Respect

"If they respect you, respect them. If they disrespect you, still respect them. Do not allow the actions of others to decrease your good manners, because you represent yourself, not others." -Mohammad Zeyara

Satisfaction

‎"The birds of the air and the beasts of the earth and the fishes of the sea are satisfied when they have enough food for themselves. But since man is not satisfied with the things of this world and always longs for others, it is clear that he was not made primarily for them but for others. For the body was made for the sake of the soul, and this world for the sake of the other world" - St. Giles

Complaining

"Don’t wear a cross around your neck if all you’re going to do is complain about the one on your back. Prayer is where the cross changes shoulders." -sermoveritas

Men

"St. Joseph is the prime example of a man. All because he has the fear of the Lord. He loved his family so much, that he was willing to die for them. He was quiet, and the Bible didn't have much to say about him. But that's because a real man doesn't need to be bragged about." -via Annie Au

Simplicity

"Pray, Hope and Don't Worry." -Padre Pio

Why Complicate Life?

Missing somebody? ... Call
Wanna meet up? ... Invite
Wanna be understood? ... Explain
Have questions? ... Ask
Don't like something? ... Say it
Like something? ... State it
Want something? ... Ask for it
Love someone? ... Tell them

Women

"Satan fell because of his beauty. Now his heart for revenge is to assault beauty. He destroys it in the natural world wherever he can. He wreaks destruction on the glory of God in the earth like a psychopath committed to destroying great works of art. But most especially, he hates Eve. Because she is captivating, uniquely glorious, and he cannot be. She is the incarnation of the Beauty of God. More than anything else in all creation, she allures the world to God. Satan hates it with a jealousy we can only imagine. And there is more. The evil one also hates Eve because she gives life. Put those two together—that Eve incarnates the Beauty of God and she gives life to the world. Satan’s bitter heart cannot bear it." -John and Stasi Eldredge, Captivating

Success

"Success is peace of mind that comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming. No one can do more." -John Wooden

"When success is defined as being one's best rather than competing with others, people can focus on and enjoy their own improvement and accomplishments...they are more likely to experience intrinsic motivation and enjoyment of the activity. They also persist in the face of difficulties, select challenging goals, and exert maximum effort." -Dweck, 1999; McArdle & Duda, 2002

"If you make winning basketball games a life-or-death situation, you're going to have problems. For one thing, you'll be dead a lot." -Dean Smith

"For an ego-approach person, experiencing personal improvement or knowing that one did his or her 'best' would not in itself occasion feelings of success or competence. Indeed, knowing that one tried hard and failed to outperform others would cause an ego-oriented person to feel especially incompetent. If ego-oriented people begin to question their ability to compete successfully with others, they are more likely to reduce persistence and avoid the challenge at hand." -Nicholls, 1989

Religion

Jesus did not die to give us religion, He died to give us love.

Perfection

"I’m perfect? Imperfect rather. The only way to be perfect is to take away the “im”, or “I’m.” Human beings are imperfect, and it is only once we take away ourselves, and realize it is only by Him, that we can begin to seek perfection. That perfection is not found in “I” but in Him. By taking away the “I am” or “I’m” or rather, by completely giving ourselves, and realizing our frailty as human beings, are we able to truly seek perfection. Let us remember it is not us who are perfect, it is only He. And perfection is found when we empty ourselves of our own wants, our own desires, our ” ‘I’ this, and ‘I’ that.” It is only once we humble ourselves, and accept that we alone cannot attain perfection are we able to discover the perfect image He created us to be. It is through Him that we are to the find perfect happiness, fulfillment and content in our lives. I am a perfect image in His love, we are a perfect image in His love, do not taint this image with our pride by believing perfection is found in ourselves. Our Lord does want us to seek perfection, however the only perfection that is to be shown, is Himself within us. Let us rejoice and be glad, for although we are weak, by simply giving ourselves, He may illustrate us to this world, as the perfection that we are meant to be." -Isaac Guevera

Worship

"As worship begins in holy expectancy, true worship only ends in holy obedience. Holy obedience saves worship from becoming an opiate, an escape from the pressing needs of modern life." -Richard Foster

Be True from the Inside Out

Acts 1:1-11 / Eph 1:17-23 / Mk 16:15-20

Buried somewhere in our high school memories is a novel that was on everyone’s reading list, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. It’s the story of a pious young puritan clergyman who becomes secretly involved with a beautiful young woman, Hester Prynne. Nature takes its course and the woman gives birth to a child. But no father is in evidence, and no marriage vows have been pronounced. So the tight little Puritan village in which she lives labels her “adulteress,” and casts her out of church and friendship and out of all kindly contact. She is alone, with the scarlet letter “A” sewn upon her dress.

Meanwhile, her secret lover, the Reverend Dimmesdale, continues to rise in the esteem of his people. From far and wide they come to marvel at the purity of his soul, and to listen to his beautiful words. But he has no words for Hester and no embrace for his fatherless child. The years pass. Hester and her child survive — alone. But Dimmesdale slowly crumples from within, crushed by the weight of the lie he is living. At the height of his career he is dying. At the very last moment — with the whole town gathered round — he takes Hester to himself and for the first time embraces his little child. Then he dies.

