Rick Warren's Blog, page 603

The Spirit of Christmas Is Generosity

During this Christmas season, you���ll hear one word more than any other. It���s not ���merry,��� ���tree,��� ���Santa,��� or even ��� unfortunately ��� ���Jesus.���

It���s ���gift.��� Starting on Black Friday (and sometimes even before then), we begin a month-long dash to find the right gift for everyone on our list. The word ���gift��� consumes us for a month.

God���s Plan for Your Pain

Remember what photography was like before everything went digital? When you took a picture, the first thing you���d get was a negative. Then you had to develop the negative into a positive by going into a darkroom and shining a light through it onto photographic paper. This turned the negative into a positive full-color photograph.

Unfairness Shows Us We Need Jesus

You���ll hear it from many different quarters these days: People are basically good and unselfish. It���s their environments that turn people���s hearts toward evil.

Unfortunately, that theory just doesn���t square with what we see in human nature. If you���ve ever been around small children, you get this. They���re born with a selfish nature. Phrases like, ���Feed me! Care for me! I���m the center of attention��� are the rule rather than the exception.

God Says Respond to Unfairness with Love

Unfairness is part of the human condition. You can���t live on this earth for long without feeling like someone has treated you unfairly. Maybe it���s a parent who put you through a miserable childhood. Maybe it���s an employer who treats you differently than your co-workers. Maybe you feel like you were treated unfairly by the legal process.

A Fresh Start After Sexual Sin

God���s standards never change. Premarital sex is unacceptable. It always has been. It always will be. Living together without getting married is unacceptable to God. It always has been. It always will be. Adultery, being unfaithful in your marriage, is unacceptable to God. It always has been. It always will be. Pornography is unacceptable to God. It always has been. It always will be.

The Battle for Sexual Purity Starts in Your Mind

Every temptation starts in the mind. Proverbs 4:23 says, ���Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life��� (NCV). The battle for sexual purity is won or lost in your mind.

Sexual Purity Begins with a Commitment

Is it possible in the 21st century to live a sexually pure life? To refrain from sex before marriage and stay sexually faithful during marriage?

Yes! But it has to start with a commitment.

Four Steps to Forgiving Others

Too many of us don���t really understand what forgiveness is. We struggle through all kinds of misconceptions about what it means to forgive others. I mentioned a few of these specific misconceptions in yesterday���s devotional. I���m convinced that if more people knew what real forgiveness looked like, they���d be much more willing to forgive instead of holding onto past hurts at an unhealthy level.

Forgive Others Because You Need Forgiveness, Too

Forgiveness is a two-way street. You can���t expect others to forgive you if you are unwilling to forgive them.

Jesus says it like this: ���For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins��� (Matthew 6:14-15 NIV).

Resentment Hurts You More Than Anyone Else

If you hang on to resentment, it always hurts you more than anyone else. Resentment is self-destructive and counterproductive.

Resentment just makes no sense.

If any guy ever had a reason to be resentful, it was Job. He was a godly man, who had everything he wanted ��� wealth, fame, and a great family. One day he lost it all. Enemy nations killed all his livestock. All of his children were killed. He got a terrible disease. He literally lost everything he had. All he had left was a nagging wife. Then his friends came along and said, ���Job, it���s all your fault.���