A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it.
~ Bob Hope

Many an individual will give some lip service or church attendance to God, but deep down they believe they are all right without Him. No real commitment is involved. However, here are some scary verses:

Romans 2:4

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

2 Timothy 2:25

in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth,

Hebrews 12:17

For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.

Speaking of “hope”, a relationship with Him gives real hope.

Think about it.

Gary

 “And as the ax bites into the wood, be comforted in the fact that the ache in your heart and the confusion in your soul means that you are still alive, still human, and still open to the beauty of the world, even though you have done nothing to deserve it.”

– Paul Harding

Where did we come from? What are we doing here? How did we last so long? What happens after this?

God speaks to David the King, revealing some answers to these questions:

2 Samuel 12:7-8

Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! 

God says I made you what you are today. Would God say the same of us?

Give it some thought.

Gary

A number of years ago two third-grade boys were sitting outside the principal’s office at Eagle Lake Elementary School. They were waiting for a hearing about some infraction against school policy. They knew they were both guilty and even Robert Shapiro and Johnnie Cochran couldn’t get them off. The principal overheard one say to the other, “I think it’s time to pray.”

Had they done exactly that before, they might have avoided this whole thing. Sounds like they had heard of prayer, just never made it part of their lives.

Philippians 4:6 

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Romans 8:26 

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

There is no excuse not to pray, especially if you know the Advocate.

Give it some thought.

Gary

I was in the last years of the draft lottery and my number was 283. All 366 possible birth dates were placed in plastic capsules in a rotating drum and were selected one by one. No one born on June 11, 1952, was drafted. Having three brothers and a sister who have served our country has haunted me. The fact that some born in 1952 died in Viet Nam also gives me pause. However, I remind myself that I didn’t do anything to stop myself from going in or staying out. It was the draw.

How do you explain these life events? Is it time and chance? Luck of the draw? Jupiter happens to align with Mars or something spiritual?

I have to balance that between two verses:

Matthew 5:45

that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Psalm 23:6

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Did you ever dream you were a sixth grader just getting to school and finding out there was a history test? You didn’t get the memo and now you are asking yourself, how can I wing it? Similar dreams have played in my head on many a night.  It could be about old school days or a sermon I had to wing because I wasn’t prepared. Dreams are not reality and I don’t understand the need for them. Freud thought dreams are repressed content, ideas or themes. He didn’t know either.

Unlike those recurring dreams, I desire to be always ready for what is expected of me. The Bible makes that very clear.

2 Timothy 2:15 

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

Forget the dreams, and don’t allow daydreaming to keep you from responsibility.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Her name was Candy and she was a little sheltie mix. I would have her on a leash if I was taking her to see a vet. Everything went well until I opened the door to the vet’s office. She could in one quick motion twist her head, throw off the collar the leash was connected to, and head back to the truck. She was thinking, “Something doesn’t smell right about this place.”

 “Does it pass the smell test?” is an idiomatic expression many are familiar with. Some say the phrase originally applied to checking the freshness of fish or other seafood simply by sniffing it.

It is also used by my translation of discernment that is found in Scripture:

Hebrews 5:14

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Proverbs 15:21

Folly is joy to him who is destitute of discernment, But a man of understanding walks uprightly.

Anosmia is the partial or full loss of smell. Do you suffer from it?

Give it some thought.

Gary

“What Have They Done to My Song, Ma” is a song written and performed by Melanie Safka. It was co-written by HM Saffer II, a notable American painter and musician who worked for Warner Brothers Productions. It was released in 1970.

Look what they done to my song ma
Look what they done to my song
Well it’s the only thing
That I could do half right
And it’s turning out all wrong ma
Look what they done to my song

Look what they done to my brain ma
Look what they done to my brain
Well they picked it like a chicken bone
And I think I’m half insane ma
Look what they done to my song

The key word here is “they.”  Life would have been happier and more productive if it hadn’t been for “they.” Israel had the  Edomites, the Ishmaelites, Moab, the Hagarites, Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, Philistia, and Tyre and Assyria, not to mention the Philistines and Babylonians. It sure was enough to keep them busy.

I could say, “Look what they done to their song.” However, the truth of the matter is that Israel itself was the enemy that brought the nation down.

Sometimes we have to look in the mirror to see who the enemy really is.

Galatians 5:16 

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.I 

1 Corinthians 10:13 

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Give it some thought and face it.

Gary