Think About It

Are we Christians?  On one hand that may seem like a pretty simple question that can be readily answered with a “yes” or “no”, but since I ask the question, I get to define it a bit further.  To me, this query is based on one important piece of information – what does “Christian” mean?  Does it merely mean that I believe in the existence of  someone named Jesus who was called the Christ?  Is it a demographic designation that separates us out in categories like “atheist”, “Buddhist”, “Jewish”, “Muslim”, etc.?  Is it based upon where we worship on a particular day of the week?  Is it determined by the principles we choose to adopt?  Now all of a sudden the question becomes a bit more complex, doesn’t it? Let me throw one more layer into this discussion – does the question have as much to do with how we act as it does with what we believe?  Sure, we can believe in the principles of Christianity, but is our faith enough to qualify us as a Chri...

As a man was riding along an inner city street in his carriage he looked down to see the poverty that surrounded him.  From his perch he witnessed, first hand, the hardships of the afflicted.  Touched by the plight of so many, the prosperous man summoned his compassion and said with a sigh and a prayer, “There, but by the grace of God, go I.”.  Rather than condemning those who didn’t have, he praised the God who had blessed him with what he had. How close have we come to losing everything?  Whether it was our physical health because of disease or injury … our financial independence because of poor management or a depressed economy … or even our solid emotional state of mind because of stress or crisis many of us may have been closer to losing it all than we would have ever imagined.  Since it never happened we may not be able to look back and identify the specific date and time, but who knows how close we have been to a life-altering hardship.  It was by...

I think it is a common belief that we should judge our success by the way our efforts are received.  In essence, it is tempting to feel that if people applaud us we have done good, but if we are at odds with them, we must be doing something wrong.  While this may be society’s point of view, when it comes to righteousness, acceptance by the majority might not be a good measuring stick.  Now, before we go any further, we need to remember that just because we are out of step with society doesn’t mean that we are walking in the light (there is nothing inherently admirable in just being odd).  However, if we take a stand based on righteousness, we must be prepared to be viewed as weird or even worse, as being wrong.  Everyday life has probably taught us this lesson, but even if it hasn’t, the language of the Bible should prepare us for this challenge.  The word translated “church” comes from the Greek word that means “called out” and indicates that Christians a...

In preparation for yesterday’s sermon I reviewed John Kennedy’s Inaugural Address from 1961.  As I listened to the new leader two things stood out to me.  The first one was how the scope of his message was timeless – it could have been delivered today.  The second was that it was full of hope.  The world in which Kennedy had been called to lead was filled with communist aggression, unequal civil rights, poverty and international political chaos, yet he did not back away from the challenge.  There are so many quotable moments in that speech, but one that is often overlooked states, “ In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger.  I do not shrink from this responsibility – I welcome it.  I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation.  The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will ...

One of the more interesting phrases that has come into the public spotlight in the last few months is “fake news”.  While it appears that this term has been bantered about by people hoping to deflect information they might not want disseminated, it does appear that there have been outside influences who have tried to sway public opinion by publishing information that actually is false.  Some, with their own agenda, have intentionally planted false stories in hopes of getting people to believe them and act a certain way.  Whether it was to impact an election or sway public opinion, lies have been published.  While I see the danger in this approach I also seen another troubling issue – there are people who are swallowing the fake news hook, line and sinker.  Some are so gullible that they will accept whatever is dangled in front of them.  Now, it might be easy to blame our society, but the truth of the matter is that this is an age old problem.  Do yo...

I will be the first to admit it … I have become a cold weather sissy.  While people all around the county are dealing with cold temperatures I am realizing just how little tolerance I have for the cold weather.  Sure there were days when I used to be able to get out and be active when the wind chills dipped below zero, but, frankly I just don’t like it anymore!  I think I have become more like an alligator than a polar bear – the thought of laying in the sun next to a nice warm river bank sounds pretty good. The reason I bring this up is not to complain – well, not really – but, to make a point.  When people would ask me how I could live in the frigid temperatures of the Northern Plains or the Rocky Mountains I would explain that it is just something you get used to.  Coming from Florida, in the beginning the cold was somewhat of a shock, but the more I was around it, the more comfortable I became.  In fact, there were times in my life when I got to wher...

Over the past few years a lot of attention has been drawn to social injustices … and, often, in response, someone else has raised a flag on another side of the issues.  To me, the most poignant might be “The Black Lives Matter” movement which was met by the “The Blue Lives Matter” slogans.  On one hand, some people wanted to bring attention to racial equality, then others felt compelled to highlight another segment of the population – the dangers faced by law enforcement officers.  Somewhere in the middle an “All Lives Matter” mantra was born. As I look back at this volatile situation in our country I am drawn to something pretty simplistic, a children’s song that I grew up singing.  I realize that the chorus of the song has recently come under some ridicule, but, in the song “Jesus Loves The Little Children” we are taught the lesson that God loves all of His children no matter if they are red, yellow, black or white.  For just a minute, let’s set aside the c...