It is a fact of life that our lifestyle affects the quality of our life and that of our families.

Alcoholism for example affects millions of families and individuals. It tears families apart and is terribly damaging to children in their developmental years when they have a parent or parents who are alcoholics. It causes innumerable crimes including rape, physical and sexual abuse, murder, robbery and maimed lives—and slaughter on our highways.

Smokers also adversely affect their loved ones and others. Pulpit Helps reported that thirty percent of all cancer deaths are related to smoking. There is also a 70 percent greater risk of heart disease among smokers than among nonsmokers. Furthermore, second-hand smoke inhaled by non-smoking family members (and others) can also be deadly.

And while it is far from being politically correct to say so, according to an article in the former Moody Monthly magazine, homosexuals account for half the nation’s cases of syphilis, even though they represent only a small percent of the population. The reason? Promiscuity. Homosexuals are also the principal victims of AIDS and other infectious diseases, and are fifteen times more likely to commit a murder. And according to the EP News Service, the U.S. government spends more on AIDS research than it does on heart diseases. This is in spite of the fact that cardiac disorders claim forty times more deaths than AIDS.

God has a sound reason for all of his laws—including the ones that cover the sins of the spirit such as emotional dishonesty, jealousy, envy, malice, hatred, resentment, greed, lust, an unforgiving spirit, and so on. All of these are damaging to the body as well as to the emotions and spirit just as much as cigarette smoking is to the body—and perhaps even more damaging. It’s a fact of life that whatever we sow, we reap. That’s the law of the harvest.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank You for Your Word, the Bible, that gives clear instructions for healthy physical, emotional, relational and spiritual living. Please give me a love and deep appreciation for Your Word, the desire to study and understand it, and the good sense to follow the instructions found therein. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Galatians 6:7 (NIV).

One of the great principles we need to emphasize to keep our society healthy and productive is the principle of personal responsibility. It’s a principle that needs to be programmed and engrained into our belief system. It needs to be taught and demonstrated in the home and at every level of society.

If people don’t believe they are responsible, they will not behave responsibly. If they believe they are responsible, most will consistently act and behave responsibly.

Obviously, we weren’t responsible for our upbringing but we are fully responsible for what we become. The world doesn’t owe us a living. As the Bible teaches, if we refuse to work we shouldn’t eat.

Furthermore, when we repeatedly do anything for others that they can and need to do for themselves, we can make and keep them over-dependent, immature and irresponsible. It is not the loving thing to do. It is being irresponsible.

I remember reading about some sea gulls in a fishing village that, for many years, fed on the scraps the fishermen left. When the fishing industry in this place closed, the sea gulls had forgotten how to gather food for themselves. They died of starvation.vThe same principle applies to people. When we do things to keep them over-dependent, we destroy their growth and maturity. It’s the same with God, he will bend the heavens to touch the earth to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves— such as paying the penalty for all our sins by dying on the cross at Calvary in our place to pay the penalty for all our sins—but, while he has promised to give us wisdom and guidance, he won’t do for us what we can and need to do for ourselves.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me always to be responsible for my actions and not expect others to do for me what I can and need to do for myself. Also, please help me not to take on anyone else’s responsibilities and thereby keep them over-dependent on me. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. 1 Thessalonians 4:11 (NIV).

In the devotional book, Today in the Word, the writer tells the fable about a frog and a duck who shared a pond. They developed a close friendship as they talked and played together. But when the hot summer sun began to evaporate the water in the pond, the duck decided to fly to a larger body of water. Not wanting to be left alone, the frog suggested that his friend and another duck hold a stick in their bills so he could hang onto it with his mouth. In that way they could all fly to another pond.

As the three were flying high overhead a farmer looked up, saw the frog clinging to the stick by his mouth, and exclaimed, “What a brilliant idea! I wonder who thought of that?” Without hesitation the frog said, “I did!” And he was done!

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, help me not to be carried away with pride, but to be truly grateful to and for all the people who have contributed to my life and helped get me to where I am today. For without Your help and their help I would not be where I now. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Proverbs 16:18 (NIV).

