BEAUTY TIPS 1

"Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised" (Proverbs 31:30).

Beauty is important in any culture; even those of more that 3,000 years ago. What makes a beautiful person? I think I can share some common-sense thoughts about beauty that are applicble to both women and men.

1. Do not compare yourself to others; it will not make you any happier. Even those who truly have a gift of physical beauty compare themselves to other beautiful people. It only creates anxiety, and in the long-run, that is not pretty. Rather, accentuate the positive with good grooming, dress and becoming the kind of person God wants you to be.

2. Develop positive relationships. Positive relationships help us to see ourselves in the best light while negative and critical relationships tend to make us view ourselves in a harsh light. If you have come to believe you are unattractive, perhaps you need to evaluate your relationships.

Grace&Peace;
Tom

THE GAIN IN GRIEF

A friend commented to me that the positive perspective of loss is that it opens the way for new opportunity. That it does. I think the following poem called THE VALLEY OF VISION expresses that truth.

Lord, High and Holy, Meek and Lowly,
Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
Where I live in the depths but see thee
in the heights;
Hemmed in by the mountains of sin
I behold thy glory.
Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
That to be low is to be high,
That the broken heart is the healed heart,
That the contrite spirit is the
rejoicing spirit,
That the repenting soul is the
victorious soul,
That to have nothing is to possess all,
That to bear the cross is to wear
the crown,
That to give is to recieve,
That the valley is a place of vision...
Let me find
Thy light in my darkness,
Thy life in my death,
Thy joy in my sorrow,
Thy grace in my sin,
Thy riches in my poverty,
Thy glory in my valley
(author unknown to me).

Grace&Peace;
Tom

MOVING ON

'Teach people to live with loss as opposed to forget and move on' (A paraphrased statement from grief workshop).

In our culture, dealing with grief has become a neat five-step process that, when it is finished, enables one to "move on" with their life. "Move on" has always been a troublesome phrase for me because of the implication that what is past should be left behind and that there should be no pain.

Moving on is necessary because life moves on; one is sick when they live in the past. Nevertheless, our very identity is linked to the past. The people, places and situations of our past all have something to do with who we are now. To leave them behind, try to forget and act as they never existed is sick too. Even heaven will not be a healthy place if there is no memory, no connection to the past because without that there is no personal identity.

Even though a person needs to learn to adjust to a new life and learn to function acceptably, does not mean that pain will end. There will be songs, smells, sights, and sounds, touches and tastes that will suddenly bring back memories of the one lost; at some unguarded moment feelings of grief will return. It must be understood that moving on means that some pain comes along in the baggage.

"...that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope" (I Thessalonians 4:13). The great dynamic that helps us to move on is the hope that we have ahead of us when we will live for eternity with our loved ones in Christ!

Grace&Peace;
Tom

GRIEF IS ALWAYS AN ISSUE

"Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).

I went to a workshop on loss and grief yesterday. One of the points the psychologist, who was the presenter, made was, "Loss is anytime life is different from how I wanted or expected it to be." If that is the case, and I think it is, then there are few counseling situations in which grief is not an issue. With every problem comes the realization that life doesn't match the picture of what life should be in our head. Our "should-be" world has been lost. So grief is always an issue.

Grief is a normal human response. It is nothing to be ashamed of, but it is something that only God can help you find meaning in.

Grace&Peace;
Tom

THE SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE GOSPEL

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galations 3:28).

It was in the light of the cited text that James Russell Lowell wrote the following poem in 1845. Lowell was an abolitionist and the poem was intended to shape Christian thought as to their responsibility.

"Once to every man and nation
Comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth with falsehood,
For the good or evil side;
Some great cause, God's new Messiah,
Offering each the bloom or blight,
And the choice goes by for ever
'Twixt that darkness and that light.

"By the light of burning martyrs
Jesus' bleeding feet I track,
Toiling up new Calvaries ever
With the cross that turns not back;
New occasions teach new duties,
Time makes ancient good uncouth;
They must upward still, and onward,
Who would keep abreast of truth."

