The Scarlet Book of Freemasonry
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
The Most Expensive Wars in U.S. History
Alexander Kent, 24/7 Wall Street, May 21, 2015
Declared an official holiday in 1971, Memorial Day honors those who have given their lives in service to the United States. While the human toll is always great, wars also cost treasure as well as blood.
Many factors can affect the cost of waging war. Using a report from the Congressional Research Service, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the most expensive wars in U.S. history. While the Mexican-American War cost just $2.4 billion, or 1.4% of GDP in 1847, spending on World War II accounted for nearly 36% of GDP in 1945, or $4.1 trillion. These are the most expensive wars in U.S. history.
In every conflict before World War II, nearly all of the country’s defense budget was spent on direct conflict–classified as wartime spending. For example, the U.S. spent 1.1% of GDP in 1899 to fight the Spanish-American War, and just 1.5% of GDP was spent on total defense spending.
That trend largely changed at the start of the Cold War. The persistent threat of military conflict ensured that the U.S. would be ready for war at any time, as the Space Race and nuclear armament became national priorities in both the U.S. and the Soviet Union. As a result, wartime spending and defense spending began to diverge. During the Korean War, for example, war costs accounted for just 4.2% of GDP in 1952, while total defense spending represented more than 13% of GDP in the same year.
Comparing war costs over a 235-year period can be difficult. While the report attempted to correct for inflation by calculating each war’s cost in fiscal year 2011 dollars, inflation adjustments do not account for advances in technology. It is entirely possible that wars also became more expensive over time as the sophistication and cost of technology increased.
To determine the most expensive wars in U.S. history, 24/7 Wall St. used a 2010 report from the Congressional Research Service entitled “Costs of Major U.S. Wars”. The report does not include veterans’ benefits, interest on loans used to finance the war, and assistance to allies. Additionally, the report attempts to capture the increase in military expenditures during wartime and does not include the costs of maintaining a standing army in peacetime. The report also presents both military costs and defense spending as percentages of GDP in the year of peak war spending. War cost figures for the War on Terror were updated to reflect expenditure after 2010.
These are the most expensive wars in U.S. history.
10. Mexican-American War. Fought between 1846 and the start of 1848, the Mexican War cost the United States $2.4 billion, the 10th-most expensive war in U.S. history. Texas, having gained its own independence from Mexico a decade earlier, had still not been granted statehood by the U.S. Texas’ annexation would have upset the equilibrium between slave and free states established by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Mexico hoped to capitalize on U.S. indecision when its army crossed the Rio Grande to attack U.S. forces in the battle of Palo Alto. The war ended on February 2, 1848, with the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, which established the Rio Grande as the southern border of Texas and settled U.S. acquisition of land in present-day California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico for $15 million.
9. American Revolution. The nearly nine-year quest for independence cost the American colonies just over $2.4 billion, and nearly 4,500 lives in battle. While the war began as a revolt against unjust taxation, it ended with the Founding Fathers rejecting the social and political structures of Europe in favor of a democratic republic. The Treaty of Paris ended the war in 1783, officially recognizing the U.S. as an independent country and establishing its borders.
8. Spanish-American War. Often dubbed the first “media war,” sensationalized journalism helped fuel America’s support for involvement in the Cuban quest for independence from Spain. When the U.S.S. Maine, which had been sent to Havana to protect American interests, unexpectedly blew up in 1898, cries for American intervention increased. Congress officially declared war under the Monroe Doctrine–a foreign policy agenda that proclaimed a U.S. right to intervene in regional conflicts in the Western Hemisphere–and crushed Spanish forces worldwide in less than nine months. The war cost $9 billion and the U.S. acquired Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.
7. American Civil War. The Civil War claimed more American lives–750,000–than all other U.S. conflicts combined, and cost both sides nearly $80 billion. Fought primarily over the issues of slavery and states’ rights, such as taxation and representation, the Civil War began after South Carolina seceded from the Union and fired upon a Union merchant ship heading to Fort Sumter with supplies. The standoff in Charleston Harbor continued until April 1861, when the war officially began. Four years later, General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate States of America surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.
6. Gulf War. The Persian Gulf War was one of the shortest conflicts in U.S. history, costing $102 billion, or just 0.3% of GDP in 1991. Tensions mounted when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Despite strong calls from the United Nations for Iraq to withdraw, Hussein refused. A few months later, a U.S.-led coalition initiated Operation Desert Storm. The offensive lasted 42 days. As the first major conflict after the Cold War, the Persian Gulf War was, at the time, heralded as a success for the international coalition.
5. World War I. War broke out in Europe in 1914 but the U.S. remained neutral for the next three years. However, after Germany reneged on its pledge to respect the neutrality of U.S. ships in the Atlantic, and tried to entice Mexico into declaring war on the U.S., President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war on April 2, 1917. The war ended 19 months later with the Treaty of Versailles. Ultimately, the war cost the U.S. $334 billion, or nearly 14% of GDP in 1919.
4. Korean War. In June 1950, the Soviet-supported North Korean military crossed the 38th parallel that divided North and South Korea. Fearful of the spread of communism, President Harry Truman garnered support from allies in the United Nations Security Council to drive the North Korean troops out of the South. General Douglas MacArthur, however, pursued the North Koreans to the Yalu River, which formed the northern border between China and the Korean peninsula. The Chinese interpreted MacArthur’s actions as an act of war and routed the U.N. troops, forcing them to retreat below the 38th parallel. The war eventually ended after Dwight Eisenhower assumed the presidency and threatened the use of nuclear weapons if the North Koreans or Chinese did not respect the 38th parallel as the boundary between the two countries. Ultimately, the Korean War cost the U.S. $341 billion and nearly 34,000 lives.
3. Vietnam War. The war in Vietnam cost the U.S. $738 billion, or just 2.3% of GDP in 1968. By the end of the conflict, the names of more than 58,000 dead soldiers were recorded on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. After North Vietnamese troops drove the French out of the region in 1954, ending a brutal era of colonialism, the Geneva Accords stipulated that elections in the South be scheduled for the following year. Determined not to let communism spread, the U.S. lent its support to Ngo Dinh Diem, a French-educated, Catholic politician in South Vietnam. By the time the U.S. committed troops in 1965, Diem had been assassinated and Vietnamese support for the new military-led South Vietnamese government had faded. With supplies from China and the Soviet Union, North Vietnam primarily used guerilla tactics to attack U.S. troops and bases, often by surprise. By the late 1960s, public support for the war in the U.S. was fading. American troops officially withdrew from the region in 1973 and South Vietnam fell to communism in 1975.
