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Mental And Spiritual Renewal
Mental And Spiritual Renewal
How much do you read? And, what do you read when you make time to read?
I recently heard a speaker say that most Americans read less than one book a year. I asked a few of folks about this, and with a couple of exceptions, they confirmed the speaker’s statement.
We are told that even if you have a doctorate degree, rapid changes in almost every field makes education obsolete unless we continue to keep up with those changes. One way of doing this is through reading. Often, when we leave the discipline of school – our minds begin to atrophy. We don’t explore new subjects, we reduce the time we research important issues, and we avoid serious reading such as classics and redemptive literature.
Some time ago, I heard a quote and it’s one worth remembering: “The person who doesn’t read is no better off than the person who can’t read.”
Reading sweeps the cobwebs away and refreshes the mind. A person who reads is more interesting to be around. Reading increases our power of concentration and keeps us abreast with new trends and opportunities.
Reading is mental and spiritual renewal.
Set a goal of reading one book a month – a book that has as its purpose making you a better person. You will be surprised at the effect it has on your life. It is one of the best investments of time a person can make. An idea worth pursuing if you are not currently feeding your brain: Each day substitute 30 minutes of television for 30 minutes of reading.
Of course, you would expect me to recommend the Bible as one of the greatest resources of reading – and, it is. I find that reading the Bible helps develop and nourish my core values. Each time I read Scriptures I feel renewed, focused on life’s purpose, recommitted to serve and spiritually strengthened.
“Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them. Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Esteem her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you.” Proverbs 4:5-8 NIV
Larry Yarborough is the Chaplain for the YMCA of Middle Tennessee in Nashville. He can be reached at lyarborough@ymcamidtn.org and on his profile page here.
Core Values
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” 2 Kings 5:1-3
Core Values
The YMCA has four core values: caring, honesty, respect and responsibility. The opening lines of the story of the healing of Naaman strikingly demonstrates caring and responsibility. They stand in stark contrast to what this young girl could have done.
Consider the more natural possibility of her action. She was someone’s daughter. When the army of Aram raided a town in Israel, she was swept up and taken away from everything that was familiar. Everything that she had taken for granted when she opened her eyes the morning of the raid was taken away from her by nightfall. Her parents, her brothers and sisters, her friends – all were left behind in the aftermath of the raid. She was alone.
I’ve known people, including myself, who have had far less happen to them yet who reacted with spite and malice. Grudges are nursed for years because of small, inconsequential slights. Some folks become unbending in their resentment when they think, as one of my friends puts it, that they have been “unfaired upon.”
All of these responses focus on the injury rather than on what good God can accomplish as a result of the injury. The nameless servant girl, a young captive, had the maturity and freedom to respond to the people responsible for her predicament with caring. She wanted the husband of the woman she served to be healed. So she spoke up.
When she did, she demonstrated responsibility as well as caring. She knew that there was a source of healing back in Israel, a prophet named Elisha. This young captive wrapped herself in the mantle of responsibility. She owned what she knew. She didn’t keep silent.
Again, she might have lost belief in the prophets of her homeland since it appeared that God had not protected her or her people. She might have decided that, although she cared about Naaman, she wasn’t willing to be responsible for sending him back to the country he had just raided with all of the potential consequences that could befall him.
But, she spoke up. Not only did she demonstrate caring for the army officer who had done her wrong, she accepted responsibility for setting things in motion that did, in fact, lead to his healing. Though nameless, this young servant girl is one of my scriptural heroes. It is hard to find others who are as caring or responsible as she was.
Bruce Yoder is Vice President for Philanthropy at the YMCA of Greater Richmond. He can be reached at yoderb@ymcarichmond.org and on his profile page here.
