NEEDS
Christian psychiatrists say people have seven basic needs: Significance, Security, Acceptance, Love, Praise, Discipline, and the Lord!
As long as I have a want, I have a reason for living. Satisfaction is death.
—George Bernard Shaw
NEUROSES
A normal person is one who thinks two plus two are four and accepts it.
A psychotic person is one who thinks two plus two are five and believes it.
A neurotic person is one who thinks two plus two are four and it bothers him.
NEW BIRTH
Dear Abby:
“Please explain in simple, pool-hall language what it means to be born again.” B. H. Carlton.
She answered, “That means they have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and have put their faith and trust in Him.”
A man noticed one morning that his name was in the death column of the newspaper. In indignation he called the newspaper office and asked them why they put his name in the obituary column. The man on the other side of the line said, “Just a second. I’ll go see about it.” He came back and said, “Yes, you are right. We have made a mistake. But don’t worry. In the paper tomorrow we will put your name in the birth column.”
When we are saved our name is put out of the death column of the dead in sin, to the birth column of those who have been born again.
Once an Indian came to America and wanted to become a citizen of our country. First he said, “I will change my name.” But he was still an Indian. Then he renounced his form of dress, but he was still an Indian. Then he learned the language of America, but he still wasn’t an American citizen.
The only way he could be a true American was to have been born in America. So with the sinner. He can become a citizen of the heavenly family, a child of God, only by being born into it by faith in Jesus Christ.
NEW YEAR
Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) made five resolutions in his youth.
1. Live with all my might while I do live (he died at 55).
2. Never lose one moment of time, but improve it in the most profitable way possible.
3. Never do anything I should despise or think meanly of in another.
4. Never do anything out of revenge.
5. Never do anything which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life.
Dear Master, for this coming year
just one request I bring:
I do not pray for happiness,
Or any earthly thing—
I do not ask to understand
The way Thou leadest me,
But this I ask: Teach me to do
The thing that pleaseth Thee.
I want to know Thy guiding voice,
To walk with Thee each day.
Dear Master, make me swift to hear
And ready to obey.
And thus the year I now begin
A happy year will be—
If I am seeking just to do
The thing that pleaseth Thee.
Another year is dawning: Dear Father, let it be,
In working or in waiting, another year with Thee;
Another year of progress, another year of praise,
Another year of proving Thy presence all the days.
Another year of mercies, of faithfulness and grace,
Another year of gladness in the shining of Thy face;
Another year of leaning upon Thy loving breast.
Another year of trusting, of quiet, happy rest.
Another year of service, of witness for Thy love;
Another year of training for holier work above.
Another year is dawning: Dear Father, let it be,
On earth or else in heaven, another year for Thee.
—Francis Ridley Havergal
During the coming year, may you have …
Enough happiness to keep you sweet;
Enough trials to keep you strong;
Enough sorrow to keep you human;
Enough hope to keep you happy;
Enough failure to keep you humble;
Enough success to keep you eager;
Enough friends to give you comfort;
Enough faith and courage in yourself, your business, and your country to banish your depression;
Enough money to meet your needs;
Enough determination to make each day a better day than yesterday.
—Everett Melton Garrett
I know not what awaits me
As dawns another year;
The path untrod I cannot see,
Yet knows my heart no fear!
I know not whether long or short
My pilgrimage will be—
But I’ll daily praise my God in song
For all His love for me.
With joy I greet the year—
It cannot bring me ill
Since Christ my Lord is ever near,
My soul with peace to fill!
Recipe for a Happy New Year
I will:
Like Enoch—walk in daily fellowship with my Heavenly Father.
Like Abraham—trust implicitly in my God.
Like Job—be patient under all circumstances.
Like Joseph—turn my back on all seductive advances.
Like Moses—choose to suffer rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin.
Like Caleb and Joshua—refuse to be discouraged because of numbers.
Like Gideon—advance, even though my friends are few.
Like David—lift up my eyes to the hills from which comes my help.
Like Jehoshaphat—prepare my heart to seek the Lord.
Like Daniel—commune with God at all times and in all places.
Like Andrew—strive to lead others to Christ.
Like Stephen—manifest a forgiving spirit toward all who seek my hurt.
Like Paul—forget those things that are behind and press forward.
—Adapted from Gospel-Lite
NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS
Fifty-five percent of Americans keep their New Year’s resolutions for one month, 40 percent for six months, and 19 percent for two years.
NEW YORK
An executive was notified that he was being transferred from a Midwest office to New York. His small daughter, having lived all her short life where they were, was very unhappy about the move.
The night before the moving vans came she was saying her prayers. She went through the usual, “God bless Mommy and Daddy,” then added, “I guess I’d better tell you, too, God, that this is good-bye. I won’t be able to pray to you anymore—we’re moving to New York.”
—Bits & Pieces
NUTRITION
If you drop a slice of bread with jelly on it, it always lands jelly-side down. It’s God’s way of telling you that you shouldn’t snack between meals.
—Bits & Pieces
I’m all for yogurt, tofu, wheat germ, fish oil, and all those other good, healthy, nutritional things. But please, not while I’m eating.
—Bob Orben
An older man told a friend he didn’t like natural foods marked as having no preservatives, no artificial coloring, no additives, no starch, no sugar, no salt, no cholesterol, no fat. “Why not?” his friend asked. The older man answered, “Because at my age I need all the preservatives I can get.”