This week

• Get the best return on your savings (Hint: It’s not at a traditional bank)….
• Why you shouldn’t worry about health care costs….
• Are you hiding God from your children? Here are 5 ways to make sure you don’t…
• Is this command from Christ a burden – or a hidden secret for success?…
• When skill, emotion, and determination aren’t enough – what do you do?…
• Is this how you strive for excellence?…
  

“The Bible teaches that Christians are totally different from anyone else.” -  
Peter Jeffery, Evangelicals Then and Now (Buy Now)

Health

How Worrying About Health Costs Actually Makes It Even More Expensive

Health-care costs have gone through the roof. Insurance premiums eat up a bigger portion of your paycheck each year. Drug costs are outrageous. And we’re getting less in return, as we’re a much sicker nation than we used to be (a new study just announced that we’re now sicker than our British counterparts).

Obviously, the high cost of technology is partly to blame. Third-party payments from both the government and insurance play a huge part.  And politics and special interests also contribute to the problem. But one reason health costs are on the rise is something few people think about. And this cause has a Biblical solution that could help you pay less in health care costs.

The reason is simple – it’s worry. Americans are worried about safety, security, and protecting what they have. They’re worried about getting sick, dying young, and even living too long with no vitality. They’re worried about losing their independence, losing their memory, and living in pain.

Because we’re a culture of means, we readily spend our money to try and overcome our worries. The more we’re willing to spend, the higher the cost of treatment goes. And that just adds to our worries.

Jesus told us in Matthew 6 that we should not worry. In verse 27, he even relates this to your physical health when he says worry won’t add a single hour to your life. We could say that worry accomplishes nothing. But that’s not really true. You see, worry actually has a negative impact on your health (both physically and spiritually).

Worry is a form of stress that can eat away at your ability to thrive.

In fact, a study done in 1997 found that the more you worry, the higher your risk of chronic heart disease (Circulation, 1997 Feb 18;95(4):818-24).

So how can you counteract worry and save yourself from health problems and high health care costs?

The best answer is found right there in Matthew 6. Just before Jesus tells us not to worry, He tells us not to have two masters (money and God). In other words, your dependency needs to be on God and serving Him. If you put your trust elsewhere, it will only cause problems.

Once you change your priorities back to God – and only God – you can move on to two steps that will help you live a long, healthy life. I’ll have those for you next week. When you couple them with this dependency issue, they are possibly the most important principles you will ever read about your health.

– Steve Kroening

Family & Relationships

5 Simple Ways to Help Your Children See God

Did you know you can hide God from your children? Seems impossible since God is so big. But parents do it every day.

You might hide God from your children by failing to lead your family to eat meals to God’s glory (I Corinthians 10:31), by failing to point out the glory of God on a starry night, by failing to expose your children to regular family Bible reading, and even by forsaking church attendance. But here are five simple ways to make God known to your children.

1. Take your child on a night walk and gaze into the sky (Psalm 19:1-3 ESV).

Most children enjoy night walks. You might take a mountain hike or walk by a lake or just stroll around your back yard. God is pouring forth knowledge about Himself day and night in the sky above. Take an opportunity to point out the brilliance of God by looking into His universe.

2. Show your children the goodness of God in rain, fruitful seasons, and food. (Acts 14:17).

Rain can be an effective object lesson. Several years ago we experienced a drought here in Georgia. I sought to point out to my children that a drought is a reminder of our dependence on God. We would pray for rain. When it rained we would give thanks.

Another way to show them our dependence on God is to help your children plant a garden. Watch the plants grow, pray for their growth, and then harvest your crops and give thanks to God for fruitful seasons. Last year we had a small garden and our children were especially excited about the corn crop that the Lord gave us. If you are unable to have your own garden, consider a trip to a farm. Some farms allow you to harvest vegetables. It’s a great way to teach your children about the provision of God.

3. Talk of God all the time (Deuteronomy 6).

Parents are never off duty – nor should they desire to be. Parenting gives opportunity to lead children to consider the character and works of God simply by talking about Him. Talking of God all of the time does not mean that you speak only Bible verses. It does mean that you view all of life through the lens of His glory and bring His wisdom to bear on all things. To talk of God all of the time is to live with awareness that God is present. Look for ways to cultivate in the heart of your child such a God-awareness.

4. Read the Bible and pray with your children.

The most important goal of parenting is that your children would know and love God. There is only one way that they can know God savingly and that is through His word (Romans 10:17; 2 Timothy 3:15). If you are a Christian parent then your desire for your child is that they would be saved (Romans 10:1). You are willing to endure anything so that they might know God (Romans 9:1-3; 2 Timothy 2:10). Plan regular times of family worship. These times can be as simple as reading from the Bible, praying and singing hymns with your child. Teach them who God is and what He has done. Family worship times are strengthened if your children are well aware that you are personally faithful to read the Bible and pray (Deuteronomy 6:6).

5. Take your children to church regularly.

This goes well beyond Sunday and Wednesday services. The church is a community of love and fellowship with God and His people. Many children of parents who profess Christ know so little about church life. Some parents attend church only when it’s convenient. Others never commit themselves to a local congregation. They are church wanderers always looking for the perfect church. Find a church where the Bible is taught and the people love one another and plant your roots there. Don’t wander around from church to church. If there is not a biblically minded church in your area, then be willing to drive any distance or better yet move to a community where there is a solid church where you can be engaged. I cannot over emphasize how important a local church home is to the spiritual well being of you and your family.

