Isaiah 41:28-29 is about the futility of idols. You might say, “I don’t worship idols.” However, do you really know what an idol is? Augustine defined it over 1600 years ago.  “Idolatry is worshiping anything that ought to be used or using anything that ought to be worshiped.” Take some time to digest that statement.

The only difference between the idolatry of a tribesman ascribing power to a fetish and the idolatry of a professor attributing the wonder of the natural world to evolutionary forces is one of degrees. The professor has one and the tribesman does not.

God made it clear to Israel:

Isaiah 41:28-29

 For I looked, and there was no man;
I looked among them, but there was no counselor,
Who, when I asked of them, could answer a word.
 Indeed they are all worthless;
Their works are nothing;
Their molded images are wind and confusion.

Examine your life carefully about this business of idolatry. If it’s in there somewhere, then deal with it before it deals with you.

Give it some thought.

Gary

“The Snake” is a song written and first recorded by civil-rights activist Oscar Brown in 1963, which became a hit single by American singer Al Wilson in 1968.

This certainly is not a hymn, but teaches tremendous spiritual truth. There are principles from the secular world that mimic what is taught in Scripture, and this song is certainly one of them.

On her way to work one morning
Down the path alongside the lake
A tender-hearted woman saw a poor half-frozen snake
His pretty colored skin had been all frosted with the dew
“Oh well,” she cried, “I’ll take you in and I’ll take care of you”

Now she wrapped him up all cozy in a coverture of silk
And laid him by the fireside with some honey and some milk
Now she hurried home from work that night, as soon she arrived
Now she found that pretty snake she’d taken in had been revived

Now she clutched him to her bosom, “You’re so beautiful,” she cried
“But if I hadn’t brought you in by now you might have died”
Now she stroked his pretty skin again and then kissed and held him tight
But instead of saying thanks, that snake gave her a vicious bite (ooh)

“I saved you,” cried that woman
“And you’ve bitten me, even why?
And you know your bite is poisonous and now I’m gonna die”
“Oh, shut up, silly woman,” said that reptile with a grin
“Now you knew darn well I was a snake before you brought me in”

Galatians 6:7

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

Genesis 3:13

And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

The old serpent is still using his crafty and deadly methods today because the human race hasn’t changed in susceptibility to his schemes.

Have you ever been bitten because you brought him in?

Think about it.

Good

Some gods just can’t stand up to the occasion. We find this record of the uselessness of the gods we create in 1 Samuel 5.

1 Sam 5:2-4

When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon.  And when the people of Ashdod arose early in the morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and set it in its place again.  And when they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold; only Dagon’s torso was left of it.

Dagon disappeared from history because he was only a figment of the Philistine imagination. However, of the manufacture of deities, there will be no end.

One of my college professors once stated, “And then man made god in his image.” I wrote that down because I thought it was a brilliant statement. Years later I discovered how lacking I was in the knowledge of the true and living God.

Have you ever created one and found him useless?

Think about it.

Gary

It was the spring of sixty-five and a high-school junior asked me a favor. He wanted to pedal my bike over to my cousin’s house a mile away with me sitting on the handle bars. I thought it would be great listening to these two old guys talk.

My cousin was doing some homework in his room when we arrived. They chatted, not paying any attention to me because I wasn’t worth bothering with. Then this relative looked at me and asked, “What year will you graduate?” I replied, “1970.” His reply was something in the neighborhood of, “That’s a thousand years from now.”

I had a hard time with that revelation from such an educated and experienced member of the senior class. However, sitting here looking back fifty-six years, I realize an eighteen-year-old really should be careful with his advice.

Proverbs 12:18 

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Be careful what you say to a kid.  He might believe it and become discouraged.

Think about it.

Gary

“‘Til the Rivers All Run Dry” is a song recorded by American country music artist Don Williams, who co-wrote it with Wayland Holyfield. It was released in December 1975.

‘Till the rivers all run dry
‘Till the sun falls from the sky
‘Till life on earth is through
I’ll be needing you

Those of us, especially with a little Irish, just love those songs that tug on our heart strings and bring strong emotions bubbling up to the surface. The only problem is they are quite divorced from reality and are certainly not Scriptural.

The truth is that earthly relationships end here and believers will be like the angels in heaven-not angels, but like angels. We will know each other, but human relationships and the emotional attachments will be gone.

Mark 12:24-25

Jesus answered and said to them, “Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?  For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

Love that can so quickly turn to hate, the drama of the human experience, and reoccurring dilemmas are then just forgotten history.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Sea Hunt is an American action adventure television series that aired in syndication from 1958 to 1961 and was popular for decades afterwards. Between the ages of six to nine, I wouldn’t miss an episode. Mike Nelson, always fit and trim and looking forever like a slightly aging quarterback, was seen daring the fates underwater or emerging from the sea unscathed despite sharks, shipwrecks and assorted malefactors.

There was an old truck body in the back of my uncle’s field and that was our diving platform. Kids standing on the headboard of that old logging truck body were anticipating a new adventure. We would don our make-believe gear, place on our faces imaginary masks, and jump into the mirage of an undersea world.

Imitation is the action of using someone or something as a model or a thing intended to simulate or copy something else. This is an action quite common in our youth. Everything from smoking a pencil as a Winston cigarette to dragging rubber boots to simulate spinning tires was fair game.

After becoming a Christian, I found imitation was still an active part of my life because it was mentioned so many times in Scripture:

3 John 1:11

Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.

Hebrews 6:12

that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

1 Corinthians 11:1

Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.

I went from imitating the imaginary to imitating the real thing.

Think about it as you hold your breath and jump.

Gary

He was the lead instructor of the paramedic program I was in. The thing most striking about him was the fact he seemed to enjoy constructing his tests so that few could get more than 80%. His middle name should have been “demanding.” I never had much respect for him until after I completed the course and started interacting with him as he was the head of the ER department. Sometimes he would come out of the ER to have his hourly cigarette and then sit in the ambulance like a kid sitting in a firetruck for the first time.

A call was paged out for the ER doc who had collapsed in the emergency room. It seemed like he had an aneurism and needed to be lifeflighted to a trauma center. I was the paramedic, along with a nurse, who transported him to the airport. We were within sight of the airport when he coded.  The impact of that unsuccessful code left us empty because he was someone we knew so well. He had been an excellent ER doctor and trainer of paramedics but now was gone.

How brief life is for any one of us and there is an appointment that every one of us has to keep:

Hebrews 9:27

And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,

Life is constantly changing for all of us. Death is never really expected and always leaves us empty. How are you handling the need to expect the unexpected?

Think about it.

Gary