Worthy Words

I was reading the other day and was reminded about MLB’s “Iron Man” named after Calvin Edwin “Cal” Ripken Jr. Cal Ripken's record was extensive. He was a first ballot inductee to the Hall of Fame back in 2007 with the third highest voting percentage in history behind Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan. You know what record he holds? It’s the unheard-of record of playing in 2632 consecutive baseball games! Ripken surpassed the previous holder, Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees, whose record of 2,130 consecutive games had stood for 56 years. This is a record that Cal holds may stay in the books forever; he will certainly be remembered forever as a legend in the game. Most sports records are set when a player gets on a hot streak — they have a good game or a good month or even a good season. Ripken's record is the result of a 'hot streak' that lasted more than 16 years. Day after day he simply took another step in the right direction, one game at a time. Something ma...

When your confidence has been manifestly shattered its time for divine confidence to manifest itself into your life. David the psalmist laid it down this way; “The Lord will work out his plans for my life—for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever” (Psalm 138:8). This expresses what so often is missed in finding a resolution from crumbling confidence. Notice David didn’t say “I have enough grace to work this out, or my faith is so resolute and firm I will make it through.” No! David proclaimed his dependence was solely on the Lord.  If you indulge in any confidence which is not grounded on Christ the Solid Rock you are dreaming Never Land dreams that will result in ruinous sorrow and confusion. If you placed the workings of your own hands as fortifications of your confidence, time will unravel your embankments. David demonstrated great wisdom in his words. He depended upon nothing short of the Lord’s work. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who began a good work in you and ...

There is an old familiar saying; “Keeping up with the Joneses.” Today I guess it would be; “Keeping up with the Kardashians.” Either way it speaks to our self-gratifying nature of wanting what others have and when we have it… we’ll have “IT!” So, go ahead, take an inventory of all you possess and compare that to someone else’s portion. After all, the Bible says we do it more than we would like to admit. “You want what you don’t have, so you scheme to get it. You are jealous of what others have.” (James 4:2a) In your life time you’re going to find some folks have their portion in farm and ranch land that is worth a sizeable sum. But compared to your God who is the Lord of the harvest it’s not much. After all, God is the one who satisfies your need by feeding you with the bread of heaven. Other people have their portion in the stock market and their wealth is abundant, and flows to them in constant streams, until they use all their extra gold on furnishings, but what is gol...