Tourist dies at luxury resort after cobra from show climbs up pants, bites him: police

That was a headline and it wasn’t funny. It just goes to show you can never tell when a serpent is on its way in a location near you. Case in point is the old serpent that presented himself to Eve in the garden. We still suffer the effects of that bite. Let me share a warning:

2 Corinthians 11:3

But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

1 Corinthians 10:9

nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents;

Revelation 20:2

He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;

That last one was good but continue to be aware of what might crawl up your leg. Give it some consideration.

Gary

It is rather comical when the primary things are made secondary. Victor Borge told about a couple going on vacation, standing in line waiting to check their bags at the airline counter. 

The husband said to the wife, “I wish we had brought the piano.”

The wife said, “Why? We’ve got sixteen bags already!” 

The husband said, “Yes, I know– but the tickets are on the piano!”

How are you doing in the realm of leaving things behind?

Matthew 23:23

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

Leave the piano; just remember the tickets. Give it some thought.

Gary

Feelings come and feelings go and feelings are deceiving;
My warrant is the Word of God, naught else is worth believing.

–       Attributed to Martin Luther

Fake news, cults, politicians and preachers all attempt to place a virus in our heart. Stay away from such dangerous cures for contemporary maladies. Turn to the time-proven ancient Word of God. It has the cure and can stand alone.

Hebrews 4:12 

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Psalm 119:105 

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

Give it some meditation.

Gary

Faith and works should travel side by side, step answering to step, like the legs of men walking. First faith and then works; and then faith again, and then works again — until they can scarcely distinguish which is the one and which is the other.

–       William Booth

I think Billy had that one nailed. Does the Scripture address this fact? Glad you asked.

James 1:22-25

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

Like the song says, “These Boots Were Made for Walking.” Start walking in line with the conclusion the Word leads us to. Give it some thought.

Gary

 I’ve just been very lucky. But I’ve worked hard, and the harder you work, the luckier you seem to get.

–       Norman Wisdom

Does the Bible address this phenomenon? Glad you asked.

Colossians 3:23 

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,

Genesis 2:15 

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

God created us to work and to keep His creation. Go out there and get to work. Give it some consideration.

Gary

If you feel that you have no faults, you’ve added to the charges against you.

Does the Bible address these phenomena? Glad you asked.

1 John 1:8

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” 

Psalms 51:3

“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.” 

Proverbs 28:13

“Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” 

If you don’t believe that you sometimes fail to do right, just ask your mate, relative, children, coworker or neighbor. Get back to me with the results.

Gary

Failure is an event, never a person.

–       William Brown, Welcome Stress!

Do you know the Scripture? Abraham, the father of us all, failed more than once after he was called of God. How many times could you write failure over Jacob? Why did Paul have to confront Peter?

List your failures. Does that make you a failure? No, only if you stay down.

Proverbs 24:16 

For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.

Psalm 73:26 

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Get out of that self-pity pit and get going while you still have some battery life. Give it some thought.

Gary