Maxwell Maltz tells the story of a man who’d been severely injured while attempting to rescue his parents from a fire. His heroic efforts proved to be in vain, though. His mom and dad died in the burning house.

During his rescue attempt the fire badly scorched his face and disfigured it. He was so ashamed of his appearance that he refused to allow anyone—including his wife—to see his face.

For help, his wife went to Maltz, a plastic surgeon. “Not to worry,” he assured her, “I can restore his face.”

Despite the good news, the wife still felt disheartened. Her husband had always refused any medical treatment. Assuming he wouldn’t change his mind, she said to Maltz, “I want you to disfigure my face so I can be like him! If I can share in his pain, then maybe he will let me back into his life.”

Maltz tried to mask his horror at the request. He refused to perform the operation, but was so moved by this woman’s love for her husband that he went to visit her husband. Through closed door, he yelled, “I’m a plastic surgeon. I want you to know that I can restore your face.”

No reply.

“Please, won’t you come out? At least let me see your face. At least talk to me.”

Silence.

Still speaking through a door, Maltz told the man of his wife’s request. “She wants me to mutilate her face in order to make her face like yours. She hopes that you will then let her back into your life. That’s how much she loves you.”

Ever so slowly the doorknob turned.²

True, it must be extremely painful to be disfigured and feel that no one will ever accept you. May God help all of us, including me, to love and accept those who suffer so.

At the same time it is important that each of us realizes how totally repulsive our sinfulness is to God because he is a God of absolute holiness. In spite of this he loves and accepts us unconditionally. God also hates our sin because it is totally destructive of those whom he loves—us. But because of his great love for us, God gave his Son, Jesus, to die on the cross to pay the penalty for all our sin so we can be totally “healed from sin’s deathly disfigurement,” and be freely forgiven and saved from sin’s deadly consequences—eternal separation from God, the author of all love and life.

If you have never accepted God’s love and forgiveness, I urge you to do that today. For help read “How to Find and Know God” at: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank You that, in spite of the ugliness of my sinfulness, You love and accept me totally and unconditionally. Help me to truly appreciate what You have done for me and live a life that will bring honor to Your name. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. John 15:13 (NIV).

2. Maxie Dunnam, ‘This Is Christianity‘ (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994), pp. 60-61, http://isbn.nu/0687084105. Cited on WITandWISDOM, www.witandwisdom.org.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”¹

“Life Has an Expiration Date” was a statement that I read on somebody else’s email but I don’t know who to credit it for it. However, it is an excellent reminder that life is short and we only have one life to live and invest.

I would like to again quote one of my many favorite one-liners from William Penn, the 18/19th-century French/American religious leader who said, “I expect to pass through the world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness I can show to any creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer it, for I shall not pass this way again.”

Penn’s words bring to mind one of my good friends who died at age 44 from cancer. I was with Graham shortly before he passed away and asked him how he felt being only 44 and given only a matter of a few months at best to live. One of the unforgettable things he spoke about was how difficult it was for him when some friends who visited him in the hospital rattled on with empty words, or said “the right thing” but without feeling or heart. He was dying and to him their words were empty, meaningless clichés. He wanted to talk about life, death, and being ready to meet God face to face—and issues that mattered.

He also said how angry he was because there were so many things he didn’t get done and still wanted to do—but his time was up and he would never get them done. This was one of his big regrets. But his main regret was that he felt he hadn’t spent enough time with his kids and family.

Graham’s words remind me how temporal life is. None of us has any guarantee of tomorrow, so (not being fanatical about it) we do need to live every day with eternal values in mind.

So, do you have any unfinished business? Any impaired relationships that you can and need to resolve? Anyone you need to let know how much you love them? May I kindly suggest that you do it today! And, above all, do you need to get right with God? This I urge upon you to do today—now.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to remember the words of the poet who said, ‘Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last,’ and live life to the fullest—but with eternal values uppermost in my mind. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

NOTE: To be sure your life is right with God read, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” at: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9

1. Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV).

“A Mercedes TV commercial a few years ago showed a Mercedes crashing into a concrete wall during a safety test. An engineer in a white lab coat walks over after the crash and kneels down to examine the damage, which is minimal. A reporter then asks the engineer about Mercedes’ energy absorbing car body. After the engineer tells all about the unique design, the reporter asks him why Mercedes doesn’t enforce their patent on the design, a design evidently copied by several other companies because of its success.

