FAMILY
LIFE
SERVICES
After talking and counseling with countless people over the years, Sandy and I wrote the curriculum for “Cultivating your Future.” The idea was to use a garden as a metaphor for your life. This allows all kinds of fun ideas to develop of how a beautiful garden is amazing, but how it takes planning and work.
If you look at the image below, you will see two drastically different views. As you look carefully at each of these, consider the differences. What is the story behind each photo? Where would you rather be? What happened before that caused each scene to turn out a certain way? For anyone that has had a garden, they know that it takes time, effort, planning, boundaries, and commitment for it to be beautiful and fruitful.
You see, at any time in our life, each of us is drifting toward one picture or the other. We all change. Change for the better (the picture of the beautiful garden on the right), requires intentionality, thought, planning, resilience, and work. To end with a life depicted by the picture on the left can be accomplished with little or even no effort at all. You get what you “pay” for.
So, as you ponder the picture, you can also ponder something much more important, your life. Where are you in your life? Which way are you drifting? What are you willing to do to get where you want? What is stopping you?
Sandy and I don’t try to “change” people, but we can certainly encourage people and help them to understand what they need to know. We are also overjoyed when our friends and clients begin their journey toward the beautiful garden and away from the demolished neighborhood. Let me finish with a little secret: they are overjoyed as well.
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[av_heading tag='h3' padding='10' heading='Pastor Greg Laurie' color='' style='blockquote modern-quote modern-centered' custom_font='' size='' subheading_active='' subheading_size='15' custom_class='' admin_preview_bg='' av-desktop-hide='' av-medium-hide='' av-small-hide='' av-mini-hide='' av-medium-font-size-title='' av-small-font-size-title='' av-mini-font-size-title='' av-medium-font-size='' av-small-font-size='' av-mini-font-size=''][/av_heading]
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[av_heading heading='Infants in Christ' tag='h3' style='blockquote modern-quote' size='' subheading_active='' subheading_size='15' padding='10' color='' custom_font='' av-medium-font-size-title='' av-small-font-size-title='' av-mini-font-size-title='' av-medium-font-size='' av-small-font-size='' av-mini-font-size='' admin_preview_bg=''][/av_heading]
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Babies are so cute, and I think newborns are really amazing. But you have to feed them and care for them. You need to watch them carefully and change their diapers. And when they get a little older and start toddling around, you need to keep an eye on them so they won’t get into trouble.
When they can finally start eating solid food, you have to cut it up for them. Then you make airplane noises with it to entertain them and convince them to take a bite.
You have to care for children, watch over them, and keep your eye on them. And that’s okay, because they need you to help them grow up.
In the same way, when we first come to Christ, we need lots of care. We need the milk of God’s Word. We need everything we hear from the Bible to be cut up into small bites in a way we can digest. We need people to explain things to us and watch over us.
But if you’ve known the Lord for a long period of time and haven’t matured, if you haven’t developed basic disciplines as a Christian and need everything spoon-fed to you, then we have a problem.
The apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth about this. He said, “Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:1 NLT).
When I was in school, I goofed off a lot. And on more than one occasion, I heard a teacher say, “Greg Laurie, will you just grow up?” I think some of us need to hear that today. It’s time to grow up.
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[av_heading heading='Seize the Day . . . and the Moment' tag='h3' style='blockquote modern-quote' size='' subheading_active='' subheading_size='15' padding='10' color='' custom_font='' av-medium-font-size-title='' av-small-font-size-title='' av-mini-font-size-title='' av-medium-font-size='' av-small-font-size='' av-mini-font-size='' admin_preview_bg=''][/av_heading]
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To illustrate the importance of numbering our days, Dr. Leslie Weatherhead once calculated the average length of life with the hours of one day. He concluded that if your age is 20, the time is 11:34 a.m. If you’re 30, the time is 1:51 p.m. At age 40, the time is 4:08 p.m. By the time you reach 50, it’s 6:25 p.m. If you’re 60, the time is 8:42 p.m. And if you’re 70, it’s 11:00 p.m.
That puts it into perspective for us. In reality, we may not have as much time as we think. Psalm 90:12 reminds us, “Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom” (NLT). The Living Bible says it this way: “Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as we should.”
