Do You Discriminate?

 

Question: If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had eight kids already, three who were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded, and she has syphilis - would you recommend she have an abortion? If you say yes, the sad news is you would have denied the world the great works of Ludwig van Beethoven. Question: It’s time to elect a new world leader, and only your vote counts. Here are the facts about three leading candidates. Candidate A – Associates with crooked politicians and consults with astrologists; He’s had two mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks 8-10 martinis a day. Candidate B – He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium in college and drinks a quart of whiskey every evening. Candidate C – He is a decorated war hero. He’s a vegetarian, doesn’t smoke, drinks an occasional beer and has never cheated on his wife. Which of these candidates would be your choice? Well, Candidate A is Franklin D. Roosevelt; Candidate B is Winston Churchill; Candidate C is Adolph Hitler. Pretty interesting isn’t it? Makes a person thing before judging someone.

One morning Henry was finishing some paperwork at the automobile dealership where he works. He noticed a man looking in the showroom window and asked a salesman if he wanted to wait on the man. Joe looked at the potential customer, roughly dressed, carrying a brown paper lunch bag and said, “I don’t think so. He probably came down to eat his lunch and look at the new cars.” Henry pushed his work aside and greeted the man “Good morning! Can I show you some of the new models?” The man answered, “I like the one near the door.” Henry showed it to him. The man sat in the driver’s seat, then said to Henry, “I like this one. If I buy it now, can I take it home today?” Henry said, “Yes, if we can get your credit approved that quickly.” The man responded, “Oh, I don’t want credit. I’ll pay cash,” whereupon he opened the brown paper bag displaying it full of cash. In amazement Henry said, “In that case it’s yours!” Joe saw the two men walking toward the cashier’s counter and asked, “Henry, what’s going on?” Henry replied, “We’re taking this man’s lunch to the cashier!”

[James 2:1-9] “Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man in fine clothes… have you not discriminated?” One of the reasons we fail in our attempt to reach the world with the gospel is our tendency to decide who will and those who will not obey the Lord. How foolish we are to think that we know the hearts of others and what response they would have after hearing the truth. To illustrate the folly of such, consider the following question. In your opinion what person in the first century would have been the least likely to become a Christian? Using human judgement we would not miss the mark far by suggesting that Saul of Tarsus would be this person. The response of Ananias is typical of many Christians in our own time. When commanded to go and teach Saul, he said, “Lord, I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call upon your name” (Acts 9:13-14). What opportunity we almost lost. Suppose Saul (Paul) had not been converted? Suppose Ananias had been like many today and decided that “he would never obey the gospel!” Can we know the hearts of others? Only God, our Creator, has that power! Our responsibility as baptized believers of Christ is to sow the seed of the Gospel of Christ – the Good News – and leave the increase to God (1 Corinthians 3:6-7). God is GOOD!

Are You A Flexitarian?

 

Are you interested in being a vegetarian, but concerned you might not be able to adjust? Not to worry! You can become a “flexitarian”. As vegetarianism gains in popularity and increases its market niche, a variation has developed. The flexitarian is a person who eats primarily vegetables, but also indulges occasionally with meat. The designation fits people like the 28 year-old who says, “I usually eat vegetarian …and I really like sausage. Sometimes I feel like I’m a bad vegetarian …not strict enough or good enough. I really like vegetarian food, but I’m just not 100% committed.”

[Proverbs 16:9, 25] If Paul had thought like some today, he would have written to the Ephesians like this: “Paul, the apostle, to the saints in Ephesus. Brethren, I rejoiced when I went into the theater in your city to behold the shows. The play of Aristophanes was a magnificent story of a man who overcame poverty and poor health as a child to become a famous warrior in Greece. Such zeal! Such courage! I commend this show to the church for your edification, for Christians can learn much from it. Yes, a pagan influence prevailed during the performance. The crowd praised Zeus and blasphemed God. The actors took God’s name in vain and poured out filthy words. The women on stage displayed their nakedness with immodest apparel. But be of good cheer, brethren! Evil associations will not corrupt good morals if you look for the good and ignore the bad.” Who can imagine Paul writing such words? Plays and concerts were common forms of entertainment in the ancient world of the New Testament. People then had no televisions, giant screen movie houses, or epic sound systems, but still they enjoyed drama and music. Perhaps not all of these shows were bad, but many were. In the second century Tertullian, a prolific early Christian author from Carthage, wrote, Greek drama was filled with scenes of lust and perversion. He scolded “the father who carefully protects and guards his virgin daughter’s ears from every polluting word” and yet “takes her to the theater himself, exposing her to all its vile words and attitudes.” Shows then were no different than movies today.

