In one Dennis the Menace cartoon, Dennis is shown walking away from the Wilson’s house with his friend Joey. Both boys have their hands full of cookies. Joey turns to Dennis and says, “I wonder what we did to deserve this?” Dennis answers with profound insight: “Look, Joey, Mrs. Wilson gives us cookies not because we’re nice, but because she’s nice.” 

Can you fully comprehend how nice God is? Get a good Bible concordance and look up words like grace, longsuffering, kindness, mercy and forgiveness.

Ephesians 2:8-9

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

Titus 3:4

But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,

2 John 1:3

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

Colossians 1:14

in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

You see, every once in a while, Dennis would get it right and share it with a friend. Have you gotten it right? Are you sharing it with a friend?

Think about it.

Gary

Living for Christ was not easy in the early church. Someone captured it like this: “A Christian [back then] was completely fearless, continually cheerful, and constantly in trouble.” The first Christians counted the cost and were sold out to Christ. 

I don’t know how close to the truth that statement is, but I believe it to be fairly accurate. This is how Christ addressed the church in Smyrna in

Revelation chapter 2.

“I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich); and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.  Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

This church took a beating for Christ, but it was well-worth-it.  Someday we’ll meet these brothers and sisters in Christ. Maybe they’ll ask, “How was it with you?”  How do we answer that?

Think about it.

Gary

As a theologian, Reinhold Niebuhris was best known for his “Christian Realism,” which emphasized the persistent roots of evil in human life. In his Moral Man and Immoral Society (1932), he stressed the egoism and the pride and hypocrisy of nations and classes.

Here are some of his thoughts in provoking quotes:

“Lord, grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

“Change what cannot be accepted and accept what cannot be changed.”

“Comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable”

 “The sad duty of politics is to establish justice in a sinful world.”

Like the umpire at a baseball game, he called it the way he saw it. However, his view came through the lens of Scripture for the most part.

Scripture makes all the difference in the world when we’re trying to understand our nature and our age.

Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

 Take a look at Scripture for yourself.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Steven J. Cole wrote the following article and I thought it was worth sharing. The Scripture verses are taken from Genesis chapter two.

Some people think of “Paradise” as a place where you lie in a hammock under a palm tree, never lifting a finger. But God planted a garden and put Adam there to cultivate it and keep it before the fall (2:15). God also assigned Adam the work of naming the animals (2:19-20), a “mental” job. Thus, before the fall, God gave man both physical and mental labor as legitimate enterprises. A Swedish proverb says, “God gives every bird his worm, but he does not throw it into the nest.” Even in paradise, Adam had to work for his food.

Here we are paying people not to work. The state just sent me a check, thanking me for working during the Covid epidemic. I’m going to work because I was designed to and you don’t have to thank me. During Covid, I would have worked two jobs to help EMS if they were in a crisis.

This subject was addressed by Paul two thousand years ago.

2 Thessalonians 3:10

For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.

What a help to the economy if we applied this principle. I’m not talking about those folks who earned their rocking chair by giving their youth to filling an occupational slot or those with physical disabilities.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Still the Same” is a 1978 song written and recorded by the American singer Bob Seger. This song is about a slick gambler who always seems a step ahead. At first, Seger seems to be talking this guy up, enamored with his winning ways and how he’s still the same. But at the end of the song, we learn this isn’t the case: Seger turns and walks away from him because he hasn’t changed, and there’s nothing left to say. It’s like reconnecting with an old friend, only to be reminded of why you stayed apart.

Can you imagine a college friend of the Apostle Paul running into him after forty years of separation? This friend certainly wouldn’t be singing that song about Paul, for the only thing left that would be recognizable would be his physical appearance.

Jesus spoke to a man who needed change. He had also attended the same school of higher learning as Paul. His name was Nicodemus.

John 3:3

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

These men were no more the same than the demon-possessed girl was after Paul had God deliver her from the demons in Philippi.

How about you, Mr. Segar? You still the same?

Think about it.

Gary

Henry David Thoreau’s quote, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” was an observation that most people live an empty life caused by unfulfilling work, lack of leisure time and misplaced values of money, possessions and accolades.

This one goes out to all the hard workers who are battling demons, running against the wind, trying not to slip on the high wire, reaching for that aerial ring and missing it by half an inch, and trying to tame the lion that is uncooperative.

Here is a more rewarding pursuit:

Romans 12:2

 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Jeremiah 9:23-24

This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.

Life can be difficult and no one gets out alive. This could really help in the desperation struggle.

Gary