinthians 13:13.
8 1 Corinthians 13:1–2.
9 1 Peter 4:8.
10 John 15:12.
11 See John 13:1, 34–35.
12 Proverbs 4:7.
13 Matthew 22:37–39.
14 ISV.
By D. Brandt Berg
Audio length: 7:27
Download Audio (6.8MB)
If I speak in the languages of humans and angels but have no love, I have become a reverberating gong or a clashing cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can understand all secrets and every form of knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains but have no love, I am nothing. Even if I give away everything that I have and sacrifice myself, but have no love, I gain nothing.—1 Corinthians 13:1–31
*
If you do not have love, all your talents will ultimately profit you nothing.2 You have to be loving in the first place; you have to be sympathetic and understanding of people’s problems.
Christianity was not built on tough rules. It’s first of all built on love and consideration and sympathy and compassion. Jesus was tired out and tried to retire inside the house one day, but He looked out and there were thousands of people gathered there wanting healing. And He went out, it says, and He healed them all because He had compassion upon the multitude.3
If you do not have compassion, if you do not have love, if you are not motivated because “the love of Christ constraineth me” and you are sorry for people and you want to help them and you are trying to do the best you can, then you are not going to get anywhere.4 You have to have sympathy and understanding. You can be sweet, quiet, wonderful, faithful, loyal, diligent and hard-working, but it’s not enough if you do not seem to know people very well or the problems they face.
We need to have love for others and feel so sympathetic toward them that we could almost cry just thinking about them and try to do everything we can to help them and make it easy for them.
“We have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all things tempted like as we are.”5 He suffered the same things and went through the same things we do in our human condition.
I do not even think you can be a good salesman unless you have love. What makes a good salesman? Somebody who’s sincere, who’s sold on his product. He’s convinced that it will really be a help to the people he’s trying to sell it to and can convey that sincerity and the conviction that, “You have got to buy this, and I’m selling it to you at the least I possibly can to make it easier for you to do your job” or whatever it is.
I have seen some TV commercials that fall flat as a flounder. They try to really make it sound like they are concerned about you and your health, your beauty, your comfort. But real salesmanship, especially in our business of preaching the Gospel, has got to have love or it will never go over, it won’t sell.
We first of all have to have love. If we have not got love, it will profit us nothing and we can do nothing of lasting value.
People in leadership anywhere in the Lord’s work should be trying to save souls and trying to help the soul-savers. Really, sincerely, honestly concerned about them, not just doing some kind of formal, mechanical job, going through the motions without the power thereof.6 What’s the power? Love! Without that power, we have not got anything.
Love is the lifeblood of God’s work—the Spirit of God. As my mother used to say, if the baptism of the Holy Spirit is anything at all, it is a baptism of love.
*
God only uses broken people, broken lives, broken hearts, because only a broken heart gives you love and compassion for others. Only a broken life can help you sympathize with others. Only brokenness can give you humility.
If you show a real love for people, you will not have a hard time winning friends, winning the lost who need love. When we show love to the most despised, rejected, and discriminated classes of people in the world today, they respond with love. Love begets love! “And the greatest of these is love.”7 Of all the gifts outlined in 1 Corinthians 13, love was greater than any other—because God is love.
If the baptism of the Holy Spirit is anything, it is a baptism of love. It does not matter “whether you speak with the tongues of men and of angels,” without love, you would become “as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.” “Though you understand all mysteries and all prophecies and have faith to remove mountains...,” even if you have great faith, if you don’t have love, you’re nothing.8
“And above all, have fervent love one toward another.”9 “Love one another.”10 In Jesus’ message to His disciples at the Last Supper, before He was arrested, taken to jail, beaten and killed, what did He tell them? He talked about love, that love was the most important thing.11
“Above all thy getting, get love.”12 Wisdom is love, did you know that? Because God is wisdom, but He’s also love. “Love one another.” “Have fervent love one toward another.” What is the greatest commandment? To love God. What’s the next greatest? To love your neighbor as yourself! He said that’s like unto the first one.13 To love your neighbor is to love God. Without love, it’s nothing.
*
Love is always patient;
love is always kind;
love is never envious
or arrogant with pride.
Nor is she conceited,
and she is never rude;
she never thinks just of herself
or ever gets annoyed.
She never is resentful;
is never glad with sin;
she’s always glad to side with truth,
and pleased that truth will win.
She bears up under everything;
believes the best in all;
there is no limit to her hope,
and never will she fall.
Love never fails.
—1 Corinthians 13:4–814
Originally published in 1984 and 1969. Adapted and republished March 2014.
Read by Jerry Paladino. Copyright@thefamily.org
Footnotes:
1 ISV.
2 1 Corinthians 13.
3 Matthew 14:14.
4 2 Corinthians 5:14.
5 Hebrews 4:15.
6 2 Timothy 3:5.
7 1 Corinthians 13:13.
8 1 Corinthians 13:1–2.
9 1 Peter 4:8.
10 John 15:12.
11 See John 13:1, 34–35.
12 Proverbs 4:7.
13 Matthew 22:37–39.
14 ISV.
