Author: watchstandpray

162 – Change Yourself First

Don’t badger people about their need to change. It’s best if you just live your life wisely. That will inspire others in some way, thus offering the best chance that others will choose to change.

You don’t want people to change to whatever things you dictate for them, to become the image you make them into. You will be much happier with friends who gladly live out their own empowered lives. Having real, genuine relationships requires that you accept people as they are.

Give tips, such as brushing teeth (a bigger problem outside the West, but just for example). But, tips are not any attempt to fundamentally change someone’s bad habits or hygiene. People always grow and change.

Change comes by inspiration. We change into whomever we need to in order to pursue what captivates us. So, rather than “changing” others, change yourself; become captivating just by existing, without explanation. Be an inspiration by example. Improve your own habits. Get better at whatever you want other people to do. When we perceive that we want something to change in someone else, that’s Life’s way of showing us what to change about ourselves. Once you truly, fully, all-out, no-stops change yourself into top-grade material, you won’t even care to consider changing others. You’ll find “changing others” was just a distraction from the most important person to give a talk to: the one in the mirror.

The tongue gets everyone into a lot of trouble no matter how old we get. The best way to rein it in is to focus: Manage your own life. Then you will be comfortable with one-word answers, whether you give the answer or whether someone gives the answer to you. You won’t spill your beans when someone asks an inflammatory question or hurtles accusation. You won’t need to lie or feel guilty. You’ll easily speak only what helps, rebuking no more than necessary, never complaining, focusing on the helpful difference you can make.

If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything. Change yourself first. Talk about what you’ve done and the changes you’ve made yourself. Everything else is superfluous. Change is contagious and it starts with changing oneself.

161 – Presume Healthy Ambition

You’ll make your entire experience with others better if you presume that everyone has some healthy ambition. People want to be good at things. People don’t want to try and fail; they want to try and succeed. So, when someone makes a mistake, they would probably love a quick, concise, light-hearted demonstration.

Show others how to do the thing they don’t know to do. Give the missing component on a circuit board. Give the correct programming syntax for reference. Don’t lecture or persuade, just offer.

God gave horses incredible legs—no one can resist the urge to use legs that incredible. Every dog is endowed by its Creator with an inalienable smelling machine, some call it a “nose”. Who wouldn’t want to use such an inalienable smelling machine to smell everything a thousand times!? Likewise, humans have a will and opposable thumbs. We’re like walking computers that want to master whatever is around us.

Do yourself a favor: Presume as much about others.

When someone messes up, there’s no need for rebuke nor give a sales pitch to do better. In those moments that we feel lazy or lax on our duties, we don’t need to be hassled toward success—we need to be reminded that this is also worth succeeding with. Sometimes we feel like giving up, never because we are “quitters” at our core, but because don’t see any feasible way forward.

When someone is discouraged, just show them a path, point to any tunnel with a light at the end. That’s what we’re all looking for anyway. And, if you ever find someone who can’t see any light at the end of any tunnel, maybe you can be that light—not only with your words, but with proof of the results from your own journeys. It’s excellent encouragement to receive just a few words from someone who has done something telling you that you can do it also.

Make sure you have the results in your life so your encouragements are meaningful. Then you’ll always have a place in this world. After all, everyone has some level of ambition and thus needs a little light for the journey to guide and empower.

160 – Jesus the Bringer of Heaven to Earth

When Jesus returns, he will enter through the a window to Heaven in sky and descend in glory and in force, leading an army of at least 2 billion super-powerful Christians who either came back to life or were teleported and given new bodies to be with him.

The Devil and his fallen angels know about this. Non-Christian fiction tries to twist this with lies that “the bad guy” descends through the “wormhole” in the sky to madly destroy everything, heartlessly kill innocent people, and wrongly seek to rule over Earth.

Actually, all of those bad qualities belong to Devil, his fallen angels, and people on Earth who serve him either in creed or merely in ill deed. Jesus is the righteous hero who will descend through the tear in the sky to rescue us from that evil, global suicide cult, controlled by elites, attempting to destroy Earth.