2. War on Terror. Conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan following September 11, 2001–collectively known as the War on Terror–cost the U.S. more than $1.6 trillion through 2010. The U.S. entered Afghanistan in October 2001, to search for Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C., and to overthrow the Taliban government, which was long suspected of harboring terrorists. U.S. troops invaded Iraq and overthrew Saddam Hussein in 2003 operating on the belief that he had weapons of mass destruction. Both countries continue to be marred by conflict.
1. World War II. Once the U.S. emerged from its isolationist shell, it spent more than $4 trillion fighting in World War II and lost more than 400,000 troops. U.S. involvement officially began on December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. America officially declared war against Germany and Italy three days later. After conquering a number of European countries, Germany focused its attention on the Soviet Union. By 1944, Soviet forces were successfully driving German troops west. On June 6, 1944, Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, pushing east into Europe, and splitting the Germans along two fronts.
In the Pacific, U.S. military experts estimated that an invasion of Japan would likely result in much greater casualties. President Harry Truman ordered an atomic bomb be dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Months earlier, at the Yalta Conference in 1945, Stalin had promised to enter the Pacific front within three months of the war’s end in Europe. If the Soviets were involved in Japan’s defeat, they would likely insist on reparations. To prevent a Soviet claim to Japanese assets, assert U.S.-dominance over Stalin, and secure a Japanese surrender, Truman ordered a second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, the day after the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. By the end of the war, more than 50 million soldiers and civilians had given their lives, according to conservative estimates.
Declared an official holiday in 1971, Memorial Day honors those who have given their lives in service to the United States. While the human toll is always great, wars also cost treasure as well as blood.
Many factors can affect the cost of waging war. Using a report from the Congressional Research Service, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the most expensive wars in U.S. history. While the Mexican-American War cost just $2.4 billion, or 1.4% of GDP in 1847, spending on World War II accounted for nearly 36% of GDP in 1945, or $4.1 trillion. These are the most expensive wars in U.S. history.
In every conflict before World War II, nearly all of the country’s defense budget was spent on direct conflict–classified as wartime spending. For example, the U.S. spent 1.1% of GDP in 1899 to fight the Spanish-American War, and just 1.5% of GDP was spent on total defense spending.
That trend largely changed at the start of the Cold War. The persistent threat of military conflict ensured that the U.S. would be ready for war at any time, as the Space Race and nuclear armament became national priorities in both the U.S. and the Soviet Union. As a result, wartime spending and defense spending began to diverge. During the Korean War, for example, war costs accounted for just 4.2% of GDP in 1952, while total defense spending represented more than 13% of GDP in the same year.
Comparing war costs over a 235-year period can be difficult. While the report attempted to correct for inflation by calculating each war’s cost in fiscal year 2011 dollars, inflation adjustments do not account for advances in technology. It is entirely possible that wars also became more expensive over time as the sophistication and cost of technology increased.
To determine the most expensive wars in U.S. history, 24/7 Wall St. used a 2010 report from the Congressional Research Service entitled “Costs of Major U.S. Wars”. The report does not include veterans’ benefits, interest on loans used to finance the war, and assistance to allies. Additionally, the report attempts to capture the increase in military expenditures during wartime and does not include the costs of maintaining a standing army in peacetime. The report also presents both military costs and defense spending as percentages of GDP in the year of peak war spending. War cost figures for the War on Terror were updated to reflect expenditure after 2010.
These are the most expensive wars in U.S. history.
10. Mexican-American War. Fought between 1846 and the start of 1848, the Mexican War cost the United States $2.4 billion, the 10th-most expensive war in U.S. history. Texas, having gained its own independence from Mexico a decade earlier, had still not been granted statehood by the U.S. Texas’ annexation would have upset the equilibrium between slave and free states established by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Mexico hoped to capitalize on U.S. indecision when its army crossed the Rio Grande to attack U.S. forces in the battle of Palo Alto. The war ended on February 2, 1848, with the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, which established the Rio Grande as the southern border of Texas and settled U.S. acquisition of land in present-day California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico for $15 million.
9. American Revolution. The nearly nine-year quest for independence cost the American colonies just over $2.4 billion, and nearly 4,500 lives in battle. While the war began as a revolt against unjust taxation, it ended with the Founding Fathers rejecting the social and political structures of Europe in favor of a democratic republic. The Treaty of Paris ended the war in 1783, officially recognizing the U.S. as an independent country and establishing its borders.
8. Spanish-American War. Often dubbed the first “media war,” sensationalized journalism helped fuel America’s support for involvement in the Cuban quest for independence from Spain. When the U.S.S. Maine, which had been sent to Havana to protect American interests, unexpectedly blew up in 1898, cries for American intervention increased. Congress officially declared war under the Monroe Doctrine–a foreign policy agenda that proclaimed a U.S. right to intervene in regional conflicts in the Western Hemisphere–and crushed Spanish forces worldwide in less than nine months. The war cost $9 billion and the U.S. acquired Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.
7. American Civil War. The Civil War claimed more American lives–750,000–than all other U.S. conflicts combined, and cost both sides nearly $80 billion. Fought primarily over the issues of slavery and states’ rights, such as taxation and representation, the Civil War began after South Carolina seceded from the Union and fired upon a Union merchant ship heading to Fort Sumter with supplies. The standoff in Charleston Harbor continued until April 1861, when the war officially began. Four years later, General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate States of America surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.
6. Gulf War. The Persian Gulf War was one of the shortest conflicts in U.S. history, costing $102 billion, or just 0.3% of GDP in 1991. Tensions mounted when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Despite strong calls from the United Nations for Iraq to withdraw, Hussein refused. A few months later, a U.S.-led coalition initiated Operation Desert Storm. The offensive lasted 42 days. As the first major conflict after the Cold War, the Persian Gulf War was, at the time, heralded as a success for the international coalition.