“The engineer then replied matter-of-factly, ‘Because some things in life are too important not to share.’

“How true this is. There are many things in life that fall into this ‘too important not to share category.’ Advances in science, in medicine, in technology. But all of these pale in importance to that of sharing the gospel.”²

As Billy Graham said, “I am convinced the greatest act of love we can ever perform for people is to tell them about God’s love for them in Christ.”

Whenever I eat at a restaurant, I always leave one of my business witness cards, “Thank you for your friendly service,” with the tip, and whenever the opportunity arrives (without being pushy), I ask the person I am visiting with if I may give him or her one of my cards—one that is suitable as we have a variety. Each card has a link to a website that has many articles that address the felt needs of the average person and a link to the clear gospel message, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian—without having to be religious.”

The only person who has ever refused to accept one of my cards was, of all people, a man at my church! Most people thank me very much for the card that I give to them, especially the card, “Thank you for your friendly service.”

Giving one of these cards is a very easy, attractive, and non-offensive way to be a witness for Jesus Christ. It is a tactful way to basically say, “Come and see what Jesus Christ can do for you!”

It is true, the gospel message of Jesus Christ is far too important not to share. I encourage you to send for a package of 50 of the ACTS business witness cards to give to your friends and contacts.

You can see the available cards at: https://actscom.com/wcards_store.php and order the one that best meets your needs from this same page. They come in packages of 50. We charge only enough to cover our printing and postage costs.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, with all of my fears and weaknesses, I am available. Please use me to be an effective witness for Jesus, and help me today to be ‘as Jesus’ in some way to every life I touch. And as the opportunity arises, please give me the courage to also invite others to ‘come and see’ what Jesus can do for them either verbally or by giving them an attractive and suitable business witness card. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. John 1:45-47 (NLT).

2. Rev. Steve Jackson, Sermon: “Come and See.”

P.S. If you have never met Jesus and accepted His forgiveness for all your sins, and received His gift of eternal life, I encourage you to also “come and see” by reading the article, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” at: www.actsweb.org/christian.

Chuck Colson in BreakPoint talked about evolution scientists who “came up with the ‘million monkeys’ theory to show that Shakespeare’s genius was nothing special, that his works could have come about purely by chance. And, the theory goes, ‘If monkeys could knock out a Shakespearean tragedy given enough time, then what about creating Shakespeare himself? Couldn’t he be almost as easily explained on Darwinian grounds?’

“It’s difficult to see how extending this farce for a million years would have made any difference at all. In fact, a scientist at MIT used a computer simulation to prove that it could not have happened.”³

It seems to me that it takes a whole lot more “faith” to believe in evolution than it does to believe in intelligent design and a divine Creator.

Everybody believes in something—and what we believe in is a choice. Choose wisely for what you choose will determine your eternal destiny. Eternity is forever and that is an awful long time.

For help on choosing to believe in God and accept his way, go to: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please open the eyes of my understanding so that I will see the truth about life, about You, and about my eternal destiny with or without You. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Psalm 19:1 (NIV).

2. Benjamin Wiker and Jonathan Witt, A Meaningful World.
3. Chuck Colson, “What Has Darwin to Do with Shakespeare?” BreakPoint, October 12, 2006. http://www.breakpoint.org/.

When the Apostle Paul was brought before Governor Felix to be judged for his Christian faith, Paul may have come close to persuading him to become a Christian. On one occasion after listening to Paul’s case, Felix trembled and sent Paul away saying he would speak to him at a more convenient time.

Today is the only day we ever have. Yesterday is gone forever. Tomorrow never comes. Whatever it is we need to do today we need to do today. Procrastination surely is the thief of time. There are many reasons why we put things off—apathy, fear, anxiety, uncertainty, habit, indifference, passive resistance, and/or just plain not-getting-around-to-doing-it.

Whatever the reason, there are some things that are far too critical to put off until a more convenient time—especially putting our life right with God.

Even though Felix spoke to Paul on a number of occasions after saying he would speak to him at a more convenient time, there is no indication that he ever accepted the Christian faith.

If you need to put things right with God and/or accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, why not do that today? As the Bible says, “Behold, now is the accepted time: behold, now is the day of salvation.”²

For help on how to be sure you are a real Christian (without having to be religious) go to: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, help me to be sure that I am a true Christian and help me to so live that it will show in my daily living. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Felix, the governor (Acts 24:25, NIV).

