GOD OF HOPE

Daily Stop & Thinks

Stop & Think: January 17, 2025

Kindness

We never know when some small kindness will forever make a difference in the lives of total strangers. (Chelle Thompson, Inspiration Line)

Thompson continues: “Continuously performing good deeds … even without recognition … will create a trail of miracles in our wake.” The Bible says that doing good deeds—even praying—just to be seen doing it may bring, at best, only temporary recognition. Doing good for others brings good results for those you’ve served, and your blessing may come much later.

Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. (Matthew 6:1)
Good deeds done in secret will someday come to light. (1 Timothy 5:25)

Stop & Think: January 16, 2025

Life Moves On

The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it. (Niccolo Machiavelli, 15th-16th century Italian philosopher)

Today we’d probably be watching a digital clock or watch to reveal the passing of time. But an ancient hourglass is a really good picture of life’s fleeting moments. And the reminder that observing an hourglass is helpful, too, because life’s values and purposes should be clearer as time passes and we learn from experience and life itself. Live and learn!

So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. (Ephesians 5:15)
For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. (Philippians 1:21)

Stop & Think: January 15, 2025

Kind Words Help

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless. (Mother Teresa)

It is true, of course, that harsh or unkind words can have a devastating and long-lasting effect on someone who is hurt by them. Thankfully, the opposite is true, too. Many people have been helped through life by kind words spoken many years before. Often, such helpful words of encouragement have motivated someone to live a joyful, fulfilling life many years later.

Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. (Ephesians 4:19) 

Stop & Think: January 14, 2025

Words Can Hurt

Be careful what you say. You can say something hurtful in ten seconds, but ten years later, the wounds are still there. (Joel Osteen, TV evangelist)

Have you ever met someone who never seems to be content with life and you wondered about the reason for such ongoing unhappiness? It could simply be the result of an unkind observation or a misunderstood remark someone made years ago. It’s a reminder to all of us to choose our words very carefully lest they be harmful tomorrow.

The heart of the godly thinks carefully before speaking … The lips of the godly speak helpful words. (Proverbs 15:28; 10:32)

Stop & Think: January 13, 2025

Dare to Fail

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. (John F. Kennedy, 35th U.S. president)

Note that Kennedy didn’t say that to succeed you had to “fail greatly.” The challenge it to “dare to fail greatly.” That’s a big difference, isn’t it? No one wants to fail, but to accomplish anything of value, you may have to risk failure. Be prepared to continue trying after each failure. Persistence with courage is often the key to success.

The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. (Proverbs 2 4:16)

Stop & Think: January 12, 2025

Knowing & Doing

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. (Kary Oberbrunner, author and motivator)

We sometimes joke about the scholar who has a lot of letters after his name (ThM, PhD. MD, for example). We may say that the more degrees they have, the hotter they think they are. Of course, they have earned those credentials, and what they have learned can be of great value. But only if the knowledge is applied and, perhaps shared with others, will it make a difference

Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control … The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be … (2 Peter 1:5-6, 8)

Stop & Think: January 11, 2025

Concentration

Our appetite for distraction is nearly infinite. (Aldous Huxley, 20th century English philosopher)

It’s often difficult to concentrate on a particular event or project for an extended time. The drone of a professor’s voice or a classmate’s whisper can easily distract a student in the classroom. Our enjoyment at a concert is sometimes interrupted by random thoughts unrelated to the music. To accomplish what we should, we must discipline ourselves to pay attention in the moment.

To learn, you must love discipline. (Proverbs 12:1)

Stop & Think: January 10, 2025

The “Extra Mile”

It’s never crowded along the extra mile. (Wayne Dyer, self-help, best-selling author)

Dyer’s reference to “the extra mile” is from a Bible text where Jesus speaks of his true disciples as those who go beyond what is required when asked to serve. In today’s self-centered society, it’s rare to find someone with that attitude. Too many are trying to get by with doing only what’s required. Going the “second mile” is truly evidence of someone with a servant’s heart.

If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. (Matthew 5:41)

Stop & Think: January 9, 2025

Success

The real opportunity for success lies within the person and not in the job. (Zig Ziglar, late motivational speaker)

Those who climb “the ladder of success” often look for that better job or a higher position in the firm, thinking that is where success will be found. As Ziglar points out, however, success is not so much in the job but in the success-seeker. The more we develop our skills, especially relationships, the more likely we will move up to greater opportunities to serve.

I know all the things you do. I have seen your love, your faith, your service, and your patient endurance. And I can see your constant improvement in all these things. (Revelation 2:19)

Stop & Think: January 8, 2025

Learning & Humility 2

The knowledge of how little you can do alone teaches you humility. (Eleanor Roosevelt)

Studying with others is a valuable exercise in learning how to work together. It begins when we realize that we don’t and never will know it all. Learning and working together well requires humility. As businessman Robert Kivoski writes: “Humility is the first step towards learning. You can’t learn until you are humble enough to realize there is something for you to learn.”

What you learn from them will crown you with grace and be a chain of honor around your neck. (Proverbs 1:9)

Stop & Think: January 7, 2025

Learning & Humility 1

What is most needed for learning is a humble mind. (Confucius, Chinese philosopher)

Have you encountered a “know-it-all”? Whatever you talk about, he or she knows a lot more about it and will correct you without hesitation. Irritating, isn’t it? There are some people who know more than we do, of course, but truly intelligent people recognize that they really don’t know everything, and they continue to learn from a humble attitude of openness.

If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. (James 3:13)

Stop & Think: January 6, 2025

History

History informs the present and helps us make wise decisions for the future. (Gloria Gaither, gospel song lyricist)

George Santayana famously wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” We have seen that truth played out today, haven’t we? Gaither gives us a great reason to study history. With a good knowledge of the past, we can understand more clearly where we are today and why. That understanding will make planning for the future so much easier.

What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again. (Ecclesiastes 3:15)