Grace&Peace;
Tom

FRANKLIN'S ASSESSMENT

A few weeks before his death, Benjamin Franklin wrote to Ezra Stiles, president of Yale College: "As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of morals and religion, as he left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupting changes, and I have, with most of the present dissenters in England, some doubts as to his divinity, tho' it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with now, when I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the truth with less trouble. I see no harm, however, in its being believed, if that belief has the good consequence, as probably it has, of making his doctrines more respected and better observed." *

Franklin stood in judgement of Jesus the Christ and found him to be a great moral teacher, but that is all. Franklin expected to find out the truth when he died, but why did he not stop to think that at his death it might be a little late to do anything about it? Franklin was a man of common sense. Poor Richard's Almanac was a reflection of Franklin's philosophy and even some of the teaching of Jesus. However, though one must have common sense, God says that those who are righteous will live by faith and will trust Jesus the Christ.

Grace&Peace;
Tom

*Jesus Through the Centuries
Jaroslav Pelican
Yale University Press

BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED

"And the crowds asked him, 'What then should we do?' In reply he said to them, 'Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whever has food must do likewise.' Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, 'Teacher, what should we do?' He said to them, 'Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.' Soldiers also asked him, 'And we, what should we do?' He said to them, 'Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages'" (Luke 3: 10-14).

Both tax collecting and soldering were not thought of as honorable occupations by many people then and now. But God sees them as necessary occupations in a fallen world. I'm not sure why he didn't include lawyering here--maybe that's because they are beyond redemption. That's just a joke. While there are some occupations that are not honorable, these are. Dignity is brought to them by how they are done. John the baptizer did not tell tax collectors to stop collecting or soldiers to stop soldiering! He told them how to do it in a way that honors God.

What are you doing? Where ever Divine providence has placed you, bring dignity to what you do.

Grace&Peace;
Tom

WHAT DO YOU NEED?

When God made us in His image, even though the fall into sin blurred that image, it was not obliterated; it can still be seen, and thus the need for connection with God is still in our hearts. We try to fill our need with other gods, other relationships and experiences, but the hole in our hearts will not be filled except by Him. I say that to introduce St. Augustine's confession, "Thou hast made us for thyself, and restless is our heart until it comes to rest in thee."

We have a need that ONLY God can fulfill.

Grace&Peace;
Tom

IS THERE EVIL OR JUST DYSFUNCTION?

When one studies psychology it is easy to come to the conclusion that people who do bad things are just dysfunctional. Is there truely evil? The Bible says there is. As we remember 9/11 this little blurb I found written by Walter Lippmann on October 30, 1941 is very appropriate; even more so in these present days. This was written when the Nazis were causing havoc in Europe and just five weeks before Pearl Harbor.

"The modern skeptical world has been taught for some 200 years a conception of human nature in which the reality of evil, so well known to the ages of faith, has been discounted. Almost all of us grew up in an environment of such easy optimism that we can scarcely know what is meant, though our ancestors knew it well, by the satanic will. We shall have to recover this forgotten but essential truth--along with so many others that we lost when, thinking we were enlightened and advanced, we were merely shallow and blind."

Walter Lippmann was a syndicated columnist during the 30's through the 60's. He tended to be on the liberal side, but he was right on target with this comment!

Grace&Peace;
Tom

BE MERCIFUL

"for he (the Most High) is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful" (Luke 6:36).

In my personal Bible study I am reading through the gospel of Luke. This verse stood out at me this morning. How is God kind to the ungrateful and wicked? He allows them to live, enjoy the sunshine and the rain, and have an opportunity to choose the life He offers. Some will, but most will not; it's their choice.

We are to be that merciful. We are to be kind and gracious to all people. It is a terrible burden to carry anger and be judgemental. In the Matthew's sermon on the mount Jesus says, "blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy." That is not only true in our relationship with God, but it is also true in our relationship with our fellow men. We tend to be treated in the same way we treat others. If we are gracious it will tend to follow that we will be treated graciously.

Grace&Peace;
Tom

PROPER MOTIVES FOR PRAYER

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10).

