It would be kinda embarrassing trying to explain what an appetizer is to someone from a starving country.  “Yeah, the appetizer, that’s the food we eat before we have our food…No, no, you’re thinking of dessert; that’s food we eat after we have our food.
~ Jim Gaffigan

Interesting that Scripture teaches that there is something worse than human hunger. The point is made in Amos 8:11-12.

Amos 8:11-12

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God,
“when I will send a famine on the land—
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord.

They shall wander from sea to sea,
and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord,
but they shall not find it.

We’re not there yet, but it can be seen on the horizon.

Give it some thought.

Gary

My wife said, “What do you mean God is calling you into the ministry? You don’t want to study now.” She was right. I didn’t like studying. However, I knew I was called and studying would be a big part of my future. I still don’t like to study, but I have to because it is commanded of me.

2 Timothy 2:15

Study to shew yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 

Joshua 1:8

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Studying is work and seldom fun, but the rewards are eternal.

Give it some thought and dive in.

Gary

They say such nice things about people at their funerals that it makes me sad to realize that I’m going to miss mine by just a few days.
~ Garrison Keillor

Garrison knew humor, but there was a thread of truth in his comic side. When we’re alive, people remember the situations we messed up on. However, at the funeral they only want to capitalize on the bright side.

God didn’t do that. Here’s what He had to say about some kings of Israel:

1 Kings 16:25

Omri did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did more evil than all who were before him.

1 Kings 21:25

There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited.

I’m not concerned about what the preacher will say about my demise, but what God has to say.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Lady Astor to Winston Churchill “If you were my husband, I’d put poison in your coffee.”
To which Winston Churchill replied “Madam, if I were your husband, I would drink it.”

Winston had a real sense of dry humor and alcohol seemed to fan it. The tongue can be a sharp instrument for evil or for good. It depends on the condition of the deliverer.

Ephesians 4:29 

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 

Proverbs 18:21 

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

Give it some thought the next time you blurt out something.

Gary

We are all carrying something we wish would go away. There are things that stick to us like walking through a field of burdocks that cling to our clothing.

The regrets of life:

• I should have spent more time with family.
• I should have dumped that friendship.
• I should have secured that friendship.
• I should have listened to my doctor.
• I should have spoken up at the time.
• I should not have sweated the small stuff.

You can add to the list.

Instead of the all-too-familiar notion of living a life with no regrets, what if we embraced them? What if we used the past as a guide for better living?

Does the Bible address that? Glad you asked.

Philippians 3:13-14

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Aren’t you glad that first date didn’t amount to anything?

Give it some thought.

Gary

From Mongolian folklore comes this helpful little fable of the boastful frog.

   Two geese were about to start southward on their annual autumn migration, when they were entreated by a frog to take him with them. On the geese expressing their willingness to do so if a means of conveyance could be devised, the frog produced a long stalk of grass, got the two geese to take it one by each end, while he clung to it by his mouth in the middle. In this manner the three were making their journey when they were noticed from below by some men.

   The men loudly expressed their admiration for the device and wondered who had been clever enough to discover it. Whereupon the vainglorious frog opened his mouth to say, “It was I,” lost his hold, fell to the earth, and was dashed to pieces.

   Moral: When you have a good thing going, keep your mouth shut!

Proverbs 27:2

Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth;
an outsider, and not your own lips.

Watch your mouth and give it some thought.

Gary

“All that glitters is not gold” is an aphorism stating that not everything that looks precious or true turns out to be so. William Shakespeare coined the phrase sometime around the 12th century. Billy nailed that one, but the Bible mentions the principle thousands of years before Billy’s mother had birth pains because of his arrival.

Proverbs 8:19

My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver.

 Psalm 119:127

Therefore, I love Your commandments above gold, above fine gold.

Acts 3:6

But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”

Does it glitter? Is it gold or is it fool’s gold?

Give it some thought.

Gary