Daily Thoughts

Uplifting Daily Christian Thoughts

Monday, January 9

Daily Bible Reading

Double click on the verses to read the verses online. In the new window, click on the speaker icon to listen to the verses.

Old Testament: Genesis 17:1 - 18:23

New Testament Matthew 6:25 - 7:23

Psalms/Proverbs Proverbs 1:8-19

Based on NIV Seasons of Reflections

Messages referring to the Bible Reading:

THE LAUGHTER LESSON
AN OVERVIEW OF THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT
THE BETTER WAY
The Company We Keep


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WHAT MOTIVATES YOU?

We make heroes out of people who are ambitious. We hold them up as models for our kids and put their pictures on the covers of our magazines.

And rightly so. This world would be in sad shape without people who dream of touching the heavens. Ambition is that grit in the soul which creates disenchantment with the ordinary and puts the dare into dreams.

But left unchecked it becomes an insatiable addiction to power and prestige; a roaring hunger for achievement that devours people as a lion devours an animal, leaving behind only the skeletal remains of relationships.

The classic examples of nearsighted tower builders come to mind quickly. You'll recognize them, perhaps too well.

The husband who feeds his career with twelve-hour days, flight schedules, and apologies for being gone so much. "But it's just a matter of time, and I'll get my feet on the ground."

The social-conscious mother of three who never misses a chance to serve on a committee or attend a luncheon. "It's all for a good cause," she fools herself.

"I'll only need to do it this once," justifies the salesman as he lies about his product. Anything to get to the top of the tower.

Blind ambition. Distorted values.

The result? Rootless lives bouncing like tumbleweeds through ghost towns. Abandoned dreams. Crumbling homes. Windswept futures. All with one thing in common: a half-finished tower that stands as a stirring epitaph to those who follow.

God won't tolerate it. He didn't then and he won't now. He took the "Climb to Heaven Campaign" into his hands. With one sweep he painted the tower gray with confusion and sent workers babbling in all directions. He took man's greatest achievement and blew it into the winds like a child blows a dandelion.

Are you building any towers? Examine your motives. And remember the statement imprinted on the base of the windswept Tower of Babel: Blind ambition is a giant step away from God and one step closer to catastrophe.

by Max Lucado
From God Came Near, W Publishing Group, 2004
ISBN-10: 0849944546
ISBN-13: 978-0849944543
Used by Permission


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Precious Memories
by Alan Jackson; Price: $9.76 (49% off)
Customer Review: A few decades ago nearly every country singer had at least one--often more--gospel albums in their catalog. Today, aside from gospel veteran Amy Grant, who balances the sacred and secular, and Randy Travis, that concept has long faded. For Alan Jackson, however, treating the musical past as present has been a way of life, as it is with these 15 tim... [read more]



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How Life is Measured

I had a very special teacher in high school many years ago whose husband unexpectedly and suddenly died of a heart attack. About a week after his death, she shared some of her insight with a classroom of students.

As the late afternoon sunlight came streaming in through the classroom windows and the class was nearly over, she moved a few things aside on the edge of her desk and sat down there. With a gentle look of reflection on her face, she paused and said, "Before class is over, I would like to share with all of you a thought that is unrelated to class, but which I feel is very important."

"Each of us is put here on earth to learn, share, love, appreciate and give of ourselves. None of us knows when this fantastic experience will end. It can be taken away at any moment. Perhaps this is a way of telling us that we must make the most out of every single day."

Her eyes beginning to water, she went on, "So I would like you all to make me a promise. From now on, on your way to school, or on your way home, find something beautiful to notice. It doesn't have to be something you see, it could be a scent -- perhaps of freshly baked bread wafting out of someone's house, or it could be the sound of the breeze slightly rustling the leaves in the trees, or the way the morning light catches the autumn leaf as it falls gently to the ground.

Please look for these things, and cherish them. For, although it may sound trite to some, these things are the "stuff" of life. The little things we are put here on earth to enjoy. The things we often take for granted.

We must make it important to notice them, for at any time...it can all be taken away." The class was completely quiet. We all picked up our books and filed out of the room silently.

That afternoon, I noticed more things on my way home from school than had that whole semester. Every once in a while, I think of that teacher and remember what an impression she made on all of us, and I try to appreciate all of those things that sometimes we all overlook.

Take notice of something special you see on your lunch hour today. When you go home, go barefoot. Or walk on the beach at sunset. Stop off on the way home tonight to get a double-dip ice cream cone. Take time to do something that you just never get around to. Call an old friend or classmate and say, "Hello."

For as we get older, it is not the things we did that we often regret, but the things we didn't do ... don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

Author Unknown


Play Amazing Grace

Precious Memories
by Alan Jackson; Price: $9.76 (49% off)
Customer Review: A few decades ago nearly every country singer had at least one--often more--gospel albums in their catalog. Today, aside from gospel veteran Amy Grant, who balances the sacred and secular, and Randy Travis, that concept has long faded. For Alan Jackson, however, treating the musical past as present has been a way of life, as it is with these 15 tim... [read more]


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