The expression probably has military origins. When the government or the military believes that certain information is extremely sensitive, the files are placed under severe restrictions. Access to the information is limited only to a few people who absolutely “need to know” in order to fulfil their duties. In these cases, the government does not want someone who is unauthorized or lacking proper security clearances to be privy to sensitive data. God subscribes to the same philosophy of “on a need to know basis.”
I can’t help but wonder if we’ve met the legal experts, the scribes, the perverters of God’s grand temple, and they are us. It makes me wonder, what is the damage that I am currently doing, all the while thinking that I am doing good?
“We're all together, mourning. And it really allowed me to lift up my anguish and say, you know, just put it on God’s hands. And it gave me hope, because, as Pastor Russel was speaking, the sun started to shine, and it’s been cloudy all day in Pittsburgh. The sun was shining, and I felt like that was God telling me that, you know, I’m going to part these clouds. It’s going to be dark and gloomy for a little bit, but I’m going to part these clouds and show you that I’m still here. I’m still lifting you guys up, and that’s what made me smile. And I feel a little bit better.”
“Asking for help is a universally dreaded endeavor,” writes M. Nora Klaver in her anti-self help book, Mayday: Asking for Help in Times of Need.
Whether we’re struggling with getting that heavy bag in the overhead bin on the airplane, or fixing a flat tire by the side of the road, Americans are much more likely to say, “I’m good” instead of “Can you help?”
“I got this,” we’d prefer to say. We’d rather die a thousand deaths than have someone else think that we can’t do things on our own.
From the Psalms:
Do you really love life?
Do you want to be happy?
Then stop saying cruel things
and quit telling lies.
Do good instead of evil
and try to live at peace.
From my head:
Easy to say.
Hard to do.
What is the key?
I've a message for you.
According to a CBS News report, a “survey of more than 2,000 Americans conducted by the Harris Poll… on behalf of the American Osteopathic Association, showed that almost three-quarters (72 percent) of Americans experience loneliness. And for many, it’s not just a once-in-a-while occurrence—one-third said they feel lonely at least once a week.”
When looking at the natural world—from the heights of mountains, to the mighty oceans, and then into the molecular and cellular structure of all that exists—one cannot help but get the message. “Can you hear me now?”
God has spoken.
Clean out those things in your life that get in the way of your relationship with God.
Come meet this motley crew of misfits
These liars and these thieves
There's no one unwelcome here
So that sin and shame that you've brought with you
You can leave it at the door
And let mercy draw you near
Who are you? What do you believe about yourself? Who are you really? What if people knew the real you? Who’s your daddy?
“You have a tongue in your head and two tongues in your shoes, and no matter what the tongue in your head is saying, the tongues in your shoes tell what you’re doing and where you are going. And the awful truth is that the tongues in your shoes have the last word.”
Ethel Barrett
Her screen name is "sgal901", and she wants to know if she's pretty or if she's ugly. But rather than ask her parents or ponder it with her friends, this middle-school student decides instead to pose the question to the world at large, via YouTube. Smiling sweetly at her laptop and donning a knit cap made to look like a koala bear "sgal901" does what middle school girls do: She complains of being called ugly by some and "oh-my-gosh-so-beautiful" by others.
The first pig was killed and hung by its back legs, but Sarah had forgotten the container in the car, and she ran to retrieve it. I wondered what this was all about. I quickly learned what the container was for as she cut the pig’s throat and collected as much blood as she could. I was horrified! What in the world was she doing?
In the heat of an argument, when tempers are flaring, you wonder who's going to go first.
Who's going to break first?
Who's going to say they are sorry first?
Who's going to say I forgive you first?
Who's going to cross that line first?
Not me… not me.
It is easy to get confused into thinking church is mostly about us, and that the supreme test of a good worship service is that we get something out of it. In actuality, it is not about us at all. We are not here to be entertained. We are not here to perform. We are not here because it makes good business sense. We are here for one reason and one reason only.
Clay pieces of a communion chalice lie scattered on the floor after a heated debate at the United Methodist General Conference in 2004 over its stance on homosexuality. A clay chalice had been shattered. A cup of forgiveness had been deliberately broken as an act of protest.
I was sitting in the office when the phone rang. The woman on the other end started screaming at me… “If you think you are going to bring those people into my church, you better think again.”
What a friend we have in Jesus… For most days, it’s enough for Jesus to be our good friend, our wise teacher and counselor, an inspiring example, but for times when the storm clouds gather, and there’s not one thing we can do to save ourselves by ourselves, it’s then that we need the one whom the wind and sea obey.
We see the wind and the waves, but can we focus our eyes on Jesus, the One whom the wind and the waves ultimately obey? When the ship is tossed, we can only think of our doom. Can we instead imagine the calm and hope of a new creation?
To believe that God is the great Creator of the universe is some consolation, but not much when the storm clouds gather and the waves begin to crash. It’s then that we need to know that God truly cares. This is a word about God that the world is literally dying to hear.
