Insight #89 - Overcoming Evil with Good

Overcoming Evil with Good

The human heart is desperately evil. Evil is all around us, murder, rape, slavery, corruption, war, Islamic terrorism, poverty, adultery, sex outside of marriage, stealing, lying and cheating. Evil is in nature. We have earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, and disease. Death is all around us. If we listen to the news broadcasts or read the newspaper, you see nothing but evil and tragedy. The commercials are the only good news, and who pays any attention to them?

Where is God? If God is good and all-powerful, why hasn’t he stopped evil? It is man who chooses evil, not God. But God has a plan of redemption through the death of his son Jesus to cover all of our wrongdoing.

Because people are so preoccupied with evil, we overlook the tremendous amount of good that takes place every day. People are productive; they produce homes, furniture, food, cars and books - a never-ending variety of useful things. People are productive; they provide services like educating and caring for our children, health care, security, repairs and more helpful activities than you can think of. People give away hundreds of millions of dollars and services to support our schools, churches, libraries, and social service agencies. People provide for the hungry, sick, homeless, and those in poverty. So don’t underestimate the amount of good that happens around us each and every day.

For a Christian, doing good should be a normal part of life. It is expected. But everyone, including non-Christians, still has a seed of goodness in their soul; it is called “Common Grace.” It is a question of how much the seed is cultivated.

How do we overcome evil with good? We do our part by being productive and pursuing excellence in our work. We do our part by performing acts of kindness and giving of ourselves and our money to help those around us. We do our part by loving and forgiving people, even when they do evil things. We do our part by demanding justice. Tough love is frequently the best.

We live in an evil world, but things are not hopeless.  Jesus prayed “deliver us from evil”. There may be as much good in the world as there is bad, so overcome evil with good.

Doing Life Differently

My Desire: To do life differently, raising the bar for personal growth

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come.  II Cor. 5:17

What are the rewards of the challenge?

The peace of becoming more like Jesus.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will Guard your hearts and your minds in Jesus Christ.

Phil. 4:7

Joy of embracing a Christ-like lifestyle.

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  

John 15:11

The confidence of being trained and equipped to live life well.

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion. 

Phil.1:6

The satisfaction of helping others through an overflowing gift-driven ministry.

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. 

1 Peter 4:10

The excitement of helping seekers discover God.

Many of the Samaritans from that town believed

in him because of  the woman’s testimony. 

John 4:39

Love for people wherever they are on life’s journey.

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

Romans 15:7

My Desire: Doing life differently by living it God’s way

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness. 

II Tim. 4: 7

To succeed and finish well, what kind of person should I want to be?

One who hungers for personal growth and has a healthy discontent with the status quo.

One who deeply desires God’s best for his life.

One who wants to understand God’s ways and then apply them in loving relationships and daily living.

One who is willing to under-go the challenge of personal life change.

One who has basic life skills for a well managed life with meaningful results, ministry and built-in margin to impact others.

One whose life in Christ overflows to have significant impact on others, so they can then come to know Him and grow in Him.

One who truly values relationships and intentionally builds them.

My Desire: A challenging journey of unlimited opportunities

Blessed are those whose strength is in You, which have set their hearts on pilgrimage. 

Psalm 84:5

To take on the challenge, what kind of person should I want to be?

A person who daily cultivates a personal loving relationship with God, evidenced by His power and blessing.

For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.  

Psalms 84:11

A person who wants the values of relating to God to govern decision-making, possessions

and relationships.

A person who has acquired a taste for positive change, the skills  to manage it, and to understand the emotions that accompany it.

Continue to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and act according to his good  purpose.  

Philippians 2:12 -13.

A person whose lifestyle is empowered by God’s values, not driven by the culture.

The Result: To be transformed by God’s renewing of your mind.

A person who has mastered basic life skills to realize personal goals and whose priorities allow significant investment in helping others.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be Transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Then you will be able to test and  approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and  perfect will.  

Romans 12:2

A person who models God’s love and grace and is willing to invest in relationship with people by cultivating, planting and reaping.

I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means. I might save some. I do all this for the sake

of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. 

I Corth. 9:22 -23

A person who values people as God sees them as precious, unique and of infinite value rather than as the world sees them in terms of race, gender and social status.

Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man.

Mark 1:41

To do that, what must I be?

A person who constantly seeks to know and understand the world they live in and its creator.

A person who cultivates an inquiring mind, learns from multiple sources and has an appetite for new experiences.

A person who is changing and, in turn, changing the world.

A person who loves to regularly worship, pray, integrate scripture and practice the presence of God.