Life is filled with opportunities. Now, what we do with them is the big question. Do we let them slip by, saying, “Maybe next time. There is always another day”? Or, do we seize them?
We all know to seize the day, from the Latin term carpe diem. But do we seize the moment? Do we seize the opportunity? We shouldn’t put it off too long, because life is marching by.
Ephesians 5:15–16 says, “So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days” (NLT).
And Ecclesiastes 11 tells us, “Plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, for you don’t know if profit will come from one activity or another—or maybe both” (verse 6 NLT).
What opportunities do you need to seize today? Take advantage of them while they’re still available. Take advantages of the opportunities that God puts in your life.
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[av_heading heading='What God Chooses to Forget' tag='h3' style='blockquote modern-quote' size='' subheading_active='' subheading_size='15' padding='10' color='' custom_font='' av-medium-font-size-title='' av-small-font-size-title='' av-mini-font-size-title='' av-medium-font-size='' av-small-font-size='' av-mini-font-size='' admin_preview_bg=''][/av_heading]
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Awhile back, I read that scientists are testing a “trauma pill” that potentially could help erase sad and traumatic memories. One article said, “Suppose you could erase bad memories from your mind. . . . That is science fiction. But real-world scientists are working on the next best thing.”
What about our sins? Actually, there’s a better solution than a trauma pill. As the hymn writer Robert Lowry said, “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
Jesus can cleanse your mind, your conscience, and your heart. He will do that for you.
And not only will God forgive your sins, but He will forget your sins. He says, “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:34 NKJV).
Therefore, we should not choose to remember what God has chosen to forget.
Maybe you’ve done some things you’re really ashamed of, things that no one knows about. But God knows and you know. Maybe you’ve thought, “I don’t know how to fix this. I don’t know how to turn my life around. I’m in trouble.”
The good news is that you say, “Lord, I am turning to You. I can’t help myself. I can’t fix myself. I can’t save myself. I’ve tried to find life apart from You, and it has been an empty search. I give my life to You. I want Your plan more than I want my own.”
If you will do that, if you will turn from your sin and give your life to Christ, He will forgive you. He can turn your life around, even if you have messed up, He can take those things and work them together for good. Our God has a big eraser. Let Him use it in your life.
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[av_heading heading='Why Happiness Escapes Us' tag='h3' style='blockquote modern-quote' size='' subheading_active='' subheading_size='15' padding='10' color='' custom_font='' av-medium-font-size-title='' av-small-font-size-title='' av-mini-font-size-title='' av-medium-font-size='' av-small-font-size='' av-mini-font-size='' admin_preview_bg=''][/av_heading]
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Researchers have consistently ranked Scandinavians as the happiest people on Earth. But even if you aren’t Scandinavian, you can still find happiness.
According to the Bible, if you know God and discover His plan for your life, you will find the happiness you’re searching for. It doesn’t come from seeking to be happy in and of itself. It comes from knowing and seeking the God who created you and discovering His plan and purpose for your life.
C. S. Lewis said this about happiness: “God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food for our spirits were designed to feed on. . . . God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”
The Bible says that if you hunger and thirst after righteousness, then you will be happy. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” The word blessed also can be translated “happy.”
This world will promise us happiness, but it simply won’t deliver. That’s because this fleeting happiness that we experience ebbs and flows. It comes and goes, depending on what our life is like.
If things are going reasonably well, then we are fairly happy. But the moment things get difficult, we are no longer happy. And that is not real happiness.
Writing in a Time magazine article, Gregg Easterbrook said, “Love, friendship, family, respect, a place in the community, the belief that your life has purpose—those are the essentials of human fulfillment, and they cannot be purchased with cash.”
Happiness is never something we should seek directly, according to the Scriptures. It is always the result of seeking something else. If you seek holiness, then you will find happiness as a result.
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[av_heading heading='Walking with the Shepherd' tag='h3' style='blockquote modern-quote' size='' subheading_active='' subheading_size='15' padding='10' color='' custom_font='' av-medium-font-size-title='' av-small-font-size-title='' av-mini-font-size-title='' av-medium-font-size='' av-small-font-size='' av-mini-font-size='' admin_preview_bg=''][/av_heading]
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Psalm 23:4 often has been taken as a truth to provide comfort to someone who is dying. I think that is fine. But I don’t think it’s really the primary intent of the verse. In context, it’s a picture of a shepherd guiding his sheep through a dangerous situation: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (NKJV).