Much of our society today is being infected by a virus. No, I don’t mean a computer or biological virus, but a moral virus that could, if not arrested, spread like a plague and eventually infect, or at least seriously affect, our entire society. It’s the irresponsible “blame-game” virus that can end up over time (even though ever so slowly) seriously weaken what was once a healthy, virile people. When a nation becomes morally weakened from within, it becomes vulnerable to opposing forces from without. Today, I believe that we in America and the West are in far greater danger of being horrifically attacked than we ever were during World Wars I and II and in the days of the Cold War with Communism.

Too many business leaders irresponsibly “cook” their company books out of selfish interest and reap havoc in thousands of other people’s lives. Too many employees refuse to accept responsibility for doing the best job they can possibly do. Failing people often blame racial prejudice for their lack of advancement. Irresponsible parents blame teachers when they fail their children for cheating on exams. And as Michael Josephson of Character Counts reports, in a survey of some 36,000 high school students a high percentage of students admit to cheating and lying and at the same time claim to be highly ethical.² These kids who already know how to play the blame-game will be the business and political leaders of tomorrow. Politicians blame the opposition party, divorced people blame their former spouse—and so on ad infinitum—all without accepting personal responsibility for their own failures.

Whether it is at a national or an individual level, when we fail to accept personal responsibility for our actions, we inevitably fall into the blame-game trap. As long as we do this, we will never resolve our personal or national problems.

Individually, we need to accept personal responsibility for every aspect of our life. At the local and national level, we need to vote for leaders whom we know will act responsibly and put the genuine needs of their constituents first instead of bowing to personal interest groups in order to further their own political careers.

We live in perhaps the most developed, highly educated, and technically advanced society ever. But what kind of defense are super powered high speed jet fighters against suicide bombers and dirty bombs? Our brilliant technology will not save us. Remember that in his day Hitler was the leader of one of the most educated, intelligent, and enlightened societies up to that point in history. The reality is that if we abandon our moral moorings and lose our moral compass, we will be (and perhaps are already) on a course heading towards national disaster.

May we never forget that “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please grant in Your loving mercy that You will send a great spiritual awakening to our nation before we are struck again with another “nine eleven” wake-up call (that so soon we forgot), and as a nation turn our hearts back to You. Please let Your work begin in me. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Psalm 33:12.

2. Character Counts, http://www.josephsoninstitute.org/reportcard/

The Pharisees or religious leaders of Jesus day were notorious for their rigid, legalistic, and authoritarian demeanor and attitude. Many of their rules were man-made and kept people in hopeless bondage. In essence they loved their rules more than they loved people and used them as a means to control people. In the case where they brought the woman caught in adultery to Jesus, they were using her and their incredibly devious use of rules in an attempt to catch Jesus so they could have him condemned and killed because they were intensely jealous and extremely critical of him. Jesus, of course, brilliantly caught them in their own trap and exposed them for what they truly were by agreeing with them and saying, “[However] let the one who has never sinned be the one to cast the first stone!” The result? One by one they vanished from the scene.

So why were the Pharisees so legalistic and rigid? What made them this way? People who are theologically or religiously rigid are like this because they are emotionally rigid. Their pious religiosity has nothing to do with spirituality. In fact it is a defense against genuine spiritually. They are very much into denial about their true emotions and inner self. They are afraid of knowing themselves and for being known for whom they truly are, so they hide their true self behind an outer mask of super-spirituality, outwardly pretending to be something they are not on the inside. When they do this long enough, they end up unhappily believing that their outer mask is their real self. Consequently, on the inside they die a little every day as an authentic and loving person.

Furthermore, the more rigid, legalistic, authoritarian and self-righteous they are, the more frightened and insecure they are about facing their own reality. They are living a lie and are phony to the core. This is why Jesus condemned them. This is true not only of the religious Pharisees of Christ’s day but also true of rigid, legalistic, and authoritarian people today—be they religious or otherwise. They are blind leaders of the blind. Avoid them like the plague. If you follow their leadership you, too, will die a little every day as an authentic and loving person.

