In his book One Crowded Hour, Tim Bowden describes an incident in Borneo in 1964. Nepalese fighters known as Gurkhas were asked if they would be willing to jump from airplanes into combat against the Indonesians. The Gurkhas didn’t clearly understand what was involved, but they bravely said they would do it, asking only that the plane fly slowly over a swampy area and no higher than 100 feet. When they were told that the parachutes would not have time to open at that height, the Gurkhas replied, “Oh, you didn’t mention parachutes before!”

That’s the kind of bravery and commitment the Lord would have us exhibit. It doesn’t mean not having fear; it simply means do it.

Proverbs 28:1 

The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.

Psalm 31:24 

Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!

Think about it, then jump.

Gary

I spent a fortune
On a trampoline,
A stationary bike
And a rowing machine
Complete with gadgets
To read my pulse,
And gadgets to prove
My progress results,
And others to show
The miles I’ve charted
But they left off the gadget
To get me started!

-Unknown Poet

Just do it.

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.

Give it some thought.

Gary

At least three hundred ten people have died on Mount Everest, and that number slowly ticks up each year. Two hundred bodies still rest up there and will probably never be brought down.

Why do people want to chance that mountain? The high death rate seems to attract the type of person who might aim to “cheat death.”  Many others will say, “Because it’s there.” These goals don’t interest me because I don’t have the time, strength, money or willpower for such an undertaking. Besides all of that, God has given me my own special mountain as seen in the following verses:

1 Corinthians 11:1 

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Numbers 14:24 

But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.

You’ll never be sorry you followed Christ to new heights.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Did you know that the majority is not always right? It was the majority that cried, “Crucify Him!” the day Jesus died. It was the majority that tried to throw Jesus down a cliff in Nazareth when He preached in the synagogue. The majority of the people refused to enter Canaan at God’s command and caused those who aligned themselves with their rebellion to die in the wilderness.

Believers certainly are not part of a majority.

Matthew 7:13-14

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Don’t follow the majority just for the sake of expediency.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Leftovers are such humble things,
We would not serve to a guest,
And yet we serve them to our Lord
Who deserves the very best.
We give to Him leftover time,
Stray minutes here and there.
Leftover cash we give to Him,
Such few coins as we can spare.
We give our youth unto the world,
To hatred, lust and strife;
Then in declining years we give
To him the remnant of our life.

Author Unknown.

2 Corinthians 9:7 

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Luke 6:38 

Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Let’s start giving back and end up giving back because of what He has given to us.

Think about it.

Gary

One of my classes in Bible college had an assignment that required the memorization for the word “world” and here it is: The world is all that floating mass of thought, opinion, maxim, speculation, hopes, impulses, aims, and aspirations which are, at any one time, current in the world. It is impossible to grasp and accurately define that floating mass, but it would constitute a real and most effective power, creating a moral or immoral atmosphere which we inhale every day and exhale every day.

Every human being by nature is influenced by the atmosphere in which he lives. So, what does the Bible say about the world?

1 John 2:15 

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1 John 5:19 

We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

2 Corinthians 4:4 

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Here is E.B. White’s comment: “People have re-cut their clothes to follow the fashion…People have remodeled their ideas too — taken in their convictions a little at the waist, shortened the sleeves of their resolve, and fitted themselves out in a new intellectual ensemble copied from a smart design out of the very latest page of history.” When slavery to fashion invades the church, our latest ideas are yesterday’s fads. We adopt the world’s agenda — just a few years too late. Many churchmen sport theological bell-bottoms.

1 John 4:1 

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Matthew 4:4 

But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

You will not catch me with tight jeans and a t-shirt, minus a pulpit, spitting out a verse and diving into the wild blue yonder with my imagination on fire.

Give it some thought.

Gary