5. World War I. War broke out in Europe in 1914 but the U.S. remained neutral for the next three years. However, after Germany reneged on its pledge to respect the neutrality of U.S. ships in the Atlantic, and tried to entice Mexico into declaring war on the U.S., President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war on April 2, 1917. The war ended 19 months later with the Treaty of Versailles. Ultimately, the war cost the U.S. $334 billion, or nearly 14% of GDP in 1919.
4. Korean War. In June 1950, the Soviet-supported North Korean military crossed the 38th parallel that divided North and South Korea. Fearful of the spread of communism, President Harry Truman garnered support from allies in the United Nations Security Council to drive the North Korean troops out of the South. General Douglas MacArthur, however, pursued the North Koreans to the Yalu River, which formed the northern border between China and the Korean peninsula. The Chinese interpreted MacArthur’s actions as an act of war and routed the U.N. troops, forcing them to retreat below the 38th parallel. The war eventually ended after Dwight Eisenhower assumed the presidency and threatened the use of nuclear weapons if the North Koreans or Chinese did not respect the 38th parallel as the boundary between the two countries. Ultimately, the Korean War cost the U.S. $341 billion and nearly 34,000 lives.
3. Vietnam War. The war in Vietnam cost the U.S. $738 billion, or just 2.3% of GDP in 1968. By the end of the conflict, the names of more than 58,000 dead soldiers were recorded on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. After North Vietnamese troops drove the French out of the region in 1954, ending a brutal era of colonialism, the Geneva Accords stipulated that elections in the South be scheduled for the following year. Determined not to let communism spread, the U.S. lent its support to Ngo Dinh Diem, a French-educated, Catholic politician in South Vietnam. By the time the U.S. committed troops in 1965, Diem had been assassinated and Vietnamese support for the new military-led South Vietnamese government had faded. With supplies from China and the Soviet Union, North Vietnam primarily used guerilla tactics to attack U.S. troops and bases, often by surprise. By the late 1960s, public support for the war in the U.S. was fading. American troops officially withdrew from the region in 1973 and South Vietnam fell to communism in 1975.
2. War on Terror. Conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan following September 11, 2001–collectively known as the War on Terror–cost the U.S. more than $1.6 trillion through 2010. The U.S. entered Afghanistan in October 2001, to search for Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C., and to overthrow the Taliban government, which was long suspected of harboring terrorists. U.S. troops invaded Iraq and overthrew Saddam Hussein in 2003 operating on the belief that he had weapons of mass destruction. Both countries continue to be marred by conflict.
1. World War II. Once the U.S. emerged from its isolationist shell, it spent more than $4 trillion fighting in World War II and lost more than 400,000 troops. U.S. involvement officially began on December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. America officially declared war against Germany and Italy three days later. After conquering a number of European countries, Germany focused its attention on the Soviet Union. By 1944, Soviet forces were successfully driving German troops west. On June 6, 1944, Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, pushing east into Europe, and splitting the Germans along two fronts.
In the Pacific, U.S. military experts estimated that an invasion of Japan would likely result in much greater casualties. President Harry Truman ordered an atomic bomb be dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Months earlier, at the Yalta Conference in 1945, Stalin had promised to enter the Pacific front within three months of the war’s end in Europe. If the Soviets were involved in Japan’s defeat, they would likely insist on reparations. To prevent a Soviet claim to Japanese assets, assert U.S.-dominance over Stalin, and secure a Japanese surrender, Truman ordered a second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, the day after the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. By the end of the war, more than 50 million soldiers and civilians had given their lives, according to conservative estimates.
Never Cut Corners. Integrity Is Everything.
Lowell McAdam, CEO at Verizon, LinkedIn Pulse, May 20, 2015
I can clearly remember where I was and how I was feeling when I was 22.
Thanks to an ROTC scholarship, I was finishing my undergrad degree at Cornell and getting ready to move from Ithaca, NY to San Diego to join a branch of the U.S. Navy known as the Seabees (the Navy’s engineering and construction unit). Little did I know I would eventually have the opportunity to help build the set for the movie “Top Gun” … but that’s a story for another day.
Moving cross-country to California was a pretty big deal–one that had me feeling grateful for the opportunity, nervous about such a big life change, and excited about all of the possibilities that lie ahead.
Fast forward through six years in the Navy, grad school, and a long career in communications involving several tours abroad in Europe and Asia, countless mistakes, and plenty of unforeseen challenges … I’ve clung to [this] advice that I wish I knew when I was 22 (and still rely on today):
If I had to give just one piece of advice, to anyone, in any career, it would be this: your integrity is everything.
It’s at the core of who you are as a person. It builds trust, and trust is nearly impossible to regain, in any relationship, once it’s lost.
Over the years, I’ve seen so many talented people fall by the wayside because they were willing to cut corners to try to get ahead–padding an expense report, fudging numbers on their results, or “enhancing” their resume.
Eventually, this behavior catches up with them. They lose the respect of their teammates and peers, or it results in a major media event that ruins their career. If you have integrity and can be comfortable in your own skin, you won’t need to embellish or deceive. Your actions will represent you well.
Any day of the week, give me the “solid” performer who oozes integrity over the “rock star” performer who believes the end justifies the means.
What I try to remember: your integrity is your brand … and just like brands in the business world, your individual brand takes years to build and seconds to destroy.
I can clearly remember where I was and how I was feeling when I was 22.
Thanks to an ROTC scholarship, I was finishing my undergrad degree at Cornell and getting ready to move from Ithaca, NY to San Diego to join a branch of the U.S. Navy known as the Seabees (the Navy’s engineering and construction unit). Little did I know I would eventually have the opportunity to help build the set for the movie “Top Gun” … but that’s a story for another day.
Moving cross-country to California was a pretty big deal–one that had me feeling grateful for the opportunity, nervous about such a big life change, and excited about all of the possibilities that lie ahead.
Fast forward through six years in the Navy, grad school, and a long career in communications involving several tours abroad in Europe and Asia, countless mistakes, and plenty of unforeseen challenges … I’ve clung to [this] advice that I wish I knew when I was 22 (and still rely on today):
If I had to give just one piece of advice, to anyone, in any career, it would be this: your integrity is everything.
It’s at the core of who you are as a person. It builds trust, and trust is nearly impossible to regain, in any relationship, once it’s lost.
Over the years, I’ve seen so many talented people fall by the wayside because they were willing to cut corners to try to get ahead–padding an expense report, fudging numbers on their results, or “enhancing” their resume.
