Think About It

D uring our time yesterday, I presented some thoughts about truth – but I left out an important aspect of finding truth. There are a lot of principles out there competing for our allegiance, but which ones do we accept? Just as there are a lot of ideas, there are many of them that are at odds with each other. One of the confounding questions that we often hear about truth is that for there to be truth we have to have an absolute foundation – which one do we choose? Is truth based on popular opinion, philosophy, constitutional law or is there something better? Well, I believe there is something that can be used as the epicenter of truth – something that is easily understood and conveniently accessed. When Jesus was about to leave His disciples to confront the issues of their era He prayed for their joy and their contentment. As He asked God to bless them He said, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” (John 17:17). Folks, it has been 2000 years since that prayer was p...

When I was at the gym working out the other day, I looked up to one of the many TV screens in front of me and read an interesting question, “When did ‘shock politics’ replace telling the truth?”. My initial reaction was to yell at the screen, “Well, you should know because you were a part of starting it.”; but I refrained and just stewed about how often media outlets that include “news” in their titles have been reduced to “opinion” networks. Interestingly, my inner contempt led me to wonder something similar. My question isn’t as much about “when” as it is about “how”. How have we gotten to this point – and, oh by the way, I am not just targeting the media, there is enough blame to go around to a bunch of us. As I reflected on the lack of cooperation between competing opinions, I got to thinking about two concepts: hyperbole and partisan positions. I believe that we have applied hyperbole (using exaggeration to make a point) so often that we start to believe our own rhetoric. ...

Since my college football teams don’t usually play the early games on Saturday afternoon, I haven’t been watching the national pregame shows lately. Last weekend, since my team was featured in one of the early games, I tuned in and what I saw was disturbing. No, it wasn’t the announcers this time, it was the fans’ display that dismayed me. The homemade signs that were shown behind the set were, at best a display of bad sportsmanship and, at worst, just out and out rude! I am familiar with good-spirited ribbing between fan bases; but it seems to have been elevated to a new level (or maybe I should say has deteriorated to a new low). After being discouraged by what I saw early in the day, I was completely dismayed by the behavior at a nationally televised game later that night in which the fans delayed the game and put people in jeopardy by throwing trash onto the field when a call didn’t go their way. I understand being a huge supporter of a team – and even disappointed when thin...

The other day I was looking for a quote … well, not really a quote, but someone I could quote. I realize that at my age it is tempting to keep referencing my influences and the voices of inspiration from days gone by; so I decided to do a little research and I made two interesting discoveries. First, many of the more quotable people are those from history and, second, I had never heard of many of the people that were listed as voices of reason in modern society. Is it just me or does it seem like there are fewer and fewer trusted voices in the modern world? As I thought about this, I wondered what it takes to be a voice of reason – both on a national scale; but maybe, as importantly, in our own spheres of influence? Here are some suggestions: 1. Speak the truth – but do so gently . We need accuracy and we need it delivered in a way that people will accept it. Let’s be honest, but be humble at the same time. 2. Find a platform that reaches people. Have we become too reliant...

I will admit it … I am a techno geek. I like the latest gadgets and am a sucker for something new and better. I am fascinated by a smarter phone, a faster computer or a newer tablet. I like going to the electronics store (aka the big boy toy store) and have been known to walk out with stuff I don’t need just because it is cool! Practicality and functionality are often overshadowed by something that is shiny. Looking at all the new stuff on the shelves and the rising value of electronics companies, I don’t think I am the only one with this urge. While buying the latest and greatest stuff is fun, there is one place where that might not be in our best interest – religion. Now, I am not saying that we shouldn’t grow and develop in our spirituality, but we must be cautious that we don’t lose our way by chasing some idea that is categorized as new and improved. Sure, if something is better for us spiritually or makes the church grow closer to God we should evaluate it, but let’s not...

One of the more interesting side-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has been how it has taken the focus away from other societal issues. Coming into pandemic a lot of attention had been focused on the opioid crisis that was addicting and killing too many people. The drug issues didn’t magically go away, rather they were just pushed to the back burner once COVID appeared. Other health issues such as cancers and heart disease were overshadowed by this new virus. I don’t know that people are generally healthier than they were before March, 2020; we just don’t hear as much about them. The reason I bring this up is to remind us to be cautious with over-emphasizing one problem while overlooking others. As we have seen, this can be done with societal and health issues, but it is also present in morality as well. In each era, certain sins capture our attention and seem to demand our action; however, that doesn’t mean that other offenses are left behind. It may be popular to condemn one...

Periodically, when someone thanks me for doing something for them I will say, “It’s the least I can do.” … then, I will follow it up with a simplistic attempt at humor, “And let it be known that I typically do the least I can do.”. In reality, I hope this is a sophomoric attempt at humor and not a true accurate assessment of my character. The last couple of years have changed us and it remains to be seen if those changes are temporary or permanent. One of the things that I have noticed is how easy it is to excuse inactivity. While I am sure there are some things that haven’t been accomplished because of legitimate reasons, I also believe it has become very convenient to excuse our ineffectiveness. If there is something we don’t want to do, we have a built-in excuse for not doing it. Unfortunately, inactivity breeds inactivity and pretty soon it becomes more difficult to do what we should be doing. Again, I am not condemning inactivity caused by legitimate limitations, my conc...