A recent respondent questioned, 'How can I know I have a proper motive in my prayer?' John Calvin believed that a human being could do nothing good. If a person did something apparently good, it was done with an improper motive. The only way a person could do a genuinely good thing is if the Spirit of God motivated him to do it. I do not agree entirely with Calvin's conviction because we human beings are created in the image of God and do good things for each other.

It is a legitimate concern about the motive of our prayers, they may even seem to be selfish but remain legitimate. When the Lord taught his disciples to pray he said that we are expected to pray for our daily bread--our sustinance. Isn't that selfish? God cares for His children and wants them to have goood things!

Generally, though, our motive is to be to glorify God. I might want to do something or have something that isn't wrong in its self, but if having it or doing it doesn't result in glorifying God, the motive is self-serving. That is why self-examination is to be a constant in the life of the Christian. "Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup" (I Corinthians 11:28).

Grace&Peace;
Tom

HALF-HEARTED PRAYERS

". . . yet because of the mans's persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs" (Luke 11:8b NIV).

My son, Tom, is doing a sermon series on prayer. In preparation, he asked the question, 'does our persistence in prayer change God's mind?' One of the respondents to Tom's question pointed out the "persistence" might not be the best translation of the original. The KJV uses the word "importunity" and, indeed, that is what my analytical Greek lexicon uses as a translation. Importunity is to vex by demanding too often, to vehemently or unreasonably, according to "Webster."

When a person is importune he is bold and shameless in his requests. He doesn't care what the other person thinks. He is going to get what he wants! Earlier this week I published the prayer of Martin Luther for his friend, Frederick Myconius. Luther only prayed it once, but it was certainly bold. One beloved reader responded that she was finished with "whimpy prayers." That certainly fits here! I do believe that our bold persistence has value and significance because it is indicative of the passion that we have. Will God listen to half-hearted prayers?

Grace&Peace;
Tom

NO "WIMPY" PRAYERS!

"You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. Adulterers!" (James 4:3-4a).

God wants us to ask! Because of Christ, we can boldly approach the throne of grace and make requests of God. We do not have to cower in fear, only bow in reverence and respect to our loving and gracious Father who wants us to have what is good for us. We needn't be wimps! We can ask for the impossible! The only requisit is that our requests be not selfish. Our commitment is to God. When our requests are self-centered we are being unfaithful in our relationship to God. We can pray for great and impossible things, but not with a selfish motive!

Grace&Peace;
Tom

GOD INVITES YOU TO ASK

"Ask and it shall be given. . ." (Matthew 7:7).

Many times in the Scriptures, God invites His children to ask, 'You have not because you ask not' the apostle James says in his letter. God is our rich friend; He is our rich father who wants us to have what is best.

I found this story in a sermon by Peter Marshall that I want to share with you; it is supposed to be historically accurate.

In 1540, Martin Luther's great friend and assistant, Frederick Myconius, became sick and was expected to die within a short time. On his bed, he wrote a loving farewell note to Luther with a trembling hand. Luther received the letter and instantly sent back a reply, "I command thee in the name of God to live. I still have need of thee in the work of reforming the church. The Lord will never let me hear that thou art dead, but will permit thee to survive me. For this I am praying, this is my will and my will be done, because I seek only to glorify the name of God." One week later, Myconius recovered and died two months after the death of Luther.

Our motives have a lot to do with how our requests to God are answered!

Grace&Peace;
Tom

What Keeps Me Going?

"Christ is not only the source for my work; He is also the outcome. If the dominant note is the needs of others, then success is measured by how many of those I meet. However, if Christ is to be the outcome of our work, then success becomes another thing altogether. Success is what pleases Him, glorifies Him, and looks like Him. Success is not a body count of those who turned out a certain way. Success is rather whether or not I looked like Him no matter the outcome."

"We are in great danger when we put the emphasis on the results we see in the lives of others. The work of the Spirit in our lives is not evidenced in the number of people we fix, but in the character we manifest whether people are fixed or not. What happens in the lives He brings across my path is under His jurisdiction, not mine" (Diane Langberg, PhD).*

*Dr. Langberg is a licensed psychologist and a contributer to the Christian Counseling Connection, from which I obtained this blurb. She spoke what I believe and I wanted to share it with you.