Notice the psalmist David does not say, “Yea, though I collapse and die in the valley of the shadow of death” or “Yea, though I crawl through the valley of the shadow of death.” Rather, David says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death” (emphasis added).
David was saying, “I’m going to keep walking. I’m going to keep moving, and I’m going to get through this.”
Of course, we don’t like trials. We don’t like valleys. In fact, if we had our way, we would choose to go from mountaintop to mountaintop and from glory to glory. We would go from one happy day to another with no hardship, no tragedy, and no sorrow. But that is not the way it works.
Here’s something we need to know: Spiritual fruit doesn’t grow on mountaintops. It grows in valleys. And the real fruit and depth and character in your Christian life will not come through the good times, per se.
Instead, it will come from times of difficulty and suffering as you are being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ and are learning to completely trust Him.
Maybe you’re in a valley. Don’t panic. Know that it won’t last forever. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, will get you through it. His rod and His staff will comfort you.
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[av_heading heading='What Is Life to the Fullest?' tag='h3' style='blockquote modern-quote' size='' subheading_active='' subheading_size='15' padding='10' color='' custom_font='' av-medium-font-size-title='' av-small-font-size-title='' av-mini-font-size-title='' av-medium-font-size='' av-small-font-size='' av-mini-font-size='' admin_preview_bg=''][/av_heading]
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W. M. Lewis said, “The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.”
I think we all really want life to the fullest. We want more than mere existence; we want life that is worth living.
When I was seventeen, I went on a diligent search in my life. My mom had married and divorced seven times. She was a big drinker, a big partier. And this got me searching for the meaning of life at a very early age.
When I looked at the adult world I was exposed to, I found nothing in it that I wanted. I couldn’t think of any person that I really had that much admiration for, and I thought there had to be more to life. So I began my search.
Interestingly, I was attracted to things that were good. I was looking for something wholesome, something solid and stable. I came to faith on my high school campus after I saw a group of Christians having a Bible study. These Christians were living life to its fullest, and it radiated from them. So I decided I wanted some of that.
Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10 NKJV). The abundant life is not necessarily a long life, though it may be. We will live as long as God wants us to live. Nor is it necessarily a life free of sorrow, heartache, or tragedy. Even Christians experience all of that.
The abundant life is one in which we are content in the knowledge that God’s grace is more than sufficient for our needs. It’s the knowledge that nothing can suppress it and that God’s favor for us is unending. That is the abundant life as presented by Jesus.
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[av_heading heading='Pastor Greg Laurie' tag='h3' style='blockquote modern-quote modern-centered' size='' subheading_active='' subheading_size='15' padding='10' color='' custom_font='' av-medium-font-size-title='' av-small-font-size-title='' av-mini-font-size-title='' av-medium-font-size='' av-small-font-size='' av-mini-font-size='' admin_preview_bg=''][/av_heading]
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This Daily Devotion comes from Harvest.org in a daily email.
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[av_heading heading='Entrusted with Much' tag='h3' style='blockquote modern-quote' size='' subheading_active='' subheading_size='15' padding='10' color='' custom_font='' av-medium-font-size-title='' av-small-font-size-title='' av-mini-font-size-title='' av-medium-font-size='' av-small-font-size='' av-mini-font-size='' admin_preview_bg=''][/av_heading]
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Have you ever watched a fire begin to burn down, and all you have left are the coals? It looks like there’s no fire left to speak of. The coals may be under a layer of ash, and you really can’t see much.
But when you take a fresh log, toss it on top, and stir it around a little, it suddenly ignites. And then you have a whole new fire going.
The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, “This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you” (2 Timothy 1:6 NLT).
There may be live coals in your life, but you have allowed the fire to go down. You haven’t been using the gifts that God gave you, the talents He gave you. It’s time to fan them into full flame again. It’s time to be reignited and say, “Lord, how can I use what You have given me for Your glory until You return?”
