Luke 20:34-36 is a passage that reveals a tremendous truth about heaven. The point of the passage is that earthly relationships that we have here are not in heaven.

 And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

According to Jewish law, if the husband died, the next of kin had to take her as a wife. This story is about a woman who went through seven of the boys.  It almost sounds like the song “Henry the Eighth” by Herman’s Hermits, but in that day, it would be probably have been named “Judah the Seventh”.

Do you think that Gramps wants to look like the old fellow you remember in heaven or that an infant wants to be an infant in heaven?   Get to know the Scriptures and you won’t be making it up like so many do about heaven.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Let’s say this was the only verse of Scripture you ever laid eyes on. What could you extrapolate from what you read?

Luke 16:22

 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.

Don’t say the rich man didn’t have the angels carry him because he was rich, for the verse doesn’t state that. At the same time, don’t say the beggar was carried by angels because he was poor.  Again, the passage doesn’t support that. The only thing you can draw from this verse is that they both died, but their final destination was different.

Hebrews 9:27

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

Some rich men do make it, like Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Then we have this verse.

1 Corinthians 1:26

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

The notable word is “many.”

Give it some thought.

Gary

“I have now disposed of all my property to my family. There is one thing more I wish I could give them, and that is the Christian Religion. If they had that and I had not given them one shilling, they would have been rich; and if they had not that and I had given them all the world, they would be poor.”

― Patrick Henry

Isaiah 53:4-6

Surely, He took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God, stricken by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

If you don’t leave this truth with your loved ones, you haven’t left anything of any value.

Think about it.

Gary

In his 1971 song, “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” Denver croons an ode to those winding roads that lead you back home. The writers had never been to West Virginia and John wasn’t from that state. Still, it became ingrained in our psyche for over fifty years.

Most are looking to going back to a place that doesn’t exist except in their untrustworthy imaginations. They should be looking for that permanent and sure home that awaits the believer.

John 14:2

 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

Like the Motel 6 advertising slogan: “We’ll leave the light on for you.”

Give it some thought.

Gary

Recently I sat in the waiting room of a surgeon’s office. There was a sanitized version of an IRA song playing in the background. I looked around and realized I was the only one who understood the song.  For eighteen hundred years, the Irish tried to get the British out. I mentioned it to the doctor and he said they played a variety of genre, so he didn’t know why it was playing. I don’t think he knew what it was about either.

Most people don’t know what they are listening to in those lyrics, but for some it has great meaning. Case in point is the song “Rivers of Babylon.” It is from the book of Psalms and speaks of a broken-hearted people who couldn’t sing a holy song.

Psalm 137:1-4

By the waters of Babylon,
there we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.

On the willows there
we hung up our lyres.

For there our captors
required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

How shall we sing the Lord’s song
in a foreign land?

Know your song and where it should be sung.

Give it some thought.

Gary

“Soldier” is a 1972 song, written and performed by British songwriter Harvey Andrews. Controversial at the time of its release, “Soldier” was inspired by the death of British Army Sergeant Michael Willetts, though it does not mention Willetts by name.

Willetts just wanted to get along with people and put in his army time. He wasn’t out to hurt anyone but wanted to help all he could.  In the song, he died thinking about home and a life without war. He was just a pawn in an endless game.

If you’re going to be involved in a war, know the where, the why and the what ifs. There is a war worth the fight.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Give it some thought.

Gary

Add these to your list of signs that you’re getting old:

• Your ears perk up at a laxative commercial on TV.
• When you do the Hokey Pokey and you put your left hip out, it stays out.
• One of the throw pillows on your bed is a hot water bottle.
• You don’t have enemies because you’ve outlived them all.
• You don’t date women your own age because there aren’t any.
• “Happy hour” now consists of a nap.
• You remember what you did yesterday by what hurts today.
• Your mind makes contracts your body can’t keep.
• You find yourself giving good advice instead of setting a bad example.
• The candles cost more than the cake.
• The little gray-haired lady you help across the street is your wife.
• You realize that whatever Mother Nature gave you, Father Time has taken away.

Some good things about growing old:

Proverbs 16:31 

Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life.

Isaiah 46:4 

Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.

Leviticus 19:32 

“You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.

Think really hard on this one.

Gary