2. 2 Corinthians 6:2 (KJV).

In my counselor training and counseling days I participated in quite a few therapy groups of varying kinds. Some I found very helpful and others I could have done without. However on one occasion I was involved in a secular psychodrama (role-play) group with 25-30 participants.

We were sitting in a circle and a 30-something lady (whom I will call Janine) asked me if I would role play God for her. This was a secular group so why she picked on me I will never know (we hadn’t even met each other). I believe it had to be a God-thing. At any rate she placed a chair in the center of the circle and asked me to sit on it. I was rather nervous to put it mildly. I had never heard of anyone ever role-playing God. So I kept praying under my breath, “God help … God help.”

Janine got down on her knees in front of me and openly confessed that she had been a prostitute and asked for forgiveness. Immediately the words of Jesus came to my mind and I spoke them to Janine, “Your sins are forgiven.”

That was a courageous thing for Janine to do. It was the beginning of her healing. Unfortunately I never kept in contact with her but I hope and pray that she has, since then, genuinely sought to follow after God.

The point is whenever we sin, we are always left with guilt. Even if we repress it from conscious memory, it’s still there and it is a very unhealthy way to live, physically, emotionally and spiritually. The only cure is confession … to at least one trusting soul as well as to God. As God’s Word says, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”²

Dear reader, if you have any unconfessed sin in your life, I urge you to see an understanding pastor, priest, trusted friend and/or Christian Counselor. Like David the Psalmist, who committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband killed, when he confessed his sin, he found God’s forgiveness and great release. You and I can do the same.*

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, how can I ever thank You enough for loving me no matter what I have ever done and always forgiving me when I, with genuine sorrow, confess my sins. Help me always to find a trusting person to whom I can confess my sins and weaknesses—as well as confessing them to You. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

*For help be sure to read the article, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian—without having to be religious” at: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9

1. King David in Psalm 32:5 (NLT).
2. James 5:16 (NIV).

“I attend church regularly,” one person said to me, “but I don’t necessarily believe in God. He seems so distant.”

The difficulty for many of us, even when we believe in God, is feeling close to him and experiencing his presence and love. When we can’t, as Cecil Osborne points out, it is our receptivity that is at fault. God is constantly broadcasting his love, power and blessings to all of us but when can’t feel these, it’s the barriers in our life that block God’s love getting through.

The barriers can be unresolved negative emotions such as anger, resentment, hurt, grief, fear, feelings of inadequacy, guilt and so on. Another barrier can be caused by any impaired relationship with a loved one or friend, by unconfessed sin, living out of harmony with God’s will, or by not making the effort to daily spend time with God in prayer and listening to his Word. When we starve our souls, it feels as if God is far away.

Another reason God can seem far away is because of a lack of sufficient human love, connection, and meaningful fellowship with fellow Christians. We were created for relationships—with God and people. Both are essential for emotional, physical and spiritual well-being. As John, the beloved disciple of Jesus put it, “If we love one another, God’s love is perfected or made complete in us.”²

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, whenever I feel that You are distant, help me to realize that I’m the one who has moved, not You. Help me to see any barrier/s in me and lead me to the help I need to resolve these. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Paul the Apostle (Acts 17:27, NIV).
2. 1 John 4:12.

The story is told about a young man who received a ticket for a speeding violation. As he stood before the judge, the judge found himself in a dilemma because he knew the young man didn’t have any money to pay the fine and he didn’t want to send him to jail.

However, the judge had to fine the young man $150, which was the accepted amount for this traffic violation. Immediately the judge handed down the sentence, he stepped away from the bench, took off his robes, went to the defendant and paid the fine for him.

The young man was his own son whom he loved.

That’s what God’s Son, Jesus Christ, did for us on the cross of Calvary. God’s justice required death as the automatic judgment upon our sin. However, because he loved us, the Son of God laid aside his “judge’s robes,” stepped out of the “ivory palaces” of heaven, came to earth and identified with us as a man, and died on the cross in our place to save us from our sins.

Because of this, God offers each of us a free pardon with forgiveness for all our sins and gives us his gift of eternal life. Jesus, the Son of God, paid the “fine/penalty” for us with his life. All we need to do is confess our sinfulness and accept his gift of salvation—the greatest gift known to man.

