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January 8 - April 9, 2015
Because we don’t know as much as we think we do, the truly knowledgeable person is always humble.
He didn’t use his knowledge to talk down to people; he used a humble means of communication to talk with them.
knowledge becomes toxic when people cease to be teachable.
Arrogance is a sign of insecurity and only proves a lack of self-knowledge on the part of those who display it.
Truly great thinkers are humble about what they know. They realize life isn’t as much about knowledge as it is about faith.
Parables don’t change the facts of our lives—they help us change our perspective on them. Because each of us can only understand things from our own perspective, Jesus used parables to help us where we need it most. Most of the time we can’t change the facts in our lives, but we can change our perspective.
Spiritual Principle: You learn the deepest truths through your relationships.
SO true!!
It requires great strength of character to be a person of strong conviction and considerable flexibility at the same time. Psychologically mature people can be courageous enough to be sincerely committed to the truth about something, and yet remain open to the possibility of being sincerely wrong about how they perceive it. This is the relationship between knowledge and humility.
Jesus warned us about the pitfalls of judging others. He knew that whatever we are basing our judgments on is information colored by our own biases and not complete enough to render us any kind of absolute authority.
Spiritual Principle: Self-condemnation is believing a lie about yourself.
Spiritual Principle: Be humble with your conclusion about yourself; it’s just your opinion.
Humility requires confidence. Humility is knowing who you are and choosing to serve others. It is not self-effacement out of insecurity. Being able to make someone else feel important without feeling diminished yourself is true humility.
Passivity is refusing to make a statement out of fear. Humility is making a statement out of love.
If people attack you out of hatred, love them to death.
Spiritual Principle: You can’t escape your self— but you can find it.
Spiritual Principle: Good listeners make good people.
Spiritual Principle: Sometimes you treat those you love in ways you would never treat your friends. For this you should ask for forgiveness.
It is not what you do in your head that makes you good, but what God does for you in your heart.
Spiritual Principle: Wise people are always learning new things, especially about themselves.
Spiritual Principle: Know-it-alls need to learn about themselves.
Jesus knew that people have a tendency to “justify” themselves. We all want to think we are doing better than average, so we tend to minimize our problems to help us feel better. But minimizing our problems isn’t the same thing as facing them.
Spiritual Principle: Headway is halted by the illusion that you have arrived.
sometimes we bury things alive.”
Although he didn’t know it, Burt’s refusal to look at his past was keeping him trapped in it. He wasn’t dwelling on the past; he was living in it. Once he started looking at the painful events that went all the way back to his childhood, he started to understand the triggers for the angry outbursts in his life now. The events that he no longer carried feelings about were truly dead and buried for him. But the things that evoked an emotional reaction for him meant they were still alive and needed to be dealt with. Once he had made his peace with these things, he could be free to react
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Spiritual Principle: Those who do not learn from the past live there.
Spiritual Principle: Even those who get what they want must ask for what they need.
Spiritual Principle: Courage is not the absence of fear, but the presence of faith in it.
When the people around us are not happy to see us change, going home can become uncomfortable.
Spiritual Principle: Change is an unwelcome guest in the home of familiarity.
courage is faith in the presence of fear
If we’re moving toward God, then we’re moving in a spiritual direction.
“Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it will go next, so it is with the Spirit” (John 3:8,
Spiritual Principle: Sometimes sin is a problem between people, not within them.
Spiritual Principle: True comfort is never found in the god of your own mind.
Spiritual Principle: Religion would be fine if it weren’t for the people, which is also why it exists.
Spiritual Principle: The problem with drugs is that they make you feel better—temporarily.
Jesus demonstrated how to survive suffering as an example for everyone. He didn’t write a book about suffering or hold a series of lectures on the subject, but he did model it for us. Even in his most difficult times, Jesus never lost his connection to God. He didn’t try to go through suffering alone. He didn’t want us to try to do that either.
Demons love to work in secret, but they run away when they are forced out into the light.
Jesus knew we all have to suffer injuries, but we don’t have to live our lives traumatized because of them. He believed that if we share the burden of our injuries with someone we trust, it can help prevent the injury from turning into a lasting trauma. Time alone doesn’t heal. But spending time opening up the hidden corners of our injured hearts to someone who cares can help keep the demons from the past from returning.
Spiritual Principle: You justify in your head what you decide in your heart.
Cure Is from the Inside Out “First cleanse the inside of the cup, and then the whole cup will be clean.” —MATTHEW 23:26 (LIVING BIBLE)
Spiritual Principle: Lasting change is from the inside out.
Spiritual Principle: The arrogance to believe you are more than others comes from the fear that you are less.
Spiritual Principle: Don’t change to be loved; grow because you are.
Spiritual Principle: Kindred spirits complete you.
We need to forgive to remove the resentments within ourselves that are an impediment to a spiritually centered life.
