Christians don’t go through life totally insulated from life’s trials and temptations. The only perfect human being was Jesus Christ. The rest of us carry blemishes and regrets.  I like the way Andre Crouche expressed it in his song, “Through It All,” so many years ago.

I’ve had many tears and sorrows,
I’ve had questions for tomorrow,
There’ve been times I didn’t know right from wrong.
But in every situation,
God gave blessed consolation,
That my trials come to only make me strong.

Through it all,
Through it all,
I’ve learned to trust in Jesus,
I’ve learned to trust in God.

Life is full of lessons that can only be taught one way. We have to recognize the Master-Instructor knows us better than we know ourselves and can be trusted to do the right thing. After lessons from God as to how one is made for the job, Jeremiah comes to a proper conclusion.

Jeremiah 1:18

For behold, I have made you this day
A fortified city and an iron pillar,
And bronze walls against the whole land—
Against the kings of Judah,
Against its princes,
Against its priests,
And against the people of the land.

Jeremiah 10:23

O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself;
It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.

As Christians we need to recognize our God has placed us here for a purpose and is in the process of perfecting us for what is ahead.

Think about it.

Gary

There is a book in the Old Testament that makes for very interesting reading. It is about a Moabite woman who didn’t stand a chance in life, but ended up as an individual in the lineage of Christ. The only way that can be explained is by the grace of God.

How do sinners like us find ourselves in the family of God? The answer to that is just what we find in the short book of Ruth. Our circumstances and hers needed an alignment of so many variables that only the hand of God could bring it to the proper conclusion. Many a strange situation that leads to such a great salvation can be found in the Word. How can we ever completely understand the Creator of the universe?

Take a look at what the Prophet Isaiah recorded:

Isaiah 40:13-15

 Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,

Or as His counselor has taught Him?
With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him,
And taught Him in the path of justice?
Who taught Him knowledge,
And showed Him the way of understanding?

 Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket,
And are counted as the small dust on the scales;
Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.

No, it can’t be fathomed, but His work certainly needs to be appreciated.

Give it some thought.

Gary

“You Don’t Own the Boat; the Boat Owns You”

I don’t know where that statement came from, but it certainly fits the world we’re familiar with: houses, vehicles, toys for big boys and trips to exotic places. A recent study was done in an upscale neighborhood, and the discovery was one where most of the residents were in a financial situation they could never repay. It was the cost of keeping up with the Jones’s.

The Bible addressed this practice two thousand years ago:

Matthew 6:19-21

 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The question is – do we own our stuff or does our stuff own us?

Give it some thought.

Gary

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat. 

Theodore Roosevelt, speech before the Hamilton Club, Chicago (April 10, 1899)

Paul mentions something along these lines:

Philippians 3:12-14

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, 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. 

The Christian experience is very similar to Teddy’s quote. We can’t live on yesterday’s mistakes or successes. There has to be a constant reminder that the mountains of today must be claimed and conquered. An opportunity has been presented to us today that needs to be reached in spite of our own haunting deficits.

Give it some thought; then do something.

Gary

“My Hometown” is a single by Bruce Springsteen.  Anyone over the age of twenty-one will get a tear in his eye upon hearing this song. I never had the experience described in this song, but my hometown is just as meaningful to me, with an attachment just as deep.

I wouldn’t exchange the experience of my hometown for that of anyone else in the world. It was an outstanding place to be born and grow. The people were special, and the old schoolhouse is now a place of many a good memory. The old house that my mom and dad once occupied stands as a sentinel overlooking the rivers.

God placed us here in a certain place and time. From this vantage point, we look back, and from this vantage point, we look forward.  The psalmist stood in a similar spot, having never heard Bruce sing, but he did hear the voice of God.  He also composed a song that brings a tear to my eye. This is what he had to say:

 Psalm 23:6

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

Thank you, Lord, for where I came from and thank you, Lord, for where I’m going. Also, Lord, I want to thank you for the opportunity to look around.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Bob Saget speculated about the afterlife, days before his own unexpected death, while paying tribute to fellow-departed-star Betty White. He concluded his heartfelt post by speculating about where White is now, noting that she believed she would reunite with her husband, Allen Ludden, in the afterlife.

“She always said the love of her life was her husband, Allen Ludden, whom she lost in 1981. Well, if things work out by Betty’s design— in the afterlife, they are reunited,” Saget wrote. “I don’t know what happens when we die, but if Betty says you get to be with the love of your life, then I happily defer to Betty on this.”

Not to take away from the accomplishments of these individuals, but I wouldn’t trust my soul to their philosophies. These are sentimental statements about their beliefs, but have no evidence for support from the Word of God.

Here are two verses to cast some doubts on these presuppositions.

One, there will be no marriage relationship in heaven.

Matthew 22:29-30

Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. 

Two, we can know what happens.

1 John 5:13

 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. 

Give it some thought because eternal life should not be based on speculation.

Gary

This song is about a young man who was going to dress the part of a gunslinger and go to town. His mother begged him not to do that, knowing the danger he would be in. Of course, he wouldn’t listen and earned his place six feet below.

He laughed, and kissed his mom, and said, “your Billy Joe’s a man”
I can shoot as quick, and straight as anybody can
But I wouldn’t shoot without a cause; I’d gun nobody down”

He sang a song as on he rode his guns hung at his hips
He rode into a cattle town, a smile upon his lips
He stopped, and walked into a bar, and laid his money down
But his mother’s words echoed again

Don’t take your guns to town, son
Leave your guns at home, Bill
Don’t take your guns to town 

And tried to tell himself at last he had become a man
A dusty cowpoke at his side began to laugh him down
And he heard again his mother’s words

Don’t take your guns to town, son
Leave your guns at home, Bill
Don’t take your guns to town 

Filled with rage then, Billy Joe reached for his gun to draw
But the stranger drew his gun and fired before he even saw
As Billy Joe fell to the floor, the crowd all gathered ’round
And wondered at his final words 

Don’t take your guns to town, son
Leave your guns at home, Bill
Don’t take your guns to town

The lesson is don’t try and play the part of something you’re not able to perform. Case in point:

2 Samuel 2:22

And Abner said again to Asahel, “Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab?”

Asahel didn’t listen either. I pray you are not taking on something that will prove deadly in the end.

Think about it.

Gary