“He paid a debt he didn’t owe to free us from a price we couldn’t pay.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank You for Your great love gift for me in giving your Son, Jesus, to die in my place to pay the just penalty for all my sins. May I never take Your love for granted but learn to love You with all my heart, soul, mind and strength—and my neighbor as myself. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

NOTE: If you have never accepted God’s free pardon for all your sins, click on http://tinyurl.com/8glq9 to see how simple it is to do this.

1. Paul in Romans 5:8.

“God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’”¹

“In his classic novel Crime and Punishment, Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky tells the story of a young man who rejects the existence of God. This young man murders an old woman. Believing there is no righteous God who will judge, and therefore no absolute standard of right and wrong, he knows that he should not feel guilty. However, he is consumed with a sense of guilt until he confesses his crime and hands his life over to the God he once rejected.”²

In many cases, if not in most, atheism is more likely to be a moral issue rather than an intellectual issue. If one believes in God, he knows that he is morally responsible and cannot live as he pleases without struggling with a guilty conscience. On the other hand, if one doesn’t believe in God, he rationalizes that he is not morally responsible to anyone and can live according to his own rules or as he pleases. In living this way there is always the danger of deadening one’s conscience and silencing the voice of God within.

If there weren’t a God—a Higher Authority—why would we even have a conscience and instinctively know that we are morally responsible and accountable?

The very first sentence in God’s Word the Bible says, “In the beginning God …”³ and later it says, “for in him we live and move and have our being.”¹ Either we believe in God or we become a god unto ourselves and live according to our own standards. Imagine the chaos and destruction if everyone in the world lived as a law unto himself.

The critical issue for all of us is that we know God and live according to his standards as found in his Word, the Bible, for “blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD.”⁴ For help to find and know God go to: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please open the eyes of my understanding so that I will see and know that You are the God of all creation—which includes me—so that I can and will say to You in all confidence, ‘My LORD and my God.’ Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Acts 17:27-28 (NKJV).
2. Joe Boot, Searching for Truth, © 2002. Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com. Cited on “A Slice of Infinity,” www.rzim.org/slice/slice.php
3. Genesis 1:1.
4. Psalm 33:12 (NIV).

When God placed the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, he gave them a free will to choose whether or not they would follow God’s ways or go their own way. He did this because he didn’t create mankind to be puppets on a string. God gave Adam and Eve total freedom with one exception. That was they could eat of every tree in the garden but not of just one tree—the tree of “the knowledge of good and evil.”

Then came Satan (the father of all lies, deception and evil) disguised in the form of a serpent to tempt Adam and Eve. He said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”²

True, if they ate of the forbidden fruit, they would know the difference between good and evil, but what Satan didn’t tell them was that if they ate of this tree, they would be forever confirmed in a state of evil and that they would die spiritually and be forever separated from God. Tragically, Adam and Eve took the bait and ate of the forbidden fruit. Mankind has paid the price ever since. They were deceived by a part truth—the most deceptive form of lying—and chose to believe Satan rather than God.

Satan has been deceiving people the same way ever since. Every false religion has an element of truth. This makes their teachings believable to those who don’t know and believe what God says in his Word, the Bible.

Satan also makes temptation sound very appealing by luring us with part truths. But he never reveals the tragic consequences of all sin—the ultimate end of which is spiritual death and eternal separation from a holy and just God.

The good news is that God, because he loves us with an eternal love, gave his own Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place on the cross to pay the penalty for all our sins and defeat Satan’s evil purposes for mankind. Be assured, according to God’s Word Jesus is the only way to God and only he has the gift of forgiveness and eternal life. Whatever you do, believe and trust God—never trust or believe Satan and/or man-made religions that claim there is any other way to God other than through accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.³

To believe and follow what God says leads to eternal life. To believe and follow Satan’s lies leads to eternal death which is eternal separation from God in the place God’s Word calls hell. Whatever you do, read and accept God’s only plan of salvation at: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please give me a hunger to study and know what Your Word teaches so I will never be deceived by Satan’s lies. And help me to understand and accept Your only plan of salvation so that I can have the assurance that all my sins are forgiven and that I have received Your gift of eternal life. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Genesis 3:1-3 (NIV).
2. Genesis 3:4-5 (NIV).
3. See John 14:6 and John 3:16 in the Bible.