Who's First?

With the Summer Olympics about to get under way, I got to thinking about what it takes to be first, to be the best, to be at the head of the line with perfection. All the participating athletes have practically devoted their entire young lives to be first in their part of the world, earning them the right to compete with others of the same caliber in a collective world engagement. I think we’re all born with a competitive nature and we all want to be first in whatever we do. Most of the human race is not of the athletic persuasion, but it seems we choose what we’ll compete in each and every day. Sometimes what we compete in isn’t always to the liking of the competitive nature of others. For example, someone with a controlling personality, someone like myself, has a tendency to overpower conversations and situations as if in a competition, rather than just allowing ones self to simply be a participant in the activity. I’m happy to say I’ve worked very hard at controlling myself, rather than others, but I still have a way to go. Maybe you’re competing for first chair at your place of employment. That can get rather messy at times. Do you have to be first with “information” about others? That’s called gossip, ya know. I hope you get the idea I’m trying to portray to you. We don’t always have to be first in everything we do, and relationships fail when we try. Think about this. Second place might be the first loser, but the optimist still sees himself as being first.
A little boy in worship for the first time watched as the ushers passed around the offering plates. When they came near the pew he was sitting in, the boy said with a loud command, “Don’t pay for me daddy, I’m under five!”
Another little boy was attending his first wedding. After the service, his younger cousin asked him, “How many women can a man marry?” “Sixteen”, the boy responded. His cousin was amazed that he had an answer so quickly. “How do you know that?” he asked. “Easy”, the little boy said. “All you have to do is add it up. Like the preacher said, four better, four worse, four richer and four poorer.”
[Mark 9: 33-35] They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” Now there’s a tough one to swallow. No competition among the followers of Christ? Jesus said, “...just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28) In total obedience to the will of his father, Jesus shed his sinless blood, gave his life, a ransom for the sins of the world. And because of his obedient sinless life, God the Father raised Jesus from the dead. ...But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep ...so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. (1 Corinthians 15:20-23) My competitive side may not always show it, but Jesus is first in my life. I want to be a servant, the last to be served. Jesus was witnessed resurrected from the dead and ascending into heaven. He had no competition. This is one time none of us should be ashamed to be second, because when Jesus returns, those found serving will be first.

Where Did I Put That?

Have you ever had one of those days when at the end of the day you feel as frustrated as a dog chasing his tail? One of those days when the more you think you’re accomplishing, the less you’re actually getting done? You know, one of those days when you’re overwhelmed with the feeling, “the faster I go, the behinder I get”. Well, like every other malady in life, doctors have pinned a name to this diagnosis of extreme fatigue and sense of “now where did I put that?”. It’s called “Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder”, A.A.A.D.D. for short. How do you know if you have it? The following is a classic example of symptoms found in A.A.A.D.D. sufferers. ☺☺☺☺☺
One patient told his doctor: The other day I decided to water my garden. As I turn on the hose near the driveway, I looked over at my car and decided my car needs washing. As I start toward the garage I notice the mail on the porch table, which I had brought from the mailbox earlier. I decide to go through the mail before washing the car. I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the trashcan next to the table, and notice the can was full, so decide to put the bills back on the table and empty the trashcan first. But then I think, as long as I’m going so near the mailbox to empty the trashcan, I may as well pay the bills first. I opened my checkbook to find only one check, so I go to my study in the house to retrieve more checks from my desk, where I find a can of soda that I had been drinking. Pushing the can of soda aside to avoid any accidental spill while I search for the checks, I noticed the soda was getting warm and decide to put it in the refrigerator. As I head toward the kitchen with the can of soda a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye and decided that they needed watering. So, I set the can of soda on the counter wherein I discover my reading glasses that I’ve been looking for most of the morning. I decide I’m going to put them back on my desk, but first I’m going to water the flowers. I set the glasses down, fill a container with water and notice someone had left the TV remote on the kitchen table, again. I realize that when I want to watch TV tonight I’ll be looking for the remote so decided to put it in the den where it belongs, but first I’ll water the flowers. While watering the flowers I spill most of the water on the floor, so set the remote down on the table and get some towels to wipe up the water. Then I walked down the hall trying to remember what I was about to do. At the end of an exhausting day the car wasn’t washed, the bills weren’t paid, there’s a warm can of soda on the counter, the flowers still need more water, my check-book still has only one check in it, I can’t find the TV remote, I can’t find my glasses and I don’t remember what I did with my car keys. So I sit and try to figure out why nothing got done that day. I’m really baffled, because I know I was busy all day long.
[Proverbs 14:12] “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” Spending eternity in heaven or hell is a decision given to us by God. Do you keep setting your religion aside while wandering around in life try to get other things done? I saw a t-shirt the other day with this printed on it: “LIFE IS FRAGILE, HANDLE WITH PRAYER” Life is so fragile, we could die in any given minute. Don’t misplace God’s Word in your busy life, for the Word is life to your spirit. (John 14:6) To live with God you must first know God. Worldly wisdom and deeds won’t get you there.

