Key Principles for Successful Living

How we live our lives is vitally important. There are principles that guide each one of us. These could be positive or negative guidelines by which we live our lives. If we will live by God’s principles, we can expect to see His favour and blessing.  If we live by what ‘seems good to us’ it can often take us down a path we would later regret. Have you ever considered what are the principles by which you live your life?   The earlier we discover and apply these, the better, but it is never too late to begin!

 

Principle No 1 – You can be forgiven

 

We can and need to receive forgiveness from God. ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.’ Because Jesus paid for our sins in full; we can know what it means to be forgiven. ‘He cancelled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.’ God is willing to remove our sin from us. ‘As far as the east is from the west’, so far is He willing to remove them from us.

 

Why does the Bible say, ‘as far as the East is from the West?’ Why did does it not say as far as the North is from the South? This is one great picture of God’s love. The North and South pole are definite points. You can go to those spots. But there is no East or West pole. When you get there, you can still go further to the East. So, in a very real sense, when God says, ‘as far as the East is from the West’ He means that He has totally and forever removed our sins, they are not coming back to haunt us.

Lifetime Guarantees!

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In my teens, I bought a stylish pair of sunglasses that sadly became damaged after I headed a football during a break between college lessons. It was a good header, but not for the glasses. You can guess where they were! The shop was out of these frames, but as I liked them, I bought another, cheaper pair and attempted a repair job using the arms from the new ones. However, the screws did not fit properly, and since I had modified the arms to fix the old ones, I ended up throwing both pairs away. Two down!

The next time we played football, I ensured the third pair of sunglasses went safely into the front of my bag before the game. Unfortunately, I only realised that my bag had been taken to be used as a goal marker when one of the ‘posts’ were hit by a particularly hard shot. On inspection, it was immediately obvious that they were beyond repair. Three down.

The testimony of Tom Selleck

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Tom Selleck, the Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor known for roles in hits such as The Closer, Blue Bloods and Magnum P.I. credits his success solely to his faith in Jesus Christ.

However his faith was not always where it is today. Selleck says that his life as a Christian has been pretty rocky.  

What many people may not know is about his commitment to values. As a child he took his father’s words to heart, saying, “A man is only as good as his word.” He learned that hard work pays off.

After graduating high school he tried to pursue his dream of attending the University of Southern California. But due to high tuition fees he surrendered his dream for a season. He worked diligently, paying his way through Valley Junior College and winning basketball scholarships. Then as junior in college he was able to fulfill his dream and complete his education at USC.

He has been very successful in his career. Before he became culturally influential, Selleck was a college basketball player with occasional roles in Pepsi commercials and episodes of The Dating Game.

In his younger years, he was working on a degree in business and had plans for a management-training program with United Airlines when he decided to get serious about an acting career, according to Parade.

After graduating from college, Twentieth Century Fox offered him an acting contract but he felt that God wasn’t calling him to acting then. He decided to listen to God’s call to go into the army.

Selleck learned the values of the U.S. Military from his parents at an early age. The lessons taught by his mother and father shaped him into not only an actor, but also a veteran and a man of integrity.

During the Vietnam War, Selleck was issued draft orders. He joined the California National Guard in the 160th infantry regiment. He served from 1967 to 1973. He later appeared on California National Guard recruiting posters.

The military left a strong impression on Selleck and he looks back on his service with pride: “I am a veteran, I’m proud of it,” Selleck said. “I was a sergeant in the U.S. Army infantry, National Guard, Vietnam era. We’re all brothers and sisters in that sense.”

After the army, he came back to acting. It was his role as Thomas Magnum that changed his life forever. Even after getting this acting role, he continued to listen to God.

“As good as this business has been to me, that’s not what life is about. Life is about more important things. You know, we’ve all struggled as we get successful in this business to balance that, I certainly have,” Selleck said.

He took another big break in acting in 1980 when he got married but he credits all his success in life to Jesus Christ, who he claims is his Lord and Savior.

Selleck says he always tried to conduct himself in an ethical way and that is what matters most. He attributes his fortune to Jesus Christ. Although it is an individual who makes plans for a lifetime, it is God who guides him through them, he says.

“A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps,” Selleck said. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”

Tom Selleck’s Quiet Faith

He has said, “My family is my first priority.” But Tom has been relatively quiet about his faith, one time saying “I am not particularly religious.” But it has been reported that he is a member of the Disciples of Christ Church. And the ‘Jesus Daily’ said, “He attributes his fortune to Jesus Christ and strongly believes that although it is an individual’s heart that makes plans for a lifetime, it is the Almighty who guides him through them.”

Only God knows the heart and salvation is through ‘repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ’. The Bible teaches that Jesus is ‘the way, the truth and the life’ and that no one can come to the Father (God) without faith in the Lord Jesus. It is however refreshing to know that Tom Selleck is one of the people in Hollywood holding to traditional values, ethics and good character.

These are collected items from various publications and do not reflect the authors views about the faith or lifestyle of Tom Selleck. 

Lost & Found!

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_{A man had a hundred sheep and lost one. A woman had ten silver coins and lost one. A father had two sons and lost one. I think we have all had that horrible feeling when we discover that we’ve lost something. 
 
What a sense of relief when you find it at last. You always find it in the last place you look!  If it’s a door key or a bank card, that could be a big problem, but what a delight to find something, even when it is less important.
 
The hundred sheep, the ten silver coins, the one son, all appear in a story Jesus told one day – it’s worth reading again in Luke chapter 15. Great efforts were made to find what was lost, and great joy when it was found. Whether it was a 1% loss or a 10% loss or a 50% loss, the joy of finding was so real it had to be shared with others.}

September 11th 2001 Remembered

20 years ago 246 people went to sleep in preparation for their morning flights. 2,606 people went to sleep in preparation for work in the morning. 343 firefighters went to sleep in preparation for their morning shift. 60 police officers went to sleep in preparation for morning patrol. 8 paramedics went to sleep in preparation for the morning shift of saving lives. None of them saw past 10:00am Sept 11, 2001. All of them ushered out into eternity.

This reminds me that we must always remember tomorrow is not promised.

There is no more important thing than knowing we are ready to meet our creator should tonight be our last.

For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have ever lasting life, John 3 v16 

Written by K McConnell and published from Facebook 

A Contract out on your life?

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There is a hymn that I enjoy which celebrates the "wonderful change"  the Lord Jesus can make in a sinner's life. It is called "Since Jesus Came Into My Heart." and the first verse goes like this-

What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought   

Since Jesus came into my heart!

I have light in my soul for which long I had sought,

Since Jesus came into my heart!

Here is a story that illustrates this only too well. Violent John Lawson had done it all - from planning robberies and running London's biggest brothel to kidnap and extortion. He was even cold-heartedly planning a murder, until his life was radically changed. His 'legit' side was working as a bodyguard for Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, Neil Diamond and bands like REM and AC/DC.

Instructions!

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I really don’t know about you, but one of the most maddening things that I find about people is that they don’t listen and don’t follow instructions. We all know that happens so often in everyday life. We know that people are told things and they don’t even listen. It could be to do with our health or our money but we often ignore the advice that we are given. Or sometimes people are given guidelines but they ignore them and just do it their own way. 

Facing death - a personal testimony

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Some months are particularly difficult months in terms of memories. They see anniversaries of deep loss come and go. Somebody once said 'how strange it is, to think that we pass the anniversary of our death every year not knowing which day it will be'. The day our soul will slip invisibly from this tangible, material, everyday world, into the timeless existence of the never-ending hereafter. Do you believe in an ever after? I guess it's much easier not to - but does that belief change what will be?