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Paul wrote: ‘Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life’ (vv. 4-5). Jesus was insistent on this. After the resurrection, He appeared to some of His followers. He gave Peter a specific pastoral assignment that included great sacrifice. Peter responded by pointing at John and asking, ‘“Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to live until I come back, that is not your business. You follow me”’ (John 21:21-22 NCV). In other words, stay focused on your own assignment. A little boy named Adam wanted to be like his friend Bobby. Adam loved the way Bobby walked and talked. Bobby, however, wanted to be like Charlie. Something about Charlie’s stride and accent intrigued him. Charlie, on the other hand, was impressed with Danny. Charlie wanted to look and sound like him. Danny, of all things, had a hero as well: Adam. He wanted to be just like Adam. So, Adam was imitating Bobby, who was imitating Charlie, who was imitating Danny, who was imitating Adam. It turns out that all Adam needed to do was to be himself! You can learn from others, but you can only find joy and fulfilment in being who God created you to be. So stay in your own lane. Run your own race. Nothing good happens when you compare and compete. Furthermore, God will not evaluate and reward you according to the talents of others, but according to how faithful you were with the gifts He gave you. You are not responsible for the nature of your gifts, but for how you use them. © 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Whether you lead at home, in church, or in business, you’ll be called upon to make hard and unpopular decisions for the good of all concerned. This is particularly so for parents. Those who fear rejection or loss of a child’s affection often ‘go along to get along’. That’s a selfish decision, because you’re putting your own need to be loved and accepted above your child’s long-term need for structure and self-discipline. How far do you think your child will get in life without these things? Sadly, many parents are too insecure to discipline their children because they want to maintain their friendship. Since when did a parent’s role include being a friend? If mothers and fathers are honest, they’ll admit that they frequently say yes when they should say no to make up for the lack of time they spend with their kids. Of course, we know that an investment of quality time yields a better payoff in the long term than anything else a parent can do. Paradoxically, children will usually end up disrespecting or even resenting a parent who operates in that kind of insecurity because it leaves children emotionally underdeveloped and ill-equipped to handle the pressures and responsibilities of adulthood. By repeatedly giving in to your child, you are postponing their maturity. Sometimes what’s called for is tough love. Hence the Bible says, ‘Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.’ So seek God’s wisdom, guidance, and strength, and He will help you become the kind of parent your child needs. © 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

In his bestselling book, The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell defines the tipping point as ‘the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point’. It’s the moment when an idea, trend, or social behaviour passes the point of no return and gains acceptance. In the realm of physics, a tipping point is when an object is displaced from a stable state of equilibrium into a new state. In economics, it’s the point at which an emerging technology becomes the industry standard. In sociology, it’s when a quorum of people adopts a behaviour so that it reaches critical mass and goes viral. Spiritually speaking, the tipping point is when you believe without any reservation that God is for you. It’s the revelation that God doesn’t just love you, He likes you. He loves you enough to die for you, and He likes you enough to spend eternity with you. Yet some of us remain sceptical. We project our self-contempt onto God, assuming that He must be as angry with us as we are with ourselves. Or we fall into the performance-based trap of thinking that our behaviour determines God’s posture towards us – whether that is for or against. Listen: the fact that God is for you was proven at Calvary’s cross. Oswald Chambers wrote: ‘No power on earth or in hell can conquer the spirit of God in a human spirit.’ He said, ‘It is an inner unconquerableness.’ Religion is all about what you can do for God; Christianity is all about what Christ has done for you. But it starts with this all-important kernel of truth: ‘This I know…God is for me.’ © 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Loving relationships are a cornerstone of life. They are the foundation of Christ’s church and evidence that we have the love of God in our hearts. God places a big emphasis on how we relate to others, because our relationships impact every area of our lives: at home, at work, at church, at school, and during our everyday interactions. A relationship built on love, sensitivity, and respect can win an unsaved husband or wife to Christ. Peter wrote: ‘You wives must accept the authority of your husbands. Then, even if some refuse to obey the Good News, your godly lives will speak to them without any words. They will be won over by observing your pure and reverent lives’ (1 Peter 3:1-2 NLT). This is why Satan attacks our relationships so much. When relationships break down, it impacts the quality of our life. Medical science has proven that unresolved bitterness and unforgiveness are sources of sickness and depression. And just as God wants you to be healed physically, He wants you to experience His healing touch in your relationships as well. But you have a part to play. ‘Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behaviour. Instead, be kind to each other, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you’ (Ephesians 4:31-32 NLT). As you pray about your troubled relationship, make this confession: ‘Since God has forgiven me of all my sins, I will not hold unforgiveness against anyone. I release all bitterness and anger. Lord, I pray Your peace over the misunderstanding and hurtful area in this relationship. Amen.’ © 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

When he became campaign manager for President George Bush and chairman of the Republican National Committee, Lee Atwater had accomplished the two things he wanted to do by the time he was forty years of age. Then he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour. Shortly before he died, he wrote these sobering words: ‘I acquired more wealth, power and prestige than most. But you can acquire all you want and still feel empty. What power wouldn’t I trade for a little more time with my family? What price wouldn’t I pay for an evening with friends? It took a deadly illness to put me eye to eye with that truth, but it’s a truth that the country…can learn on my dime. I lie here in my bedroom, my face swollen from steroids, my body useless…The doctors still won’t answer that nagging question: how long do I have? Some nights I can’t go to sleep, so fearful am I that I will never wake up again. I’ve come a long way since the day I told President Bush that his “kinder, gentler” theme was a nice thought, but it wouldn’t win us any votes. I used to tell the President that he might be kinder and gentler, but I wasn’t going to be. How wrong I was. There is nothing more important in life than relationships, and nothing sweeter than the human touch.’ If you’re wise, your priorities in life will be God first, your family second, and your career third. ‘Teach us to realise the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.’ © 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

A series of illustrations in a popular magazine once depicted the life story of a ‘one-note musician’. From frame to frame, the tale revealed how the woman followed her daily routine of eating and sleeping until the time came for the evening concert. She carefully inspected her violin, took her seat, arranged her music, and tuned her instrument. First the conductor skilfully cued one group of musicians, then another, until finally her moment arrived. It was time for her one note to be played! The conductor turned to the violinist and signalled her to sound her note. She did, and then the moment was over. The orchestra played on, and the ‘one-note’ woman sat quietly through the rest of the concert – not with a sense of disappointment that she had played only one note, but with a sense of contentment that she had played her one note in tune, on time, and with all her ability. Jesus told the story of a business owner who gave three of his employees some talents of silver to be invested on his behalf. One was given five talents, another two talents, and another one talent, ‘to each according to his own ability’ (Matthew 25:15 NKJV). The Bible says we will be rewarded in heaven for our service to Christ here on earth. How will God decide what your reward should be? Jesus said it’s ‘to each according to his own ability.’ Or as Solomon put it, ‘Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.’ In other words, do the best you can with what God gave you. © 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Every experience in our past has prepared us for some future opportunity. God doesn’t redeem only our souls; He also redeems our experiences, both good and bad. He does it by refining our character, developing our gifts, and teaching lessons that we can’t learn any other way. We learn the most important lessons in the classroom of life through first-hand experience. The tests are challenging, but no curriculum is more effective. And how you pass the test is by growing in character, developing the gift, or learning the lesson God is trying to teach you through that experience. God is at work in your life. He is helping you get ready for your date with destiny. And He is doing it in ways that are practically imperceptible. David realised that slaying the lion and the bear prepared him to bring down Goliath. And it’s not until you face your biggest challenge that God identifies how, when, and where He prepared you. That’s when you realise that the battle was won long before you stood on the battlefield. It was necessary for Moses to tend sheep for forty years before he could lead the flock of Israel. The disciples had to fish for fish before they could fish for men. A time of preparation precedes every divine appointment. And if we surrender to the preparation, God will execute His promise. If we don’t, He won’t. This is because God never sets us up to fail. The time you spend in the shadows is preparing you for the time when you will be in the limelight. The time you spend on the sidelines is preparing you to be on the front lines – and win.