Eventually, this behavior catches up with them. They lose the respect of their teammates and peers, or it results in a major media event that ruins their career. If you have integrity and can be comfortable in your own skin, you won’t need to embellish or deceive. Your actions will represent you well.
Any day of the week, give me the “solid” performer who oozes integrity over the “rock star” performer who believes the end justifies the means.
What I try to remember: your integrity is your brand … and just like brands in the business world, your individual brand takes years to build and seconds to destroy.
C.S.Lewis on Jesus Christ
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
From Mere Christianity
From Mere Christianity
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Minha Vida. Minhas Decisões. Meu Futuro
Natalie Brooks
http://anchor.tfionline.com/pt/post/minha-vida-minhas-decisoes-meu-futuro/
Ultimamente eu tenho pensado bastante em mudança, talvez por eu sentir necessidade de mudanças na minha vida. Mas, por alguma razão, eu me sinto travada. Parece que algo me puxa para trás. Passei um tempo orando, meditando e escrevendo minhas reflexões. Segue-se alguns pensamentos sobre o assunto.
Não é fácil mudar nossas vidas, mesmo querendo. Mudança é uma morte.
Por um lado, sabemos que hoje em dia existem muitas oportunidades para criarmos uma nova pegada, adquirirmos uma nova habilidade ou até começarmos uma nova carreira se quisermos. Todos nós provavelmente já ouvimos estes pensamentos:
O mundo é a sua ostra.
Não há limites.
No meu dicionário não existe a palavra impossÃvel.
Nunca desista.
Se você pode sonhar, consegue fazer.
A melhor maneira de conhecer o futuro é criá-lo.
Sucesso é 1% inspiração e 99% perspiração.
Parecem bons pontos, mas no final eu estava pensando: “Tá bom…”
Depois pensei em colocar uma verdade na qual confio, e na qual posso apostar minha vida:
E Jesus, olhando para eles, disse-lhes: Aos homens é isso impossÃvel, mas a Deus tudo é possÃvel.”[1]
Fiel é Deus, pelo qual fostes chamados para a comunhão de seu Filho Jesus Cristo nosso Senhor.[2]
O meu Deus suprirá todas as necessidades de vocês, de acordo com as suas gloriosas riquezas em Cristo Jesus.[3]
E Deus é poderoso para fazer que lhes seja acrescentada toda a graça, para que em todas as coisas, em todo o tempo, tendo tudo o que é necessário, vocês transbordem em toda boa obra.[4]
E não duvidou da promessa de Deus por incredulidade, mas foi fortificado na fé, dando glória a Deus, e estando certÃssimo de que o que ele tinha prometido também era poderoso para o fazer.[5]
Àquele que é capaz de fazer infinitamente mais do que tudo o que pedimos ou pensamos, de acordo com o seu poder que atua em nós.[6]
O que é impossÃvel para os homens é possÃvel para Deus.[7]
E buscou a Deus... E enquanto buscou o Senhor, Deus o fez prosperar.[8]
Eu me sinto muitÃssima abençoada por ter um relacionamento pessoal com Jesus. Sei que Deus me ama. E tenho a fonte da verdade nas mãos que é a BÃblia e outros textos inspirados na fé em Deus. Tenho uma experiência de vida Ãmpar devido aos muitos anos vivendo por fé e pregando o Evangelho. Acredito que tenho muito a oferecer ao mundo, e deveria aproveitar as vantagens e muitas oportunidades que se me apresentam para servir, retribuir, encontrar satisfação e traçar um caminho rumo a um legado que dará orgulho aos meus amados e a Jesus.
Se tenho tudo isso, por que à s vezes a minha “realidade” não se encaixa na descrição que acabei de dar? Às vezes eu me sinto pequena, preterida, perdida, ou como se estivesse à deriva, sem rumo. No meu Ãntimo eu sei que sou abençoada, tenho conhecimento, entendimento da fé, e valiosos dons espirituais. Mas à s vezes não consigo combinar tudo para conseguir aproveitar ao máximo esses dons.
Não sei se outros se identificam com o que estou dizendo, se já procuraram desesperadamente algo mais, estenderam as mãos em busca de um maior senso de pertencimento, de uma melhor carreira, mais dinheiro, ou de mudar hábitos de saúde e relacionamentos... e muitas outras coisas.
Descobri que quanto mais me sinto assim, pior eu fico, até chegar a um ponto em que começo a me perguntar se algum dia ainda encontrarei o caminho para uma vida melhor, um relacionamento mais profundo, um estilo de vida mais saudável. Quando me sinto travada ou incerta quanto à minha condição atual, pode ser confuso ou frustrante tentar “consertar”, ou sequer saber por onde começar.
Então chego à conclusão que tem me ajudado: Esta é a minha vida, e eu determino como ela vai ser.
Pode parecer básico, mas, por algum motivo, foi uma luz para mim.
Percebi que preciso assumir as rédeas da minha vida. Sem desculpas ou justificativas eu devo aceitar que esta é a MINHA VIDA. Ninguém vai mudá-la a não ser eu. Ninguém pode tomar decisões por mim. E ninguém vai agir por mim.
Mas são muitos os obstáculos que me puxam para trás e me travam. Fiz uma lista de alguns.
Inércia é um dos obstáculos. É mais fácil continuar agindo automaticamente do que mudar. Mudar a trajetória da minha vida exige energia, sacrifÃcio e movimento. Eu sei que sem determinação e foco continuarei na vidinha de sempre.
Medo é um outro obstáculo. — Medo de errar, de ficar constrangida, medo do sucesso, medo do fracasso, medo de ter que trabalhar demais. Tanto medo paralisa. Acho que o medo nos faz acreditar que a nossa situação não é tão ruim, portanto não vale a pena arriscar mudar.
Procrastinação é um outro obstáculo. Deixar para depois é certeiro para a estagnação.
As expectativas de outros também são obstáculos. A opinião dos outros pode me impedir de efetuar mudanças e me aventurar em território desconhecido. Eu tento focar no fato de que vou estar diante de Deus sozinha. Não serei julgada ou abençoada de acordo com o que outros achavam que eu devia ter feito. Deus vai considerar o que eu efetivamente fiz, como conduzi a minha vida. Em última análise essa responsabilidade é só minha, de mais ninguém.