And what moral are we to take from this long, sad story? Hawthorne sums it up in two words — which he repeats three times: “Be true. Be true. Be true.”

I wonder if that isn’t the essence of Jesus’ last words to us before ascending to heaven. “Go out to the whole world,” he says to us all, “and tell the good news.” Now in its literal sense, telling means using words, talking. And who can deny that talking is important if we want to share good news? But talk is cheap; and, as Dimmesdale reminds us, it always has been. So if we have any hope of following Jesus’ command to proclaim the good news, we’re going to have to do a lot more than talk, a lot more than just tell the truth. We’re going to have to be true. Be true on the inside. And from that truthfulness on the inside will spring forth not only words that are true, but deeds that are true. Deeds that, in their rightness and goodness, shout to the whole world what really matters, deeds that proclaim to the whole world that God is here, living in the hearts of his people.

God has given us an immense mission, telling his good news to all the world. So we truly need to pray for one another:

May God help us become true on the inside, so that every word and deed of ours may speak his good news till that day when he will speak it to us all face to face. Amen.

-via Kuya Gelo

Please

"I still try to please people around me too much and often times, I lose focus on who I am TRULY supposed to please. I get caught up too often in what other people think and spend less time asking God what He thinks." -man-of-god

Hypocrisy

"If you like our Christ but not our Christians, then follow our Christ and not our Christians." -Josiah Terrence Prezkuta

Loving Correction

"It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends." -Albus Dumbledore

"For whom the Lord loves, He corrects." -Proverbs 3:12

Lent

"When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ¹⁷ But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." -Matthew 6:16-18

Charity

“Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. ² When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. ³ But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. ⁴ Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you." -Matthew 6:1-2

Beauty

"Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised." -Proverbs 31:30

"Beauty is transcendent. It is our most immediate experience of the eternal. Think of what it’s like to behold a gorgeous sunset, or the ocean at dawn. Remember the ending of a great story. We yearn to linger, to experience it in all our days. Sometimes the beauty is so deep it pierces us with longing. For what? For life as it was meant to be. Beauty reminds us of an Eden we have never known, but somehow our hearts were created for. Beauty speaks of heaven to come when all shall be beautiful. It haunts us with eternity. Beauty says, there is a glory calling you. And if there is glory, there is a source of glory. What great goodness could have possibly created all of this? What generosity gave us to this behold? Beauty draws us to God." -via Lorryzel Badajos

You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God." -1 Peter 3:4

Leaders

"The test of a preacher is that his congregation goes away saying, not ‘What a lovely sermon’ but, ‘I will do something!" -St. Francis de Sales

"God measures your leadership by how you serve, not by how many you serve." -via Katrin Licas

"And I would say this, too, if there are pastors listening to this: Pastors, your job is [to] set the tone in this regard in the church. I meet so many people who go to a church where their pastor has never openly said he’s done anything wrong. And that’s kind of an old school concept that we have in church that, “He’s our leader and therefore he’s infallible.” And the Bible just doesn’t teach that. It does teach that we [pastors] have to live up to certain standards (1 Timothy 3, Titus 1), but we are to lead and be the lead repenter and be transparent. Your church is either a safe place to be clean or it’s not. And I would put that burden upon whoever’s leading it. You lead the way. And if you find that your people aren’t coming to you regularly and they’re not interacting with each other and really being transparent about where they’re falling, then there’s a real problem there that probably starts with you.

“We set the tone as pastors when we don’t openly confess our sin and repent of it.”

I think a lot of times we dismiss too quickly the criticisms that non-Christians have of Christians. I think we should really listen more. Because oftentimes, even though they tend to be generalistic and stereotypical, they’re spot on. And I think if you went outside the studio today and talked to as many non-Christians as you could and said, “What do you think about Christians?” they would all probably throw out the word “hypocrite,” and there’s some truth in that. And I think that we set the tone as pastors when we don’t openly confess our sin and repent of it." -Mars Hill Church

Speech

"For whatever is in your heart determines what you say." -Matthew 12:34 (MSG)

“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”
- Proverbs 18:21

"When people think of war, they usually picture guns, bombs, artillery shells, and weapons of mass destruction. But almost every battle is started by words. Actions may speak louder than words, but words are also bullets than can kill as good as any gun. Proverbs 18:21 mentions that, “The tongue has the power of life and death.” The book of James compares the power of tongue to a fire: A great forest can be burned to the ground with just a small spark. The words we say, no matter how carelessly they were said, has the power to make or break a soul.

Jesus said, “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” - Matthew 12:36-37. However, He also said that those who use their tongue properly will “eat its fruit.” You can grow good stuff with your words by being uplifting and positive. If you speak loving and honest words, it’s like you’re walking around in a garden with rich soil and spitting watermelon seeds. Every time you spit a seed, you grow a watermelon. So will you grow a melon patch or just weeds? It depends on what you plant." -Lorryzel Badajos

Drunkenness

"People who drink to drown their sorrow should be told that sorrow knows how to swim." -Ann Landers

"The difference between men and pigs is that, pigs don't get drunk and act like men." -David Vickery