Preparing Your Grave

I have satellite TV and enjoy watching the Discovery channels, the History Channel being a favorite. The ancient Egyptian Pharaohs were gods in their own mind, thought to have been put on earth to rule over the greatest kingdom on earth. They also believed in life after death and a reassignment to an even greater status of ruler. They so much believed in this that they made provisions for survival in their burial tomb. When they would awaken in the afterlife the provisions would sustain them until such time they would leave their tomb. All their prize possessions, and in most cases, their entire family were buried with them. Gold abound in the tomb, because they felt it would be needed in the afterlife. Well, time has proven that what is found in this world is going to stay in this world. Museums around the world are full of the goods taken from Egyptian tombs over the centuries as a measure of “protection” and “preservation” for future generations to witness. I guess this has been done rightfully so, because if not the greed of man would have spent it all on sex, drugs and rock-n-roll by now. I wonder what the ancient Egyptians would think about the TV advertisement guaranteeing top money for your “scrap gold”? Let’s see, I think I’ll give you my gold for a few worthless pieces of paper that I can’t even trade for silver. Seems our long-term relationship with gold has lost its luster over the centuries. Maybe this is good. It’ll never get past the casket anyway.
A casually dressed middle-aged man walked into a New York City bank and asked to see a loan officer. He told the loan officer that he was going to Bakersfield on business for two weeks and needed to borrow $5000, but he was not a depositor of the bank. The officer told him the bank would require some sort of security for the loan whereupon the man handed over the keys to a new Ferrari. The car as parked on the street in front of the bank and man produced the title, which checked out just fine. The loan officer agreed to hold the car as collateral for the loan and apologized for having to charge 12% interest. Later, the bank’s president and loan officer had a good laugh thinking about the man using a $250,000 Ferrari as collateral on a $5000 loan. The Ferrari was safely deposited in the bank’s underground garage. Two weeks later the man entered the bank, paid off his $5000 loan, with interest of $23.07. The loan officer said, “Sir, we are very happy to have had your business, but we are a little puzzled. While you were away we checked you out and discovered you are a multi-millionaire. Why would you bother to borrow $5000?” With a big grin the man said, “Where else in New York City can I park my car two weeks for $23.07 and expect it to be there when I return?”
[Romans 12: 1-2] “...offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good pleasing and perfect will.” There’s nothing in this life worth anything in the next life, except your mind, and what you think about God and His will for you concerning righteous living. To enter into God’s eternal love we must first love. To enter into heaven we must first divorce ourselves from the ways of this world, then we must become one with God’s will in all that we do in this life. I’ve tested God’s will and approve of it. I’ve found it to be pleasing and perfect. I’m saved.

