As we walked up to a woman, a friend asked me, “Gary, do you know who this is?”

I replied, “No. “

The friend added, “This is so-and-so.”

She was someone I hadn’t seen in fifty years. I looked at her more closely and asked, “So-and-so, are you in there?”  That was not an appropriate response on my part. Time changes everything and is oft cruel on the exterior.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Give it some thought and be careful with quick responses.

Gary

The movie “The Passion of the Christ” was a box-office hit, but Christ wasn’t the actor. It was another person trying to imitate Christ. This has been going on now for almost two thousand years. The fact that there are so many false Christs is astounding. However, Paul addressed it in the early church with the Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 11:3-4

But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

Paul was saying, “We have a problem here, Houston.”

The only way to be sure that the Christ you received, the Spirit that indwells you and the Gospel you embrace are the right ones is to check out the Scriptures.

Give it some careful consideration. There’s too much at stake to fall prey to the father of lies.

Gary

 Wife: I’ve just come back from the beauty parlor.

Husband: Was it closed?

Not a funny joke for everyone and can be very dangerous for others. However, I want you to consider the difference between outward beauty and inward beauty. Does the Bible address it? Glad you asked.

1 Peter 3:3-4

Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.

Sometimes you can’t improve on the outside, but we can all improve on the inside.

Give it some thought.

Gary

His mother died when he was eight. When he was a teenager, he took offense that his two friends, who were brothers, would give their mother a hard time. One day he couldn’t take it anymore and told them in no uncertain terms, “You have a mother and you should be thankful for her.”

Are you thankful for what you have that others don’t have? Let me mention a few things: salvation, the Holy Spirit, the promises of God’s Word, and heaven before you. Be a thankful believer. Others are watching.

Ephesians 5:20 

Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

1 Thessalonians 5:18 

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Throughout his ministry, Vance Havner lived and preached that a Christian should exhibit faithfulness to Jesus in all areas of life. He taught that the Christian should attend to, “the outliving of the in-living Christ.” Havner wrote, “To some, Christianity is an argument. To many, it is a performance. To a few, it is an experience.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Romans 12:2 

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

 Give it some thought.

Gary

Sometimes folks wonder why I quote those who have no connection to Christianity in order to teach spiritual truth. However, I believe some of my methods come from the Apostle Paul who under inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote the following, while confronting the Athenians’ concern about offending an unknown god:

Acts 17:28-29

for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. 

Some, although not Christians, have a vague but accurate knowledge of the Creator God.

Give it some consideration.

Gary

She called telling me she was from the pain management center in Maine. I asked her which town in Maine she was calling from. I was met with silence. I guess scammers based in India don’t know of various places in Maine. 

Scamming also goes on in religion and has a six-thousand-year history. Does the Bible address it? Glad you asked.

John 8:44 

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Genesis 3:4 

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.

Yes, he is still in business and has millions calling with his offering of a better life. Don’t get taken. Give it some thought.

Gary