Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Jon Tyson from his book, The Burden Is Light: Liberating Your Life from the Tyranny of Performance and Success (p. 19). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Comparison, have you ever had a problem with it?   Maybe when you were young or maybe when you are old? Jon says, “Comparison makes it impossible to view ourselves from any sort of godly perspective. It is an absolute snare for the soul. Consider what comparison does to our view of others. First, when we compare ourselves with those we perceive to be better than we are in any given area of life, the comparison produces a sense of inferiority and insecurity. Whenever we see those people, they become reminders that we don’t have what it takes and are falling behind. We feel we must toil and strive to keep up. Yet the harder we try to do that, the more we’re caught in a cycle of despair. Comparison erodes our sense of worth and self-esteem.

A thought by Mark Batterson from his book, Play the Man: Becoming the Man God Created You to Be (p. 71). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) For many, they have trouble believing they can just make it through the last hour especially when it comes to temptation. Marks says, “Resisting temptation isn’t easy, that’s for sure. And I’ll be the first to admit I’ve lost many battles with pride, lust, greed, and anger. But it’s a winnable war. The problem is that most of us feel defeated before the battle even begins. Why? Because we can’t imagine winning every battle, every day. After all, who bats a thousand?” He goes on, “This might seem like a Jedi mind trick, but let me ask a question I ask everyone who is struggling with addiction: Do you think you can win the battle for one day? By the time a person comes to see me, they’re usually battling a habitual sin that seems unbeatable. They feel so defeated that

A thought by Mark Batterson from his book, Play the Man: Becoming the Man God Created You to Be (p. 118). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) You might ask, what does that mean? Mark says, “It wasn’t Jesus’s responsibility to wash feet. That job was reserved for the lowest servant on the Jewish totem pole. Yet Jesus took responsibility for something that wasn’t His responsibility.” Mark goes on, “Pilate did the exact opposite, washing his hands as a way of saying ‘I’m not responsible.’   But washing his hands didn’t absolve him of guilt. Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, yet he lacked the moral courage to let Jesus go. In the words of C. S. Lewis, ‘Pilate was merciful till it became risky.’ [C. S. Lewis, The Complete C. S. Lewis Signature Classics (New York: HarperOne, 2007), 270.] “One verse reveals Pilate’s moral weakness: ‘Wanting to satisfy the crowd . . . He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over