How’s your life with God.
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How’s your life with God.
Just believe,
The Retiring Carpenter – A Story About the Life We Build for Ourselves
September 23, 2011 in Inspirational Stories
An elderly carpenter was due to retire.
He told his employer of his plans to leave the business and start a life of leisure with his wife and extended family.
He would miss the money, but the time was right and he was ready to hang up his hammer.
His boss was disappointed as the carpenter had been a loyal and diligent worker for many years, so he was sad to see him go.
He asked for one last favour, requesting that the carpenter could build one last house before retiring.
The tradesman agreed, but it was soon clear that his heart wasn’t in it.
He took shortcuts, used inferior materials and put in a half-hearted effort.
In the end the final product was well short of his usual standards, a disappointing way to end his career.
When the job was finished, the employer came to inspect the work. After taking a look around, he handed the keys to the carpenter and said, “This is your house, it’s my gift to you.”
The carpenter was shocked and embarrassed.
If only he had known, he would have made sure that everything was perfect.
If he had known the consequences, he would have demanded excellence from himself.
We’re not that different.
We go about our business, working as we see fit.
Some with passion, some without caring.
Some with excellence, some with low standards.
Some with diligence, some without effort.
We are all in the process of building our own lives.
If you’re not happy with what you see, perhaps it’s a direct consequence of what you’ve been building over the years.
Build wisely!
Potential: We were created in God’s image, and God is no weakling. ___Charles Atlas
8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
9 Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs.
10 And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort? then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king.
11 Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,
12 Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.
13 Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants.
14 So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days.
15 And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat.
16 Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse.
17 As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
18 Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.
19 And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king.
20 And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.
21 And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus.
It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person,
always do what you are afraid to do.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending. -Maria Robinson
6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting. -Unknown
Most of the important things in the world
have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying
when there seemed to be no hope at all.
-Dale Carnegie
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
The Christian life is not easy, but it is eternally worthwhile. And doing good is not always easy, but there is a reward. Galatians 6:9 says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” How do you fight the weariness? How do you keep on keeping on? By mastering the Bible, by guarding your mind, by developing convictions, by having the courage to be different, and by meetingregularly with other Christians for support and encouragement. Are you satisfied to be a thermometer, simply registering the spiritual coldness of the environment around you? Or are you willing to be God’s thermostat in your corner of the world? Use your influence for God and for good in your world this week.
Warren, Rick. God's Power to Change Your Life (Living with Purpose) (p. 155). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
202 TOPIC: Debts
Costly Advice
A lawyer’s dog ran into a butcher shop and stole a roast. The butcher went to the lawyer’s office and asked him, “If a dog is without a leash and steals a roast from my store, do I have the legal right to require payment for the meat that was taken from me?”
The lawyer answered the butcher, “Oh yes, absolutely.”
“The dog was your dog, the meat was my meat, and–according to your own advice–you owe me ten dollars for the meat your dog took from me today.”
The lawyer agreed with the butcher and immediately wrote the butcher a check for ten dollars.
A few days later the butcher received a letter from the lawyer. The butcher opened the envelope and found an invoice for sixty dollars for the lawyer’s consultation fee.
Hodgin, M. (2010). 1002 humorous illustrations for public speaking: fresh, timely, compelling illustrations for preachers, teachers, and speakers. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Debts:
Really Dead Debtors
My sermon for the morning was on the fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” The children are always excused just before my sermon for their own children’s church, where the leaders use my text for their lesson. So during the course of the session they asked the children, “What is a debtor?”
Rachel, a five-year-old, responded, “It’s someone who is really, really dead. There’s dead and then there’s really, really dead.”
Hodgin, M. (2010). 1002 humorous illustrations for public speaking: fresh, timely, compelling illustrations for preachers, teachers, and speakers. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Heaven
A man who has a layover at an airport does not go into the bathroom, frown at its decor, and start redecorating! Why? Because he doesn’t live there. He has a home in another place. While he is away he will get by with only what he absolutely needs, to have more money with which to furnish his permanent home.
Why do we Christians work hard at trying to make our life in this world more comfortable? This is just the airport and we are in transit. We should spend our energy on enhancing our eternal reward, and not worry so much about the bare walls in the airport restrooms.638
Dr. W. A. Criswell, the beloved pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, was once asked, “Will we know each other when we get to heaven?” His answer: “We won’t really know each other until we get to heaven.”639
Michael P. Green. (2000). 1500 illustrations for biblical preaching (pp. 183–184). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.
If you do not go after what you want, you'll never have it. If you do not ask, the answer will always be no. If you do not step forward, you will always be in the same place. -Unknown
It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself. -Ralph Waldo Emerson