Only honest, genuine, and real people have real authority. Like Jesus, they speak with authority, but are never authoritarian.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please confront me with my reality and in so doing help me to become genuine and authentic and never hide behind any kind of false mask. I ask for this so that my manner of life and witness for You will have authority, and so I will readily be able to discern any phony leader be he/she religious or otherwise. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. John 8:3-5 (NIV).

A teenager asked me the question: “Do you think homosexuality should be legalized?”

My opinion wasn’t and still isn’t important. I shared what I believed God had to say, and that is that homosexuality is an unnatural condition.² Lest we are tempted to be judgmental, we need to realize that God’s Word also lists it with other sins which are all destructive to human personality, and as such, are opposed by God. True, God forgives all who confess their sins, but indicates that those who willfully practice sexual immorality, idolatry, adultery, male prostitution, homosexuality, stealing, greed, drunkenness, slandering, and swindling will not inherit the kingdom of God.³ If God is opposed to all of these damaging behaviors, can we justly legalize any one of them? Many heterosexuals are “driven” to sex outside of marriage but this is not God’s plan and is also sin. Others are “driven” to acts of pedophilia; dare we justify this too because “they can’t help it”?

Actually, there are often deep psychological causes behind many external “acts of sin.” The causes often have their roots in the past and need to be faced and resolved if a person is to find wholeness—both emotional and spiritual.

If we justify and legalize any act of sin, we harm the person involved much more than we ever help him/her. It gives an excuse not to face one’s issues and resolve their problem.

As Christians we are to accept and love the sinner and not judge or condemn him or her (because we are all sinners and are probably all guilty of at least greed, gossip, or slandering which are listed with the sin of homosexuality). But this doesn’t mean that we accept or approve of sinful behavior. Very often it has been a lack of love that has driven people into acts of sin—especially sexual sins. Only love, Christ’s unconditional love through us, will ever draw these people out again.*

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, help me to be honest about my own sins and never be the ‘first one to cast a stone’ at other sinners. Also, help me to love all sinners even though I don’t approve of their behavior. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name.”

*For further information and help regarding homosexuality be sure to read Chuck Colson’s BreakPoint article, “When a Dog Says ‘Moo’” at http://tinyurl.com/yedn67.

1. Romans 6:23 (NIV).

2. Romans 1:27.

3. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.

There is a legend from Greek mythology that the god Hercules was once walking along a narrow road when a strange-looking creature appeared threateningly in front of him. Hercules struck this creature with his club and passed on, but soon afterwards was surprised to be confronted by this same creature, only now three times as large. Hercules struck it again and again and each time it grew in size until finally it completely blocked the road. Then the goddess Pallas Athena appeared to Hercules and told him to stop. “The monster is called Strife,” she said. “Let it alone, and it will soon become as small as it was at first.”

All quarreling and strife will certainly return to manageable proportions and ultimately cease if one of the quarrelers lets it alone. One is either a peacemaker or one is a “stirrer”—determined to keep the argument going for the sake of personal gain or satisfaction.

Take Abraham. His herdsmen quarreled, and he and Lot might have quarreled too, had not Abraham taken the wise course and ended it. “Lot,” he said, “this won’t do. Let there be no strife between you and me or between my herdsmen and yours, for we are all brothers.” And then he became the generous mediator and told Lot that he could have the best land in the east, if that was what he wanted. It was wise to separate the two groups and it was generous of Abraham to give Lot first choice. As an elder he could have dictated the terms but he was above meanness and was blessed as a result.

Abraham was above personal gain, he did not seek after flocks and herds, silver and gold, servants or the best land. God was sought first; other things were added. Lot, on the other hand, couldn’t keep his eyes off the fertile plain of Sodom. He wanted it; then he wanted more; he got it; then lost it all.

NOTE: Today’s devotional was written by Pastor Ron Clark of Tasmania, Australia.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me not to be greedy for personal gain and material possessions but always seek to put You first and be a peacemaker rather than a strife-maker. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Genesis 13:8 (RSV).

