Sabedoria da Grécia Antiga

                                          

Tenha isso em mente da próxima vez que você estiver prestes a repetir um rumor.

Na Grécia Antiga (de 469 a 399 A.C.), Sócrates era famoso por sua sabedoria.

Um dia o grande filósofo encontrou um conhecido que veio à sua presença todo excitado, dizendo “Sócrates, que saber o que acabei de escutar sobre um dos seus estudantes?”

“Espere um minuto!” interrompeu Sócrates. “Antes de você me contar, eu gostaria de aplicar um pequeno teste. É um teste de três partes.” O amigo estava curioso, e Sócrates continuou: “Antes de você me contar a respeito do estudante, vamos aplicar primeiramente o teste da Verdade. Você tem certeza absoluta de que o que irá me contar é verdade?”

“Não,” respondeu o homem, “eu apenas acabei de escutar o comentário.”

“Muito bem,” disse Sócrates. “Então você não sabe com certeza se a informação é verdadeira ou não. Então vamos tentar a segunda parte do teste, o teste da Bondade. O que você vai me contar a respeito do estudante é algo bom?”

“Não, muito pelo contrário.” respondeu o homem.

“Então,” Sócrates continuou. “Você quer me contar algo que você não tem certeza de que seja verdade, e sabe que não é algo bom?” O homem já estava visivelmente embaraçado. Sócrates continuou, “Talvez você ainda deva me contar o que seja porque há uma terceira parte do teste, o filtro da Utilidade. Aquilo que você irá me contar tem alguma utilidade para mim?”

“Não, acho que não.”

Concluiu Sócrates: “Então, se o que você iria me contar talvez não seja verdade, não é algo bom, e não é útil para mim, porque contar?”

O homem nada mais disse, e foi embora, envergonhado. Esta é uma das razões que Sócrates foi um grande filósofo e tão respeitado até o dia de hoje.

extraído: www.miltonmiller.com

Aumenta o som…

 

Aumenta o som…aquela letra e música que mais te inspira…

Não pare de sonhar…acredite, no final dá tudo certo. Se permita um parêntese pra descansar, aumenta o som e ouça a VOZ, aquela que só o espírito discerne…aquela que te faz crer no inviável…

Eu tenho testemunhado milagres sutis em minha vida, por isso mesmo não vou deixar de crer mais uma vez…

vamos crer juntos então?

 I love you Lord, above everything You are GOOD!

Você sabe o que deve fazer

 

Ontem participei de uma reunião para garotas. E quando o assunto é relacionamento você encontra todos os tipos de histórias e, na mesma medida, dúvidas e confusões.

O fato é, quando nos envolvemos emocionalmente, nosso juízo parece ser abalado. Somos capazes dos atos mais insensatos, tolos e estúpidos. Uma decisão que tem uma resposta tão clara e simples se torna um bicho de 7 cabeças. No fundo você sabe exatamente o que deve fazer, mas tenta achar alguma justificativa que dê respaldo ao caminho torto que a sua própria carne quer trilhar. Daí surgem as confusões. As duplas interpretações da verdade. Cada qual tentando achar um meio de se satisfazer e ao mesmo tempo permanecer tecnicamente dentro da Palavra.

Digo isso porque um dia eu também perdi o juízo e tentei permanecer dentro dos limites permitidos de uma maneira insana…a terra firme apenas sustentava os meus pés pendurados à beira do precipício. Tecnicamente eu tinha os meus pés no chão! Mas enganava a mim mesma para me permitir aproveitar os dois lados da moeda. A emoção que a aventura traz e a segurança que a terra firme proporciona. É tão óbvio que uma pessoa com apenas uma ponta de terra firme sob seus pés está em apuros!

E assim perguntas se seguiam na animada reunião de moças…muitas pedindo por favor uma resposta favorável à sua questão: “Mas isso realmente é pecado?” …. “Mas se eu gostar muiito da pessoa, não muda alguma coisa??”

De repente ouço alguém ao meu lado me contando a revelação mais importante do dia:

“…e o meu juízo é justo pois não procuro agradar a mim mesmo, mas àquele que me enviou” (Jo.5:30)

Quer saber se você ainda conserva seu juízo intacto? Pergunte a si mesmo se a decisão que você deseja  tomar (ou já tomou) é somente para seu próprio agrado. Os nossos desejos tendem para nossa própria satisfação, você  nunca desejará perder, sofrer e se negar. Na maioria das vezes procuramos uma maneira de nos preservar da dor, tentando nos convencer de que aquele caminho mais agradável e fácil é também bíblico!     

Agrada-te do Senhor…e Ele promete satisfazer os desejos do teu coração. Satisfazer a si mesmo não é o seu papel. Deus quer que você deixe isso com Ele.

E não esqueça, por mais que você plante com lágrimas… o Deus que dá o crescimento, te fará colher com grande alegria! Confie e voluntariamente escolha o caminho estreito. Não é confortável, traz terrível incômodo, mas conduz à VIDA!

 

 

What´s my destiny?

by Josh Bradfield

 Do you ever feel like you are just standing still as your whole life passes you by? Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, the clock is moving but I am standing still. Seconds turn to minutes, minutes to hours, hours to days, days to weeks, weeks to months, months to years, and years turn into a lifetime. Can anything be worse than the feeling of missing out on one’s own destiny? Is there anything worse than not even knowing what our destiny is or where on this earth we belong? Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes, “For who knows what is good for a man during the few years of his futile life?” I know what God desires of all His children, but discovering what He has uniquely planned for me has been a lifelong quest. It is alarming to me how quickly the past 4 years have gone by. Who knows how many years I have left? Let’s face the sobering facts. Life is short, so we better make the most of our time here on this earth.