Grace&Peace;
Tom

THE PRAYER OF FAITH

"And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. . ." (James 5:15).

Many, many times people have prayed for physical healing that did not come. Any hospital chaplain will tell you about the testimonies shared with them of people who have been able to cope with the stress of illness because of prayer. What kept them going despite difficult circumstances? Prayer!

Many will testify that prayer has changed the course of an illness, but many more will testify that prayer has changed how they viewed their illness or their situation. It is in changing the view of a situation or an illness that changes false beliefs and helps a person develop true ones. It is the truth that brings freedom and health.

The change in my perspective as a result of prayer has blessed me at significant moments in my life.

Grace&Peace;
Tom

PRAYER AND RELATIONSHIP

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will com in to him and dine with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20).

The context of this verse concerns the church at Laodicia. Jesus is inviting Christians, who have allowed their relationship with him to stagnate, to allow him back into their lives. The lack of prayer, opening the door, in the life of the Christian is symptomatic of a lack of relationship with Christ. If you love him, you will talk to him!

Grace&Peace;
Tom

WHY SHOULD WE PRAY?

"Our Father who art in heaven . . ." (Matt. 6:9).

Because it works? Tell that to those who have prayed and prayed about loved-ones who were teminally ill and died anyway, or those who have lived in desperate situations and found no way out. There have been several double-blind studies done which have shown that hospital patients who were prayed for recovered at a rate no better than those not prayed for.

If what I have just said means to you that there is no reason to pray then your relationship with God is suspect. What kind of relationship is it that is predicated on what works? It is like being friends with a very rich person who could give us whatever our hearts desired. If we spent all of our time asking for the desires of our heart, wouldn't our rich friend wonder if we would be friends at all if he had no riches? What kind of relationship is that?

Having a relationship with anyone means that there is some mutuality. We care about the same things, we have similar values and we enjoy spending time together. Spending time together isn't done just when it is convenient. God is our very rich friend, in fact, our Father. He wants to spend time with us. Do you with Him, except to ask for favors? If prayer is only utilitarian to you, forgetaboutit!

By the way, a double-blind study makes God nothing more than a natural force, a majic act or a genie. God is super natural, not natural--He can't be measured by natural means. Not only that but who can guarantee that those in the not-prayed-for group weren't prayed for? Almost everyone has someone who cares about them enough to pray.

Grace&Peace;
Tom

2 MORE EVIDENCES FOR CHRIST'S RESURRECTION

While doing some reading early this morning, I stumbled on some bits of evidence that I had never attributed much significance to, and yet they are significant and one of them is a salient feature of the resurrection story. Because of limited time, I will not fully discuss the implications of the evidence, but only cover it in broad strokes.

1. The bodily resurrection of Christ from the grave is the foundation of the Christian faith; if Christ did not rise from the dead, none of it is true (I Corinthians 15:12-19). Every time the gospel was preached to the Greeks the resurrection is spoken of as evidence of the truth of the gospel. Yet, because of the religious and philosophical background of the Greeks, resurrection of a body was not a good thing--matter was not good, it was evil. The tendency of the Greeks would have been to disbelieve it or to change it to something more acceptable. There was no advantage in making converts by speaking of resurrection!

2. It was the women who found the tomb empty and met the risen Christ first. Given the male preference and dominance of that culture, this is evidence of the truth of the story. If the story were made up it would have been one of the male apostles, Peter or John probably, who first met the risen Christ to give gravitas to the story. But, no, it was the lowly women, perhaps the most lowly one, Mary Magdalene who had the honor of first meeting the risen Christ. When the story was related to the men, 'it seemed as an idle tale to them.'

These are just bits of evidence that only enhance the great amount of evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. It is because of this event that we can hope to enter the eternal country whose builder and make is God.

Grace&Peace;
Tom

WHAT?

Things are more like they are now than they have ever been before.

--The Leininger Collection

Grace&Peace;
Tom