Falta de clareza é um outro obstáculo. Você talvez se sinta assim, talvez sinta no espÃrito que precisa mudar sua vida, sinta-se inquieta ou desconfortável. E, como eu, o seu sexto sentido lhe diga que o Senhor tem algo novo e melhor reservado para você. Mas não sabe ao certo em que direção seguir ou o que fazer, então espera. Eu já agi assim. Mas acho que o segredo é fazer algo, pois conforme avançamos, as coisas ficam mais claras.
É preciso coragem para tomar as rédeas da sua vida e assumir responsabilidade completa por ela.
É preciso coragem para seguir a Deus.
É preciso coragem para mudar e tomar decisões.
É preciso coragem para assumir riscos.
É preciso coragem para sincronizar nossa vida às nossas mais nobres aspirações, em vez de sucumbirmos à mediocridade.
É preciso coragem para ir mais fundo e nos tornarmos as pessoas que queremos ser, em vez de nos escondermos atrás de justificativas, ou colocarmos a culpa em outros.
É preciso coragem para viver a verdade e cumprirmos o que Deus espera de nós.
É preciso coragem para ficarmos no rumo e enfrentarmos as tempestades que inevitavelmente surgem depois que decidimos mudar.
Eu aprendi que coragem não era ausência de medo, mas a conquista dele. O homem corajoso não é aquele que não sente medo, mas o que o conquista.—Nelson Mandela
É impossÃvel descobrir novos mares se não tiver coragem de perder a praia de vista.—Andre Gide
Depois que assumimos as rédeas da nossa vida e futuro, com coragem para reconhecer o que precisa ser mudado, o passo seguinte, inevitável e insubstituÃvel é agir. Não é possÃvel ter mudança ou progresso sem ação. Se queremos mudar algum aspecto de nossas vidas, cada um de nós é responsável por simplesmente fazê-lo.
Como disse a madre Teresa: “O ontem já passou. O amanhã ainda não chegou. Resta-nos apenas hoje. Mãos à obra.” O hoje é tudo que temos, e a ação que tomarmos hoje está criando nossa vida e legado.
É importante você entender que a única maneira de causar impacto é agindo. O mundo não quer saber das suas intenções, dedicação, sentimentos ou pensamentos, e certamente não está interessado no que você quer ou deixa de querer. Considere como a vida é vivida e entenda que o mundo só age em seu favor quando você age.—Werner Erhard
Nada substitui o trabalho árduo.—Thomas Edison
Portanto, o meu desafio não é complicado:
Assumir as rédeas da minha vida.
Identificar os obstáculos que estou enfrentando ou o que está me travando.
Ter coragem.
Agir.
Quando assumimos nossas escolhas na vida, enfrentamos os impedimentos e pedimos a Deus coragem para agirmos no sentido do cumprimento de nossos sonhos, podemos ter certeza que não estamos sós. Deus é por nós. Um dos meus versÃculos favoritos diz:
“Porque eu conheço os planos que tenho para vocês", diz o Senhor, "planos de fazê-los prosperar e não de lhes causar dano, planos de dar-lhes esperança e um futuro.”[9]
Deus não pode viver a minha vida no meu lugar, mas se eu der um passo na direção certa, Ele me acompanhará e cumprirá Suas promessas. Ele vai atender à s minhas orações. É então que as promessas na BÃblia tomam vida e representam o verdadeiropoder!
Quando Deus age em nosso favor, vemos a realização de nossos sonhos e vivemos a vida que fomos criados para viver. Deus age em nosso favor!
[1] Mateus 19:26 NVI.
[2] 1 CorÃntios 1:9 NVI.
[3] Filipenses 4:19 RC.
[4] 2 CorÃntios 9:8 RC.
[5] Romanos 4:20–21 NVI.
[6] Efésios 3:20 NVI.
[7] Lucas 18:27 NVI.
[8] 2 Crônicas 26:5 NVI.
[9] Jeremias 29:11 NVI..
Ultimamente eu tenho pensado bastante em mudança, talvez por eu sentir necessidade de mudanças na minha vida. Mas, por alguma razão, eu me sinto travada. Parece que algo me puxa para trás. Passei um tempo orando, meditando e escrevendo minhas reflexões. Segue-se alguns pensamentos sobre o assunto.
Não é fácil mudar nossas vidas, mesmo querendo. Mudança é uma morte.
Por um lado, sabemos que hoje em dia existem muitas oportunidades para criarmos uma nova pegada, adquirirmos uma nova habilidade ou até começarmos uma nova carreira se quisermos. Todos nós provavelmente já ouvimos estes pensamentos:
O mundo é a sua ostra.
Não há limites.
No meu dicionário não existe a palavra impossÃvel.
Nunca desista.
Se você pode sonhar, consegue fazer.
A melhor maneira de conhecer o futuro é criá-lo.
Sucesso é 1% inspiração e 99% perspiração.
Parecem bons pontos, mas no final eu estava pensando: “Tá bom…”
Depois pensei em colocar uma verdade na qual confio, e na qual posso apostar minha vida:
E Jesus, olhando para eles, disse-lhes: Aos homens é isso impossÃvel, mas a Deus tudo é possÃvel.”[1]
Fiel é Deus, pelo qual fostes chamados para a comunhão de seu Filho Jesus Cristo nosso Senhor.[2]
O meu Deus suprirá todas as necessidades de vocês, de acordo com as suas gloriosas riquezas em Cristo Jesus.[3]
E Deus é poderoso para fazer que lhes seja acrescentada toda a graça, para que em todas as coisas, em todo o tempo, tendo tudo o que é necessário, vocês transbordem em toda boa obra.[4]
E não duvidou da promessa de Deus por incredulidade, mas foi fortificado na fé, dando glória a Deus, e estando certÃssimo de que o que ele tinha prometido também era poderoso para o fazer.[5]
Àquele que é capaz de fazer infinitamente mais do que tudo o que pedimos ou pensamos, de acordo com o seu poder que atua em nós.[6]
O que é impossÃvel para os homens é possÃvel para Deus.[7]
E buscou a Deus... E enquanto buscou o Senhor, Deus o fez prosperar.[8]
Eu me sinto muitÃssima abençoada por ter um relacionamento pessoal com Jesus. Sei que Deus me ama. E tenho a fonte da verdade nas mãos que é a BÃblia e outros textos inspirados na fé em Deus. Tenho uma experiência de vida Ãmpar devido aos muitos anos vivendo por fé e pregando o Evangelho. Acredito que tenho muito a oferecer ao mundo, e deveria aproveitar as vantagens e muitas oportunidades que se me apresentam para servir, retribuir, encontrar satisfação e traçar um caminho rumo a um legado que dará orgulho aos meus amados e a Jesus.