Heaven will invade Earth to confront every bad thing that we all hate. But, non-Christians—who don’t not regard the Bible as supreme, who make up their own self-made morals, and who invent their own fiction to describe reality only God could Create—already despise the return of humanity’s rightful, self-sacrificing, just, and fair King Jesus.

False religion doesn’t seem so bad. But, it is a rebellion against God and it is behind the injustices that both Christians and non-Christians protest in agreement. Once false religions merge, only Jesus will be able to save us from them.

When Jesus returns, it will be “terrible”, but in goodness, help for the needy, wrath against the oppressors, and will be a good thing.

But, we do not need to wait for Jesus’s Second Coming in order to bring Heaven to Earth. We can help our neighbors, love all people as we love ourselves, pray for people who try to injure us, spread the value of morals from above, clarify the truth about the Good Creator God in Heaven—such deeds bring Heaven’s virtues to the world around us.

These things are all of what Jesus will bring when he descends in wrath and in glory in order to save humanity from consolidated false religion. In the meanwhile, bring Heaven nearer.

Daniel 7, Matthew 24, 1 Cor 15: 50-57, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Revelation 11-13; 14-17; 20

159 – Why God is Good to Let Bad Things Happen

“If God is good, why does He let bad things happen?” This is the age old question called “the problem of evil”, more specifically said, “If God is all powerful and good, then why does evil exist? Something must give.” The cheating, easy, faulty answer is that “God is all powerful, but not all knowing” and other lazy solutions that diminish God. The better and shorter answer is not that God is “less” than we think of Him, but God is more than we think of Him. God is not “good”; God is “Holy”, ultra-good, and thus remains ultra-good without evil harming Him or His ultra-good plans.

Dealing with this question is essential to understanding the Biblical-Christian worldview. Part of the Biblical-Christian worldview and “the problem of evil” both relate to “redemption”, that moral rules are not sticks to beat others with in the public square; moral rules guide us to happiness and when we stray away from those good, helpful morals, we come back to them in love and friendship. That concept of “the good path”—stay on the path, return if you wander off—is the essence of Biblical-Christianity and the reason God is good because He allows bad things to happen.

God is the God of Means—He works through others. Jesus did miracles giving the fishermen many fish, but the fishermen still had to let down their nets as Jesus told them. Jesus fed 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish—but the people had to pass the food around. Peter walked on water, but he first had to step out of the boat. God does miracles that we can’t, but He always—always, every time, no exception—does His work in a way that we have some ownership, responsibility, and participation in the results.

Sometimes life is hard because winning is tiring work. Other times jealous people are cruel. But, in everything, we have some ownership—of the bad so we can learn something and the good so we aren’t immoral to enjoy the results. That is good and that requires letting bad things happen. So, God doesn’t put an end to evil because ending evil is our responsibility.

158 – Celebrate Celebration

When people thank you, be grateful. When someone throws a party in your honor, attend and give a speech when they ask. Know how to accept a compliment with humble dignity; practice if you need.

When you make a positive difference to others—even when you don’t see it yourself—allow them to show their appreciation. Even when you’re sad or you don’t feel like being the birthday boy, attend for the sake of others. At least pretend to enjoy yourself.

Between the green room and the front stage, when overly-excited and unexpected fans tell stupid jokes—or complain about things they actually care little for—because they don’t know what else to say, recognize it for what it’s worth: They consider you family and are doing their best to show you the proof. Complainers often just want attention; answer with affirmation.

Respond with gratitude and love, whether to children or your uninvited fan club. My grandmother often reminded me of my cousin, “Look behind you.” I would turn around to see my younger cousin. “You have a little shadow that follows you wherever you go and does whatever you do.”

