4. So far. . .
• Following God means
embracing uncertainty.
• Even though you don’t
know the whole route, you
usually know what the next
step is.
• Don’t stop half-way.
• God wants to bless your
socks off!
5. I will make you
into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your
name great, and
you will be a
blessing.
6. I will bless those who
bless you, and
whoever curses you I
will curse;
and you can keep this
blessing to yourself.
Genesis 12:2-3 (NIV)
7. I will bless those who
bless you, and
whoever curses you I
will curse;
and all peoples on
earth will be blessed
through you.
Genesis 12:2-3 (NIV)
8. I will make you
into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your
name great, and
you will be a
blessing.
11. If your first concern is
to look after yourself,
you’ll never find
yourself. But if you
forget about yourself
and look to me, you’ll
find both yourself and
me.
Matthew 10:39 (MSG)
12. Give away your life;
you’ll find life given back,
but not merely given
back—given back with
bonus and blessing.
Giving, not getting, is the
way. Generosity begets
generosity.
Luke 6:38 (MSG)
14. He had equal status
with God but didn't
think so much of
himself that he had
to cling to the
advantages of that
status no matter
what.
15. Not at all. When
the time came, he
set aside the
privileges of deity
and took on the
status of a slave,
became human!
16. Having become
human, he stayed
human. It was an
incredibly humbling
process. He didn't
claim special
privileges.
17. Instead, he lived a
selfless, obedient life
and then died a
selfless, obedient
death—and the worst
kind of death at that:
a crucifixion.
Philippians 2:5-8
(MSG)
18.
19. Those who had
expressed materialistic
aspirations as
freshmen—that is,
making money was
their primary goal—
were less satisfied with
their lives two decades
later.
20. Yet most people
still report that
“more money”
would definitely
enhance the
quality of their
lives.
21. Since 1967 an annual
study called the
American Freshman
Survey has probed
the attitudes and
plans of freshmen all
around the United
States.
22. In its last year—2005—
263,710 students at 385
colleges and universities
responded. A record high
number of freshmen, 71
percent, said it’s
important to be “very well
off financially,” compared
with 42 percent in 1967.
23. Said it’s important to be
“very well off financially.”
42 71
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
1967 2005
25. Strikingly, less than a
year after receiving the
potentially life-changing
news of winning the
lottery, they reported
being no more happy
than regular folks who
had not experienced
the sudden windfall.
26. Over the next few
years we found that
the happiest people
take pleasure in other
people’s successes
and show concern in
the face of others’
failures.
27. What scientific research
has recently
contributed to this
agelong principle is
evidence that practicing
acts of kindness is not
only good for the
recipient but also good
for the doer.
28. It may be ironic, but
being kind and
good, even when it’s
unpleasant or when
one expects or
receives nothing in
return, may also be in
the doer’s self-interest.
31. For example, we know
that happier people
are more likely to
describe themselves as
doing frequent
altruistic acts
(e.g., shopping for sick
friends or stopping to
help strangers),
32. to spend a greater
percentage of their time
helping others, and to
perform behaviors at
the office that go
beyond the call of duty
(e.g., helping colleagues
with work problems
despite their own heavy
workloads).
33. Kindness can jump-start
a cascade of positive
social consequences.
Helping others leads
people to like you, to
appreciate you, to offer
gratitude. It also may
lead people to
reciprocate in your
times of need.
34. Surveys of volunteers, for
example, show that
volunteering is associated
with diminished
depressive symptoms and
enhanced feelings of
happiness, self-
worth, mastery, and
personal control—a
“helper’s high.”
35. Toward the end of his
life, Aldous Huxley said, in a
lecture, “People often ask me
what is the most effective
technique for transforming
their life. It is a little
embarrassing that after years
and years of research and
experimentation, I have to say
that the best answer is—
36. Toward the end of his
life, Aldous Huxley said, in a
lecture, “People often ask me
what is the most effective
technique for transforming
their life. It is a little
embarrassing that after years
and years of research and
experimentation, I have to say
that the best answer is—
just be a little kinder.”
37. You can safely say—and
scientific research
confirms it—that kind
people are healthier and
live longer, are more
popular and
productive, have greater
success in business, and
are happier than others.
38. You are blessed
to be a blessing.
If you want to be
blessed, give
yourself to
blessing others.
So would Joe and Liz Page. Their battalion has a different objective—clothing for premature infants. They turn one of our church classrooms into a factory of volunteer seamstresses. The need for doll-sized wardrobes had never occurred to me. But then again, my children weren’t born weighing only three pounds. Joe and Liz make sure such kids have something to wear, even if they wear it to their own funerals.Lucado, M. (2010). Outlive your life: you were made to make a difference. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Ernstena is a pastor’s wife. Clara is a businesswoman. Jo Anne had just started a small relief organization. They traveled to Cambodia to encourage Jim-Lo, a missionary friend. He led them to a section of his city where the modern sex trade runs rampant. An estimated fifteen thousand girls were on sale. At the time more than a hundred thousand young women in Cambodia had been sold into forced prostitution. Jo Anne, Clara, Ernstena, and Jim-Lo looked into the faces of teen girls, even preteens, and could see a devastating story in each. They began to snap pictures until the sellers threatened to take the camera away. The Christians had no idea what to do but pray.The seedy avenue became their Upper Room. Lord, what do you want us to do? It’s so overwhelming. They wept.God heard their prayer and gave them their tools. Upon returning to the United States, Jo Anne wrote an article about the experience, which prompted a reader to send a great deal of money. With this gift the women formed an anti-trafficking ministry of World Hope International and provided housing for the young girls who were rescued or escaped from the brothels and sales stations. In just three years, four hundred children, ranging in age from two to fifteen, were rescued.When the U.S. State Department sponsored an event called “The Salute to the 21st Century Abolitionists,” they honored World Hope. They even asked one of the women to offer a prayer. The prayer that began on a Cambodian street continued in front of some of the most influential government officials in the world. Amazing what happens when we get out of our shells. Lucado, M. (2010). Outlive your life: you were made to make a difference. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Edith Hayes was a spry eighty-year-old with thinning white hair, a wiry five-foot frame, and an unquenchable compassion for South Florida’s cancer patients. I was fresh out of seminary in 1979 and sitting in an office of unpacked books when she walked in and introduced herself: “My name is Edith, and I help cancer patients.” She extended her hand. I offered a chair. She politely declined. “Too busy. You’ll see my team here at the church building every Tuesday morning. You’re welcome to come, but if you come, we’ll put you to work.”Her team, I came to learn, included a hundred or so silver-haired women who occupied themselves with the unglamorous concern of sore seepage. They made cancer wounds their mission, stitching together truckloads of disposable pads each Tuesday, then delivering them to patients throughout the week.Edith rented an alley apartment, lived on her late husband’s pension, wore glasses that magnified her pupils, and ducked applause like artillery fire. Lucado, M. (2010). Outlive your life: you were made to make a difference. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