Peter describes the life of Jesus in these words: ‘Who went about doing good’ (Acts 10:38 NKJV). So, becoming more Christlike means looking for opportunities to do good. An anonymous author wrote: ‘When people are unreasonable, illogical, self-centred, and arrogant, love them anyway. When people insist that your goodness contains selfish motives, do good anyway. If you are successful, you will win both false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest, some will seek to twist your words against you. Be honest anyway. If you do good today, some may forget it by tomorrow. Do good anyway. If you show yourself to be a big person with big ideas, don’t be surprised if you are opposed by small people with small minds. Think big anyway. What you have spent years building, some may seek to destroy overnight. Build anyway.’ President Theodore Roosevelt said: ‘It is not the critic who counts; not the man [or woman] who points out…where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man [or woman] who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes up short again and again…who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself [or herself] in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst…at least fails while daring greatly, so that his [or her] place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.’ So, look for opportunities to do good. © 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Here are two stories from history that illustrate how the power of your words can affect others: 1) One day an altar boy was serving the priest at a mass at the country church in his small village. The boy, nervous in his new role, accidentally dropped the cruet of wine. The priest struck him sharply on the cheek. Then in a gruff voice the congregation could hear, he shouted, ‘Leave the altar and don’t come back!’ That boy became Marshall Tito, the Communist dictator who ruled Yugoslavia with cruelty for decades. 2) One day in a large city cathedral another boy was serving a bishop at Sunday mass. He also accidentally dropped the cruet of wine. The bishop turned to him, but rather than responding in anger, he gently whispered with a warm twinkle in his eyes, ‘Someday you will be a great priest.’ And he was. That boy grew up to become Archbishop Fulton Sheen, whose weekly televised sermons were heard by millions across America each week. Your words have the power to build up or tear down, enlighten or confuse, bring peace or cause division. The childhood phrase, ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me,’ simply isn’t true. Your words can hurt. They can wound – sometimes deeply. But they can also build self-esteem, create friendship, give hope, render blessing, and bring healing: ‘Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones’ (Proverbs 16:24 NASB). So, pray like David: ‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD’ (Psalm 19:14 NKJV). © 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Of 150 psalms recorded in the Bible, the dominant recurring theme is ‘praise the Lord’! The book is like a memo from psalmists that says, ‘Today be sure to praise the Lord.’ In Psalm 34, David writes: ‘I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; the humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together’ (Psalm 34:1-3 NKJV). In Psalm 113:1-3, the psalmist writes: ‘Praise ye the LORD. Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD. Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD’s name is to be praised’ (KJV). In Psalm 118:24, the psalmist says, ‘This is the day which the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it’ (NKJV). In Psalm 119:164, the psalmist says, ‘Seven times a day do I praise thee’ (KJV). We have coffee and tea breaks; they had praise breaks. Finally we arrive at Psalm 150, the last psalm. In verse 6, the last verse of the last psalm, we are reminded again, ‘Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD’ (KJV). That means as long as you are alive and breathing, you’re to praise the Lord. So whatever else you do, or fail to do today, be sure to praise the Lord. © 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Before Jesus left this earth, He told His disciples, ‘The works that I do [you] will do also’ (John 14:12 NKJV). And they did. ‘Through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done… so that they brought the sick out into the streets… that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people… and they were all healed’ (Acts 5:12, 15-16 NKJV). Someone may say, ‘Oh, that was only in the beginning of Acts, for the purpose of confirming their word regarding Christ’s resurrection.’ Then let’s turn to the last chapter in the book of Acts and read what was happening in the church thirty years later. ‘In that region there was an estate of the leading citizen of the island, whose name was Publius, who received us and entertained us courteously for three days. And it happened that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. Paul went in to him and prayed, and he laid his hands on him and healed him. So when this was done, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed’ (Acts 28:7-9 NKJV). The New Testament church was following one of the last instructions Jesus gave His apostles before returning to heaven: ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature…And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name…they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover’ (Mark 16:15, 17-18 NKJV). That means you can pray in faith, and believe God for healing. © 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Juan grew up in Puerto Rico, the son of a sugarcane plantation foreman. One of a family of eight, he lived in a three-room shack with a dirt floor and no toilet. His first job, at age six, was driving oxen to plough the cane fields. He worked eight hours a day and earned one dollar. Juan said it was in the cane fields that he learned important lessons like being on time, work hard, and be loyal and respectful to your employers. His job and small income were a great source of self-esteem. At age seven he got a job at a golf course spotting balls for golfers, and he began to dream of playing golf and earning enough money to buy a bicycle. The more he dreamed, the more he thought, ‘Why not?’ He made a golf club out of a guava limb and a piece of pipe, then hammered an empty tin can into a ball. Next, he dug two small holes in the ground and hit the ball back and forth between them. He practised his ‘golf’ with the same intensity he put into his job in the cane field, and he got good – very good. In his thirty-one years as a pro golfer, Juan ‘Chi Chi’ Rodríguez won eight PGA tour events and twenty-four major tournaments, and he was the first Puerto Rican to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. What can we learn from him? Two things: 1) Be willing to start small. The Bible says, ‘Do not despise…small beginnings.’ 2) Be willing to think big because you serve a big God (see Ephesians 3:20). © 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

In 1881, shortly after Booker T. Washington became head of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama that trained schoolteachers, he was walking past the house of a wealthy family. Assuming that Washington was one of the yard workers her husband had hired, the woman of the house asked him if he would chop some wood for her. Professor Washington smiled, nodded, took off his coat, and chopped the wood. When he carried the armload of wood into the woman’s kitchen, a servant girl recognised him and rushed to her mistress to tell her of his identity. The next morning the woman appeared in Washington’s office. Apologising profusely, she said repeatedly, ‘I did not know it was you I put to work.’ Washington replied with generosity, ‘It’s entirely alright, madam. I like to work, and I’m delighted to do favours for my friends.’ The woman was so taken with his manner and his willingness to forgive that she gave generous gifts to the institute. She also persuaded many of her wealthy friends and acquaintances to do likewise. In the end, Washington raised as much money for the institute from this one act of chopping wood as he did from many other fundraising events. The Bible says, ‘Through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself”’ (vv. 13-14 NKJV). What can we learn from Booker T. Washington? Two things: 1) Every seed of kindness you sow brings an eventual harvest of blessing into your life. 2) The way to get ahead in life is to love and to serve others. © 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

In the early 1950s, Irwin W. Rosenberg, a junior US naval officer, was discharged from military service after he was diagnosed with cancer – standard military procedure at the time. The loss of his job was quite a blow, but he was determined to get back both his health and his job. With faith and determination, he battled the disease that tried to take over his body. At one point he was given only two weeks to live, but eventually his cancer was brought under control. Irwin then focused his attention on his desire to become a naval officer. He discovered, however, that regulations forbade reinstatement of a person discharged with cancer. Everyone told Irwin, ‘Give up. It would take an act of Congress to get you reinstated.’ That gave him an idea – he would pursue an act of Congress! After months of knocking on doors and jumping through legal hoops, President Truman signed into law a special bill that allowed Irwin to re-enlist in the navy. Then guess what happened? Irwin W. Rosenberg went on to become a rear admiral in the United States Seventh Fleet! The saying goes, ‘Where there is a will, there is a way.’ When you have a relentless faith, and your will lines up with God’s will, all things become possible. ‘Do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.’ © 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Some people think we’re not supposed to ask God for too much; otherwise, it’s selfish. But God wants you to ask. ‘You do not have because you do not ask.’ If you’re not asking – then you’re not releasing your faith. Jesus said, ‘According to your faith be it unto you’ (Matthew 9:29 KJV). You need to learn to pray bold prayers and expect and believe God for greater things. ‘Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession’ (Psalm 2:8 NKJV). That’s a bold prayer! But if God tells you to pray it, it’s because He is willing to answer it. You may have a dream in your heart but don’t see how it could ever happen. Jesus fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish. He is a God of multiplication. He can multiply your time and help you to get more done. He can multiply your wisdom and help you to make better decisions. He can multiply your finances: ‘May He who supplies seed to the sower…multiply the seed you have sown’ (2 Corinthians 9:10 NKJV). Instead of being satisfied with merely surviving, God wants you to thrive. A survival mentality will keep you from God’s best. Shake it off and say, ‘God, you promised that what was meant for my harm, you would use to my advantage (see Romans 8:28). I may have been through the fire, the famine, and the flood, but I know it’s my time of favour. It’s my time to see more of your goodness in my life.’ Believe God for greater things. © 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.