2024-01-07
Proverbs 21:11 NKJV
Whether in your personal life or your career, learning how to communicate with others is essential to success and happiness in a relationship. Apart from obtaining facts, communication should deliver a way to gain some understanding into the heart and mind of another person. And good communication calls for translation. Really, you’re learning that other person’s language. We all use the same words, but we have unique languages when it comes to love.
What you mean when you say, “I need someone to be here for me,” might not be what the other person means when they say, “I will be here for you.” You need to learn their language without prior assumptions and incorrect projections weighing you down. Such interpersonal literacy will serve you well for years to come. It will stop you from treating her as though she is simply you in a different shape, or imagining that he is just like your best girlfriend, etc.
We all need to love and be loved, but we use different means of communication to express our desires. Don’t be fearful of checking terms and comparing definitions to make sure you’re both singing from the same song sheet. A respected Bible teacher puts it like this: “Often in my own conversations, I will say, ‘Let me tell you what I heard so I can see if that is what you meant.’ I am shocked at how many times I hear something totally different from what is intended!”
Lasting happiness doesn’t come from owning things, it comes from having good relationships. So, work on improving your communication skills. It’s well worth the investment!
Soul food: Exo 20:1-3; Deut 6:1-9; Mark 12:28-34; Rev 2:1-7
2024-01-06
Hebrews 11:3 NIV
Speaking of our amazing bodies… what about DNA? Each human cell (up to 100 trillion) contains a database larger than the Encyclopedia Britannica! Could all that have originated by chance? English physicist Paul Davies makes this comparison: “It’s rather like exploding a stick of dynamite under a pile of bricks and expecting it to build a house. You may liberate enough energy to raise the bricks, but without coupling the energy to the bricks in a controlled way, there’s little hope of producing anything other than a chaotic mess.”
Clearly it requires more than a pile of bricks to build a house. The intelligence of the architect and the skill of the builder are key components. And it’s the same with all the complexities of a human being. The odds are zero that all the required elements necessary to initiate human life just happened to assemble themselves in the same spot on earth at the same time. And even if we did accept that notion, blind chance couldn’t put those 100 trillion cells together in the order required to produce life.
Prominent scientist Francis Crick wasn’t noted for his faith, but even he said, “The origin of life seems almost to be a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going.” And what’s the miracle? The psalmist said, “You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:13-14 NIV). That’s the miracle!
Soul food: Lev 5-7; Matt 3:1-10; Ps 10:12-18; Prov 1:17-19
2024-01-05
Psalm 139:14 NLT
Could life as we know it – plant, animal, and human life – have spontaneously happened by chance? Could our amazing solar system be the result of an accident? The more advanced science becomes, the more evidence there is for a Master Designer. Researchers continue to uncover the divine order in each tiny human cell.
American biochemist Bruce Alberts, former president of the National Academy of Sciences, writes, “We have always underestimated cells; undoubtedly we still do… Cells are the basic unit of life… indeed the entire cell can be viewed as a factory that contains an elaborate network of interlocking assembly lines, each of which is composed of a set of different protein machines in defined positions.”
The psalmist David wasn’t a scientist, yet he recognized that each of us is a complex product of God’s amazing hands! “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb… You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion… woven together in the dark of the womb… How precious are your thoughts about me… They cannot be numbered!… And when I wake up, you are still with me!” (vv. 13, 15, 17-18 NLT).
The average human heart beats 115,000 times a day. Our blood travels 12,000 miles every day (four times the distance across America coast to coast!). Adults take an average of 18,000 to 30,000 breaths a day, and for the most part, all these functions take place without our awareness. Amazing! Today, stop and take a few minutes to acknowledge and thank your Creator for the amazing things He did with that first clump of dirt.
Soul food: Lev 1-4; Matt 2:19-23; Ps 10:1-11; Prov 1:10-16
2024-01-04
Mark 12:30 NKJV
Loving God with all your mind means managing your mind and making the most of it. It means loving God logically and creatively, intuitively, and thoughtfully. Albert Einstein, one of history’s greatest minds, said: “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.” Downplaying his genius, Einstein said, “I have no special gift, I am only passionately curious.”
The Bible says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1 NKJV). So, your curiosity should be boundless and without limits. The Latin word for “education” means “to draw out” rather than “to cram in.” Most academic programs focus on force-feeding knowledge rather than releasing curiosity. The result? We know some things – but we lose what’s most vital: the love of learning.
In one study of a top university, the highest scoring graduates were given their same final exams one month after graduation. All of them failed. When you attempt to cram the truth into your mind, it seldom gets past the short-term memory. And it assuredly doesn’t get into the soul. Sadly, sometimes that’s what happens in church each weekend. What’s the answer? Put God’s Word into practice every chance you get.
Soul food: 2 Thes 1-3; Matt 2:13-18; Ps 90:7-17; Prov 1:5-9
2024-01-03
Mark 12:30 NKJV
God has created us with the capacity to keep learning until the day we die, which is something we shouldn’t take for granted. The average brain weighs approximately three pounds, yet neurologists approximate that we have the ability to learn something new every second of every minute of every hour of every day for the next three hundred million years. Awesome, right?
But it’s more than that. It’s an awesome obligation. Learning isn’t an indulgence; it’s a stewardship matter. Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” It’s impossible to determine the percentage of our minds we use, but all of us have untapped potential. Your imagination is capable of considerably more than you can dream.
Yet somewhere along the way, most of us stop living out of imagination and start living out of memory. We stop designing the future and start copying the past. And that is the day we cease living and begin dying. Why? Because we stop educating ourselves. Loving God with all your mind requires maximizing your mind by learning as much as possible about as much as possible.
The true litmus test of spiritual maturity isn’t the quantity you know. It’s knowing the quantity you don’t know. It’s reconciling yourself with the reality that God is not an object of comprehension as much as He is a source of wonder. And that sacred sense of wonder ignites a holy curiosity to keep learning more about the Creator and His creation.
Soul food: 1 Thes 4-5; Matt 2:1-12; Ps 90:1-6; Prov 1:1-4
2024-01-02
Psalm 90:12 CEV
We all get the same twenty-four hours every day. That’s 1,440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. And we “must give an account to God” for how we use them (See Ecclesiastes 11:9 NLT). A good place to start is by asking yourself, “How would I spend the next twenty-four hours if I knew I would stand before God tomorrow?” Your answer can help you prioritize your life.
Think about it: If somebody steals your car, you can get another one. If they steal your wallet, a few phone calls to the credit card company usually resolve the matter. But who can you call when you lose your time? How you spend your time is how you spend your life! Ephesians 5:16 says, “Make every minute count” (CEV), so learn to do these:
(1) Stop saying yes to everybody. When your spiritual gut says no, but your people-pleasing gut says yes, go with your spiritual gut. Jesus did. It’s what enabled Him to tell His Father, “I have finished the work… You have given Me to do” (John 17:4 NKJV). Don’t let the good rob you of the best; back off on some activities so you can excel in others.
(2) Be led by the Spirit, not the flesh. Paul says, “If you are guided by the Spirit, you won’t obey your selfish desires” (Galatians 5:16 CEV). Furthermore, when you walk in the Spirit, you burn the oil, not the wick; the Holy Spirit supplies you with strength.
(3) Put first things first. A mark of real maturity is doing what you don’t feel like doing when you don’t feel like doing it. So, this year, put first things first – and keep them there!
Soul food: 1 Thes 1-3; Matt 1:18-25; Ps 116; Ecc 12:13-14
