Kindle Notes & Highlights
Be Like a Child When Dan Jansen brought home a gold medal from the Winter Olympics in 1994, he did so with the help of a sports psychologist named James Loehr. In addition to the routine regimen of proper training, healthy eating, and adequate rest, Jansen was also instructed to lighten up and laugh more. Dr. Loehr noted studies that prove humor relaxes the body and relieves stress. He said a lot can be learned from children in that research shows children laugh an unbelievable four hundred times a day on average. This is compared to adults who average fifteen laughs a day.
Whence comes this idea that if what we are doing is fun, it can’t be God’s will? The God who made giraffes, a baby’s fingernails, a puppy’s tail, a crookneck squash, the bobwhite’s call, and a young girl’s giggle has a sense of humor. Make no mistake about that. —Catherine Marshall
Laughter can relieve tension, soothe the pain of disappointment, and strengthen the spirit for the formidable tasks that always lie ahead. —Dwight D. Eisenhower
Keep a clean conscience. A clear conscience gives you the freedom to enjoy life. A clean mind forms the basis for a fun life. Joy replaces guilt when the conscience is clean.
The Jesus habit of truth is choosing consistently to say what is right, do what is right, and live within the will of God.
Truth is not always popular, but it is always right. —Unknown Jesus Showed Us Truth
Our society finds truth too strong a medicine to digest undiluted. In its purest form, truth is not a polite tap on the shoulder; it is a howling reproach. What Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai were not suggestions but Ten Commandments. —Ted Koppel
The Jesus habit of rest is choosing to relax the body on a regular basis through sleep at night and periodic times during the day.
Sometimes the most spiritual thing a person can do is sleep. —Charles H. Spurgeon
Someone humorously commented that we live in a society that wonders why God rested on the seventh day.
The Jesus habit of acting like a man is choosing as a man to be physically strong, emotionally caring, mentally expanding, and spiritually growing. Someone once asked Dr. Albert Schweitzer, “What’s wrong with men today?” After a brief pause he said, “The trouble with men today is that they simply don’t think.” —Dr. Albert Schweitzer
Jesus was strong enough to carry his own cross yet gentle enough to allow children to sit on his lap. They took Jesus therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of the Skull. (John 19:17) Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. (Matt. 19:13) Jesus was very tender and gentle with children.
Recent research is shining light on the importance of male spiritual leadership in the home. Among their findings is the reality that sixty-eight million of our nation’s ninety-four million men don’t attend any church. This, in spite of the fact, that 86 percent of them grew up with some sort of church background. Research has revealed that if a child is the first person in a household to become a Christian, there is only a 3.5 percent probability that everyone else in the household will become Christians. If the mother is the first to accept Christ, the percent goes up; 17 percent of the
...more
Jesus was strong enough to run out those money changers who were abusing God’s house, yet gentle enough to cry at the death of his friend Lazarus.
Jesus was intelligent enough to deal with the intellectual Nicodemus, yet he was one of the guys enough to go fishing.
Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. —1 Cor. 16:13
Gentleness may be the most attractive characteristic a man can possess. It is strength under the control of grace.
3. A real man is released from the pressure of acting macho, but he does things that reflect his manhood. Macho is a negative term suggesting that a man has to act a certain way in order to be accepted by other men. A real man acts like a man but is secure enough within himself that he doesn’t always have to prove that he is a man.
7. A real man takes care of his body. He does everything possible to take care of his body. He sets the example by refusing to put anything in his body that will damage it. He works on his weight through a healthy diet and exercise. He strives to get enough rest. 8. A real man is faithful to his wife. He takes the wedding vows he made to his wife seriously. A real man will, like Job, make a covenant with his eyes not to look on another woman with lust. He is faithful to carry out his duties as a husband to the woman he married.
One can judge a civilization by the way it treats its women. —Helen Foster Snow
Jesus listened to women. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”
“Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave.” —Martin Luther
8. Affirm women who are making a difference. Thank God for those women who are making an impact on our society for God. Had it not been for women, many churches and faith-based organizations would not exist. Take time to write a note or say thank you to those women. 9. Learn from women. They have much to teach men. Men shouldn’t feel threatened by this at all. In every fiber of our beings, men and women are different. Men can learn great lessons for life by observing women. A smart man learns from them.
The Jesus habit of giving is choosing as a way of life to offer yourself, your time, money, and resources on behalf of others in the name of Jesus.
When we come to the end of life, the question will be, How much have you given? not, How much have you gotten? —George Sweeting
Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate. —Albert Schweitzer