The Bible teaches that what you put into your mind affects you. The cares, riches, and pleasures of this life choke the Word of God in our hearts (Luke 8:14). “…What comes out of a man is what makes him unclean. For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man unclean” (Mark 7:20-23). Truly as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. “As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man” (Proverbs 27:19). A Christian who denies this is arguing in vain. We can no more put rotten food into our stomachs without feeling the effects than we can put ungodliness into our minds without weakening our faith. The old warning, “You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice…” (Exodus 23:2) often goes unheeded by God’s people. Others place pressure on us to go along with the consensus of the world. “Have you watched this movie? You’ll love it!” Everybody seems to be excited about it and few are concerned about the sex scenes and God’s name being taken in vain. “But I don’t pay any attention to the bad parts. I look for the redeeming qualities.” That’s like rummaging through a dumpster looking for a penny. Are you a “Flexitarian?” Sounds like a want-to-be “Christian” …but not if they have to “deny themselves” an occasional dip into sin (Matthew 16:24-27).

Our Only Hope

 

A ship went down off the Irish coast and many lives were lost. An investigation revealed that the captain was a careful sailor, and the weather had not been severe enough to make the vessel veer from its course, thus leaving the charted shipping lane. So why did the ship go down? During the investigation, divers retrieved the ships compass and the subsequent inspection revealed that inside the compass box was found a tiny bit of steel. Apparently, the day before the wreck, a sailor was cleaning the compass. Using his pocket knife, he had unconsciously broken off its point under the edge of the box. That tiny bit of steel was enough to attract the magnetic needle which altered the compass slightly, resulting in the loss of the ship and most souls aboard.

Madeleine Murry O’Hare complained very loudly she didn’t want prayer in our schools and to quiet the noise we said, OK. Atheist groups protested the reading of the Bible and the display of the Ten Commandments in our schools. They said our children were being brought under the control of tyrannical thoughts and ideals of a God that is made-up in the minds of men. If taught to our children what the Bible says, do not kill, do not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself, it would restrict their horizons of inspiration, and we said, OK.  Pediatrician, Dr. Benjamin Spock, said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem. We said an expert must know what he is talking about, so we said, OK. Now we’re asking ourselves why our children and grand-children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill babies in the womb, strangers in their anger and themselves in their confusion of what life is all about. Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we could figure it out. I think it has a lot to do with, “We Reap What We Sow!”

[Revelation 22:7-21] The Bible is our compass – spiritually and morally. It contains many warnings about altering its content and/or completely disregarding it all together. When mankind attempts to add or subtract from God’s Word, especially in the plan of salvation, we are risking the shipwreck of our faith, the faith of others and the loss of life – spiritually and physically. At a time when our society is increasingly casting aside the guiding influences of God’s inspired Word, as well as God himself, and when far too many of our elected officials are morally bankrupt and devoid of God’s Holy Spirit, perhaps “We the People” would be well-advised to carefully and prayerfully consider the following statements of past Presidents of our great nation as they reflected upon the sacred inspired Scriptures. Thomas Jefferson referred to the words and teachings of Jesus Christ as being “…the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man.” John Quincy Adams: “I have made it a practice for several years to read the Bible through in the course of every year. I usually devote to this reading the first hour after I rise in the morning.” Andrew Jackson: “The Bible is the rock upon which our Republic rests.” Abraham Lincoln: “The Bible is the best gift that God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book.” Calvin Coolidge: “In this Book will be found the solution to all the problems of the world.” Woodrow Wilson: “The Bible is the Word of Life. I beg that you will read it and find this out for yourself. When you have read the Bible, you will know it is the Word of God.” Herbert Hoover: “To read the Bible is a necessity of American Life.” Ronald Reagan said the Bible is our only hope of a secure nation.

The Winds Of Change

 

       Well, another year is in the books and for most - none too soon! Thankfully, time marches relentlessly onward without asking for either our consent or approval. 2020 is growing cold in the mind and 2021 is already heating up our lives and marching forward without any concerns for you or me. No matter your outlook for the future, 2021 will bring with it days of defeat and success; sadness and great joy; suffering balanced with days of healing; days of loss and others of enrichment; and for some 2021 will bring with it a day of finality. While we are powerless to keep time from sifting through our lives like sand through our fingers, we can do something about how we spend it. While much time will fall wasted at the feet of humanity, as a follower of Christ you can use your time to God’s glory and time will ultimately deposit you into His timeless glory.