We never know how big of a positive impact we can have on others. Let people show you their appreciation, even if you don’t see their math add up from where you stand. This will be most important on your bad days when you’re behind schedule, fighting the weather, and feeling more tired than usual. Those are the days when Jesus will send his favorite children—young children and elderly children—to visit you and tell you what a difference you still can make by encouraging them.

So, when you don’t feel like it, put on your best face for the sake of others. Deal with your inner problems genuinely, but don’t let your personal dilemma of the hour rain on someone else’s parade. Plato said, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.” It could be your very ability to look past your own problems to help someone else with a hand or a smile that gives you the joy you need to get through the rest of your day.

Romans 12:15

157 – The Novice Connoisseur

Take some time to discuss colognes or attend a coffee tasting class. Watch some videos about difference in clothing fashion or ask a potter about different methods of working with clay. You don’t need to become an expert, just learn enough to appreciate people who are.

Of course, you need to have your own areas of expertise; excel beyond novice at those things. But, some awareness of other skills and arts will help you respect your fellow man. This is what it means to “never stop learning”. Continued learning fuels a life of mutual respect.

Two topics often overlooked are politics and Bible. Both of these are prone to “noob” mistakes. Everyone can read the Bible and vote in America, so everyone has an opinion about them, but these topics also require due diligence before understanding them.

Every opinion is equally allowable, but not equally guaranteed to work. You need a good reason for any opinion you have other than that “you just have an opinion”.

The Bible is literature, so grab some books on “Bible Hermeneutics”, Church history, and theology. JM Boice is good for theology. CS Lewis is good for deep thinking. Queen Elizabeth had a lot to do with Western Church history as well as politics. Read the US Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Mayflower Compact, and review other writings and history from early colonial America. Do a little homework in Bible and politics before being too opinionated about whatever first thought comes to your mind.

The Pilgrims introduced the Bible to America. The result was an economy injected with crafts and arts. Studying craftsmanship of that industrial effect grants a fuller understanding of what it means to be good at anything. But, don’t stop there. There’s always another art or skill to learn.

Go to craft shows and ask people how they made their stuff. Ask a competent friend to do some home or car maintenance with you. Ask some downtown local shop owners why their businesses succeeded; their answers might surprise you. These three are for all people: Bible, politics, and craftsmanship. They each require diligence. Make sure you appreciate and respect that, not just in yourself, but also in others.

156 – Jesus the Brother, God the Father

The strength to love is a choice that must be made strong through practice, but, like food with exercise, it is fueled by the knowledge that our Heavenly Father loves us.

When you know you are loved by your Heavenly Father, all other fathers find their proper places in our hearts. When a father or leader lets us down, it doesn’t matter so much if he is not our biggest father. We can then expect less of them, as we should; we can more easily forgive them, as we ought; we can more readily love and help them, as they actually, also need.

Parents often look up to their own children. I don’t defend this behavior and, if you do that, then stop it and look up to Jesus.

But, more importantly, let children know about this!

When you’re helping children understand the normal things of life—teaching entry level problems, but talking in the tone and manner you would use addressing a 30 year old when you are 35, of course—include the lesson about role models…

For some reason, moms and dads are just really big and old children who still want to learn from mommy and daddy; sometimes they even try to learn from their children that way. So, when adults act stupidly, it’s time for you to honor them, but be the adult and encourage them. You are allowed to be more mature than the “older people”.

…and, that’s much easier if your biggest role model is Jesus and your true father is your Heavenly Father.

Parents who have Jesus as their older sibling role model and God as their Father won’t try to look to their children for encouragement. But, if you are the younger one and you find older people looking to you for encouragement, remember this: Those people are like drowning victims; 1. don’t let them hurt you (they can, they are ‘older’) and 2. it’s okay to be the mature adult in the room if you show respect and give encouragement.

When Jesus was born human, he genuinely entered our human situation. He literally is our brother. In his day, people looked up to him, young and old. You can too.

Proverbs 22:6, John 13:15, 1 Corinthians 11:1, Philippians 3:17, 1 Timothy 4:12, 1 Peter 2:21