Living in light of eternity

This summer I had the privilege of visiting with an old friend.   It was mid-morning around coffee as we reminisced over years gone by.   She reminded me of something I said to her back in the day, "Don't underestimate the goodness of God." Frankly, neither of us could remember the context of that statement, but we ruminated over it's meaning and application to our lives. It's so easy to underestimate God's goodness.   Maybe it's because we lack the basic goodness to be a fair judge of God's goodness.   Goodness, like holiness and other attributes of God are particularly hard for us to recognize because of the damage sin has done to our perceptions. Fortunately the Scriptures helps us because God's goodness is explained in a variety of settings: We can perceive God's goodness in His creation. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; (1 Ti 4:4, NASB95) The beauty ...

Most of civilized society has historically seen the world through the lenses of "Honor/Shame". The Greeks, Romans, Jews and early Christians all regarded honor/dishonor as the primary axis of value for their culture.   Each had their own definitions of what constituted true honor.   The Christians, in particular, relied on the Scriptures, the example of Jesus Christ, and the leadership of the Apostles.   Today much of the world continues to live by this axis of honor/dishonor and considers honor has one of the, if not THE primary virtues. “Without integrity and honor, having everything means nothing.”   Robin Sharma Research  reveals that during marital conflict a husband most often reacts when feeling disrespected and a wife reacts when feeling unloved.  7,000 people were asked this question: When you are in a conflict with your spouse or significant other, do you feel unloved or disrespected? 83% of the men said "disrespected..." In his ...