We need to take advantage of the opportunities that are out there. In fact, I would rather try and fail than never try at all. Any time you take a chance, you can fail. But it’s better to try than to sit on the sidelines and watch the parade go by while nothing happens in your life.
We always think about the failures. We prepare for failures. And then we’re surprised when God brings success into our lives.
You may fail. You may make a mistake here and there. But you belong to Him. He has given His life for you. He has given you His resources. Everything you have is from Him.
It’s wrong for us to take that which belongs to God and squander it. We should take it, invest it, and see what the Lord will do.
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[av_heading tag='h3' padding='10' heading='Pastor Greg Laurie' color='' style='blockquote modern-quote modern-centered' custom_font='' size='' subheading_active='' subheading_size='15' custom_class='' admin_preview_bg='' av-desktop-hide='' av-medium-hide='' av-small-hide='' av-mini-hide='' av-medium-font-size-title='' av-small-font-size-title='' av-mini-font-size-title='' av-medium-font-size='' av-small-font-size='' av-mini-font-size=''][/av_heading]
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[av_heading heading='Give It All You’ve Got' tag='h3' style='blockquote modern-quote' size='' subheading_active='' subheading_size='15' padding='10' color='' custom_font='' av-medium-font-size-title='' av-small-font-size-title='' av-mini-font-size-title='' av-medium-font-size='' av-small-font-size='' av-mini-font-size='' admin_preview_bg=''][/av_heading]
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Maybe you’ve looked at someone and said, “Oh, I wish I had their talent. I can’t do that. I wish I had their ability.”
It is not a person’s talent that matters as much as how he or she uses it. God never demands from someone abilities they do not have. But He does demand that we use to the full the abilities we do possess.
We may not be equal in talent, but we should be equal in effort. That’s because God can do a lot with a little. If you don’t believe me, just ask the boy with the loaves and fishes. He probably was running an errand for his mother when he came upon the scene of the hungry multitude that was listening to Jesus.
Jesus asked one of His own disciples, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” (John 6:5 NLT).
One of them said, “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?” (verse 9 NLT).
Even so, that little boy gave everything that he had to Jesus. It didn’t seem like a lot. But Jesus can take a little and bless it and multiply it. He can use it beyond our wildest dreams.
So maybe you’re saying, “I don’t have a lot to offer.”
That’s all right. Bring what you have. God is not looking for ability as much as He is looking for availability. He is looking for someone like you to say, “Lord, here I am, send me. I will do whatever You want me to do.” It’s people like that whom God raises up to do more for His glory.
Take what God has given you and do the most that you can with it for His glory.
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Countless songs have been composed and hundreds of books have been written about love. It is all around us as stadium-rock oldies play overhead in every elevator in civilization while the concept is threaded into the plots of an endless chain of movies and sitcoms. Indeed, love is all around.
Still love remains a mystery to our culture as we allow children to be unsupervised (and uneducated) with others as early as possible, then act surprised when the result is often unhealthy. People learn about love through trial and error alone. How can something so important be so thoroughly misunderstood?
Our very own English word (“love”) has a plethora of meanings, understood only within the context and misused routinely to manipulate. Articulating that you love someone does not mean anything in and of itself. So how can we ever remove the confusion? This may come as a surprise to everyone in our current culture, but true and genuine love does not have as much to do with feelings as it has to do with other, much more important things. Much of what is called “love” today is simply extreme interest, desire, and infatuation. Infatuation is not, in itself, a bad thing, but confusing it with genuine love is, well, confusing. Feelings! Wait a minute, that is just one more song title for those of you who were alive in the seventies. Love feelings. I feel like I have feelings.
And so on.
Yes, love is actually what you do, not how you feel. When people tell me how much they “love” each other and then proceed to tell me how awful they treat each other, I am not impressed. But when I see people sacrificing for each other’s needs and fulfillment and watch their feelings grow into a robust commitment, I know they are getting it. Feelings can be powerful, but they are just emotional sensations that may come and go. Doing the right thing for someone is doing the loving thing. If people thought about this, they would certainly make decisions that build relationships and families, rather than tear them apart. If you act only on your feelings, your chances of doing the right thing (making good decisions, having success) are minimal.
When you are acting toward the actual welfare of the other person, you will always be acting in genuine love.
