I have this folder in my mind that is titled “friendship.” Every once in a while, I will take one of the memories out of there and examine it.  In this one, I recall this special friend who is a Viet Nam vet who went to war on his senior trip. He looked like a twelve-year-old under that military helmet. He saw things that no man should see and knew fear that is reserved for only a few. When my son died, he was one of the first to call me, though we hadn’t talked in years. Just every once in a while, I need to review that folder and remember how blessed I am to have such friends.

Proverbs 17:17 

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

Proverbs 22:24-25

Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.

I had the right kind of friends throughout my life and am ever so grateful.

Give it some thought and be thankful.

Gary

Lynn Anderson sang a song a long time ago entitled, “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden.” Take a look at some of the lyrics.

I beg your pardon
I never promised you a rose garden
Along with the sunshine
There’s gotta be a little rain sometime

Let me tell you upfront that God never promised a rose garden to a believer. The prosperity preachers make a “smooth path” their major pitch. However, Scriptures do not bear that out.

Matthew 16:24

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

John 16:33

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Let’s make it clear. If you are a believer, the Spirit of God who lives in you, makes it possible. In times of need, He presents Himself as the Enabler, the Helper, the Healer, the Provider, the Counselor, or some other attribute of our God.  But if you are not a believer, then you are on your own.

Give it some consideration.

Gary

I had seen the paperwork of someone I’d known as a kid, who was ten years younger than I, and thought I’d find him in the ambulance bay area and wish him well. He’d had a cardiac episode and would be transported to Bangor shortly. Opening the door of the hospital, I could only see the back of the patient’s head. His hair was white and he was balding, so I figured I had the wrong person. I didn’t take into consideration the toll life takes on the body. Time can show no mercy.

Ephesians 5:15-16 

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

James 4:14 

Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

Time marches on. Are you dealing with the reality of it? Give it some thought.

Gary

“This weed of self-righteousness will grow on any dunghill. No heap of rubbish is too rotten for the accursed toadstool of proud self to grow upon.” (Spurgeon)

There is only one form of righteousness that completely meets the demands of God and that is the righteousness of Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:21 

For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Romans 10:4 

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. 

Matthew 5:6 

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Be covered in His righteousness and not your own. Give it some thought.

Gary

Here are some events that shaped my life: being born in a great town with good parents; having three brothers, four sisters, lots of friends, enemies, pets and bikes; never having to take the bus to school; having a broken jaw and leaving some teeth at the end of the Allagash bridge; enjoying the companionship of girls and the one I’ve been with for over 53 years; earning a paramedic license and a master’s degree in Christian studies; and pastoring the  Mountain View Bible Church. The greatest event, however,  was what the Bible calls the new birth I had in1974. That spiritual birth put me on an unbelievable trajectory, and it was sponsored by Christ.

John 3:3 

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

1 Peter 1:23 

Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

It’s the new life that counts for all eternity. Give it some thought.

Gary

When I was in high school, we had this English teacher that was one fry short of a happy meal. Towards the end of the year, we walked into class and he had written a number of occupations and titles on the blackboard. He asked which one of those would describe his profession before he became our English teacher. No one got the right answer, so he went to the board and circled “Minister.” Now, I didn’t really know what a minister was but was convinced one should have a high moral standard to be in that position. A few weeks later, he was gone, never to be heard from again.

You see qualifications for leaders are found in the books of Timothy and Titus. However, most churches don’t hold elders to that standard. That is the reason this individual could call himself a minister. The Scriptures are clear on the subject.

Titus 1:5-9

⁵ For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you— ⁶ if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination. ⁷ For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, ⁸ but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, ⁹ holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.

Do the church leaders you know measure up? Give it some thought.

Gary

I clearly remember an incident where our dog threw up on the living room floor. My wife was gagging when she called out for me to get something to clean it up. I responded, “Why? She’ll come around later and lick it clean.” That answer was truthful, but certainly not appreciated. However, it always amazed me from my youth as to how a canine can regurgitate and return some time later and lap it all back up. Does that make you nauseous? Well, here is something that will.

2 Peter 2:22

What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

Don’t be barking up the wrong tree, for it does more than make you sick. Instead, stand in awe of the tree from which the cross erected at Calvary was made, that one our Savior died on, for it can make us whole, free us from the disease called sin.  After that look, don’t return to false doctrines.  Give it some thought.

Gary