“The world’s population nearly doubled between 1970 and 2010. Global population growth rates peaked around 1970 and have steadily declined since then – the main contribution to this decline is smaller family size.”

51% of the world population are “urbanites.” “The urban population reached over 50% for the first time in history in 2009.”

Here is what God said about population growth:

“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. . . .
Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it” (Gen 9:1, 7).

“I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

- Steve Jobs

“The goal of the church is never for one person to be equipped and empowered to lead as many people as possible to Christ. The goal is always for all of God’s people to be equipped and empowered to lead as many people as possible to Christ.”

- David Platt

“All humans have a Godward orientation. . . . Children are worshipers. Either they worship Jehovah or idols.”

“He is wither worshiping and serving and growing in understanding of the implications of who God is, or he is seeking to make sense of life without a relationship with God. . . . Part of the parent’s task is to shepherd him as a creature who worships, pointing him to the One who alone is worthy of his worship.”

“Since it is the Godward orientation of your child’s heart that determines his response to life, you may never conclude that his problems are simply a lack of maturity. Selfishness is not outgrown. Rebellion against authority is not outgrown. These things are not outgrown because they are not reflective of immaturity but rather of the idolatry of your child’s heart.”

- Tedd Tripp, Shepherding a Child’s Heart, 19, 21-23.

This last paragraph was especially striking to me. I so often hear the hope of parents that their self-centered children will one day “grow out of it.” A brief observations of adults would quickly dash this hope. The only real progress with adults is that they learn to put up a good front, being more shrewd and socially acceptable with their selfishness.

Tedd Tripp, Shepherding a Child’s Heart, xix.

“A person who regards everything as a burden cannot be a faithful servant of the Lord” (14).

“Every faithful servant of Christ buys up the moments, and when he is not outwardly engaged he is inwardly active, waiting on the Lord in real heart-exercise” (15).

John 4:35 – “The time to work is now, not some future date. ‘Lift up your eyes and look’ He said, indicating the kind of workman He needed—one who does not stand waiting for the work to come to him, but one who has eyes to see the work that is already waiting to be done. . . . Never put off till tomorrow what can be done today” (15-16).

“Diligence is primarily an inward matter and is not measured by outward busyness” (16).

“Oh, that we might awaken to the weightiness of our responsibility, the urgency of the need around us, and the fleeting nature of time! . . . Let us, as dying men, give ourselves with all our powers to the dying around us” (19).

“Balance is taking one strong biblical truth and letting it operate in tension with other biblical truths.”

- George Verwer

“Brother, it seems to me that you were too severe on your ignorant hearers. You should have followed the practice of the Apostles, and begun by giving them the milk of simpler teaching, and gradually nourished them with the word of God until they were capable of greater perfection and able to follow the loftier precepts of Christ.”

As a Bible teacher and a public speaking teacher, I value these words of wisdom. I rejoice when I see God’s truth being presented with a heart of love, compassion, and patience.

“If the iron is blunt,
and one does not sharpen the edge,
he must use more strength,
but wisdom help one to succeed.”

Ecclesiasts 10:10

“You, my God . . . are the most hidden from us and yet the most present amongst us, the most beautiful and yet the most strong, ever enduring and yet we cannot comprehend you. You are unchangeable and yet you change all things. You are never new, never old, and yet all things have new life from you. You are the unseen power that brings decline upon the proud. You are ever active, yet always at rest. You gather all things to yourself, though you suffer no need. . . . You grieve for wrong, but suffer no pain. You can be angry and serene. . . . You repay us what we deserve, and yet you owe nothing to any. . . . Can any man say enough when he speaks of you? Yet woe betide those who are silent about you!”

- Augustine, Confessions, 1.4