– Ray Rhodes

(Ed. Note: Ray Rhodes is the founder and president of Nourished in the Word Ministries. His ministry focuses on family worship and parenting. For more information, see www.nourishedintheword.org.)

Success

This Command Seems Like a Burden,But It Can Make You Very Successful

We’ve often heard the verse in Scripture that tells us to go the extra mile (Matt. 5:41). So often that seems like such a burden. But hidden within that verse is an incredible principle of success.

Let me illustrate. Just this past month or so, I ordered some herbal supplements to try out. I had never dealt with the company before, so I ordered just one bottle. I wanted to see if it would have any effect on the condition I wanted to treat.

The product was late, so I e-mailed to see when it would arrive. Customer service e-mailed me back. The shipment was delayed for another week. The product originated overseas and was held up by customs. Three weeks later, I had not received the goods. I called. They promised it would be another week. Sure enough another week went by and I received the package. But instead of one bottle, they had included two extra bottles free of charge.

Now this is a great example of going the extra mile. They had no obligation to give me one extra bottle let alone two. But they did it without me even asking. They did it as an act of graciousness to me, and how do you think I feel?

Well, I almost feel obligated to buy from them again. And certainly they have given me every reason to deal with them again, provided the product does what I need it to do.

So the success secret hidden in Christ’s words is that the extra mile is really a gauge of how well you’re serving others.

Zig Ziglar has taken the principle and applied it well: “You can have anything in life you want if you help enough other people get what they want.”

Marketing guru Jay Abraham has also grasped the essence of this principle, and applies it with vigor in his marketing advice to others. Go the extra mile, he urges. Give an overabundance of product and service. Give more than expected.

If you want to be successful, make service your key principle. Learn what it means to give people not what they deserve or are entitled to, for this is almost a foregone obligation. Give people more than they are entitled to, more than they have paid for, and see what God does with your life.

And it doesn’t matter whether you are in business, in ministry, or at home in the family, this idea of service will cause you to be successful wherever you go.

– Ian Hodge

Wisdom From History

How to Overcome Your Physical Limitations

On his worst day as an athlete, Tom Landry learned his best lesson about coaching.

Landry (1924-2000) was making his first professional start as a defensive back, playing for the 1949 New York Yankees in the All American Football Conference. The opponent was the future NFL power Cleveland Browns. Landry was matched against their all-star receiver, Mac Speedie, who went on to burn him for more than 200 receiving yards while setting an AAFC single-game yardage record in doing so.

“That game was the single most embarrassing athletic performance of my entire life,” Landry wrote in his autobiography, Landry, with Gregg Lewis. “But it also proved to be one of the most important. Because the primary lesson I learned that day served as the very foundation of my philosophical approach to playing and coaching football. I realized my own limitations. I conceded that it was impossible to succeed solely on skill, on emotion or even on determination. Any success I ever attained would require the utmost in preparation and knowledge.”

He made himself a student of the game. Landry’s study aids were near-endless game films and a projector, playbooks and firsthand observation. That focus helped make him a legend as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys from 1960 to 1988.

– Michael Mink

(Quoted from “Tom Landry’s Winning Ways,” Investors Business Daily, February 2, 2005.)

Word for the Wise

What Does It Mean to Be Excellent?

"so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ" Philippians 1:10

Excellent – Ah! But that’s not the intent of the author. In this translation, the text presumes that the intention of "testing" is to determine excellence. But the verse really implies, "testing the difference in things." It is not simply looking for what is excellent. It is the ability to see the difference between what is good and what is not. Once again, we are thrust into an Old Testament idea.

Proverbs is full of instruction about telling the difference between the good and the bad. In fact, Solomon tells us that one of the important reasons behind his writing is to distinguish differences. He uses the Hebrew word bin (Proverbs 1:2). This word is all about determining the difference between good and evil, between right and wrong and distinguishing what is of value to God and what is not. Paul's Greek word (diaphero) has the same sense: to know the difference.

The Biblical orientation toward ethics is not a list of static rules to be followed in lock-step obedience. The Biblical orientation is about a relationship with a holy God. That is dynamic, not static. It's not so much about rules as it is about devotion. The Bible expects you to enter into a conversation with God so that you will know how to distinguish the difference and you will know why it makes a difference. It's not just "Do this". It's "Do you see why you need to do this?" God's interaction with us is always about training us to see from His perspective. We are supposed to take responsibility in the process and that should lead to understanding why God's perspective is good for us.

Lots of people try to obey God out of fear. They look at His commandments as harsh requirements standing in the way of an easier life. They obey but with reluctant souls. This is not what God has in mind. God is anxious for us to see the beautiful and joyful synergy in our lives when we realize that His ways are absolutely the best ways for us. We need to see the difference and the difference it makes.

Are you a cheerful follower who knows the difference?

– Skip Moen

(Ed. Note: Skip Moen, PhD, is the president of At God’s Table and the author of Words to Lead By.)

 Resources

Tom Landry, by Tom Landry and Gregg Lewis (BUY NOW)

Also recommended: Landry: The Legend and the Legacy, by Bob St. John (BUY NOW)

Evangelicals Then and Now, Peter Jeffery, Evangelical Press (BUY NOW)

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