A pawn is a game piece in chess. It is one of the eight small pieces that have the least value in the game of chess. When used to refer to a person, it implies that the individual is someone who does not have any real power, but is used by others to achieve something.

Luke chapter 16, the story of the rich man, tells of a pawn lost to the game of life. People in this game seek to get through without acknowledging God. They seek to build their kingdom with no thought of the last move. It’s about going to sleep here and waking up there. Losing was his reward for such a wasted life.

2 Timothy 2:15

Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that doesn’t need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Like the song says, “If you’re going to play the game, boy, you’d better learn to play it right.”

Give it some thought, Kenny.

Gary

How long do you have to listen to someone before you understand what they are saying? How many people are worth listening to? While you pretend to listen, are you thinking of what you are going to say between gale force winds? Do you believe there is nothing new that you haven’t heard before?

A lot depends on how you answer these questions. Does the Bible have anything to say? Glad you asked.

James 1:19 

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;

Proverbs 25:12 

Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold is a wise reprover to a listening ear.

Give it some thought.

Gary

God will make a way
Where there seems to be no way
He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for me

He will be my guide
Hold me closely to His side
With love and strength for each new day
He will make a way, He will make a way

By a roadway in the wilderness, He’ll lead me
And rivers in the desert will I see
Heaven and Earth will fade but His Word will still remain
And He will do something new today

Proverbs 3:5-6 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.

Psalm 119:105 

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Isaiah 30:21 

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.

My optometrist asks, “What can you see?”

I say, “Nothing.”

Then she begins adjusting lenses and asks, “Is this better?”

We do this till I say, “Yes.”

She controls my vision, not me. So it is with God.

Give it some thought.

Gary

The Inland Taipan (also known as, the Western Taipan) is the most venomous snake in the world. A single bite contains enough venom to kill at least 100 fully grown men and, if left untreated can kill within just 30 minutes.

There is, however, a more venomous snake than that and it is mentioned quite often in Scripture. 

Revelation 12:9

So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

2 Corinthians 11:3

But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Careful of what might come slithering into your life because it could be the end of you.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Otters “hold hands” while sleeping, so they don’t float away from each other.

Believers need to stay close because that is the way God designed us. No one is an island. Some believers look for any excuse to stay away from others. This can be a bad sign.

1 John 2:19

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

Hebrews 10:25

not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

Give it some thought and like the Beatles would sing, “I want to hold your hand.”

Gary

George Jones sang “He Stopped Loving Her Today “which became an instant hit in 1980. It was about a man who loved someone who wouldn’t love him in return. She had made the statement many times that she loved him, but that love evaporated. According to the song, only death ended his torment.

There is a love that the masses of humanity fall prey to and struggle with to the end. That illusion is the love for the world. You guessed it. The Bible addresses the subject.

1 John 2:15-17

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Give it some thought before George is right about another casualty of a love gone sour.

Gary

Flamingos are not pink. They are born grey; their diet of brine shrimp and blue-green algae contains a natural pink dye called canthaxanthin that makes their feathers pink. Flamingos in zoos often lost their coloring, until zoo keepers supplemented their diets.

People can often look at you and tell what kind of diet you’re on. That is also true spiritually.

Matt 7:16-18

You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 

Careful with that diet. Make sure it is Biblically-based. People will notice.

Give it some thought.

Gary