Category Principal’s Message

Ancient Roman writer Marcus Tullus Cicero said, ‘Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief.’ The fact is, it’s impossible to have more than a few close friends because true friendship takes time, attention, and commitment. ‘One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother’ (Proverbs 18:24 NIV). The hallmarks of real friendship include these:

1) Trust. American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: ‘The glory of friendship is not in the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him.’

When you feel anxious and afraid, here are two things you should do:

1) Find a ‘faith friend’. When anxiety grabs your mind, one of the most powerful ways to break the worry spiral is to disclose it to a ‘faith friend’. When Israel went out to occupy the promised land, here is what God said to them: ‘Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too’ (Deuteronomy 20:8 NIV). Pessimism, fright, and discouragement are contagious. And so is courage!

The only way to keep improving is to keep practising. If you desire to grow in a particular area, figure out what it will really take, including the price, and then determine to pay it. David didn’t suddenly discover his talent as a harpist when he arrived at King Saul’s palace. He developed it through years of practice on lonely hillsides while tending his father’s sheep. Paul instructed Timothy: ‘Till I come, give attention to reading … Do not neglect the gift that is in you … Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all’ (1 Timothy 4:13-15 NKJV). When you’re through growing – you’re through. Progress, success, and growth don’t happen by osmosis, they demand discipline. There is no easy way to become a disciplined person. The reason last year’s winner was this year’s runner-up is because one was willing to go the extra mile when it came to practice and discipline, and the other wasn’t. Anyone who does what he or she must do only when they’re in the mood or when it’s convenient will get left behind. Improvement comes through discipline. A disciplined person doesn’t make excuses or accept excuses; they eliminate excuses. As French classical writer François de La Rochefoucauld said, ‘Almost all our faults are more pardonable than the methods we think up to hide them.’ If you have several reasons why you can’t be disciplined, realise they’re just a bunch of excuses – all of which need to be challenged if you want to succeed in what God has called you to do.

Hopefully, by now, you are convinced that the power that comes from meditating on God’s Word is a power you need in your life. But maybe you’re a beginner, and you need a starting point. You’re thinking, ‘Yes, I know I need to spend more time meditating on God’s Word, but how do I do it?

Devotion Term 4, Week 8 ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.’ Perhaps you memorised Psalm 23 as a child. The vivid visual images remain with us lifelong. Author Hannah Whitall Smith said, ‘What we all need is just…