In much younger and far less experienced days, I recall how a psychologist friend described some people as being “cursed with the affliction to give advice.” At that time I had no idea what he meant.

Today, however, perhaps a “nicer” way to describe these people is that they can be very officious. According to Google, being officious basically means to be intrusive in a meddling or offensive way, marked by excessive eagerness in offering unwanted [or unsolicited] services or advice to others. It means generally … sticking your nose in places where it’s not wanted.”

The Australians have an interesting saying for people who stick their nose into other people’s business and that is, they are being “sticky beaks!”

Certainly the Bible doesn’t use slang terms, but it does make it clear that we are not to meddle in other people’s business. This doesn’t mean that we are not to give help where help is needed and requested, but it does mean we are not to give unsolicited advice or help when such is not wanted. Actually, for me to give you unsolicited and unwanted advice is basically a “put down” in that I am implying that I know more about your situation than you know, and that I know better about what you need to do than you know. This is rather presumptuous to put it mildly.

Furthermore, it is important that we don’t do for others what they are quite capable of and need to for themselves. Doing this for others keeps them over-dependent on us and both of us immature. Be assured too, that neither will God do for us what he has already equipped us to do for ourselves.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me not to be a ‘sticky-beak’ by meddling in other peoples’ business but just to be available if my help is requested and genuinely needed. In all such situations, please help me to be ‘as Jesus’ to the person in need. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. 2 Thessalonians 3:11 (NLT).

Liu Chi Kung placed second to Van Cliburn in the 1958 Tchaikovsky competition. A year later, he was imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution in China. During his seven-year captivity, he didn’t have access to a piano of any kind.

Very soon after his release, he was back on tour. Critics were amazed at his playing, stating that it was better than ever.

“How did you do this?” one critic asked. “You had no chance to practice for seven years.”

“I did practice,” Liu replied, “every day I rehearsed every piece I had ever played, note by note, in my mind.”

Perhaps the only area in our life where we have total control is in our mind. It’s in the mind that the battles of life are won or lost. It’s in the mind where we choose to follow God or go our own way. It’s in the mind where we battle temptation. This is why David said, “Your Word I have hid in my heart that I might not sin against you.”²

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, I surrender not only my heart to You but also my mind. Help me to deal with and resolve every issue that causes negative, self-defeating, lustful, jealous, prideful, sinful, and over-reacting thinking. And give me a love for Your Word so I will ‘hide it in my heart that I might not sin against You.’ Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Philippians 4:8 (NIV).
2. Psalm 119:11 (NIV).

I’m sure you know some people who won’t take no for an answer. They’re boundary busters who have no respect for other people’s personhood.

Healthy boundaries are to protect ourselves from toxic people, from controlling and manipulating people, from con artists, from abusive people, from people who can hurt or use us for their own ends, and so on.

External boundaries are needed to protect our physical well-being. Nobody has a right to come into our space, get into our face, or touch us without our permission.

Internal boundaries are to protect our feelings. Nobody can upset us, hurt our feelings, make us feel guilty, ashamed, afraid, or angry without our permission. This is why we need good internal boundaries.

Boundaries are not walls. Boundaries allow the people in that we want close to us. Walls shut everybody out. Boundaries are also needed to contain our own “badness” so we don’t hurt others.

Without healthy boundaries, people will walk over us, use us, or abuse us and we will end up feeling angry, upset, hurt, and maybe even wallow in self-pity. What other people do is their responsibility. What we allow them to do to us is our responsibility. This is why we need healthy boundaries without which it is impossible to recover, grow, and live meaningfully.

Furthermore, without the freedom to say no our yeses are meaningless.

Read the life of Jesus in the gospels for a good example of healthy boundaries. Nobody ever controlled, manipulated, or did anything to Jesus without his permission—including his parents once he became a young man.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to develop healthy boundaries to protect others from my ‘badness’ and to protect myself from others’ ‘badness.’ And help me always to respect other people’s boundaries. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Matthew 5:37 (NIV).