INSPIRATIONAL FILES

I n his 2000 autobiography " The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography " screen legend Sidney Poitier reflects and explores the depth of character and personal values as a man, a husband, a father, and an actor. Mr. Poitier takes a punch at the nature of sacrifice and commitment, price and humility, rage and forgiveness, and paying the price for artistic integrity. How does one measure a man? Do you measure him by his earthly riches or by his heavenly treasures? Do you measure him by his victories or by his losses? Do you measure him by his successes and his accomplishments? Or do you measure him even by his failures? The measure of a man is really what is at the core of human value and validation. The scale that society often uses to measure men and women, especially the scale of success, would make most of us worthless or even failures in life. The truth is most people never make it to the top of the ladder in their career or profession. Most of us would nev...

Ben is a seven year old boy who lived with his grandparents in Brooklyn, New York. It was on a hot summer afternoon, and like most of the children on this block of row houses, Ben waited in the street with excitement for the arrival of the ice cream truck.   His excitement suddenly turned into sadness when his grandpa shouted to him through the window of their Brownstone that the ice cream man will not make his incursion into their particular neighborhood until the next day. Ben was suddenly filled with disappointment and sadness. Then as if it was by revelation, his face suddenly lights up. He ran to the window and with eyes as bright as the sun, he asked, “Grandpa, can I get two ice creams tomorrow, one for today, and one for tomorrow?” Grandpa looked at him and with eyes ever assuring he replied, “Of course, Ben of course, you can have two ice creams tomorrow”. And now with much greater excitement and restored hope, Ben uttered the words, “Thank you grandpa, thank you...

We read about two significant trees in the Genesis description of the environmental splendor of Eden [Genesis 2: 8-17]. One is called “the tree of life” and the other is “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. In the first instance of how knowledge could determine the distance between God and man, God’s instruction to Adam and Eve included a prohibition from touching or eating fruits from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. The instruction was in the form of a very strong and clear imperative - DON’T TOUCH! DON’T EAT! What followed was Satan’s first score in getting man to disobey the word of God in one process of distortion and guided deception. In one twinkle of disobedience and clear violation of God’s prohibition, Eve picked the fruit from the forbidden tree and somehow convinced Adam to do the same. And in a moment of justice, the first spiritual distance between God and man was established. The first line of spiritual demarcation between God and man was drawn, at ...

“ For in hope we have been saved, but the hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it .” [ Romans 8: 24-25 ]. “Hope Again” is a continuation of my reflection on the text as it applies to the circumstances of people and nations as they wait on the promises of God at one point or another. I stated this point in the last issue that the hope that anchored the lives of people in the Bible speaks of assurance and certainties rather than probabilities and uncertainties and it is rooted in the certainty of the fulfillment of God’s promises in the lives of people. One word that Bible hope does not have is the word “hopefully.” Hopefully is a word that communicates probability and uncertainty and a mere wish or desire rather than the assurance of hope as God intends. Hope sometimes involves complex generational dynamics. This simply means that the fulfillment of God’s promises sometimes spa...

Discontentment is an emotional disease that takes away one’s joy and peace. Paul told Timothy, “But Godliness with contentment is great gain” [1 Timothy 6: 6]. The Hebrew writer instructs, “…be content with such things as you have” [Hebrews 13: 5]. Contentment has little to do with not getting what you want, but everything to do with wanting what you already have. It has been said that, “contentment makes a poor man rich, yet discontentment makes a rich man poor.” The poor man said to the rich man, “I am richer than you are.” And “Why is that,” asked the rich man? “Because I have everything I want and you don’t.” It just might be that the poorest person in the world is the one who has plenty of money and material goods without contentment. Sometimes we want things we do not need, yet need things we do not want. Two tear drops met along the river of life. One tear drop said to the other, “Where did you come from?” “I am the tear drop of a girl who loved a man and lost him,” replied the ...

There is really a direction which leads to significance. Your significance is the same as your destination and the direction is how you get there. It is a sort of the map pointing you towards your destination or towards the path that you travel towards significance. The Lord did not withhold the direction of his journey to significance from his disciples. The direction of His journey was stated explicitly in statements such as “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day” [Matthew 16: 21]. You do not chart your direction towards significance just as you do not determine what your significance is. God charts the direction in which you must travel and also determines what your significance is. The path towards significance is neither a free ride nor an easy street. It is an obstacle course. An “obstacle course” is a series of challengin...