Endless Love
Typical of most pastors, I have done my fair share of weddings. And typical of many weddings, 1 Corinthians 13 was read at several of them by either the bride or the groom or both, or a family member or friend. In other words, this "love poem" of the bible, or the "love chapter", has probably been read at more weddings than it has been preached in churches.
The regular use of this passage in wedding ceremonies has probably linked it so strongly in your mind with flowers, kisses, and dresses that as we read it together, you were thinking about the last time you heard it… at a wedding. Maybe not.
At one of these many weddings I have officiated, it hit me hard—these two have no idea what they are actually saying to each other in reading these words. They have no earthly idea what they are in for, especially when each realises that the words they are reading are not feelings that can be conjured but commitments of will that they must cultivate.
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Change Your Thoughts. Change Your Life. Pt. 8
In the previous post, I shared with you that you can maximise your happiness by making a difference in your home (area one) and by making a difference in your church (area 2). Home and church are two of five areas in which you can serve others, make a difference, and maximise your happiness. Today I want to share with you three other areas where you can make a difference, and it will maximise your happiness and change someone else's life.
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Change Your Thoughts. Change Your Life. Pt. 7
In our final two installments of this blog series on happiness, we come to what is likely the most counterintuitive truth in the world, especially for self-focused westerners like you and me—we are most happy when we serve others. We are most happy when we are serving others. There is a mountain of scientific research that affirms this truth, on which we will certainly touch, but I want to first share with you my awakening to this understanding.
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Change Your Thoughts. Change Your Life. Pt. 6
"Sir, give me this water—she exclaims—so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water."
Feel her words… I will never have to keep coming here to draw water. Her words, and the context, tell the pain of her story. There is a seemingly minor detail at the very start of John's account that is easily read past, and it shapes so much of what was happening in her life. It was about noon when Jesus arrived at the Well.
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Change Your Thoughts. Change Your Life. Pt 5
At the close of 1938, Europe was on the brink of war. Hitler's intent to "cleanse Europe" of all Jewish people was cemented, and the infamous Munich pact or Munich agreement essentially gave Hitler carte blanche to march his armies into Czechoslovakia.
Enter Nicholas Winton, a twenty-nine-year-old stockbroker from London. Shortly before Christmas 1938, Winton planned to travel to Switzerland for a skiing holiday. Following a call for help from Marie Schmolka and Doreen Warriner, he decided instead to visit Prague and help Martin Blake, who was in Prague as an associate of the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia, then in the process of being occupied by Germany.
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Change Your Thoughts. Change Your Life. Pt.4
To quote the late, great Nipsey Hussle
Money, loyalty and love, in the dream, we trust
You be switchin' up the players on your team too much
Tiny Cobby, that's my Loc, Young Supreme; what's up?
Ain't we travel 'round the world gettin' cream or what?
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Change Your Thoughts. Change Your Life. Pt. 3
That title is extreme, I know, but it is true. In act three of this multipart blog series, we will explore the power of the voices in your life and their ability to promote or demote your happiness.
When I was in my twenties, I had a friend who was just not a very good friend despite what I genuinely believed were his best intentions. Every interaction was just filled with negativity. If I said I could, he would tell me all of the reasons I could not. If I saw possibilities, he saw problems. Where I saw dreams, he saw drama. In fact, in preparing this post, I could only think of one positive thing he ever spoke into my life. Just one.
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Change Your Thoughts. Change Your Life. - Pt. 2
The words of Solomon, often referred to as the wisest man to ever live, confirm those of Dr Caroline Leaf on the power of our thinking. In Proverbs twenty-three, he wrote thousands of years ago, verse seven, “As someone thinks within himself, so he is.”
Think about those words; no pun intended. Our thoughts shape who we are and how we behave. There is a saying that words form worlds. I do not disagree with that sentiment, but it seems even more truthful to say our thoughts shape our world. Even the words we speak that may “shape worlds” began as a… thought. As you think you are, you will be.
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