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B Behavior
Aristides once described the early Christians in this way to Emperor Hadrian:
"They love one another. They never fail to help widows, they save orphans from those who would hurt them. If they have something they give freely to the man who has nothing; if they see a stranger, they take him home, and are happy, as though he were a real brother. They don't consider themselves brothers in the usual sense, but brothers instead through the Spirit, in God."
Would a casual observer be able to make the same radical remarks about Christians today?
Topics/Tags: Christians; Behavior; Brotherly love; Love
"No one's behavior is entirely his or her own business."
—Lloyd H. Ahlem
Source: "The Covenant Companion" (Dec. 1985). Christianity Today, Vol. 30, no. 2.
Topics/Tags: Accountability; Behavior
An often-told but unverified story from the life of Alexander the Great tells of a time a soldier in his army was brought before him for continual fighting with his fellow soldiers. The great general asked the soldier his name. The soldier replied, "Alexander." The general glared at the soldier with whom he shared the same name and responded, "Either change your behavior or change your name."
In the same way, bearing the name of Christ calls us to uphold and accept God's high standards.
Source: Life & Work Ventures, LifeWay Christian Resources, Winter 1998–99.
Topics/Tags: Jesus, the christ, name of; Name; Behavior
Sometimes, an unexpected insight can make us shift our outlook. Stephen Covey (The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) recalls a ride on a New York subway one Sunday morning. People sat quietly, reading, dozing, and resting. Suddenly, a man and his children entered the subway car. The noisy, running children changed the whole climate of the car.
Finally, Stephen Covey turned to the man and said, "Sir, your children are really disturbing a lot of people. I wonder if you couldn't control then a little more." The man replied softly, "Oh, you're right. I guess I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital where their mother died about an hour ago. I don't know what to think, and I guess they don't know how to handle it either."
This new insight into the man's situation gave Covey such a jolt that he says, "Suddenly, I saw things differently, and because I saw differently, I thought differently, I felt differently, I behaved differently."
__________
The resurrection of Jesus was the biggest "jolt" the world has ever known. How do you see, think, and behave differently because of that event?
Source: Rev. Edward Chinn, D.Min., Pastor, All Saints' Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Topics/Tags: Change; Resurrection; Perception; Behavior
"The New Age view has it that children commit antisocial acts not because of congenital spiritual imperfection, but because of either biological imperfections (e.g. bad genese, allergies, biochemical imbalances) or socio-familial forces (prime among which is the ubiquitous 'dysfunctional family'). In either case, the causative mechanism is beyond the child's control.
"The old-fashioned view has it that a child's potential for evil (not all, mind you, but part of every child's nature) can only be contained with liberal amounts of unconditional love and firm discipline. The New Age view posits that love is enough; further, that the misbehaving child needs not discipline, but understanding and 'help.'
"And so, because the New Age view has prevailed (albeit, in many individual instances, unwittingly), American children, by and large, have not been properly disciplined for more than a generation! They've been worshiped; at the least, treated with kid gloves. Instead of subduing the narcissistic impulse, adults have unleashed it. What today's child wants, he thinks he deserves."
—columnist John Rosemond, in The Nashville Tennessean, 6/11/1998.
Source: Proclaim!, Spring 1999, p. 34-35.
Topics/Tags: Children; Discipline; Punishment; Behavior
The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well.
—Joe Ancis
Source: The Quotation Center: http://www.cybernation.com/victory/quotations/
Topics/Tags: Behavior; Friendship; Imperfection; Fallenness
A mother was asked by her three children what she would like for her birthday. She answered, "Three well-behaved children." One of the children thought about her words for a moment and said, "Great! Then there will be six of us."
Bailey Smith, evangelist, speaking on Bill Clinton's admission of extramarital affairs:
"Our president said that his behavior was 'inappropriate.' Now, stirring your coffee with a steak knife is 'inappropriate.' Picking your nose at a wedding is 'inappropriate.' But perverted sexual behavior and sex outside of marriage isn't 'inappopriate'; it's SIN."
Source: Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary chapel address, 12/8/1998.
Topics/Tags: Sin; Repentance; Adultery; Behavior
One of the best ways to measure people is how they behave when something free is offered.
-- Ann Landers
Source: "Bits & Pieces," July 1999
Topics/Tags: Behavior; Gift; Human nature; Greed
Live your life in the manner that you would like your children to live theirs.
Source: "Bits & Pieces," July 1999
Browse By Topic B Behavior