The Enevitable Day

I caught part of a story on the radio the other day about leap year of which this year is one. What sparked my interest was, I thought I hear the speaker say that every four hundred years, scheduled or not, there is no added day to the calendar. What? Well, I made a note to myself to investigate what I just heard, or thought I heard. At home that evening I got on the computer and “Wikipedia’d, Leap Year” and found myself in another time dimension with way more information than expected. Wikipedia is an on line, non-profit, encyclopedia written and edited by scholars of the world. To start with, I had no idea how many calendars are currently being used in the world today. The most commonly used is the Gregorian, the one most of us are familiar with. Then, there’s the Julian, familiar to those in industry and the military; the Coptic, Ethiopian, Revised Julian, Chinese, Hebrew, Islamic, Hindu and Iranian. Anyway, back to leap year. In the Gregorian calendar, the standard is, if the year is divisible by four (4) it’s a leap year. Not always! Years that are evenly divisible by one hundred (100) are not leap years, unless they are also divisible by four hundred (400), then they are. The years 1600 and 2000 were leap years, but the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not. See, I told you, way too much information. It’s all because our annual trip around the sun takes 365.242374 days giving us an extra day every four years, unless those other rules invade the formula.
It’s incredible to think that man has the patience and the ability to sit and figure out the exact time of day to the billionth of a second, yet can’t, or won’t, accept inevitable dates of time that must be faced. Our mother’s taught us that certain days would come our way, but we never prepared for them. Did they come? Yes! Most of us procrastinated on school assignments until the last minute, resulting in a poor half-hearted failing effort to complete the task to the best of our abilities. This very day we’re all in a pickle because we didn’t believe the cost of fossil fuel would skyrocket dragging the cost of everything we use and consume up with it. Had we been warned of this day coming? Oh-ya! Three or more decades ago we were put on notice to find a replacement fuel for our vehicles and what did the manufactures do for us? They built bigger fuel-hungrier land yachts, which, in today’s economy, are worthless dinosaurs. Now we’re told it will take another decade or two to develop that which we should have been working on. I guess we’ll all simply adjust our formula for life and living and press on.
[2 Peter 3] Read the whole chapter and pay particular attention to the warning in verse 10 ... “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.” If you truly believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God, are you preparing for this day to come? How about the statement found in Hebrews 10: 27 ...”Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment”; are you ready for that day? Not every procrastinator is blessed with knowing that death will come soon by means of an illness. No, death is also a thief, no matter how long you live. In either case we must be found with humble hearts, prepared to face judgment holding to the hope of receiving God’s grace. We can’t adjust God’s time to fit our wants. God has hidden nothing from us. The last day is inevitable, and only God knows when it will come.

Are You Listening?

How many times in your life have you ended up with egg on your face because you didn’t listen close enough to instruction? How many times in your life have you given instruction, only to find that those whom you instructed weren’t paying attention and failed to follow your instruction? How many times have you heard someone say, “Nobody ever listens to me!!”? And how many people go through life frustrated because there truly is nobody who will take the time to really listen to what they have to say? Everybody wants to talk, but so few want to listen. I have been self employed for most of my working life, and learned a long time ago, self employment doesn’t separate one from listening closely to instruction. Even as a boy delivering newspapers door to door, customers gave specific instructions as to where they expected to find their newspaper each day. Failure to do so generally brought about a confrontation when it came time to get paid for my services. The same was true while working on automobiles. Do less than what the customer instructed and I have an unhappy customer. Do more than what was instructed and I have an unhappy customer, unless of course I did it for free. I include myself when I say, we are all guilty of giving poor instruction and receiving instruction when really not listening to what is being said. In our pursuit for independence we too often nonchalantly and half-heartedly listen to what is said to us and I’m afraid we miss out on friendships and relationships that could have had great influences in our life.
A story is told of Franklin Roosevelt, often enduring long receiving lines at the White House, who complained that no one really paid attention to what was said. One day during such a reception, he decided to try an experiment. To each person who came down the line and shook his hand he murmured, “I murdered my grandmother this morning.” The guests responded with phrases like, “Marvelous!; Keep up the good work, Mr. President; We’re all so proud of you. God bless you, sir.” It was not until the end of the line, while greeting the ambassador from Bolivia, that his words were actually heard. Not quite knowing what to say, the ambassador leaned over and whispered, “I’m sure she had it coming.”
[James 1:19-27] James writes: “My dear brothers, take note of this; Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” “...Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” God has given us full instruction that we might save ourselves from destruction. If I wish to become independent from this sinful world, to live the righteous life that will save me in the end, I must follow the instruction of God as perfectly as I possibly can. And I must strive to follow all His instruction. I can’t leave out what I don’t want to do, nor can I add to His instruction hoping to gain an edge on my salvation. Extras accumulate no points with God. “...the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.” What a deal!! Most people pass this up! If I follow the instruction of God, I will enjoy life! Paul writes in Romans 8:31, “...If God is for us, who can be against us?” Benjamin Franklin said, “A pair of good ears will drink dry a hundred tongues.” Drink from God’s Word, and live.