A person who makes Biblically based life decisions, has  a stewardship mentality and maintains integrity with others.

A person who is constantly integrating scriptural principles into godly relationships, applying skills and possessions to benefit others.

A person who has Biblically based good mental health

and a positive view of the culture.

A person who has life goals with measurements, energy focused on realizing objectives and the peace of mind to let God and others deal with the rest of life.

A person who intentionally seeks out people who are not yet believers and builds relationships that are authentic for the purpose of introducing them to Christ

Insight #90 - Being a Creative Person

Being a Creative Person

Do you consider yourself a creative person? If not, you are wrong.

It is a matter of how, when, and where.

Everyone is created in the image of God. God was a creative person. Therefore, we are creative people. If you doubt this, let’s take a trip to the local restaurant salad bar. You start with some iceberg lettuce, but no spinach leaves. Then you add carrots, tomato, peas, mushrooms, and some bacon bits, but no olives or hard-boiled egg. You top it off with croutons and one of six delicious salad dressings. You have created something unique and new. No one has ever made a salad exactly the same as yours.

The creative process begins by coming up with as many ideas as you can. Here quantity counts, not quality. The next step is to go back and evaluate each idea, deciding whether to delete it, or improve on it. Here, quality counts, not quantity. If you evaluate each idea as it comes to mind the process will not work. It is difficult to avoid passing judgment on ideas when they are first presented or come to mind, but it is important to separate these two steps, as they each require a different kind of thinking. Making a judgment restricts the creative process, and will leave you with fewer good ideas to work with.

Your personality type usually determines “How” or in what way you are creative. Builders and Leaders (see my article on Understanding Yourself and Understanding Others) think linearly - as a straight line. They create by extending the line through logic. Most of their ideas are modifications or an extension of an existing idea. Thomas Edison was a linear thinker. He created the light bulb by trying 1,600 different materials to make a light bulb that would pass his test.

Artisans and Actors think more like people playing a game of “Pickup Sticks.” They pick up a stick, and then another stick, which they place in a relationship to the first stick. These types of people are more likely to come up with something completely novel. They think outside the box because there is no box. Albert Einstein used this method. He started by picking up the first stick, which was energy. Then he added the second stick, mass, and followed with the third stick, light. By putting this combination together he came up with his famous formula: energy equals mass times the speed of light squared (E=mc²). By creating this new understanding of how the universe works he changed the world.

There are essentially three kinds of creativity: intentional, contemplative, and instantaneous. All of us can use all three kinds. Thomas Edison was very intentional about his creativity, carefully recording the results of each test. Albert Einstein was contemplative – reportedly thinking for long hours in front of his fireplace, watching the flames. Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly, on the other hand, said he got the idea for his book “Killing Jesus” when he suddenly woke up in the middle of the night with a flash of insight. NFL quarterbacks are also known to be instantaneous creators. When the ball is given to them by the Center, they fall back waiting for the play to develop. If the play does not develop as planned, the quarterback has to come up with a new plan within seconds. This capability separates a great quarterback from a good quarterback.

So, if you are at home planning and preparing a meal, or at work solving some problem, you can be creative. When you wake up tomorrow morning, try something new- use your imagination. Creativity is a fun experience. Try it.

INSIGHT #91 - The King

The King

Once upon a time there was a King who ruled over a vast domain. He was a good King, ruling with justice and mercy.  Most of all, he deeply loved each one of his subjects…

What does it mean to love someone? Love is a quest for a soul mate. Love is two becoming one. Love is the intimacy of complete trust. When a married man and woman undress and give themselves to one another, there is no greater intimacy of trust. Sex outside marriage is counterfeit love, and is merely erotic gratification. Do you remember the 1985 movie “Out of Africa”? In one scene, the stars of the film, Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, talk about marriage. He says, “I want to be free to do the things I want to do and to take the risks I want to take”. She replies, “Everything good has a price to pay”. Love has its price, just ask the King.

…But some of the subjects rejected the King, breaking his laws, ignoring him, and even saying he did not exist. Some of them did not understand him. But the King loved them anyway, not punishing them. He even planted flowers along the roadway of life so they could enjoy the beautiful things he had provided. He gave them the sun, the moon, and the stars so they could see the vastness of his domain. He invited them into his home for dinner. The King served bread and red wine to remind his subjects how much he loved them.

Those who accepted him as King, he invited into his court of joy, and adopted them as sons so they could share in his inheritance. They all sang “King of kings, Lord of lords, may you reign for ever.” And they all lived happily thereafter.

Have you accepted the King’s love?