“What is hardest to accept about the passage of time is that the people who once mattered the most to us wind up in parentheses.”

                                                — John Irving, “The Cider House Rules”

Yes, they are gone now, dust to dust, ashes to ashes. Something of value was lost that can never be replaced. How many actors on this stage of life have played in parts along side of me or you? Now they are gone and even their memory is getting clouded. Where does this repeated event in our lives come from? The answer is only found in Scripture.

Ezekiel 18:32 

For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.”

Hebrews 9:27 

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

1 Corinthians 15:26 

The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

The reality is that because of sin all die. Give it some careful consideration.

Gary

The article stated that butter kills. (Tried to do something about that situation.) Then an article came out that stated that margarine kills. They said that eggs were bad for you, and then they said eggs were good for you. Who knows what they’ll say next?

I have seventy-three years of improper eating habits and nothing has killed me yet. Probably when you read this, I’ll be dead and some will say, “I told him not to eat like that.” Someone could have the scientific community examine my decaying body for the cause of death. Whatever that proves,  I say, “Don’t cry, because I’ll be in the best shape since I came into existence.”

Matthew 10:28

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

If God didn’t want us to have bacon and eggs, pigs and chickens would never have been created. Remember, He told Peter, “Kill and eat.” I do, however, want to acknowledge that some of us need special diets, but always remember who is in charge of death.

Gary

I’ve heard this so many times after someone’s death, “God must have needed another angel.” That’s like saying you can make a ’51 Studebaker out of a monkey. You see, angels are angels and humans are humans. God made both. However, if you don’t know Scripture, you might embrace something fanciful.

2 Timothy 2:15 

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the Word of Truth.

Acts 17:11 

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the Word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Don’t swallow poison Kool-Aid. Give it some thought.

Gary

“Rhinestone Cowboy” by Glen Campbell tells the story of an aspiring country singer’s journey to make it big. One-line states, “There is a lot of compromising on the road to my horizon.”

Most people don’t understand that, down the road, the cost of compromising comes due. Does the Bible teach that? Glad you asked.

 James 4:17 

So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Galatians 5:16 

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

1 John 3:4 

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

Be careful on the road to your horizon. Don’t let compromising catch up to you. Give it some thought.

Gary

“I Will Remember You” is a pop-rock song by Sarah McLachlan. It’s about a girl wondering if some past love still remembers her. How many middle-age people have those thoughts?  Maybe to them, it’s just a horrible memory they wish would just go away.

Now the one who does have a good memory is God. Thankfully, He is willing to erase those actions and thoughts that are contrary to His holiness, if we but ask.

Hebrews 10:17 

Then He adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

Here are some things we shouldn’t forget:

• He remembered Noah and blessed him.
• He remembered the Israelites in bondage and sent a deliverer to them.
• He remembered Jonah and delivered him.
• He always remembered His people and heard and responded to their cries.
• He remembered us by sending His only begotten Son to save us.
• He remembers, now, His new covenant, made through the blood of His Son on the cross. This is a covenant in which He promises to forgive and cleanse us continually by His grace.
• He remembers that Christ assured His followers that they would rise at the moment of death to a place in glory prepared by Him.
• And, He will remember to return and take us to Himself.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Have you noticed that life is made up of a series of happenings?  It’s like changing the stage settings in a four-act play.

The word “happened” appears 222 times in the Bible. Those are a lot of happenings to examine in Scripture. This brings me to the question, what’s happening in your life? Who’s setting the stage for the next act?

Psalm 119:105 

Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Psalm 32:8 

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.

Do you think there are plays you really shouldn’t be acting in? Give it some consideration.

Gary

Michael Card recorded the song, Why.

Why did it have to be a friend
Who chose to betray the Lord?
And why did he use a kiss to show them?
That’s not what a kiss is for!
Only a friend can betray a friend.
A stranger has nothing to gain.
And only a friend comes close enough
To ever cause so much pain!

James 2:23 

And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.

John 15:14-15 

You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.

Do you know the pain of betrayal? Certainly, the betrayal of a friend produces greater pain. Don’t do it to Him. Give it some thought.

Gary