Ecclesiastes 12:10

  Two researchers, Hyunjin Song and Norbert Schwarz, discovered a strange reason people were not exercising: typeface.  They gave people written instructions on how to do a physical exercise. If the instructions were in an easy-to-read font ( Arial ), people estimated that it would take about 8 minutes to do the exercise and that it wouldn’t be too difficult. They were willing to incorporate the exercise into their daily workout. But if the instructions were given in an overly decorative font ( Brush Script MT Italic ), people estimated it would take almost twice as long—15 minutes—to do the exercise, and they rated the exercise as being difficult to do  Clarity, it seems, is everything.   In Colossians 4, Paul asks the church there to pray for his effort to spread the Gospel, specifically asking “ that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak ”. He knew that for his effort to bear fruit he had to speak in a clear way that people would respond to. ...

   American poet John Greenleaf Whittier, who once noted, “ For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: It might have been. ”   Regret often is more about what we didn’t do than what we did. When we do it, it brings joy. When we don’t, it brings regret. Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda are bad words. “Going to do” leads to a life with nothing done.  Doing nothing might just be the worst thing you've ever did.   But it's worse than all that; it might just be a sin. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin . James 4:17   Not doing the right thing is wrong! Putting off what needs to be done is as sinful as any wrong act we might perform. It won’t just make us miserable, it makes us lost.    There will be many on judgment day that will cry out “What did we do?” They will have their answer. They didn’t do anything. They didn’t obey. They didn’t follow through. They didn’t do the thing ...

    A running joke in our family is when the wife will be trying to identify a person and she will give the clue, “He was in that movie with the person who did the thing that made the news”. Of course, the kids will be clueless, but I can often guess correctly. When you've been around someone that long, you can guess what they are saying even when they can’t really say what they mean.    In Romans 8:26, we read, “ In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words ”. Here we are told that even when we don’t know what to pray for or even how to pray, the Spirit of God is there for us, saying what we can’t say.  Yet that can only work when we have a relationship with the Spirit.    If we think our prayers are not what they should be, a great way to correct that is to draw close to God. When we get spiritually minded, the Spirit can hel...

    Abraham Lincoln once observed, “ If you approach a man and mark him as one to be shunned and despised… he will retreat within himself, close all the avenues to his head and heart .”  Once we make someone defensive, it closes our ability to have a productive conversation.  But it also works on us as well.  Often, when presented with something that hits a little too close to home, we get defensive. And in doing so, we miss out on the chance to grow and learn. If people often accuse us of not listening to them, it might just be that our defensiveness has us unable to hear them. So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? Galatians 4:16   Real honesty isn’t just in what you say but also in really listening to those who might be trying to help you.  It might not be flattering, but it might be productive.   The key to better conversation might be taking the defensiveness out of your ears.