My mother could converse in French and so could her best friend. I thought they had learned that language so they could carry on a conversation without anyone knowing what the two of them were talking about. I was an adult before I realized they both came from bilingual families and, as a result, spoke two languages fluently from childhood.

Languages are made up of sounds and there are 7,139 languages in the world. All languages have underlying rules of syntax which, along with morphological rules, make up every language’s grammar.

Almost two thousand years ago, one particular church had members making up sounds that were foreign to any language. Paul the Apostle wrote to correct the situation. This is what he wrote:

1 Corinthians 13:10-12, 19

 Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning. If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker is a foreigner to me.  So it is with you. 

 But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.

As followers of Christ, it is imperative that we speak in such a way that the hearer is not confused.

Think about it.

Gary

I just finished reading the diary of a Jewish professor who survived Germany in WW2. The account is of the daily grind of persecution, beatings, fear and humiliation. Death was constantly at the door even for some time after the allied victory.

In this book, there is the absence of any relationship with God or even an interest as to where such evil as Nazism came from on a biblical level. It was only secular reasoning that interested him during this time. There was no mention of Jesus, sin or the salvation of God.

If human effort can get an individual through such horror, how much more can a personal relationship with God. Consider the Apostle Paul:

2 Corinthians 4:9

persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

2 Corinthians 11:24

Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.

2 Timothy 2:9

for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned.

How do your troubles stack up with his? If God strengthened him through trials and trouble, can He get you through?

Think about it.

Gary

He had been a football player in college and, by the looks of him, he must have been a cornerback. She was a seventh-grade girl maybe weighing in at a little over a hundred pounds. Leaning in towards her, with hands on both sides of the girl’s desk, this red-faced teacher was yelling directions and insinuations as spit flew. I thought he would split open his sports-jacket. She was staring straight ahead with a look of total unconcern and lack of fear. I don’t know what she did to set him off, but whatever it was, I wouldn’t be caught doing it. One of my memories is his throwing a boy up against a cement wall.

She was my cousin, and at that moment I believed she was the bravest girl in the world. Years later, I asked her how she could show such indifference in the face of such brutal threats. She related to me that she had the ability to just shut down till the storm passed. That might be genetic, but I sure didn’t get that gene.

Sometimes we find ourselves in situations that just don’t seem to have an escape-hatch attached to it.

Paul the Apostle found himself in such a place and this is what he had to say:

2 Corinthians 4:7-11

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 

How do you handle those situations?

Think about it.

Gary

I grew up in northern Maine and understood the need to be cautious on icy roads, probably because I misjudged and ended up in the ditch on more than one occasion. Until I had experience in the trucking industry, I believed that if a vehicle were heavy enough, it wouldn’t slide. Man, was I wrong.

Back in the day, with a truck loaded with logs I was headed for Canada and enjoying my new job as a log-truck driver.  However, my speed was too fast for the turn unto the bridge crossing the St John River. The truck went into a skid and my heart seemed to have stopped. At the last second, the proper correction was made and the expedition continued. Trying to calm down, I think I smoked ten cigarettes after that.

The reason for this narrative is to get us to understand the difference between what we think and the principles that actually govern life.

Galatians 6:3

 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

When you look at the context of this verse, it is quite profound. We may believe it is not possible to take on other people’s burdens when, in reality, the addition will help us carry our own. This is how God designed it. It will give us the traction we need to navigate life’s challenges.

It is the difference between what we think and reality.

Think about it.

Gary

“One hundred religious persons knit into a unity by careful organization does not constitute a church any more than eleven dead men make a football team.”—A.W. Tozer

The Bible illustrates the church as a human body, and the various members with different gifts make up the whole.

1 Corinthians 12:18

But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.

We are all so different in temperament, education, taste, experiences and energy, but we have all been placed into the church to make it what it should be. We should always be remembering it is a God-given gift, not natural talent, which makes us a useful member of the body of Christ.

May all of us take our position seriously and never do anything that would take away from who He is.

1 Corinthians 12:4-7

 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.  And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:

Give it some thought.

Gary

Two teenage boys sat, parked in the middle of a one-way bridge that spanned the Allagash River. We were drinking beer and watching the sun come up. Our conversation was about life. What did we know? Our theory was that we had a handle on our existence. What we didn’t know was that life had a handle on us. He’s gone now, along with over five decades of uninterrupted time. The one left from that scene doesn’t look the same, think the same, watch the sun come up or even drink beer.

Probably this narrative is best described in Scripture:

1 Corinthians 13:11

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

We made it through those dangerous years of our youth and both came to believe there was a God. How did that happen? I can only attribute it to one profound principle.

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.

Give it some thought.

Gary

I looked up the meaning of “stump rot” and read the following: a disease of the tea bush in which the main central stem is rotted by a tooth fungus. I guess you can’t be a successful tea bush if you have stump rot.

Let me bring this subject closer to home with Job 13:28:

“Man decays like a rotten thing,
Like a garment that is moth-eaten.

Beginning with birth, we are rushing towards such a final ending.  How and why did we awaken one day and find ourselves in such a mess? What is the purpose behind all that is experienced here?  Some of the theories are time and chance, evolution, or a creator whose experiment got out of control.

Could the answer to this phenomenon lie in the ancient words of Scripture? Is it possible that from Genesis to Revelation light might illuminate this curse that has been placed on man? If nothing else satisfies the inquiring mind, why not give the Bible a chance? We have nothing to lose and eternity to gain.

Give it some thought.

Gary