Se tenho tudo isso, por que à s vezes a minha “realidade” não se encaixa na descrição que acabei de dar? Às vezes eu me sinto pequena, preterida, perdida, ou como se estivesse à deriva, sem rumo. No meu Ãntimo eu sei que sou abençoada, tenho conhecimento, entendimento da fé, e valiosos dons espirituais. Mas à s vezes não consigo combinar tudo para conseguir aproveitar ao máximo esses dons.
Não sei se outros se identificam com o que estou dizendo, se já procuraram desesperadamente algo mais, estenderam as mãos em busca de um maior senso de pertencimento, de uma melhor carreira, mais dinheiro, ou de mudar hábitos de saúde e relacionamentos... e muitas outras coisas.
Descobri que quanto mais me sinto assim, pior eu fico, até chegar a um ponto em que começo a me perguntar se algum dia ainda encontrarei o caminho para uma vida melhor, um relacionamento mais profundo, um estilo de vida mais saudável. Quando me sinto travada ou incerta quanto à minha condição atual, pode ser confuso ou frustrante tentar “consertar”, ou sequer saber por onde começar.
Então chego à conclusão que tem me ajudado: Esta é a minha vida, e eu determino como ela vai ser.
Pode parecer básico, mas, por algum motivo, foi uma luz para mim.
Percebi que preciso assumir as rédeas da minha vida. Sem desculpas ou justificativas eu devo aceitar que esta é a MINHA VIDA. Ninguém vai mudá-la a não ser eu. Ninguém pode tomar decisões por mim. E ninguém vai agir por mim.
Mas são muitos os obstáculos que me puxam para trás e me travam. Fiz uma lista de alguns.
Inércia é um dos obstáculos. É mais fácil continuar agindo automaticamente do que mudar. Mudar a trajetória da minha vida exige energia, sacrifÃcio e movimento. Eu sei que sem determinação e foco continuarei na vidinha de sempre.
Medo é um outro obstáculo. — Medo de errar, de ficar constrangida, medo do sucesso, medo do fracasso, medo de ter que trabalhar demais. Tanto medo paralisa. Acho que o medo nos faz acreditar que a nossa situação não é tão ruim, portanto não vale a pena arriscar mudar.
Procrastinação é um outro obstáculo. Deixar para depois é certeiro para a estagnação.
As expectativas de outros também são obstáculos. A opinião dos outros pode me impedir de efetuar mudanças e me aventurar em território desconhecido. Eu tento focar no fato de que vou estar diante de Deus sozinha. Não serei julgada ou abençoada de acordo com o que outros achavam que eu devia ter feito. Deus vai considerar o que eu efetivamente fiz, como conduzi a minha vida. Em última análise essa responsabilidade é só minha, de mais ninguém.
Falta de clareza é um outro obstáculo. Você talvez se sinta assim, talvez sinta no espÃrito que precisa mudar sua vida, sinta-se inquieta ou desconfortável. E, como eu, o seu sexto sentido lhe diga que o Senhor tem algo novo e melhor reservado para você. Mas não sabe ao certo em que direção seguir ou o que fazer, então espera. Eu já agi assim. Mas acho que o segredo é fazer algo, pois conforme avançamos, as coisas ficam mais claras.
É preciso coragem para tomar as rédeas da sua vida e assumir responsabilidade completa por ela.
É preciso coragem para seguir a Deus.
É preciso coragem para mudar e tomar decisões.
É preciso coragem para assumir riscos.
É preciso coragem para sincronizar nossa vida às nossas mais nobres aspirações, em vez de sucumbirmos à mediocridade.
É preciso coragem para ir mais fundo e nos tornarmos as pessoas que queremos ser, em vez de nos escondermos atrás de justificativas, ou colocarmos a culpa em outros.
É preciso coragem para viver a verdade e cumprirmos o que Deus espera de nós.
É preciso coragem para ficarmos no rumo e enfrentarmos as tempestades que inevitavelmente surgem depois que decidimos mudar.
Eu aprendi que coragem não era ausência de medo, mas a conquista dele. O homem corajoso não é aquele que não sente medo, mas o que o conquista.—Nelson Mandela
É impossÃvel descobrir novos mares se não tiver coragem de perder a praia de vista.—Andre Gide
Depois que assumimos as rédeas da nossa vida e futuro, com coragem para reconhecer o que precisa ser mudado, o passo seguinte, inevitável e insubstituÃvel é agir. Não é possÃvel ter mudança ou progresso sem ação. Se queremos mudar algum aspecto de nossas vidas, cada um de nós é responsável por simplesmente fazê-lo.
Como disse a madre Teresa: “O ontem já passou. O amanhã ainda não chegou. Resta-nos apenas hoje. Mãos à obra.” O hoje é tudo que temos, e a ação que tomarmos hoje está criando nossa vida e legado.
É importante você entender que a única maneira de causar impacto é agindo. O mundo não quer saber das suas intenções, dedicação, sentimentos ou pensamentos, e certamente não está interessado no que você quer ou deixa de querer. Considere como a vida é vivida e entenda que o mundo só age em seu favor quando você age.—Werner Erhard
Nada substitui o trabalho árduo.—Thomas Edison
Portanto, o meu desafio não é complicado:
Assumir as rédeas da minha vida.
Identificar os obstáculos que estou enfrentando ou o que está me travando.
Ter coragem.
Agir.
Quando assumimos nossas escolhas na vida, enfrentamos os impedimentos e pedimos a Deus coragem para agirmos no sentido do cumprimento de nossos sonhos, podemos ter certeza que não estamos sós. Deus é por nós. Um dos meus versÃculos favoritos diz:
“Porque eu conheço os planos que tenho para vocês", diz o Senhor, "planos de fazê-los prosperar e não de lhes causar dano, planos de dar-lhes esperança e um futuro.”[9]
Deus não pode viver a minha vida no meu lugar, mas se eu der um passo na direção certa, Ele me acompanhará e cumprirá Suas promessas. Ele vai atender à s minhas orações. É então que as promessas na BÃblia tomam vida e representam o verdadeiropoder!
