For God, who said, ‘let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.
Character Check Who needs me to communicate to them warmth and compassion?
In Business Terms It’s helpful to keep in touch with my humanity and to recognize that I talk a lot more than I do. I preach beyond what I am able to live. That gives me a sense of empathy and understanding with people who hear a lot more than they are able to perform, or are admonished to do more than they actually enact.
When I start from the level ground beneath the cross-acknowledging that we all are human and hold the treasure of the gospel in earthen vessels-I can be a much more creative motivator and actually talk about the distance between what we are and what we do.
My identification with people frees them to take the first step. When I see them not as recalcitrant children but as needy people who long to grow, I then have the ability to begin to touch their lives with Christ and help them bring themselves out of apathy.
—Lloyd John Ogilvie
Something to Think About I always prefer to believe the best of everybody—it saves so much trouble. – Rudyard Kipling
