InGodsImage.com | Tag Archive

Around the Web (4/24)

April 24, 2013 — Leave a comment

CHEAP eBook Deal of the Day: How to Talk So Your Husband Will Listen and Listen So Your Husband Will Talk (Rick Johnson) – $2.99 (77% off).
The Digital Public Library of America is working to create a large-scale digital public library with scientific and cultural materials available to all. Incredible resource.
“Just as there are special challenges for those who are young in the faith, there are also some for the older.” Gary Henry reflects on the dangers of having been here longer.
“I remember a college professor that used to say, ‘The only exercise some folks get is jumping to conclusions.’ In the past week, in the aftermath of the Boston bombings, lots of folks got plenty of exercise!” Ken Weliever reminds us of the danger in jumping to conclusions.
Rhodes Davis encourages us to quit sawing spiritual sawdust. “Some people have made decisions (or failed to make a decision), then spend long periods of time reliving the decision, digging up the pain and memories, and will not let the past go.”

My Modern Met gives us an idea how the night sky would look if the planets were as close as the moon.

In Around the Web age, Amazon, America, challenge, cheap, Christ, Christian, communication, conclusion, digital, disciple, earth, eBook, faith, Gary Henry, Gospel, husband, jump, Ken Weliever, Kindle, library, Marriage, Moon, old, past, planet, pride, public, regret, Rhodes Davis, sawdust, solar, spiritual, system, wife

Are You Living Beneath a Cloud of Guilt?

March 11, 2011 — Leave a comment

Healthy vs Unhealthy Guilt

Guilt is a powerful emotion that can have positive and negative effects on our lives. Are you currently under a cloud of guilt? Is it a healthy or unhealthy cloud, as defined by your Creator?

Listen to the sermon
Interactive outline

For more sermon outlines and recordings, be sure to visit the Sermons archive.

In Blog Audio, church, emotion, guilt, healthy, Jason Hardin, mp3, offense, outline, pdf, regret, remorse, reproach, self, sermon, unhealthy, wrong

If something “rings hollow,” it doesn’t come off as sounding true or sincere. The promises of politicians sometimes ring hollow. When an abusive spouse repeatedly says he is sorry but continues the cycle of abuse, his apologies can come to ring hollow. When a mother dramatically scolds her daughter for profanity while consistently using profanity herself, her scoldings will ring more and more hollow. We learn to identify and offer hollow words and phrases very early in life.

Our two-year-old, Emma, got in trouble a couple of days ago. She had no idea that Shelly was watching from a distance and she got caught…red-handed. Shelly crossed the room, got Emma’s attention, and asked her what she had just done. Emma, knowing she was in trouble, immediately said, “I love you, Momma.”

I don’t doubt that my two-year-old loves her mother. I’m well aware that Emma has no idea what the “rings hollow” idiom even means. But I also know that even at two-years-old, her “I love you” in that moment was not nearly as sincere as the “I love you” that spontaneously erupts from her as we put her to bed each night. In that moment of mental scrambling, she said what she thought her mother wanted to hear, and what would get her out of trouble the quickest. Incidentally, it didn’t work.

Let’s be more mature than Emma this week. When I say, “I’m sorry,” I need to own genuine regret and mean the words I’m saying (Matthew 12:36-37). When I’m guilty of sin, I need to be honest. I need to openly embrace the godly grief my conscience is producing and allow myself to be led to the trailhead of repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10). When I sing of my love for God on Sunday, I need to lead a life of loving submission to God on Monday (John 15:8-10).

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:5-10)

"I Wish I Had Spent More Time With My Kids"

December 9, 2010 — Leave a comment

Near the end of our time on this earth, if we have the opportunity to reflect on our lives and how they were spent, we will all have regrets. We will wish we had done some things that were left undone. We will wish we had left undone some things that were done. It is the nature of human existence.

But here’s a few things we won’t wish:

“I wish I had spent more time on Facebook.”
“I wish I had spent more time watching television.”
“I wish I had spent more time playing with my smartphone.”
“I wish I had spent more time on the road.”
“I wish I had spent more time in the office.”
“I wish I had spent more time on the driving range.”

I have yet to meet the man or woman near the end of their earthly pilgrimage who lamented, “I wish I had enjoyed more me-time.” On the other hand, I’ve talked with so many men and women who lamented, “I wish I had enjoyed more time with my loved ones. I wish I had spent more time with my kids. It all went by so quickly.”

If you’re a father or mother with children still at home, could I encourage you to deliberately slow down and enjoy your children this weekend? Why not decide right now to be fully present in the life of your children this weekend? Why not plan to have that elusive time of family devotion, singing, playing and laughing together this weekend? Dads, why not take the lead for the good of your family this weekend? It will cost very little, if anything, to give the gift of quality time to your family this weekend. Make the most of it! Because once this weekend is gone, it’s gone forever.

There is not a one of us who will make perfect use of our God-granted time. Our heavenly Father does, however, expect us to learn from our mistakes, discover his will, walk carefully in the light of that will, and consistently aim to make the wisest use of our time.

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (Ephesians 5:15-17).

In Parenting Bible, children, Dad, Ephesians 5, family, father, kid, mom, mother, parent, Parenting, regret, time, waste

_________ Reigns

November 22, 2010 — Leave a comment

A great question from Justin Buzzard.

________ reigns.

You must decide what you really believe.
You must decide how you will fill in the blank.

The Bible fills in the blank like this:

“The Lord reigns.” (Psalm 97:1)

What does your behavior reveal about how you’ve filled in the blank?

Fear reigns?
Difficult circumstances reign?
An enemy reigns?
The economy reigns?
Regret reigns?
Despair reigns?
You reign?

You must decide what you really believe. You must decide how you will fill in the blank. You must decide who, or what, will sit on the throne of your life.

So fill in the blank: __________ reigns.

In Discipleship despair, difficulty, economy, enemy, fear, God, money, Psalm 97, regret, reign, self-centeredness, selfishness, Sovereign, submission, throne

My Sister Was Sick

June 9, 2008 — Leave a comment

A dear sister in Christ recently handed me this. Her sister in the flesh had passed away the day before.

My sister was sick.
I intended to call.
I was waiting for the right time of day.

My sister was sick.
I forgot to call.
Then, at evening, the time slipped away.

My sister was sick.
As I slept that night,
God called her home.

And I could never make my call again.

God, help me that when
My sister is sick,
I’ll take the time,
And not have the heartache to bear
Because I didn’t call.

In Discipleship Bible, comfort, compassion, consolation, death, edification, encouragement, evangelism, grief, guilt, Jesus, love, poem, poetry, regret, Scripture, sick, sickness, sister

Archives For regret

Around the Web (4/24)

Are You Living Beneath a Cloud of Guilt?

When "I Love You" Rings Hollow

"I Wish I Had Spent More Time With My Kids"

_________ Reigns

My Sister Was Sick