Quando Deus age em nosso favor, vemos a realização de nossos sonhos e vivemos a vida que fomos criados para viver. Deus age em nosso favor!
[1] Mateus 19:26 NVI.
[2] 1 CorÃntios 1:9 NVI.
[3] Filipenses 4:19 RC.
[4] 2 CorÃntios 9:8 RC.
[5] Romanos 4:20–21 NVI.
[6] Efésios 3:20 NVI.
[7] Lucas 18:27 NVI.
[8] 2 Crônicas 26:5 NVI.
[9] Jeremias 29:11 NVI..
I Believe
http://anchor.tfionline.com/post/i-believe/
A compilation
Audio length: 10:40
Download Audio (14.6MB)
I believe in the Father of all who knits together life, made in His very own image, in the secret quiet of our beings.
I believe in Jesus Christ, the One with no earthly Father, with the dust of this earth between His toes, and with our names etched onto the palm of His hands, right beneath the nail scars … Who now sits at the Father’s right hand making endless intercession on our behalf. I believe in the stone rolled away, in the Body being raised, in the first fruits of the dead … and us all following soon, very soon.
I believe in the Cross as our only Hope, our only Claim, our only Savior, and our only Foundation. I believe that in the pounding surf of life we have only one thing to cling to: the feet of our Lord Jesus, hanging on that tree, His lifeblood flowing down, washing us whiter than snow. It’s all by His staggering grace, lest any man should boast.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, moving, whispering, indwelling our very being. I believe in living by the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, and producing fruit in the Spirit … in the Spirit who helps us in our weakness with groanings that can’t be expressed in words.
I believe in the infallibility of the Bible, God’s Word—a sure Word, a pure Word, the only secure Word. I believe the words on those pages are breathed from the very throne room of heaven, are the love letter penned from the heart of God; a beacon of light for stumbling feet to find sure footing on a dark path.
I believe there is more than believing. There is living what I believe.—Ann Voskamp
Passion for God
We love God with our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. We seek a close personal relationship with Jesus, and to grow in emulating His attributes and living His love.
We desire to know and understand the truth of God’s Word, the essence of His divine nature. We value the foundational principles of the written Word, hearing from God, and following His guidance. We put our faith into action and reach out to weary and troubled hearts, the disadvantaged, downtrodden, and needy, as unto Jesus.—From TFI’s core values
No matter what
No matter what, God is still sovereign. No matter what, God still knows my name, angels still respond to His call, and the hearts of rulers still bend at His bidding. No matter what, the death of Jesus still saves souls, the Spirit of God still indwells saints; heaven is still only heartbeats away, the grave is still temporary housing. God is still faithful; He is not caught off guard. He uses everything for His glory and His ultimate good. He uses tragedy to accomplish His will, and His will is right, holy and perfect. Sorrow may come with the night, but joy always comes with the morning.
In changing times you must lay hold of the unchanging hand of God … We want everything to stay the same, but it’s not going to stay the same. But God does. In the midst of the difficult times, rehearse and recite the unchanging characteristics of God.—Max Lucado
A personal response
God is life, rich and overflowing life, and he is also love. His eternal will is to draw us all into his life, into his love.
God seeks constantly to lift us out of our petty selves into the domain of his love. That is why he stepped out of himself and opened his heart to us. Incredibly, we insignificant beings are the objects of his concern! Out of the incomprehensible love of his heart, he loves each one of us quite personally.
God wants us to know his heart, to accept his word, to affirm his will and carry it out. He also longs for us to respond personally to him, by worshiping him in the freeing spirit of consecration that grasps the essential and then puts it into living practice.—Eberhard Arnold
The end in Himself
There are people who welcome Jesus into their lives as a stepping stone to forgiveness and going to heaven. Salvation is what they are seeking. Though salvation in Jesus Christ is wonderfully true, that is not the main objective of the Gospel. Others welcome Christ as a stepping stone to divine intervention as the only answer to the desperate state their lives are in. But Jesus is not a stepping stone to anything. He is the end in Himself.
The reward for welcoming Jesus into our lives is not being forgiven, not going to heaven, and not divine intervention, but the reward is Jesus Himself. He does not come as a band-aid in our time of need, but He comes to enter every aspect and phase of our lives to be in us all that we need. God is not to be defined as a miracle-working God as though that were His very nature, because He is also a non-miracle-working God. Many people have made desperate pleas in times of illness, tragedy and loss, but there has been no miraculous intervention. We cannot blame God for being subject to all the perils of life, but we can experience His peace and strength in the midst of them.
Paul says in Philippians 3:10, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings…” Christ is Himself the end purpose of the Christian life, and His intent is that we come to know and experience Him. He said, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”1 Eternal life is not something that begins when we get to heaven, but it begins here on earth the moment we accept Jesus into our lives. When we make Him Lord and not just Savior, we come to know Him not in propositional facts, but experientially, and He becomes our life.—Charles Price
Eyes on the goal
You’ve got to keep your eyes ahead on the goal, like Hebrews 11, the faith chapter. By faith they looked ahead, they looked forward. They weren’t satisfied with being a citizen of this world; they looked for a country made by God, a heavenly country, a heavenly city.
They were willing to go through all the trials and tribulations and be strangers and pilgrims and people without a country because they knew they had one coming. And they knew it was worth fighting for, living and dying for.
Even the benefits on the way are worth it. What soldier gets paid that well? Who gets a hundred times everything he gives up to join the army? God’s soldier is going to get a hundred times what he gave up.2 What more could he ask than that?
A hundred times the salary he got before, a hundred times the health, the blessings, the love—a hundred times as much as everything he had before. What more could he ask than that? Plus heaven! All this and heaven too!
Isn’t that worth fighting for? Don’t you think even the love of our Savior, the love of our Commander in Chief, and just because you love Him is worth fighting for?
He fought and bled and died for you on the cross to save you, and He won the battle for you. You should be willing to enter into His battles just in gratitude for the fact that He saved you—to go through a few little battles with the Devil to fight for the cause of Christ and for His kingdom and His love and to try to save others.
