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TIME TO LISTEN by Kevin Young
"What do you think?" he asked. I prayed, and then for the next 30 minutes he peppered me with questions about what I believed. Our conversation landed on why Christ's life and death was unique. He sat enthralled as I explained how Christ bridged a chasm too wide for any man to cross. In the end, he asked me one final question: "When you received Christ into your life and began that relationship, what actually happened to you—spiritually, I mean?" When I finished he sat rubbing his chin. As we taxied to the gate I asked him if he wanted to begin a relationship with God. He graciously declined. "What you're about is one of the finest things I have ever seen," he said, "but there are just still a few questions I need answers to. " We parted with a handshake. I'm sure I'll never see him again. But as I walked to my next gate, I was reminded that it often takes people several times of hearing the truth be f o re they respond. My executive friend had come a long way in his belief in the relevance of Jesus Christ to his own life. I felt sure that sooner or later someone else would snatch the baton and lead him across the line. On the next leg of my trip I thought about how often I have been too tired to initiate a conversation, or have perhaps felt indifferent to the person next to me. God used our "chance" meeting to remind me that regardless of my mood, or a person's appearance, it's always an adventure when I take the time to listen to someone else's story. More times than not, it leads to an opportunity to paint for them a more accurate portrait of Jesus Christ. Which, I discovered, is a whole lot more fun than napping! |
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Quick Takes Evangelism and Discipleship tips helping you reach your world. HOLIDAY HINTS
The holidays often open doors for spiritual conversations. Here's a handy acronym to follow in walking through these doors:
Love—Our motivation should be love. People should see it in our eyes and facial expressions, hear it in our voices, and witness it in our attitudes and actions. |
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JOLTED by Amy Lepine
The plot is straight Tom Clancy. The images might be seen in Independence Day or The Siege, and I think, Cool special effects for a news program. Normally, I watch less than an hour of television a week, but even I have become desensitized to the pictures and statistics. For an instant I begin to understand the magnitude of this situation, but still can't believe that anything in my life will change greatly. Surely we won't go to war. The good old U.S. of A. is invincible, indomitable and will crush the terrorists and return to capitalistic bliss. Life will go back to normal. Yet life will never go back to "normal" for tens of thousands of my countrypeople. What is "normal"? We Christians are never supposed to be "normal." I pray that God's people will be jolted out of complacency, pettiness and hypocrisy—myself most of all. I long for this to mark the beginning of the end—for persecution and suffering to refine the body—for the time to come when we can live desperately, forsaking frivolous, temporal things to pursue only those things of eternal value. This morning I am ready to drop out of school and do relief work and preach the gospel. I am ready to die for something important instead of living for my own trivial, selfish desires. I am ready to cut off everything extraneous and be wholly committed to God. I have a hard time focusing on my schoolwork, or on anything at all; instead I am repulsed by my own shallow, compromising, rationalizing life. Then a still, small voice reminds me, "He who is faithful with little will be entrusted with much." Right now I am not called to abandon my life at college and hop on a plane. No, instead I am called to have that same attitude of reckless abandon to God right here at school—in the mundane details of college life. Amy Lepine is a junior at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, studying English literature. Her father, Bob Lepine, co-hosts Family Life Today. |
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GOOD FEAR by Bill Bright
We naturally fear and respect things that have great power or that can alter our lives in a fraction of a second. We treat these things much differently than we do the ordinary objects or people in our lives. What about God? He is the sovereign Creator and Ruler of our universe. How much respect should we have for Him? Psalm 147:11 records, "The Lord delights in those who fear Him" (New International Version). But what does fearing God really mean? The following explanation, from Hard Sayings of the Bible, helps us to understand the phrase "fear the Lord": The term "fear" can describe everything from dread, or being terrified, to standing in awe or having reverence. When used of the Lord, it applies to both aspects of the term: a shrinking back in recognition of the difference, or holiness, of God; and the drawing close in awe and worship. It is an attitude of both reluctance and adoration that results in a willingness to do what God says. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," says Proverbs 9:10 (NIV), "and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." In addition to it being commanded by God, here are three more reasons why we should fear God: 1. God is infinitely superior to us. God is infinitely great, and we are so small. When we stand on a beach and gaze out on the ocean, its vastness overwhelms us. Undercurrents can easily overpower a swimmer. Waves can destroy houses and anything else in their path. Yet God is infinitely more powerful than all the earth's oceans. Consider the immeasurable gulf between you and God. Does it not make you tremble at your own insignificance? At the same time, when you think of how much He loves us, tiny microscopic mites on planet Earth, does it not cause great respect for Him to well up in your heart? 2. God has supreme authority over us. God personally designed us and gave us life. Therefore, He is totally justified in doing whatever He wishes with us, for He knows what is best for us. How can we shake our fists at our Designer and presume to run our lives better than He can? It is not possible. If we lived under a human dictatorship, we would have a clearer understanding of what it means to submit to someone greater than we are. When a dictator proclaims a law, everyone must obey without excuse or argument. If the dictator is benevolent, people prosper; if harsh, the people suffer. We have a God who is much more than benevolent; He is perfectly just and loving. How much more should we submit to Him out of respect for His authority? 3. God blesses those who reverence Him. When we fear God, the Bible promises bountiful rewards. "Fear of the Lord gives life, security, and protection from harm," says Proverbs 19:23 (New Living Translation). "Those who fear the Lord are secure," reads Proverbs 14:26 (NLT); "He will be a place of refuge for their children." It is wrong to treat our all-powerful, infinite Maker as though He were our "buddy" or "the man upstairs." Years ago, many Christians were known as God-fearing people. What has happened to our Christian culture for us to lose that distinction? God's magnificence demands respect, and His position demands honor. Do you desire to please God more than people? If you do not, then you lower God to a human level. The world values appearance, wealth and position. God values a heart that is right with Him. What is your attitude about evil and sin? Do you view it as not being so bad— especially the sin you commit? A good rule to follow is to love what God loves and hate what God hates. Remember God's promise in Psalm 103:11 (NIV): "As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him." Once we cultivate a healthy fear of God, He will begin doing things we never dreamed possible. |
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SACRED STENCH by Joel Dasalla
Farther down the road I peered into a cowshed. The filth, the stench of manure, the eerie aura of voices I couldn't understand overwhelmed me. Suddenly I saw a baby in swaddling cloth, lying just near a huge, slumbering cow! How could they put that baby in a place like that? I wondered, repulsed. Walking back to my hostel in silence, I heard only the thumping of my winter boots until something shrieked beneath me. I thought I'd stepped on a venomous snake. Looking down, I saw a crushed, thorny vine—long dead and forgotten. Then came a voice and an image of hopeful eloquence so powerful I shed tears. Incarnation . . . Calvary. Pristine love cast amidst cow manure; eternal grace and redeeming forgiveness offered through the crushing blow of unforgiving thorns and a shameful cross. All for me. The Creator of heaven and earth came not into a palace but a cowshed to offer hope for the dying, like Dr. Jolli and me. The Christmas manger will never be the same to me. I saw it myself. Joel Dasalla, a 15-year Campus Crusade for Christ staff member, serves as a photographer and graphic designer for History's Handful International. |
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![[ i n s i g h t ]](images/insight.gif)
The well-dressed gentleman sitting next to me on the flight seemed to have it all together: looks, expensive taste, confidence. When we began to talk I discovered my hunch was right. He was the president and CEO of the largest medical marketing firm in the country. He owned homes in three states and two foreign countries, and his watch could have put my oldest child through her first year in college. But soon something else emerged—a genuine spiritual hunger. After waxing eloquently for 30 minutes about his philosophy of life, he paused and looked me square in the eyes.
Terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and today, thousands of people are dead. I, an insignificant college student in a small college town where the skies are sunny, cannot grasp the reality of the situation.
I grew up on my parents' ranch in Oklahoma, where my father had a reputation of being one of the best ranchers in the country. Nobody could ride horses like he could. He taught my four brothers and me how to ride wild broncos. Although I learned how to feel comfortable and secure around those big horses, my father raised me to always have a healthy respect for them. I knew that if I was not careful around those powerful, wild horses from Montana, I could easily be hurt or even killed.
At 5:45 a.m. I walked down a dusty road in Jariyana, India, a few miles west of New Delhi. Dew hung on the blades of grasses and weeds while a yellow-orange sun appeared along the smoky horizon. A man speaking fluent English with a Brit flair introduced himself. Dr. Jolli lived nearby and invited me to his palatial home. There I met his two sons.
