Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Kyle Idleman from his book, Don't Give Up (p. 126). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Kyle says, “It’s interesting, and may be helpful to know, that research indicates that both men and women struggle with feelings of inadequacy, though in different ways. Women tend to blame themselves, assuming they don’t have what it takes. Men typically blame their circumstances, believing that someone or something else is at fault. We can all buy into the you-don’t-have-what-it-takes lie. “This is an easy lie to believe because there are so many opportunities to compare ourselves nowadays. Everyone puts the best version of themselves on social media. I’m trying to get a petition started that changes the name of Facebook to Façade and Instagram to Mirage. Maybe then we wouldn’t look at these airbrushed versions of people’s lives and feel so insecure. We compare our normal lives with the highlights of an...

A thought by Kyle Idleman from his book, Don't Give Up (p. 124). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Do we really believe lies? Kyle says, “We don’t know they’re lies. If we knew they were lies, we wouldn’t believe them.” He goes on, “Because we believe lies, we live our lives by them, right? If you believe swimming within thirty minutes of eating is dangerous, you won’t do it. And that gives the lie the same power over you as if it were truth. For centuries, people believed the lie that the earth was flat. Because they believed that lie, they wouldn’t go too far out in the ocean; they didn’t want to fall off the edge. “When you believe a lie, it changes the way you live. “It’s obviously not a big deal if you’ve spent your life avoiding swimming after eating or swallowing chewing gum. But what if you believe more significant lies that have more serious implications?” He continues, “It...

A thought by Kyle Idleman from his book, Don't Give Up (p. 109). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) The whole thought by Kyle is, “Fix your eyes on Jesus, because Jesus is better; he is superior to everything and everyone else.” Yes, yes, I do believe that.   He really is! Kyle goes on, “The words translated as ‘better’ and ‘superior’ show up fifteen times in the book of Hebrews (that is a book in the NT of the Bible). The original readers would have mostly been first-generation Jewish Christians. They were facing persecution for their faith, and culturally they were being ridiculed and opposed. So, the message that ‘Jesus is better’ was a message given to encourage them not to go back, not to give up. “If you read through Hebrews, you can make a list of everything that Jesus is better than. Jesus is better than the law. Jesus is better than traditions. Jesus is better than the pro...