Guidelines For Living

So, you have fallen out of love, have you? And it didn't take long after he moved in with you. In fact, you are not sure whether he ever loved you, though he said he did. This, of course, brings up the issue of what love really is.  

When God's hand touches your life, no matter who you are or where you are, it is always earthshaking. It was true of the time Jesus sat with his disciples, perhaps overlooking Galilee, and taught them. What He said was disturbing to be sure. He talked about loving your enemies, not storing up vast treasures here on earth, not worrying about life, or earning a living, and not judging other people.

"What price are you willing to pay for success in the business world? Are you prepared to reach the top though it may cost your marriage, or the affection of your kids?" So what if you climb the ladder of success, only to find that it was leaning against the wall of the wrong building?

Michael Gordon is an attorney who often gets up at 3 a.m. and goes to the office before the roosters start to crow so he will be prepared for the "big one." Knowing he was a workaholic who was committed to succeeding, his brother gave him a hard hat and a pair of construction goggles when he got married along with this bit of advice: "Juggling family life and work is hard. Really hard. But if you keep at it and work hard, the rewards are sweet as sugar."

How do you balance business with family commitments? How do you respond when your son says, "Dad, how come you can never come to my game? All the other kids' dads are there"? So you stutter and stammer about how you can't get off work and that you are overloaded and so forth, but your son simply knows you are not there.

In my resource files are a variety of folders which are filed alphabetically by subject. Thinking of today's commentary, I happened to notice that the file captioned "LOVE" is nestled between the one captioned "LONELINESS" and the one on "MARRIAGE." It is pretty true to life. Love is what it takes to turn loneliness to marriage. Question: Is love only a Western idea, a romantic notion which came from Europe and is embraced by only segments of civilization? Or is love a universal emotion, a deep-seated response of the heart which can make the mind grow weak?

A medical doctor who says, "Look, this is what's wrong with you, and this is what you need to do to get rid of your problem" has done you a great favor. He has both accurately diagnosed your illness, and told you exactly what you need to do to be rid of the pain and suffering which brought you to his office. He's done you a great service. But a doctor who either ignores your symptoms or glosses over them, saying, "Look, everybody has aches and pains. Don't worry about them!" has done you a great disservice.

If mankind's greatest need had been for information, surely God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been for learning how to make money, God would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need had been for pleasure, surely God would have sent a comedian. But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent His Son who became the Savior of the world.

"After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done," wrote the writer of Chronicles, "Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah" (2 Chronicles 32:1). Whoa! For a moment look at life from the perspective of a man who had done everything right. He lived right, he supported the right causes, he was faithful to his family and just in his dealings, and sought to glorify God, who had raised him up and put him on the throne.

Most people called it, "An absolute disaster!" But Bill Eaton called it "an adventure!" It all started following several weeks of drenching rain when California took on the appearance of an Asian monsoon! The rains finally softened the earth beneath Bill and Lee Eaton's family home, and a massive hole began to swallow up their 4 bedroom house which had been home for 23 years. That home was full of memories, too. Here their family grew up. Christmases and birthdays, a wedding and scores of good memories ware all associated with the pale green house.