What’s On The Inside
What’s on the Inside
The view out the front of the hotel was so beautiful it barely seemed real; more like a screen saver one friend said. Cheyenne Mountain right over there…Pike’s Peak a little farther off… breath taking… awe inspiring…black and white proof that the world we live in could never have been just some huge cosmic accident. But beneath the beauty of Cheyenne Mountain lies something else, as evidenced by the various antennas poking up into the sky. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is tunneled into and under that impressive piece of God’s handiwork, hidden from the casual observer.
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7
And so God rejected Eliab, the tall handsome son of Jesse as the king of Israel. Instead, he chose David, the youngest son… a shepherd…a nobody to the casual observer; but a man “after God’s own heart.” For God cared then and cares now about what is underneath, what is at the core of a person’s soul. He cares nothing for the wealth or power or beauty or prestige that we are chasing after. He simply wants us to chase after him, for he is all we need!
God is looking at your heart….what does he see?
Brian Keel is Executive Vice President of Operations for the YMCA of Greater Toledo. He can be reached bkeel@ymcatoledo.org and on his profile page here.
Listen
Years ago when my daughter Holly was very young an event occurred which I cannot forget. I was sitting on a sofa reading a book. It was approaching night time and Holly came into the room dressed in her p.j.’s. She climbed up on the sofa and put her head in my lap and stretched out. I continued to read with the book propped over her small body. As I continued to read, this time aloud hoping she would listen, she looked up and carefully examined my face.
I assumed she had a fixation on my nose because she interrupted me with a question: “Daddy, can you hear through your nose?”
I smiled and answered, “I don’t know. Would you like for me to see?”
“Yes!” she exclaimed.
I put the book down, bent over, and cupped my hand around her nose. I whispered softly, “Holly, I love you.”
She jumped up and with an incredible shout of discovery and joy she shouted, “YOU CAN. You can hear through your nose.”
God often speaks to us in unusual ways. We need to be attentive and give Him careful awareness. He may chose to speak to you through a still small voice, the sound of nature, the words of a friend, a scene from a movie or book, a song, an event in your life, or through Scripture. However He chooses, YOU CAN hear his words. It is up to you to do something with them.
“. . . And having ears, do you not hear? . .” (Mark 8:18)
“. . . let every man be swift to hear . . . “(James 1:19)
Larry Yarborough is the Chaplain for the YMCA of Middle Tennessee in Nashville. He can be reached at lyarborough@ymcamidtn.org and on his profile page here.
Extreme Jesus
At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!’” Luke 13:31-34
Extreme Jesus
Jesus is profoundly complex and that complexity, often hidden by well-meaning church folk, is apparent in these brief verses. In four short verses, Luke reveals “extreme Jesus.”
What do I mean by that? Look at the extremes to which Jesus goes in this simple encounter. First, Jesus argued often with Pharisees. Consequently, we tend to view Pharisees as bad guys who got it all wrong. I think Jesus argued with them because he saw how close to the truth they were. He loved them. And, evidently, they loved him for they warned him about Herod’s murderous threats.
If Jesus were simply minding the corner spiritual store as a good religious man, why would a political ruler clamor for his death? Jesus threatened the established order with God’s good news. That’s extreme.
Upon hearing Herod’s threat, does Jesus turn into the naïve religious leader so often shown in movies? No. His response is extreme. “Go tell that fox” that I’m going to do my work as long as I want to do it. Calling a political leader a fox was not a compliment. Foxes are sneaky, conniving, predatory killers.
Jesus’ ability to confront the Pharisees is done with such love that they warm him of Herod’s death threat. His message of love is painted not in pastel pigments but in bold colors that threatened the established political and social orders. Upon hearing about Herod’s death threat, Jesus stands his ground. “Go tell that fox.”
Jesus then described himself in humble and heart-felt terms. He says of Jerusalem, “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings!” He imagines himself as a mother hen who wants to wrap her protective wings around her chicks.
The Jesus we follow is extreme. Don’t try to pen him in.
Bruce Yoder is Vice President for Philanthropy at the YMCA of Greater Richmond. He can be reached at yoderb@ymcarichmond.org and on his profile page here.
