One of the stanzas in an old love song states, “Before too long I built my world around you. And I prayed you’d love enough of me to stay.” This is probably not a good spot to build your world around, for I’m not sure what percentage of love is satisfactory for one to stay.

Years back many folks built their homes near a river. There was never a consideration that this could be a floodplain.  What a tragedy when the discovery of such a mistake in construction was only realized when a flood happened.

Every one of us is in the business of building many things.  It can be a personal-building project or a corporate endeavor. This would also include relationships. However, we must always consider the possible lifespan of what our time, money and soul are being placed in.

Job built his life around the Creator. After losing everything on this Earth except God, he still believed he had all he needed.

This was his statement while still in the furnace:

Job 13:15 “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him:

Start building your world around God, and when everything else evaporates, you can still mouth such a statement.

Give it some thought, you, builder of worlds.

Gary

“Summer Wine” is a song written by Lee Hazlewood. It was originally sung by Suzi Jane Hokom and Lee Hazlewood in 1966. It’s about a proud cowboy coming into town thinking he was worth a million. She saw him coming, and with her summer wine and smooth talk, he was taken for all he was worth. Robbed, he awakened with a headache that would haunt him the rest of his days.

The Bible describes such scenes played over and over again in every generation:

Proverbs 7:6-10

For at the window of my house
I looked through my lattice,
And saw among the simple,
I perceived among the youths,
A young man devoid of understanding,
Passing along the street near her corner;
And he took the path to her house
In the twilight, in the evening,
In the black and dark night.
And there a woman met him,
With the attire of a harlot, and a crafty heart.

If a person is to rightly interpret Scripture, he realizes that the “she” doesn’t have to be a woman. “She” can represent a business deal, alcohol, a drug, a relationship or even a career. What’s contained in her deceit is the destruction of the soul. As a song writer once put it, “Another one bites the dust.”

Proverbs is the book of wisdom. One must face the realization that “she” is there and awaits the foolish.

Give it some thought.

Gary

He said, “I want you to meet a friend of mine.” We were just two teenagers walking down the street when we came face to face with another teenager. My friend had a big smile on his face, but I quickly detected that the other teen didn’t have the same demeanor. This individual was cussing under his breath as my friend was introducing me as his best friend and telling how wonderful I was. The conversation ended when this friend of mine told the boy we’d meet him in Canada that night and may the best man win. Not sure if it was my pal or I that was to take him on.

Needless to say, I had no intentions of visiting Canada that night and neither did my friend. This was my best friend and he was a character.  He could sell ice cubes to the Eskimos and make a profit.  My philosophy was as the song says, “Stay away from trouble if you can.”

Sometimes trouble is self-manufactured and sometimes others draw you into their creations. However it comes about, it’s still trouble. This is what the Bible has to say:

Job 14:1

 “Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble.

Philippians 4:14

Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble.

The next time you see trouble coming down the street, remember it is just something we were born into.

Give it some thought.

Gary

The shepherds in Luke chapter two represent social poverty and the lower rungs of humanity, yet they received the message about the birth of the Messiah. There were no political powerhouses or any of the religious elite attending that event. The wise men would only worship Him years later when He would be residing in a house and not a stable.

The angel’s message was to broken people. The Gospel means “good news.” That message has been around for two thousand years. The message was only allowed to be given by an angel to announce His birth. Through the centuries this message has been carried to broken individuals by a great multitude of characters. That message is simple, “There is born to you a Savior.” Those shepherds needed His salvation and so do we.

Luke 2:10-11

Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.  For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 

I wasn’t guarding sheep by night when I heard this message, but I was a poor, lost sinner blundering through this life. Do you understand this business of being lost? If not, maybe you’re in the same field as the shepherds when the angel appeared.

Give it some thought.

Gary

I read that on the average a person eats a hundred tons of food in a lifetime. That same individual will drink 45,445 liters of water.  According to my bathroom scales, I’ll probably go over that.  I just heard potatoes weren’t good for you.  My response is, “What a good way to go by eating potatoes.”

Why am I here breathing this air, eating this food, and drinking this water? That’s the question that so many can’t seem to find an answer to.

Edward Hale wasn’t much of a believer in truth, but on this subject of life he came close. This is what he wrote:

   I am only one, but I am one.

   I can’t do everything, but

   I can do something.

   And what I can do, I ought to do.

   And what I ought to do, by the

   Grace of God, I shall do.

     – Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909)

As a Christian, remember God by His grace saved you for a purpose. You might not be a Moses, Joshua, Daniel or Paul, but you have been saved for a purpose.  Start in Genesis and read through the Scriptures, discovering God’s will for you in this life. You can make a difference.

Hebrews 13:20-21

Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Give this some serious thought.

Gary

Remember these lines from a famous old hymn,

“Do you have any rivers you think are uncrossable? Do you have any mountains you can’t tunnel through? God specializes in things thought impossible. He does the things others cannot do!”

So the children of Israel came to the sea, and Pharaoh’s vast army was right on their heels. In addition to that, the mountains had them blocked on the other two sides. They were trapped.

Moreover, Pharaoh’s army was the best-trained and equipped in the world. The cowering Israelites didn’t have one sword or AK-47 amongst them.

What now?

Exodus 14:15

And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.”  

It was a little more direct than this in Scripture, but here is the contemporary interpretation. Stretch out your hand over that sea with that rod in your hand. Simultaneously, God was protecting them by providing them light while He was enveloping the Egyptians in darkness.

He could have said in plain English, “Moses, you do what I tell you to do and leave the impossible to me.”

Let’s repeat it.

“Do you have any rivers you think are uncrossable? Do you have any mountains you can’t tunnel through? God specializes in things thought impossible. He does the things others cannot do!” 

Stop crying and give it a thought. We need to know He is with us, and with what we find in our hand, it can be possible.

Think about it.

Gary

“Don’t let me preach the same message over and over again with different titles.” That’s what I told my wife after listening to someone’s preaching tapes with the same message, but sporting different titles.  It seems at that point in that preacher’s life, he was down to one interesting message, so he just gave it different titles on tapes.

All of us who handle the Word have special passages that we are comfortable with and preach them at every opportunity. I can’t do that here because I’ve preached at the same church for forty years.  Sometimes I’ve considered gathering up the most interesting ones and going to preach at some other church for three years. I know you caught that. I’m afraid that about thirty-seven-years’-worth fall in the drowsy-zone.

God has given the same commandment to all of us who have been called to handle Scriptures:

2 Timothy 4:2

preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

What a powerful statement! What preparation! What limitations! What responsibility! What danger! What resolve!

Give it some thought.

Gary