[1 John 2:15-17] “Do not love the world or anything in it. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” As followers of Christ we live in the world, but we must not be of the world. In other words, we must separate the good activities of the world from those that are contrary to the Word of God. This is difficult to do at times because we are accustomed to accepting cultural changes especially in the modern world of rapidly changing principles. The difficulty we encounter can be readily seen in the advent of our massive internet. It is easy to see the wonderful way we can spread the good news of Jesus using this medium, but at the same time we can also see the unprecedented evil it has brought into our lives. Between these two extremes we must decide what we can accept and what we must condemn. In relating to culture, the tendency for all of us is to slide to one extreme or another being the creatures of influence that we are. For this reason we must constantly be aware and strive for a greater faith that helps us to overcome the worldly side of inevitable change in our lives. Because the majority of our waking hours are used in activities outside of the influence of Christ, the challenge is even greater and if we are to reach our ultimate goal we must build greater defenses against worldly immorality. The best way to accomplish this goal is to rely heavily on the direction given to us in God’s Word. Of course, we must first know His Word and this knowledge does not come easy – it takes time and diligence. Then we must apply what we have learned – that which pleases God. That takes time and effort as well. Within the church we have many ways to become involved in a world devoted to the cause of our Savior. This should be the most important part of our lives both now and for all eternity, thus deserves our greatest devotion. All of our excuses for living otherwise are unreasonable and can only result in sorrow. “The world and its desires pass away, but the person who does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:17). When we do not devote ourselves to the work of the church, do not attend assemblies as we should, do not give of our time and means, etc., more than likely it is because we love the world or we love ourselves more than we love God. “…don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God” (James 4:4). There will not be a single day in 2021 that we will have to encounter alone! We have the One who can lift us up from defeat, comfort us in sadness and sustain us through suffering. The One who can truly place momentary loss into eternal perspective. And we have each other. The church is a wonderful place to seek that which is good and by working together we can overcome the bad influences of the world and live closer to the Savior as we know we should.

Life Is What You Make It

 

In the Canadian Rockies there is a stream called Divide Creek. At one point in its course the creek is divided by a large boulder. Waters which flow left of the boulder rush into the Kicking Horse River and finally into the Pacific Ocean. Waters which travel to the right flow into the Bow River which courses into the Saskatchewan River, on into Lake Winnipeg, the Nelson River, Hudson Bay, and eventually into the Atlantic Ocean. Once the waters divide at the boulder, the currents are swift and there is no turning back. How like life this is. Life is a series of decisions that we make daily. Some are very difficult, complicated and with far-reaching unknown results. What we wouldn’t give sometimes to have an opportunity to make a certain decision again. It behooves all of us to weigh our decisions carefully. Things of seemingly immediate value will not necessarily be of ultimate value. Always take a long-range view!

A blacksmith makes five dollars’ worth of iron into horseshoes and gets ten dollars for them. * A cutler can make the same iron into knives and get two hundred dollars for them. * A machinist can use the same amount of iron to make sixty-eight hundred dollars’ worth of needles. *A watchmaker can use the iron to make two hundred thousand dollars’ worth of mainsprings; or into hairsprings worth two million dollars! So it is with life and the opportunities given each of us when we are born. One person takes their time and talents, combines them to advance their earthly interests alone. Another can take the same opportunities, and through wisdom and the counsel of God’s Word, shapes and molds a life for time and eternity. Wise people refine their character so that they are worth something to the world and useful to God. The world is made better and richer for their having lived wisely. While traveling down the stream of life it is up to you whether you will develop your life into a noble accomplishment, your character into a thing of beauty, and your talents into a source of glory to God. An aimless, purposeless life does not bespeak even the intelligent forethought of the ant, which harvests in the summer against the ravages of winter (Proverbs 6:6-11). We may botch our lives with sin and uselessness until late in life, and then come to our senses. We might even patch up the broken pieces, but it is a sorry apology to offer in payment for a life of overlooked magnificent possibilities. “Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end” (Deuteronomy 32:29).

[Joshua 24:14-15] “…fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served… And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” We choose our priorities and lifestyles. Should we not ask, “What sort of person do I want to be?” Every person must accept or reject the demands and offers of God. “Choices are the hinges of eternity.” The option remains the same - who will you serve? If you have been for a long time; or for only a short time; have become lax due to travel restrictions; perhaps seriously thinking of getting started; I would like to challenge everyone in their Christian walk – keep growing in your relationship with the Lord. Don’t settle for where you are spiritually. Don’t stagnate in your prayer, praise, or the presence of the Lord in your life. Keep participating as we gather together in worship, Bible study, and come together for various fellowships. Keep vigilant for opportunities to serve and to reach out to those who are lost. Make God a priority in your life and do not take your eyes and heart off the goal of heaven. Have a good year!