H. Spurgeon claimed that 98 percent of the people he met—including the criminals he visited in England’s prisons—told him that they believed the Bible to be true. But the vast majority had never made a personal, life-changing commitment to Jesus Christ. For them, “believe” was not an active verb.

Jonathan Whitfield was preaching to coal miners in England.

He asked one man, “What do you believe?”

“Well, I believe the same as the church.”

“And what does the church believe?”

“Well, they believe the same as me.”

Seeing he was getting nowhere, Whitfield said, “And what is it that you both believe?”

“Well, I suppose the same thing.”

Many Christians seem to know as much about what they believe as that coal miner.

Abraham is called in Scripture, “the father of all who believe.” His first step of faith was leaving home at seventy-five-years-of-age because God told him to do so. He placed his future completely in God’s hands. Like us, he wasn’t perfect, but you can see God working throughout his life.

Genesis 12:1

 Now the Lord had said to Abram:

“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.

Does the Word of God speak to you about life? It should.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Robo calls, sleazy politicians, religious shysters and fake news abound in the world of our day. It seems at every turn someone wants our mind or wallet or both. If there was ever a time a believer needs to be anchored in truth, it’s today. James addressed this issue almost two thousand years ago.

Ephesians 4:14

 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.

No, you don’t need a free hip brace, your computer’s working fine, and please don’t put warrantee insurance on that old car.

Other than that, grow up and don’t get caught up in the crazy of our present day. Stick to what counts for an eternity.

Give it some thought.

Gary

We couldn’t make the turn because the convertible we were riding in was going too fast. Skidding into an old adjacent road, the car finally came to stop just feet from a 30-foot-drop to the river.  The three of us exited the vehicle, without a word said, and sat on the guardrails for a period of time in silence.

Five and a half decades later, two of us are still alive and the other died of natural causes. Had that car rolled or gone into the river, it would have been a recipe for disaster. With no seatbelts in that convertible, and obviously no life vests, the outcome would have been tragic.

Some teens had similar experiences with different outcomes. We made no professions of faith at that time, nor was God ever considered to be any part of our lives.  Only one verse comes to my mind consistently when my memory takes me back through the years:

Psalm 23:6

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.

You can call it luck, the draw of the cards, or Jupiter being aligned with Mars, but I’ll go with the aforementioned verse.

Think about it.

Gary

“I Am a Rock” is a song written by Paul Simon.  Art Garfunkel sang it with him in 1966 and the rest is history.

The song is about someone who thinks he is a rock because a rock feels no pain. Good luck with that theory because everyone feels pain unless you have emotional congenital analgesia. (I just made that up.)

It’s also about being an island not connected to anyone. The problem with that is we are created to be part of a community, and breaking away only leads to unbearable loneliness.

It’s about having books and poetry to protect you. That offers about as much protection as a windbreaker as you stand between the tracks waiting for the freight train to hit you.

The lyrics claim memories sleep. The problem is they are easily awakened and become daytime nightmares.

The music we listened to in our youth offered us nothing of value and only distorted an already messed-up world view.

The Scriptures offer reality with a definite hope for eternity to anyone who will listen and enter into its truths.

Psalm 19:7-11

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
 Moreover by them Your servant is warned,
And in keeping them there is great reward.

Let’s face it: those singers/songwriters couldn’t prepare us for life’s realities.

Think about it.

Gary

My friend’s grandfather had a big barn. In that barn was a pen containing a young bull. My friends and I decided a certain individual should attempt to imitate a bronco rider. We needed to hold the calf until the rider got on its back. When we let go, what followed provided some excitement.

This activity wasn’t appreciated by the animal and, in short order, not by the rider either. On top of that, if we had been caught, we would have been in deep kimchi.  Needless to say, it wasn’t about the calf or the rider, but it was about whatever it took to kill some time and provide pleasure for us. That’s just the way life was.

This is how the smartest man in the world lived before he came to his senses.

Ecclesiastes 2:10

Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, For my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor.

This man was allowed to do whatever came to his mind. He had both the finances and the opportunity. Solomon became a mess much like that would-be bronco rider who found himself lying in that fresh, yellow and green manure pile.

God’s plans for us are much better than where our imaginations could lead us.

Think about it.

Gary

We were a gang of boys growing up at the end of the road. Entertainment was hard to come by. Television only had two channels, and if it wasn’t for Bonanza and Star Trek, we would have gone nuts.

To break the monotony, we would sometimes get two of the guys to fight each other. I can still hear the punch that hit one of the boys in the chest. He replied with, “That didn’t hurt.” Well, it did hurt, and not just physically, but emotionally as well.  His parents left town when he was a young teenager, never to return. A heart attack took his life before he was forty. I wish I could have met him as an adult to say, “I’m sorry we treated you the way we did.”

Those events of our youth come back to haunt us. Solomon had those regrets and that is why he left such good advice for a younger generation.

Ecclesiastics 12:1

Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth,
Before the difficult days come,
And the years draw near when you say,
“I have no pleasure in them”:

Sometimes the difficulties are the memories of the transgressions of our youth.

Give it some thought.

Gary

He was the tough guy in my trucking days. His language would fry paint off a Mack truck. His stories about his exploits were quite unbelievable and probably were a figment of his imagination. Keeping up a hard exterior and getting a laugh from his peers seemed to be what kept him going.

However, a number of times I caught him alone. Those were the times I told him of Christ and how He died for our sins. This individual stayed silent and contemplative as I spoke. This would continue until some other worker came along and he would have to return to his Rambo role.

I don’t know if anything sank in, but I do know he was my responsibility. He wouldn’t listen to anyone else about spiritual things. We have a responsibility in our circle of influence.

Ezekiel 33:6

But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’

Do you have someone like that in your world? Let him or her know truth because you could be the only one.

Give it some thought.

Gary