Self Control

     Paul wrote to the Ephesians the following: "31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you." (Ephesians 4:31-32, ASV 1901)

     How hard is this? It can depend. If life is going smoothly, this can be easier. If life is getting a little rough, this can be so much harder. But, these are not conditional commands!

     No matter what's going on at work, at school, at home, with your family, your friends, or your own personal comfort, we are called to put away or get rid of bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor (or fighting), evil speaking and malice (bad intentions).

     Instead we are to be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving, because God forgave us. We must remember that as David said, all sins are against God. God forgave us. He's not holding onto these items in vs. 31. Philippians 4:13 reminds us we can do all things through Christ. 

     Let us all strive to do what these verses say. May God bless you in your efforts.  -  Robert

P.S. This post in its original format first appeared on the blog Dear Christian www.dear-christian.com

The time has come to speak up, and yet you remain silent . . . Why?

Our preacher challenged us Sunday to answer the following question: The reason(s) I am not more personally evangelistic is/are . . .


The following are some of my thoughts.

1. Good old fashioned fear. While my mind can readily call up verses such as 2 Tim 1:7-8 and 1 Sam 8:7, fear often strikes right along with evangelistic opportunities.
2. Inferiority complex or fear of failure - I'm reminded of the parable of one talent in Mt 25:19-30. I often feel that I can’t do as good a job as the situation requires.
3. Not knowledgeable enough or lack of preparation - 2 Tim 2:15, Php 4:13. There really isn’t an acceptable reason for this unless you are a new Christian. We, and I mean I, need to realize that God expects all of us to perform to the level we are able, and to recognize a need for growth and improvement to do better the next time.
4. Lack of ability to properly value the soul/Indifference - Mt 16:26, Jas 5:19-20. I can think logically about this, but have difficulty always seeing the value of someone’s soul over their physical attributes or attitude or words or how they dress, etc.
5. Don’t always know how to respond until the moment has passed. This could also fit under lack of preparation - 2 Tim 4:2.
6. Don't want to lose my friends. Are my friends really that valuable that I'm not willing to risk losing their friendship to share something so valuable with them? Again Mt 16:26 fits here.

I realize that not everyone is religious, but I think that many of these reasons could fit when we don't speak up about whatever it is that we feel strongly about. It could be a political point, social mores, crime and punishment, current events . . . the list could go on and on. What do you think? What keeps you from speaking up or speaking out when the moment comes?

More fun with labels

So I'm not going to get through all the labels in just two posts. There will be six remaining after this one. Maybe I can just scatter them throughout the next post. We'll see. I hope you enjoy this one. I had fun with it and the last one. Let me know what you think.

 "Welcome to the military, grunts!" the DI yelled, sounding ridiculously like Tom Bodet of Motel

 6 fame. 

     "This ain't no hospital where you get to lay around all day, and it sure ain't no golf camp, 

ladies!"

     His voice was making it hard not to laugh, and I needed to use the latrine. I struggled to 

keep the smile off my face, unsuccessfully.

     "We got us a funny boy here!" The DI yelled, stomping over to stand in front of me. "What's 

your name, Mr. Giggles?"

     "Cadet Thompson, Sir!" I managed to get out before he cut me off. 

     "Don't you 'Sir" me, Cadet. I work for a living. You will address me as 'Drill Instructor!' Do 

you understand me?" By now he was so close the spittle was landing on my face, allowing 

me to see the stubble on his right cheek where he had missed a spot shaving.

     Chords of the Wagner's Ring Cycle ran through my head, along with the pictures of the 

opening scenes of a war movie whose name I couldn't remember. "Yes, Drill Instructor!" I 

replied in almost as loud a voice as his.

     He seemed satisfied, because he backed away and addressed the group again. "You 

ladies have just learned the first of many lessons. Your in-processing to the Air Corps began 

30 seconds ago at that building across the way. YOU ARE LATE. MOVE IT!

     As the group broke into a run, my self-examination began. "What are you doing here, 

Thompson?" I asked myself. "Who is John Galt?" the sarcastic reply came back from the 

funny little man who lived inside my head. I knew the answer to the first question. I had not 

had much choice in the matter. It was join the Air Corps to get away from the mafia, or spend 

another summer in Antarctica with the penguins and my very eccentric mother, "who just 

ordered nine pizzas" I automatically added under my breath.

     As all 30 of us tried to crowd through the door at once, my mind jumped to another topic. 

Each person I jostled with received one of several labels; "sanctified Bible thumper," "scared 

witless", "Not gonna make it," "wanna-be tough guy." The predictions came effortlessly, and 

looking back now, I see that most were accurate.

     We processed quickly through the building, giving vital information such as name, date of 

birth, next-of-kin, and such. We were each issued the usual PT shorts, shoes, socks, 

underwear, fatigues, boots, belt, toothbrush, razor, soap, shower sandals, toothpaste, shaving 

creme, teeny-tiny towel and an even more microscopic washcloth. As we exited the other

side, we were rushed across the pavilion into a bunk house where we dumped our gear onto 

the nearest empty bunk, changed into the PT gear as instructed and formed up again 

outside.

     A pompous looking man with stacks of ribbons on his chest was waiting on us, with what 

seemed to be a swagger stick tucked under his right arm. When we were all assembled, he 

addressed us. "Today begins your life in the Air Corps. We will train you to fly, fight, and win. 

In the air, or on the ground." And that's when the swordplay began. He put on a display of 

bladed weapon fighting technique that I have never seen rivaled. I, the most decorated 

swordsman on 4 continents. I, the head of the Air Corps saber dueling program. I, the second 

most decorated swordsman to ever live, was privileged to witness first-hand, and be trained 

by the greatest sensei of any age, General Tso!