Jesus was willing to die for us to save us, and He wants us to be willing to die to self for Him to save others. “No greater love hath any man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”3 Our sufferings aren’t even worthy to be compared with the blessings that we already have, much less the glory we’re going to enjoy.4—David Brandt Berg
Published on Anchor May 2015. Read by Debra Lee.
1 John 17:3 NIV.
2 Matthew 19:29.
3 John 15:13.
4 Romans 8:18.
A compilation
Audio length: 10:40
Download Audio (14.6MB)
I believe in the Father of all who knits together life, made in His very own image, in the secret quiet of our beings.
I believe in Jesus Christ, the One with no earthly Father, with the dust of this earth between His toes, and with our names etched onto the palm of His hands, right beneath the nail scars … Who now sits at the Father’s right hand making endless intercession on our behalf. I believe in the stone rolled away, in the Body being raised, in the first fruits of the dead … and us all following soon, very soon.
I believe in the Cross as our only Hope, our only Claim, our only Savior, and our only Foundation. I believe that in the pounding surf of life we have only one thing to cling to: the feet of our Lord Jesus, hanging on that tree, His lifeblood flowing down, washing us whiter than snow. It’s all by His staggering grace, lest any man should boast.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, moving, whispering, indwelling our very being. I believe in living by the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, and producing fruit in the Spirit … in the Spirit who helps us in our weakness with groanings that can’t be expressed in words.
I believe in the infallibility of the Bible, God’s Word—a sure Word, a pure Word, the only secure Word. I believe the words on those pages are breathed from the very throne room of heaven, are the love letter penned from the heart of God; a beacon of light for stumbling feet to find sure footing on a dark path.
I believe there is more than believing. There is living what I believe.—Ann Voskamp
Passion for God
We love God with our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. We seek a close personal relationship with Jesus, and to grow in emulating His attributes and living His love.
We desire to know and understand the truth of God’s Word, the essence of His divine nature. We value the foundational principles of the written Word, hearing from God, and following His guidance. We put our faith into action and reach out to weary and troubled hearts, the disadvantaged, downtrodden, and needy, as unto Jesus.—From TFI’s core values
No matter what
No matter what, God is still sovereign. No matter what, God still knows my name, angels still respond to His call, and the hearts of rulers still bend at His bidding. No matter what, the death of Jesus still saves souls, the Spirit of God still indwells saints; heaven is still only heartbeats away, the grave is still temporary housing. God is still faithful; He is not caught off guard. He uses everything for His glory and His ultimate good. He uses tragedy to accomplish His will, and His will is right, holy and perfect. Sorrow may come with the night, but joy always comes with the morning.
In changing times you must lay hold of the unchanging hand of God … We want everything to stay the same, but it’s not going to stay the same. But God does. In the midst of the difficult times, rehearse and recite the unchanging characteristics of God.—Max Lucado
A personal response
God is life, rich and overflowing life, and he is also love. His eternal will is to draw us all into his life, into his love.
God seeks constantly to lift us out of our petty selves into the domain of his love. That is why he stepped out of himself and opened his heart to us. Incredibly, we insignificant beings are the objects of his concern! Out of the incomprehensible love of his heart, he loves each one of us quite personally.
God wants us to know his heart, to accept his word, to affirm his will and carry it out. He also longs for us to respond personally to him, by worshiping him in the freeing spirit of consecration that grasps the essential and then puts it into living practice.—Eberhard Arnold
The end in Himself
There are people who welcome Jesus into their lives as a stepping stone to forgiveness and going to heaven. Salvation is what they are seeking. Though salvation in Jesus Christ is wonderfully true, that is not the main objective of the Gospel. Others welcome Christ as a stepping stone to divine intervention as the only answer to the desperate state their lives are in. But Jesus is not a stepping stone to anything. He is the end in Himself.
The reward for welcoming Jesus into our lives is not being forgiven, not going to heaven, and not divine intervention, but the reward is Jesus Himself. He does not come as a band-aid in our time of need, but He comes to enter every aspect and phase of our lives to be in us all that we need. God is not to be defined as a miracle-working God as though that were His very nature, because He is also a non-miracle-working God. Many people have made desperate pleas in times of illness, tragedy and loss, but there has been no miraculous intervention. We cannot blame God for being subject to all the perils of life, but we can experience His peace and strength in the midst of them.
Paul says in Philippians 3:10, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings…” Christ is Himself the end purpose of the Christian life, and His intent is that we come to know and experience Him. He said, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”1 Eternal life is not something that begins when we get to heaven, but it begins here on earth the moment we accept Jesus into our lives. When we make Him Lord and not just Savior, we come to know Him not in propositional facts, but experientially, and He becomes our life.—Charles Price
Eyes on the goal
You’ve got to keep your eyes ahead on the goal, like Hebrews 11, the faith chapter. By faith they looked ahead, they looked forward. They weren’t satisfied with being a citizen of this world; they looked for a country made by God, a heavenly country, a heavenly city.
They were willing to go through all the trials and tribulations and be strangers and pilgrims and people without a country because they knew they had one coming. And they knew it was worth fighting for, living and dying for.
Even the benefits on the way are worth it. What soldier gets paid that well? Who gets a hundred times everything he gives up to join the army? God’s soldier is going to get a hundred times what he gave up.2 What more could he ask than that?
A hundred times the salary he got before, a hundred times the health, the blessings, the love—a hundred times as much as everything he had before. What more could he ask than that? Plus heaven! All this and heaven too!
Isn’t that worth fighting for? Don’t you think even the love of our Savior, the love of our Commander in Chief, and just because you love Him is worth fighting for?
He fought and bled and died for you on the cross to save you, and He won the battle for you. You should be willing to enter into His battles just in gratitude for the fact that He saved you—to go through a few little battles with the Devil to fight for the cause of Christ and for His kingdom and His love and to try to save others.
Jesus was willing to die for us to save us, and He wants us to be willing to die to self for Him to save others. “No greater love hath any man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”3 Our sufferings aren’t even worthy to be compared with the blessings that we already have, much less the glory we’re going to enjoy.4—David Brandt Berg
Published on Anchor May 2015. Read by Debra Lee.
1 John 17:3 NIV.
2 Matthew 19:29.
3 John 15:13.
4 Romans 8:18.
