Articles for tag: Honesty

Safety

By Jim Tune A word has been on my mind lately. I”ve been thinking about what it means for me personally, and as a preacher. The word: safety. I encountered the word in an excellent book, Crucial Conversations. “In order to speak honestly when honesty could easily offend others, we have to find a way to maintain safety,” the book says. “When it”s safe, you can say anything.” We often focus on the content of our conversations, but content isn”t usually what makes or breaks relationships. Safety is. Feeling safe allows us to talk about difficult things and to speak

Plausible Deniability

By Jim Tune In the United Kingdom, members of Parliament have long been allowed to bill taxpayers for the expense of maintaining a second home because they are required to spend time in both London and their home districts. The office responsible for deciding what was reasonable approved nearly every request. Consequently British members of Parliament (MPs) treated it like a big blank check. And because their expenses were hidden from the public, MPs thought they had it made, until a newspaper printed a leaked copy of those expense claims in 2009. Not surprisingly, the MPs had behaved abominably. Many

Lesson for Sept. 18, 2011: Teaching Values (Proverbs 10:1″“15:33)

This week”s treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson (for September 18) is written by Bruce Stoker, education minister with Memorial Church of Christ in Livonia, Michigan. ____________ Teaching Values (Proverbs 10:1–15:33) By Bruce Stoker As a Boy Scout, I learned orienteering skills for traveling through the wilderness safely and efficiently using a map and compass. We practiced our skills during many meetings and throughout our hometown, and eventually we decided we could handle a cross-country backpacking trip. So we plotted our destination, grabbed a topographical map and our compasses, and headed out for a weekend of hiking without trails.

The Most Important Plan

By Mark A. Taylor “If we”d confess more of our temptations, we”d have fewer sins to confess!” That observation from a Christian counselor several years ago has never left me. And it rang in my ears again as we prepared this week”s troubling lead articles for publication. Think what could have happened if only each Christian leader mentioned here had been honest with someone about his temptations. Reputations and ministries could have been saved. Whole lifetimes of heartbreak could have been prevented. Sin could have been avoided. But we hesitate to confess our temptations””let alone our sins””for two reasons. First

Meeting Jesus in Baggage Claim

By Jeff Walling Any baggage?” It seems an innocent question, but it”s one that has turned my life upside down over the last year. You hear it every time you fly. A gracious lady at the airline counter asks it with a smile, and there are few things better than being able to give a self-assured, “no way!” to that one. Flying with baggage is asking for a disaster. Take it from a guy who spent his first four days in Europe with two pairs of underwear. (As my kids say, “Too much information, Dad!”) I know the airlines do

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