Guidelines For Living Devotional

"I feel like a failure," said the mother of two young children, "because I never accomplish what I set out to do."  It's not only mothers who feel that way, but it's a fact mothers do face unique challenges when it comes to time and meeting possibly unrealistic expectations.

Opposites attract, but when there are too many differences, opposites repel.  He likes to sleep with the windows open; she likes them closed.  He's a night person; she's a day person.  He prefers country western music; she likes classical.  She's well organized; he's a "take-it-as-it-comes" person.  Before they married, they both admired in the other the very characteristics which later became annoying.

Hindsight vision is always 20-20, but seeing what lies in the future is totally something else.  The future is unknown, risky, and indefinite.  It's no wonder we hesitate to take the bold step whether it is launching a business or moving away from the security of the nest.  No business or marriage would likely fail if we knew the future, but neither does any endeavor succeed apart from a measure of risk.  The armchair critics risk nothing.  They are the ones who quarterback from the sidelines.  They are exactly right with their criticism, but they are worthless when it comes to playing the game.

What would you do in this situation?  You are a repairman who has been called to replace the water heater in the home of an old gentleman who is 88 years of age and cannot go downstairs where the water heater is located.  When you examine the water heater, however, you discover that only a minor problem with a setting is causing the water heater to malfunction.  A new unit is an unnecessary expense.  He will never know that the old one could be easily repaired, and you'll make many times more money.  After all, he did call and asked for the unit to be replaced.  Would you make the repair, replace the unit, or ask him to indicate just what he wanted done?

Almost everyone understands that the words of Jesus, "Do to others what you would have them to do to you," are known as the Golden Rule (see Matthew 7:12); but in the real world the Golden Rule is, "He who has the gold has the rule."  "Money talks!" we say, and few would deny that money has power.  That thought was the reasoning behind the sign which reads, "Money is not everything in life, but it is way ahead of whatever is in second place."

For a moment suppose that God has a blueprint, a plan for your life.  Now if God has a plan for your life, would it not have to be a good one?  After all, He created you, and He knows you better than you know yourself.  He sees your life in the focus of all eternity while with our human limitations we simply see today.

"To err is human; to forgive, divine," said the wise man long ago.  It's true, but of all the transactions which take place between people, none is more difficult than to seek and give forgiveness.  There's good news, however.  Forgiveness is the key to emotional and spiritual healing and the passport to your future happiness.  It's God's way of eliminating the cancer of hatred and anger which rips the fabric of relationships apart much as a little boy tears the wrapper off a candy bar.

Five kings in a cave!  A rather strange place for royalty.  It happened years ago; in fact the event took place about 1400 B.C.  "That's ancient history," you might say, and I would agree; yet there is a contemporary application.  The five kings were enemies of Israel, and Joshua brought them out and executed them as a visual lesson as to what God would do to the rest of their enemies.

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words.  Who knows, it may even be worth more than a thousand.  Joshua, the charismatic leader of God's people, centuries ago, certainly believed that.  When he did battle with five kings and the kings holed up in a cave, Joshua had them brought out one by one and had them kneel, putting his foot on their necks, and then killed them, as a picture of what God was going to do to the enemies of Israel.  There is one thing for sure:  there was no compromise in the way that Joshua dealt with the situation.  Those five never bothered Israel again.

How would you answer this:  Is it all right for a husband to lie to his wife to protect her?  Or should he tell her how bad things really are?  Is honesty always the best policy?  What would you say?