Pastor + Author
Is this exploitation of the poor? A saavy marketing campaign? A political statement? Or just plain cruel?
In the August 2008 issue of Vogue India, there is a controversial 16 page advertising campaign that uses the countries poor to sell products meant for the countries rich.
In the image below, you see a picture of a poor husband and wife marketing a $200 Burberry umbrella and an Etro handbag.
[Read more…] about exploiting the poor?
Laziness. We all feel it. We’ve all experienced it. It’s something that really isn’t that foreign to most of us. But why do we struggle with it so often? Some of us, due to our laziness, choose to go on the internet, watch tv or a movie, instead of doing what actually needs to get done. Others choose to sleep or go play sports instead of taking care of their responsibilities.
We all have times of laziness. But where does laziness originate from? Why is it so easy to be lazy?
The dictionary defines “lazy” as being “unwilling to work or use energy.”
My wife and I have an arrangement – If one of us cooks, then the other person has to clean up. As a result, there are often many times when I, full of laziness, don’t want to clean up even though it was my wife who cooked. However, just because I don’t want to clean up doesn’t mean that I don’t do it – I eventually get to it.
But one time when I was trying to coax my wife into cleaning the dishes, she came back with a statement that cut through my heart and is, when you think about it, pure genius. She said,
“Laziness is not a condition, it’s a choice.”
Perhaps the thing that separates greatness from mediocrity is a simple choice.
What choice are you making?
As you can see in this picture, my wife and I have a puppy – his name is Teddy and he’s almost 6 months old.
For the past couple of days, we have been babysitting Christina’s parent’s two dogs and it’s been fascinating to see the interaction between the three of them.
The most significant thing that my wife and I keep on noticing is the interplay between love and jealousy.
How often, as human beings, are we also like that?
What exactly is the relationship between love and jealousy?
I believe it’s a battle between our human/sinful nature and a life that is fully devoted to God.
“The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: …jealousy…But the fruit of the Spirit is love…Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:19-25)
Which side is winning in your life?
While listening to a sermon by John Piper, I was encouraged by the way he explained how he meditated on scripture. For in Psalm 19:14 it says, “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my redeemer.” And it also says in Psalm 119:11, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
As a result, when he would spend his daily time with God – reading scripture and praying – he would always strive to pick a verse that he could meditate on throughout the day. He would do that through memorizing the verse, repeating it, and praying through it in the course of the day.
I started doing it yesterday and it has been a great encouragement.
Yesterday I memorized Galatians 1:10 – “Am I now trying to win human approval or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
And today I memorized Galatians 2:20 – “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Lord, grant me the perseverance to continue this discipline so that I may meditate on your word always and hide your word in my heart.
Last Friday, I was sitting at a popular bagel restaurant for breakfast with one of the students in my youth group – it was the beginning of a one week internship that he wanted to do with me. Midway through our meal our waitress brings us this note telling us that some person wanted to give it to us. It seemed pretty random because we didn’t even know who it was. We thought it might have been someone who saw us pray before we ate. Anyway, we were grateful for the note and continued our meal and conversation. When we were getting ready to leave, I was wondering why our bill hadn’t come yet. I thought they might have forgotten about us (since we stayed for such a long time) so we got up and I was going to pay at the cash register. When I asked for the bill, the cashier told me that it was my lucky day because someone had already paid for us.
The person who left us the note must have paid for us!
Wow. That’s amazing.
But why? What motivated that person to bless us so anonymously?
Why can’t we all be more generous and loving like that anonymous person? If we were, I wonder what this world would look like?