Think About It

When Jesus was instructing His earliest disciples He did some teaching about making vows or taking oaths.  The concept was simply that a person’s word should be good enough on its own – disciples shouldn’t have to “swear” to make something believable.  In summarizing His instruction He said, “ But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.” (Matthew 5:37)  Over the last few days I have found myself contemplating this concept.  No, I am not routinely swearing oaths or taking vows, but I am discovering that the more I talk the more dumb stuff I say.  Rarely do I get in trouble for saying too little, but on several occasions I have made the mistake of saying too much.  When I talk too much I tend to be insensitive to others and I am apt to discuss things that are superficial at best.  The more words I use the more I am tempted to focus on myself and the less influence I seem to have on others....

Over the last several decades I have watched as people, fueled by social outrage, have turned on their own communities to express their frustration.  Through the years many of our major U. S. cities have experienced rioting and, as a part of that, I have been amazed that rather than directing their destructive behavior toward outsiders, they burn and loot their own neighborhoods.  I am sure there is an explanation for it, but it escapes me. Having said that, there is something similar that personally happens inside many of us.  How often to do harm ourselves when we are at odds with others?  Nelson Mandela once said, “ Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”.  Others have observed that hate and anger are both caustic emotions that eat away at the vessels that possess them.  Like a community that turns on itself, people who become bitter inexplicitly seem to do more harm to themselves than they do to focal point of t...

According to the weather folks, today is supposed to be a hot one in our neck of the woods.  I know that some of you have been dealing with hot weather for a while and our temperatures in the 90s would almost feel like a relief.  I have never really been someone who enjoyed hot weather, but I am trying to learn to make the most of it.  First of all, as I think back on all the sub-zero days that I have experienced over the past quarter of a century, a little warmth doesn’t seem too bad.  Yet, I have also been thinking about how the warm weather actually serves to praise God.  Let me see if I can explain.  In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer is the hottest time of the year and July is one of the hottest months.  God created a world that is so reliable and dependable that we can bank on the fact that if it is July there is a good chance it is going to be warm (hot).  In a sense, the presence of July’s temperatures prove that there is a God of ord...

As I was driving to church last Sunday morning I heard a bluegrass song that really struck me.  I think the name of the group was the NewFound Road and the name of the song was “I Need You Lord”.  The thing that touched me was the sentiment of the chorus that said, “You can make it without me, Lord, but I can’t make it without You.”.  As I thought about this concept I reflected on all the different ways that we seem to express our indispensableness to God.  We say thinks like “I am in the Lord’s Army” or “I am an ambassador for the Lord.”.  We proclaim that our church is “On fire for the Lord” or that we are “Doing great things for the cause of Christ.”  While I am sure God is pleased when we are faithful to Him the truth is that He doesn’t need us to accomplish His will.  Sure, it is great to be on His team, but if He chose to do so He could send ten thousand angels to do the work we are doing.  God doesn’t need us; however, we do need Him....

          When I was a youngster in Bible School we used to sing a song that advocated, “Red and yellow, black and white they are precious in His sight”.  In all honestly, I am not sure that those words would be accepted in today’s political correctness, but that doesn’t diminish the power of their thought.  It doesn’t matter our race, we all have value because we are people loved by God.           As I thought about this song, it got me to thinking about how we can develop relationships across ethnic and cultural lines.  This noble effort can’t be reduced to a couple of paragraphs on social media, but here are a few suggestions. 1.  We can listen with empathy .  The truth is that there are differences between people in today’s world.  No matter how hard I try, I cannot know what it feels like to be an African-American woman.  Yet, what I can do is listen with empathy as she exp...

One of the most intriguing aspects of Christianity through the ages has been the Second Coming of Jesus.  Soon after Jesus ascended into heaven people began looking forward to His return.  In fact, throughout history, teachers have tried to predict the date when Jesus was going to return.  A quick internet search reveals dozens of predictions about the return of Jesus which turned out to be false.  One of the problems with these erroneous suppositions is the impact that it can have on reputation of the Second Coming.  With so many “misses”, people are tempted to dismiss the message of Jesus’ return.  Interestingly, we don’t need to rely on the digital age to bring this issue to light, the Scriptures outline the concern when it notes, “ Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts,   and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers...

Throughout my life I have been exposed to a lot of wisdom.  Some of it came in deep discussions with wise people and some of it came from digesting pages of well written thoughts.  Yet, some of the most applicable truisms come from simple observations.  Some of them may have been said to me and I may have read a few on bumper stickers, but they all contain nuggets of sagacious wealth: 1.  You are never as good as your supporters tell you, nor are you as useless as your critics profess .  Some people have the ability to assess objectively, but many have an agenda – either good or bad.  Let’s be cautious in reading our reviews. 2.  When you believe you are important, try ordering around someone else’s dog .  Often our leadership is found in the relationships we build (both with our pets and our people), not in our own innate talent.  Let’s be committed to being humble, especially around those with whom we don’t have a relationship. 3....