Patient to friend: “I saw the doctor today about my loss of memory.” Friend: “What did he do?”

Patient: “He made me pay him in advance.”

Doctors would never become professional unless they had a high IQ and active discernment. Christians also have to use the gray matter that is God-given.

Hebrews 5:14

 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

1 Kings 3:9

So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

Give it some thought and you will be ahead of the curve.

Gary

Good friends are hard to find, harder to leave, and impossible to forget.

                                                               – Unknown author

This is how the friendship of Jonathan and David was described in the Old Testament.

1 Samuel 18:1, 4

As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt. 

If you have people more committed to you than they are to themselves, that’s real friendship and you are blessed. Friendship contains no envy, jealousy or greed.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Our neighbor’s cat was run over by a car, and the mother quickly disposed of the remains before her four-year-old son Billy found out about it. After a few days, though, Billy finally asked about the cat.

“Billy, the cat died,” his mother explained. “But it’s all right. He’s up in heaven with God.”

The boy asked, “What in the world would God want with a dead cat?”

                  -Contributed by Ross Sams, Jr., Reader’s Digest, May 1996, p. 102

God is certainly not looking for a dead cat. Only one who has trusted in His righteousness, not his or her own, is welcomed to the place Christ has prepared.

Romans 3:26

 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Matthew 22:32

I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

What will be your condition when the lights go out?

Give it some thought.

Gary

He rode easy in the saddle. He was tall and lean, and at first you’d a-thought nothing but a streak of mean could make a man look so down-right strong, but one look in his eyes and you knowed you was wrong. He was a mountain of a man, and I want you to know, he could preach hot hell or freezin’ snow. He carried a Bible in a canvas sack and folks just called him, The Reverend Mr. Black. He was poor as a beggar, but he rode like a king. Sometimes in the evening, I’d hear him sing: I gotta walk that lonesome valley. I got to walk it by myself. Oh, nobody else can walk it for me; I got to walk it by myself.

                                                                        -The Kingston Trio in 1963.

This song was about a preacher who gave all for the sake of the gospel. It’s only a made-up song, but one worth emulating. Go to youtube.com and give it a listen.

We all walk through this valley of life, and it can get lonely. No doubt, that’s because God has placed in us a longing for our eternal home.

Psalm 23:4

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Tool Time scene: When Tim comes home with a portion of a table still stuck to his forehead, his wife, Jill laughs at him. Tim couldn’t be assisted when he went to the Emergency Room.

He explains, “They said I wasn’t a priority.”

Jill laughs and responds, “Why? Was there a guy with a whole table stuck to his head?”

Humor, does God have it? Glad you asked.

Psalm 2:4 

He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.

Psalm 37:13 

But the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.

Psalm 59:8 

But you, O Lord, laugh at them; you hold all the nations in derision.

God’s humor should be taken seriously and He’s not even Irish.

Give it some thought.

Gary

A missionary friend sent me the following statement: “Satan calls us by our sins; Jesus calls us by our name.” The Bible has a lot to say about our name and the name He is going to give us.

Proverbs 22:1

A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, Loving favor rather than silver and gold. 

Ecclesiastes 7:1

A good name is better than precious ointment,

 Revelation 2:17

And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except Him who receives it.”

He knows our name now and for eternity. Imagine a name written down in glory, one that is in the Lamb’s Book of Life!

Revelation 21:27

But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Think about it and check to see if your name is there.

Gary

Most Bible scholars believed that the Apostle Paul traveled over 10,000 miles on his three missionary journeys. This took up the last 32 years of his life.  These endeavors were powered by burning up 692,000 to 1,000,000 calories. He left behind thirteen books, inspired by God, to give light to believers over the last two millenniums.

The question is how many calories are we using in promoting the Lord Jesus Christ? It is a reasonable thought, considering what He gave for us.

1 Peter 4:10 

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 

Mark 10:45 

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Give it some thought and start walking.

Gary