I can’t repay all the people I owe in my time on the planet.  With some, a heartfelt thank you would have been enough, but they died before I could say it. Many others would say you don’t owe me anything, but I do.  I tried to pay a meal for a friend yesterday because I owed him money from our youth. You guessed it, he figured a way to get my attention away from the bill and he paid it.

The One I owe the most to is the One who placed me here for this time period. Here is a poem that expresses the way many like me feel about our relationship.

Leftovers are such humble things,
We would not serve to a guest,
And yet we serve them to our Lord
Who deserves the very best.

We give to Him leftover time,
Stray minutes here and there.
Leftover cash we give to Him,
Such few coins as we can spare.

We give our youth unto the world,
To hatred, lust and strife;
Then in declining years we give
To Him the remnant of our life.

– Source unknown

2 Corinthians 9:7

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 

In whatever time we have left, let’s give Him some quality time.

Give it some thought.

Gary

American artist James Whistler, who was never known to be bashful about his talent, was once advised that a shipment of blank canvases he had ordered had been lost in the mail. When asked if the canvases were of any great value, Whistler remarked, “Not yet, not yet.”

So it is with every life. We come into the world with nothing and begin our painting on life’s canvas. How is the project going with you? Can you use some touchup before you reveal it to the public?

Life is a leaf of paper white
Whereon each of us may write
His word or two; and then comes night.

Though thou have time
But for a line, be that sublime;
Not failure, but low aim, is crime

• “Life” by: James Russell Lowell

Acts 17:11

Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 

Those Bereans paint us a pretty picture.

Give it some thought.

Gary

I have witnessed people talking to Alexa and giving her commands just like Mr. Baxter of old, asking Hazel, the maid, to do his bidding. Of course, we all know Alexa is just a computer generated voice. Don’t we?

However, there is One we should be talking to, and He is not an invention of man’s imagination. That is the One who formed us and placed us here at this exact time according to His purpose.

Israel had it backwards just like many people today.

Isaiah 29:16

Surely you have things turned around!
Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay;
For shall the thing made say of him who made it,
“He did not make me”?
Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?

God is not just there to do our bidding. We need a heathy realization that He is the Creator and we are the created.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Tell a man there are three hundred billion stars in the universe and he’ll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it and he’ll have to touch it to be sure.

How we struggle with one of the most important facts of life! Those truths that motivated many of the Old Testament believers are available for us today.

Psalm 139:7

Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from Your presence?

Exodus 33:14

And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Psalm 16:11

You will make known to me the path of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

Go out today and live in His presence. You don’t need paint on your finger.

Give it some thought.

Gary

His name was Saul and he was on the road to Damascus. He had the authority from the Jewish officials to persecute the church by whatever means necessary. Unbeknown to him, that road was leading to heaven.

Jesus knocked him off his high horse and asked him a soul-searching question. The account is found in Acts nine.

Acts 9:3-5

As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”

It was a life-changing moment in time. After this account, his name would appear over 140 times just in the book of Acts. He would have twelve epistles to his credit and three missionary journeys. At Rome, he would lay down his life for the cause of Christ.

Have you ever been on this road?

Give it some thought.

Gary

Harold Ray Ragsdale (born January 24, 1939), known professionally as Ray Stevens, is an American country and pop singer-songwriter and comedian. In 1970 he wrote and sang, “Everything is Beautiful.” The children are heard singing the chorus of the song, using the hymn, “Jesus Loves the Little Children“, in the background.

Ray even used a portion of Scripture in his song.

Jeremiah 5:21

‘Hear this now, O foolish people,
Without understanding,
Who have eyes and see not,
And who have ears and hear not:

The song was to make us see the need to overlook our differences and join hands. On the last stanza, the statement was made, “The world’s gonna find a way.”

It’s been over fifty years since I listened to that song from the jukebox. The world still hasn’t found the way, but Jesus does love the little children and He has made a way.

John 14:6

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Most of Harold’s music was comedy, but this one was no laughing matter.

Give this some thought.

Gary

His name was Adam, and if there had been a phonebook, that’s the only name that would have been in it. This was a very intelligent man because he could do something that you can’t do and that is-name all the animals. He even had the privilege of speaking with God.

Yet with all of that advantage, the thought struck him that he could make a go of it in this world without God’s presence. Now that’s a dumb thought for the smartest man in the world. It didn’t work out very well, and the repercussions are still being felt at the present time.

What the first Adam messed up, the second Adam rectified.

Romans 5:15

 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 

I’m so glad that God sent us another Adam to clear the way for us in relation to what the first Adam destroyed.

Give it some thought.

Gary