Think About It

What does it mean to be persecuted? The dictionary definition is “hostility or ill-treatment, especially because of race or political or religious beliefs”. As you might expect, I would like to focus on religious persecution. First of all, few of us in this country have felt – or will ever experience – true persecution. Sure, people might make fun of us because of our beliefs; but having our feelings hurt doesn’t amount to persecution. Secondly, have you ever considered the difference between feeling persecuted and being a Christian with being persecuted because we are Christians? Sure, like with anyone, Christians experience mistreatment; but how much of it is because we have taken a stand and how much is it just because we live in a mean world? One final question to ask is are we persecuted because of our righteousness or does the pain come when we stray off the straight and narrow? The other day I came across on interesting passage about persecution, “For what credit is th...

It is time for my semi-annual public service announcement – it is time to set your clocks ahead this weekend. If you have trouble remembering which direction to go, I keep them straight by “springing forward” and “falling back” – in other works we lose an hour of sleep in the spring and get it back in the fall. Changing our clocks may give us a false sense of control over time. While we can literally set our clocks to whatever time we like, when it comes to the seasons of our lives, we have no control. As much as we would like, we can’t direct time. We can’t speed it up when our children are in their “terrible twos” nor can we slow it down when the one we love gets close to the end of their lives. We can’t jump ahead when we are going through tragedy or stop it when we are experiencing joy. No matter how hard we try, we are at the expense of time and timing. The thing that helps us make the most of our time is an understanding that the Lord is the Master of time. I am not sure...

Have you noticed how easy it is to criticize other people’s decisions? This really struck me the other day when a couple of states made the decision to either remove mask mandates or merely let them expire. Folks, people came out of the woodwork from all over the country criticizing those who made the decisions! I am sure that each one of us has our own personal beliefs about mask-wearing, but do we have the right to criticize what someone else believes – especially someone who lives halfway across the county in much different circumstances than ours? While I would like to believe this is a modern day COVID problem, but I know that it isn’t. Being a busybody knows no region or era. It has been around from the beginning of mankind and it continues to go strong today. It isn’t relegated to any one gender, location, occupation or stage of life. We are all good at sticking our nose in other people’s business. Again, I have no issue with having different opinions, but when we star...

I Peter 3:15 is a favorite passage for many of us. When Peter challenges his readers, “… but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence …” we are reminded of our need to be able to defend our faith. Through the years, we have used this passage to prove that we need to be vocal about our beliefs as well as reminding us that we need to know what we believe and why. While the last part of the verse can be inspiring, the first part of the passage is challenging. Did you catch Peter’s direction to us to “sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts”? When we dissect this statement, we are challenged to make sure that we do two things: First, we have to make it a point to identify Christ as Someone unique. Sanctify means to set apart or set something aside to demonstrate its uniqueness. When we specifically identify Jesus as special to us, we make the...

Throughout most of my lifetime, marijuana use has been wrong. Because the herb was illegal, it would be difficult to justify its use; however, with many states legalizing marijuana use, the question is beginning to appear once again. Throughout much of my lifetime, I have heard the comparisons – both good and bad – of marijuana to alcohol. I haven’t really had to think too much about it because it was illegal and for most of my lifetime, using it could not only get me jailed, it could get me fired. Yet, with times and laws changing, so has the question. In those locations where marijuana is legal, is marijuana use still immoral? Now, before everyone starts to pick a side of this debate, let me state that I am not interested in debating this – especially not on social media. My point is to ask us about how we form our moral beliefs? Do we make decisions merely based on law or is there something more that goes into our assessment of right and wrong? Can something be wrong today, ...

“What are you going to get out of this fight other than a black eye?”. Several years ago my wife, Jeane, was cautioned about getting involved in a conflict and since that time this has become one of her (and my) favorite bits of wisdom. Now, let’s stop here for a second and say that there are times and issues that are worth the fight – but, in reality, there are a lot more that aren’t. In fact, with too many issues, the only things we can expect to gain by picking a fight are a bruised ego, hurt feelings and the mark of a troublemaker. When we are intent on arguing about matters that don’t matter, we are more apt to lose our reputation before we win any influence. Additionally, often when we are strong-willed in picking a fight, not only do we hurt ourselves, we also do damage to our cause and those around us. Specific personal injury might be our choice; but this type of collateral damage over things that aren’t all that important lessen the influence of our cause and may resul...

Several months ago, when the pandemic began, there was a lot of skepticism about what to expect. As things have played out, a lot of people have come to put their faith in the science community. Sure, there are still some who are skeptical – and most of us understand that not everything presented in the name of science and medicine is the cut and dried truth, but for the biggest part, most of us have made our plans around what we have been told by the scientific community. We have been wearing our masks, practicing personal distancing and are excited about the potential of the vaccine. Even though we haven’t swallowed everything hook, line and sinker, we have followed the protocols established by the science – and hopefully, we are about to experience the rewards for our efforts. As I got to thinking about our belief in the medical and health professionals, it got me to wondering what would happen if we placed the same amount of faith in our spiritual professionals? How would our ...