So far in my 27 years of existance I have tasted just enough of God’s glory to know that I can’t live without it. A good job and a Sunday religion will never satisfy my thirst. Not even a mediocre ministry will satisfy my thirst. Even when the Lord blesses me with a beautiful wife, she will not be able to satisfy the longing in my soul for something real. Something extraordinary that makes all of heaven smile, and makes all of hell weep. I long to be a world changer. We all have desires that were put in us, whether it was put in us by God, or a worldly ambition springing from the fleshly nature. Allow me to be transparent enough to share some of my own.

To travel the world and joyfully worship God with people who are so passionate about Jesus that it’s contageous. To minister the gospel with the annointing of the Holy Spirit who changes lives. To be free from the sins that so easily entangle us. And to marry a godly woman and raise children who have the same drive to serve the Lord as I do. 

Sounds good right? So what’s preventing these things from taking place? As I’ve poured out my heart to God with tears seeking an answer, I can’t get away from this scripture. “Seek ye first His kingdom and His righteousness. (Matthew 6:33a) To “seek His kingdom” means to lay aside the cares of this world for the purpose of making disciples, and to seek His righteousness means to BE a disciple (one who follows Christ). Another scripture says “in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” Have I been doing this everyday? Then we read in the first part of Romans 12 where it says “present your body as a living and holy acceptable sacrifice to God which is your spiritual act of worship. And do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by renewing your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good, acceptible, and perfect.”

I’ve come to realize that renewing one’s mind involves far more than just changing the channel to a more wholesome thought whenever the enemy puts an evil one in our minds. To renew your mind is to totally transform your entire way of thinking. All our lives we have been prone to thinking of ourselves first, and yet all through scripture we see that God requires us to put ourselves last! We’ve got to get to the place where we have absolutely no will of our own, but only God’s desires matter to us. This is the most difficult part of being a radical, spirit-filled Christian. Only through much prayer, fasting, desperation and hunger will God ever do this work in us that we can never do in ourselves. It’s easy to worship God with thanksgiving for all that He has done for us. And it feels great to sing praises to Him when the music is just the way we like it. But when it comes to the subject of “dying to self” we don’t get too excited. If you’ve truly given your life to Jesus then He has free reign in every area. We can no longer refer to anything as ours. When it comes to money, our attitude should be, “this is God’s money and I am just a steward of it. Lord show me what You want me to do with Your money.” The same principle also applies for time. Our life is time! How dare we refuse to allow the Holy Spirit to interfere with our schedule.

Could this be why so many of us (includung me) have seemingly been running on a treadmill in life while only the spiritually elite finish the race and take home the prize that God intended for all of His children to win? Chances are, we can all relate to the apostal Paul when he says, “The good that I want to do, I do not do. And the evil that I do not want to do, that I do.” We know from scripture that Paul was a very faithful servant of the Lord. So he was not describing his lifestyle, but only his tendency in the fleshly nature which he claimed to have no confidence in even though he had more reasons to put confidence in the flesh than anyone else he knew of. The key then is getting out of self (the flesh), and into Jesus (the spirit) every moment of everyday. My inconsistancy has probably held me back from my destiny more than anything. I realize now more than ever that the key to being consistantly on-fire for God has everything to do with the way we spend our time and our recourses. The bible says in Galatians 6, “Those who sew to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but those who sew to the spirit shall of the spirit reap eternal life.”

To often we make excuses like “I’m too tired,” or “I’m to busy,” or “I deserve this.” And so we continue spending whatever time and money we have on things that have absolutely no eternal value. It is this apathy and lathargic spirit that fuels our cravings for worldly pleasure, robs us of our hunger for God, and opens us up to all kinds of attacks from the enemy. A person in this state doesn’t think that a little sin is such a big deal. Those who sew to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. So on we go through life waisting precious years given to us by God to bear fruit while everyday sinners are dying without a saviour.

We’ve always been a people who like to save the best for last. For example, whenever we give somebody instructions we usually say the most important thing last so that the person hearing us will most likely remember it. Jesus was no exception when the last command that came from His mouth was “Go into all the world and preach the gospel, making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19,20a)

This is the job that He has commissioned us to do. It is not a duty, but a privlage to serve our Creator and King who loves us more than we can even imagine. This is the Saviour who suffered 39 lashes and a horrible death on a cross to take the punishment that we deserved for sinning. He took our sins upon Himself so that we could have His righteousness (right standing with God) if only we turn from our sins and trust in Him. I don’t want to be like those who Jesus rebuked when He said, “Rightly did Isaiah prophecy about you saying these people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” Jesus also said that if we love Him we will keep His commandments. How sad it is that so few people can even name the basic 10 commandments, let alone follow them. And let’s not forget that He also said “as many as are led by the spirit of God, these are the sons of God.”

I desperately want to hear His voice and be led by His spirit. Without being led by His spirit I can never walk in my destiny or accomplish anything significant for the kingdom of God, and my life will be empty and void. As the christian rock band “Skillet” sings, “I don’t want to live my life dying on the inside… Your love is better than life.” I am in total agreement. The bible says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” When we surrender our lives to Him, His desires become our desires. So I know that my desires are pure. Now it’s just a matter of daily living out everything that I have hereby written to encourage myself and others like me to press on towards the goal of our calling, running with endurance the race set before us that we may recieve the prize.

God, may I never settle for an ordinary life. Help me redeem the time that I have waisted.